New member here , looking for advice on building custom hunting rifle

[Dennis5374]

Just wanna say , I love the info this forum has provided me over the last few years !

So back in may I had a lapse on my homeowners , first time in 8 years , at the request of the insurance company , they wanted to wait a few weeks till our new bedroom and closet were finished being built “our house had been under construction for the better part of a decade , and they had to make dozens of trips out every time we did something new . In any event , we had the unfortunate luck of having an electrical fire and losing everything . Among all our personal belongings , were over a dozen long guns, my compound bow 3 cross bows and easily 5 thousand dollars worth of ammunition . I lost my custom built ruger precision rifle chambered in .338 lapua mag , and topped with a sightron sv 10-50x60 optic . I managed to get one of my ar-15s out unscathed , just discolored from smoke , and my bergara b14 hunter , chambered in 6.5 creedmoor , with a vortex viper hst 4-16 optic . The bergara had suffered some serious damage unfortunately. The stock had melted towards the butt stock and up towards the hand grip . The action suffered some pitting from rust as well as the factory barrel . Amazingly , the optic survived the intense heat , and still tracked perfectly today with a bore sight and sight vise . So I sent my bergara over to my local gun shop . They went through and cleaned it up as best as they could , and installed a Remington 700 stock, which was given to me by a close friend “this is long winded ik, I’m 6 coronas deep after a long day at work “

Anyways I’d like to build this bergara into a nice long range shooter , that is very light weight for the woods .

I’m looking for recommendations on a trigger , action , and barrel , as well as a chassis/stock upgrade in the future . This rifle was shooting 3/4 moa out of the box when I purchased it @ 100 yards , but the gunsmith did say there was some pitting in the rifling that may affect consistency/accuracy . my wife agrees that I should build it into something I love , rather than start over with the factory bergara for 800 .

Any advice is appreciated and if anybody has any parts available for this used , I’m 100% interested . Thanks again and sorry for the story book ladies and gentleman . Hunting season opened last weekend and I want to get this rig perfect before I head into the woods!
Mdt hnt26 carbon chassis was one I was eyeing and like even though I feel it’s more geared towards elr/bench shooting , but as far as a lightweight barrel , trigger and action , that’s capable of long range plinking, while being suitable for hunting and compatible with the bergara in 6.5cm , I’m completely lost


Below is a picture of the Rifle after replacing the stock and cleaning it as best they could “soot/smoke/heat , is horrid on steel

 

[Hobo Hilton]

Welcome

 

[RTH1800]

Unless money is zero concern, don’t build it. Do your homework and buy it. Look in PX. You should be able to get last week’s hotness at 50c on the dollar. Except for Savage all modern actions are more than adequate for any hunting use. Don’t get caught up into “features” like quick change barrels” “prefits” etc. just get a solid rifle built by a known maker. There are dozens of great builders today.

 

[Modoc]

Sorry for your loss. BTDT.

My first question is how is the Bergara shooting? I understand the ‘smith said it “MAY” have accuracy issues, but until you put it on paper who knows. I have several sewer pipes that shoot lights out.

What are you hunting: game, distance, location, kino of hunting (blind, spot and stalk, vehicle, or?) as these will drive your choices. Do you want to rebuild this rifle for sentimental reasons, or?

If I were starting over after a catastrophic incident, and it was primarily a pure all around hunting rifle ii would be looking at either a Howa 1500 or an Aero Soulus in my preferred cartridge and put my extra money on good optics. This is coming from someone who only has two “Factory” hunting rifles, a Rem 700 Classic and a Kimber Montana all of the rest are custom. The Mrs. is using a stock 700 and Howa 1500 and Jr. has a Ruger American

The big thing comes down to what YOU want from the rifle.

 

[Dead Eye Dick]

If the fire was hot enough to melt the stock, I would be concerned about the tempering of the steel. Best go on and replace it; Lock, Stock & Barrel!

 

[bdubmkg]

Depends on the type of hunting you do. I hiked all over wyoming last winter and hiked a bunch of gear back and forth this season in Michigan. I used my bergara premier pro 6.5cm, ar10, and my m1garand. I've fully decided this year I'm going to get the bagara divide with the carbon barrel and stock. Light guns might not be fun to repeatedly shoot, but they are more fun to carry.

I agree with rth1800. You can get some great guns for a good price.

 

[XTREM HTR16]

Deer season is likely over. Wonder what the OP did?

 

[Dennis5374]

Sorry for your loss. BTDT.

My first question is how is the Bergara shooting? I understand the ‘smith said it “MAY” have accuracy issues, but until you put it on paper who knows. I have several sewer pipes that shoot lights out.

What are you hunting: game, distance, location, kino of hunting (blind, spot and stalk, vehicle, or?) as these will drive your choices. Do you want to rebuild this rifle for sentimental reasons, or?

If I were starting over after a catastrophic incident, and it was primarily a pure all around hunting rifle ii would be looking at either a Howa 1500 or an Aero Soulus in my preferred cartridge and put my extra money on good optics. This is coming from someone who only has two “Factory” hunting rifles, a Rem 700 Classic and a Kimber Montana all of the rest are custom. The Mrs. is using a stock 700 and Howa 1500 and Jr. has a Ruger American

The big thing comes down to what YOU want from the rifle.

Man I completely fell off the radar on this .

I actually took the rifle out to my rod and gun club , and with some factory federal ammo - it was shooting sub moa out to 100 yards .

Now here’s the kicker , I threw a laser bore sight in it for shits and giggles - and the bore sight hits about half way down the barrel - and puts a massive red blotch on the wall so 100% the fire warped the barrel .

I just removed it from the stock , and man it needs some love . I want to have the action blasted and checked by a quality gunsmith - maybe even blue printed , and have it rebarelled if everything comes out fine .

In the meantime , I picked up a tikka t3x in 6.5 cm , using a leupold 20 moa rail , and the viper hst 4-16x50 , and with some quality hand loads form a friend - we’re seeing .5-.75 moa from this factory rifle !! This thing is an awesome hunting rig ,my only complaint is the piss poor quality of the synthetic stock . I feel like on a cold enough day if I was to drop it on a hard surface , it would absolutely crack . Right now I’m in the market for a hunting stock/ chassis for it .

Fast forwards months from the original date of the post , and I’m now building a .300 prc .
Zermatt action , mdt oryx chassis , ftr bipod , criterion shouldered pre fit barrel , fat b@st@rd brake , with a gen II viper pst 5-25x50 ebr-4 moa optic .

I feel like a dick , losing sight of this thread - as I’ve been on here absorbing information , and searching classifieds almost daily . My apologies to anyone who took the time to reply to me , and didn’t get a response .

I also have a Remington 700 ss bdl 300 win mag , I just picked up - that has already been blue printed , has trigger work and is a great shooter as well .

I debated on throwing the 700 action in the oryx chassis for now , to see what it can do with some good hand loads .

I’m going to get pictures of the bergara action and barrel up later this afternoon . As well as my tikka and 300 win mag .

 

[Dennis5374]

Deer season is likely over. Wonder what the OP did?

I apologize . I needed up buying a tikka t3x 6.5cm , and all I can say is wow . This thing is an absolute taxi driver !! Most accurate factory rifle I’ve ever had the pleasure of shooting , with the smoothest action as well as a phenomenal trigger !

I put a long winded post above , if ya care to read this . Again I feel like a dick because I lost track of this , and I’ve been on here hundreds of times since

I’m going to post some pictures up this evening . I also scored a custom Remington 700 ss bdl in 300 win mag , that I plan to use to ring some long range steel as I build my new .300 prc

 

[Dennis5374]

Here is a picture of my tikka t3x , I harvested 2 does this season with it . I love the rifle “hate the stock” so I’m in the market this offseason for a hunting stock / chassis .

I still would like to see if the bergara is salvageable . It was still capable of moa with a warped barrel and all lol.

 

[Dennis5374]

And here is the bergara. I’d like to have it sand blasted , coated - and trued if everything checks out okay . I shot easily 50+ rounds through it , and it was still capable of putting 1 inch groups down range with a badly “curved” barrel

 

[Dennis5374]

Opposite side of bergara action