Bergara .308 Win HMR rifle

[Fred @ Bison Tactical]

Hello, have a question for all you guys out there.

I had a student show up with a Bergara .308 HMR rifle (which was brand new). We got it sighted in at 100 years and after 40-100 rounds we could not get that rifle to group at all. We used (2) different types of .308 ammo (one was Federal Gold Medal Match 168gr). We swapped scopes and removed the muzzle device to make sure those were a cause of the problem.

We were getting 3"-4" groups at 100 yards. I had my 6.5x47 AT-X which the student shot (and shot 1/2" group at 100 yards) and a Sig Cross in .308 which also was new. After 20 rounds or so, student was able to keep a sub 1" group with the Sig Cross.

Have people had generally good or bad experience with the Bergara B-14 series in .308 using factory ammo? I suggested he reach out to Bergara, but since I haven't shot a Bergara I figured there may be some users here and I can get feedback on the platform.

 

[nickw]

No experience with that rifle in 308, but my son has one and 6.5C and it’s an absolute hammer with factory ammo.

 

[stanley_white]

Would loose action screws cause this?

-Stan

 

[whatsupdoc]

My Bergara B14 in 6.5 Creed that short great for 5K rounds and 2 barrels suddenly shot like crap.
The rear 2 scope base screws both sheared off. Crazy thing was that the scope seemed tight, the
front screws and the scope base recoil lug held enough to fool you into thinking everything was tight.

 

[Hecouldgoalltheway]

I have that exact rifle, the wilderness version. I've shot at least 3 different loads, including my 110gr v-max hand loads, and they all shot well under a minute. Every betgara I've ever been near shot excellent, without exception.

 

[AutoBolt308]

Try Norma 170 & 180 grains they seat their projectiles closer to lands and I have measured 2.205" CBTO.
My findings have shown Hornady Whitetail 165gr measure around 2.060" CBTO, Remington Core-lokt 150 & 180 grain measure 2.080", HSM Gameking 165gr measured 2.090", Federal 165 meateater copper trophy measured 2.1xx".

 

[VargmatII]

I am a believer that if a 308 rifle does not shoot well with 168 grain SMK like the Federal GMM then there is something wrong with the gun. No matter who did the rifle in the first place.
There is a lot written about this and millions of SMKs has been sent down range. Of the rifles I have had and the rifles I have helped doing load development for, the SMK has always been the easy button to get to shoot well.

The guy should definitely reach out to Bergara about it since it seems that something is seriously wrong with his set up.

 

[stevieb92]

I haven't seen it mentioned, but the HMR stock has a known issue of paint covering the pillars. Bergara may paint all their stocks in this manner, but I'm not sure. Remove the action from the stock and check for paint covering the aluminum pillars. Remove the paint, reinstall and try it again.

 

[Fred @ Bison Tactical]

I did advise him to call Bergara - I just wanted to hear from the community. Because it was brand new, I didn't think to check for loose action bolts nor rear sheared scope base screws/pins. I did try to move things around to see if anything was obviously loose, I grabbed and tried to move the barreled action, and did the same with the scope. Hopefully if any of the bolts were loose they would have become obvious with that, but I no longer have it available to test.

Hopefully Bergara will take it back and correct the issue for him.

FGGM or Hornady Match is my go-to for validating as well.

 

[Mjolnir74]

150gr Norma soft points shoot well from my Bergara.

 

[Pappasniper]

I say your base screws or action screws came loose. Please know, I have had base screws that were loose but you cannot feel by trying to wiggle back and forth. Try to tighten the screws and if they tighten, they were loose. Or remove and look for wear patterns.

No way the gun shot good then went to shit. I have Bergaras and I have have friends buy Bergara rifles and all shoot sub MAO. Best of luck mi amigo.

PB

 

[Fred @ Bison Tactical]

I say your base screws or action screws came loose. Please know, I have had base screws that were loose but you cannot feel by trying to wiggle back and forth. Try to tighten the screws and if they tighten, they were loose. Or remove and look for wear patterns.

No way the gun shot good then went to shit. I have Bergaras and I have have friends buy Bergara rifles and all shoot sub MAO. Best of luck mi amigo.

PB

The rifle never shot well. The first rounds through it were the ones we put on paper after a bore sighting. It has been 3-4 MOA for all 100-150 rounds that have gone down the barrel. If the base or action is loose, it came that way from the factory since this is a just out of the box factory rifle.

We swapped optics to verify it wasn't an optic or ring issue, and we removed the brake to verify it wasn't a muzzle device issue.

I wiggled the barreled receiver to check for looseness anywhere but didn't notice anything loose.

Thanks for the suggestions, I will let you know what Bergara says.

 

[Mjolnir74]

Those Norma rounds are the only ones that are consistently under 1 MOA, out of about 10 types of factory ammo.

 

[AutoBolt308]

Shot this with Franchi ME with adjusted Remington 180gr CBTO 2.236” last Sunday. Chamber measured 2.243” with Hornady Comparitor.

 

[Fred @ Bison Tactical]

I haven't heard back on this one, but Bergara did say to check the action screws (they said they can come loose during shipping), and to also check for any damage to the crown. If neither of those are an issue, then they would RMA the rifle to get it evaluated.

 

[Sdiesel20]

My hmr 308 was short chambered from the factory. Shot awful until i sent it back to them. Shot great once they fixed it.