I’ve been looking at getting a new long range rifle and was pretty set on the CA Mesa Long Range until I saw the Bergara at shot show. The Mesa Long Range is roughly $1,500, while the Bergara is $2,000. The Bergara is the preferred rifle but I have a hard time deciding if the extra $500 is worth it? Any opinions?
Bergara Premier Ridgeback 6.5 CM vs Christensen Arms Mesa Long Range 6.5 CM
- Thread starter spher
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The Christensen Arms MESA in 6.5 Creedmoor is amazing! I still can not believe how well a rifle in this price point shoots! Just shot it today sighting in new Zeiss V6 5-30 scope (which my first impression are very good BTW) I bore sighted, fired one round, made a adjustment and proceed to shoot a .35" three shot group with factory Hornaday Precision hunter 143 ELD-X ammo! This is not a fluke deal either. I am pretty much fully convinced that if the rifle shoot a 3-5 shot group more than .7 moa it is my fault. My wife was hitting a 16" plate with it last month at 1077 yards with Boring repeatability! Any one looking for a great factory option with out breaking the bank I believe this is it!
Please do not get the Bergara. After saving up for some time i finally decided to purchase the Bergara ridgeback. After the California 10 day wait period I got the rifle and I noticed the rifle did not come with the shoulder pad that the Bergara catalog shows. I contacted their customer service and long story short they said “they reserve the right to make production changes to their rifles”. What kind of company answers like this? Also the one of the reasons I decided to buy from them was because they used to include the actual shot card of their claimed sub MOA group for their rifles. My rifle didn’t come with them and their reason is because it took too long to shoot the rifles. So now, 2019 and on they will not do this anymore. Sounds like a company that is growing and sacrificing quality/value. Never again.
Sounds like you’re focusing on the least important aspects of the rifle. So they had a change in pad, who cares. Put whichever one you want on. So they didn’t shoot the rifle for you first, aka you got a mint brand new rifle, who cares.
I haven’t shot it yet. I hope it shoots! It’s a rifle and it was $2200. I will let you know in 2 weeks.
Bergara announced earlier this year they wouldn't be including test targets with premier rifles anymore because of issues with keeping up with demand. It's a nice touch, but it didn't deter me from getting an HMR pro. Me, personally, if I had an issue with a company not sending me the recoil pad I wanted, I wouldn't go telling people to stay away from a company altogether. I'm sure you're putting a brake on it anyway, you could probably go without a recoil pad and it wouldn't hurt your shoulder. Unless you bought the ridgeback just for the recoil pad, and not for the fact that bergara makes great rifles that shoot really well, then I guess that's your choice to be this upset
That's just hideous and I wouldn't stand for that shit.
Life's to short to be shooting a rifle with a recoil pad you don't like. ?
Getting a sub par recoil pad was a bit upsetting. The responses from Bergara was what was really upsetting. Didn’t even attempt to make it right. I don’t expect you to get it, it didn’t happen to you. Just sharing my experience. I hope Bergara has a different approach to their next customers.
As far as your choice goes for the bergara or CA, I would think a more apples to apples comparison would be the HMR pro vs the Mesa long range. That's just my thoughts of course. The greyboe stock brings it up a notch above the CA in my opinion. I bought bergara because of the reviews regarding customer service from either company. From what I've read, Christensen Arms CS was unpleasant to deal with for quite a few people (and for actual functional issues, not recoil pads). Both are good, accurate rifles, but to me my choice was made for that reason. I still want a Christensen Arms for a hunting rifle though, I haven't completely cancelled them out
You spent way to much money if you paid $200. I realize your complaints and I’d be upsets.
I also can kind of justify they are trying to meet production they have over 10k guns on your order. Trying to fulfill all these orders and get them out. That’s one reason why they don’t shoot them (premier action) and send a card it takes too much time to do that. How do I know because I’ve been waiting on mine for months
Browning Maxus Inflex 1" Recoil Pad, Wood Stocks
Check out the deal on Browning Maxus Inflex 1" Recoil Pad, Wood Stocks at MGW
This is the recoil pad that came on my Ridgeback. It's a browning pad
I’m sorry that was just sarcasm directed at a previous post on the pad on the Ridgeback.
That ridgeback is a damn fine looking rifle. Jeez, I really wasn't considering one of those for my next, but after seeing that pic It's now in the running. I was looking at a Mesa Long Range or HMR Premier in 300prc. How well does that ridgeback shoot?
How well does that Ridgeback shoot? I'm looking at one in 300PRC. I've got a Leupold Mk5HD waiting for a rifle. Haven't gotten the rifle part figured out yet. The Ridgeback, Christiansen MPR and Mesa Long Range are the three options at this time. Thanks for your time!
Thats excellent news. I just made an offer on a Premier Ridgeback in 300PRC. Let's hope they accept it!
It shoots amazing. I cant get enough. You will love it.
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I think the tightest I measured was a .23 or something like that. Bergara claims at least a .44 MOA. That's great for me!
You weren't kidding. I seriously love the rifle. I've swapped the Grayboe stock out with a KRG Bravo, and it works a lot better for me. Gotta figure out what to do with that Grayboe now. The rifle shoots seriously well. I put 10 rounds of 212 ELD-X factory ammo into 3/4" at 100 yards.
Im considering the bergara ridgeback, when you say bergara claims at least .44 moa, where are you getting that from? And is that for all calibers?
Also, Im not sold on the medium palma barrel, I prefer heavier barrels. Do you notice your groups opening up after 10 shots, 20 shots, etc??? Thanks
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I think $2k is a tricky price point to work at. Bergara factory rifles can be pretty good, but you lack the ability to customize towards your intended purpose. $2k can buy a good custom action, stock, trigger, and a good prefit barrel for that price. Some companies are now even making shouldered prefits for certain action (Zermatt, Defiance, and Kelbly actions especially) if you don't like barrel nuts for either functional or aesthetic reasons. For the price point, I would think that having the ability to choose caliber, twist rate, and contour to suit your intended use is well worth the effort of putting in the work assembling the rifle.
The Bergara is a great rifle and if you have no desire for your own DIY custom build, it's really nice.
I will not be giving CA any money until they can iron out the QC issues that have been present on even their high end models.
They claim 1 moa. My ridge in 6.5 does that easily with cheap hornaday factory loads, and my handloads with 147 ELD-M is under .5.
I would avoid christensen. Only few I've seen locally have all had new barrels put on because several trips back to the factory they still struggled to hit 2 moa. Proof carbons on the same guns are .5 moa.
It's just a standard they claim every rifle in the premier line is capable off. They used to send out test targets but that really slows down getting them shipped out. I felt the same but I actually love the Med Palma barrel. Groups stay tight and I've had the barrel pretty hot. My Ridgeback is my favorite rifle by far.
so im assuming that you own a ridgeback and you are stating the barrel still shoots good when it is warm
Thanks, I know they offer a sub moa guarantee, but sub half minute isnt something i heard of from them.
This is the tag that comes with the premier rifles. It's an average but still less than half minute. I couldn't find my tag so I looked one up on GB.
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That's impressive. I'm still leaning towards the new Remington PCR enhanced with the 5r barrel. A lot of people shooting the 5r rifles end up getting close to a half a minute or at worst around three-quarters. That is very respectable for a factory Remington.
What is the story with aftermarket barrels for the bergara rifles? I've read that bergara will rebarrel for 500 bucks. But the heaviest barrels they have are medium palmas. If one wanted to get a heavier Barrel once the original the shot out, it would be nice to know that there are plenty of options.
From everything I've read the Bergaras are remington clones so you should be able to have any gunsmith install a Remington pattern barrel on there. I wondered the same thing when I got my Ridgeback. I don't see it getting shot out any time soon though.
i had someone on this forum tell me thats not the case. somehow the remingtoon has a flat face bolt and the bergaras are curved. Ill see if i can find his post.
That is correct, the bergara has a cone shaped bolt nose, but if a gunsmith has information on that I'm sure they could make a barrel that could work.
The Bergara Premier Ridgeback 6.5 PRC is on-sale at Cabela's/Bass Pro Shops for $1,699. Ordered mine today.
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