[ZMan57]

Thanks! I happen to have both SK SP and RWS RM in my rimfire ammo “hoard”, and will try them first when the rifle arrives-hopefully next week.

I also want to join Gerald in “maligning” the Tikka T1X stock, mostly “on principle” - for being a Tupperware (IM polymer) stock, but also for its LOP which, even with the T3 buttpad was still inadequate for me.

Along with the recoil pad I also bought the “snap on” “pistol grip” and “beaver tail” forend, only because the ETA on the Oryx was initially stated at 6 weeks, and I was being impatient trying to make the stock “better”.
The chassis ended up arriving in a week, so it was just a waste of money, the mods “helped” little and made the rifle look weird.

Of course I’m not trying to disrespect anybody’s rifle, just stating my opinion- having so many ways of adapting our rifles to our preferences is one of the things that make our hobby so rewarding.

 

[gmd1950]

I went the add-on route too, stock sits in a corner of my office gathering dust...just didn't work for me...glad it does for others.

 

[tbates66]

I have a BXR which has the same stock as the BMR. I like it a lot, both rugged and attractive.

 

[student69]

After reading a bunch of apparently misguided reviews, a buddy purchased a bmr. I have a T1X. He brought the bmr over, I mounted a scope, and we spent the afternoon shooting. We both expected more based on the reviews. The bmr quality is NOT in the same league as the T1X. The bmr stock is NOT stiffer, the bmr accuracy is NOT better, the bmr machining is NOT even close, the bmr trigger is NOT as nice. Everything about the bmr is sub par to the T1X, most notably the hideous bolt/receiver relationship. Maybe he got a lemon but I stopped at the local sportsman warehouse and they had one in the rack... the action was just as ugly as his so...??

 

[DaveInDenver]

After reading a bunch of apparently misguided reviews, a buddy purchased a bmr. I have a T1X. He brought the bmr over, I mounted a scope, and we spent the afternoon shooting. We both expected more based on the reviews. The bmr quality is NOT in the same league as the T1X. The bmr stock is NOT stiffer, the bmr accuracy is NOT better, the bmr machining is NOT even close, the bmr trigger is NOT as nice. Everything about the bmr is sub par to the T1X, most notably the hideous bolt/receiver relationship. Maybe he got a lemon but I stopped at the local sportsman warehouse and they had one in the rack... the action was just as ugly as his so...??

THX for on the side by side comparison info!!!

 

[Nomosendero]

While I don't have a Bergara stock to compare with, the Tikka stock isn't that bad. Not a fan of injected molded stocks, but the Tikka is better than most. Fairly stiff, has the interchangeable modular pieces, didn't feel a need to immediately swap it out.

Another reason I left it on there is how well the rifle shot. After purchasing, gave it a good cleaning, adjusted the trigger, threw a vertical grip on it and went to the range. My T1x is in .17 HMR and sub MOA with everything, especially likes the TNT load.

I am sure the Bergara is nice, but I am good.

Same herem my 17HMR is the most accurate 17 I have ever fired and the Bergara may doas well but I doubt it would beat it.

 

[ZMan57]

For those of you that have both, my Tikka T1x has a pretty smooth bolt and a very crisp trigger. How does the Bergara compare.

In those 2 particular areas - unfavorably, I'm describing the trigger below, and the bolt is coated, not bare polished steel, and initially feels downright rough, but it has smoothed out enough in just 2 shooting sessions to where eventually one may learn to love it.

I've been out with my BMR twice now, for a total of... ~250 rounds, and have this to say:

There are 2 features of this rifle that, unless countermeasures are taken, will prevent most shooters - myself included - from tapping into its full accuracy potential.
...everyone put a big "IMO" in front of every statement, unless it contains a number - then it could be a "fact"

1. Trigger.

Mine adjusted down to 2.5 lbs, which is consistent with what I saw shooters post elsewhere. Sadly, it was also somewhat scratchy.

To me 2.5 lbs is not an acceptable precision trigger, but fortunately I had a Jewell in need of a home, which dropped right in, and produced a crisp ~7 oz pull, so my shooting results were not negatively affected by that deficiency

While an unmodified OEM Tikka trigger is still pushing 2 lbs, you're only a few dollars away from a sub-1lb trigger - both of mine break at ~12 oz - since very easily replaceable aftermarket trigger springs are widely available.

With Bergara, at this point and to my knowledge, this cost-effective option doesn't exist, and to make the trigger what it should be you need to shell out ~$250 for a Jewell, Timney HIT, etc.

2. Weight of the rifle.

BMR weighs only 5 lbs, which, at least for me, makes stabilizing it a challenge.
The narrow round profile - as opposed to the beavertail profile - of the forend doesn't help either, but that's what you also get with the Tikka.

My plan is to fill the pockets in the forend of the stock with steel BBs - I wish I had some larger lead shot, since lead is almost 50% heavier than steel - and pour some epoxy over them.
To balance the rifle, I'll put an AR lead wedge into the buttstock - if it fits, if not I'll do... something else, not sure what yet

Now, as far as the stiffness of the stock is concerned, it probably is less stiff than Tikka's, since the walls of the forend are thinner, but most likely it's still stiff enough not to hurt accuracy.
However, I wouldn't advise anyone to step on the buttstock - the outcome may not be much different from stepping on an empty plastic jug, the buttstock walls are super thin.

To my knowledge at this time there are no aftermarket stock or chassis options for the BMR...

Certain elements of the stock, however, are superior to Tikka's:

The action is pillar-bedded, using full length (bottom to top) embedded aluminum pillars.
Whether it makes a difference or not, Tikka lacks pillar bedding.

And while the bottom metal is, as you'd expect, plastic, there are 2 metal bushings that prevent crushing of the "BM" by torquing down the action.

While being a Tupperware (plastic IM) stock at heart - just like the Tikka, unlike Tikka stock BMR stock is fairly attractive, mostly through the use of treachery such as well-chosen color scheme and some texture.

On to the shooting results...

Out of a total 15 or so groups, only couple-three were decisively sub-MOA, there rest were... not , but I blame mostly myself - shooting at 50 yds and at 36X made me very aware of my difficulties in fully stabilizing this rifle, the target dot was very seldom fully motionless.

Do I regret buying it?...

No - I have an action plan, with the easy part of it already carried out, to help me access this rifle's full accuracy potential, which I suspect is considerable.

Do I recommend this rifle over Tikka?

No again, I have 2 Tikkas, 22 lr and 17 HMR, and I was more effective with both of them still in their original stocks - before the actions were relocated to the Oryx and KRG Bravo chassis, and with the original springs adjusted all the way down - before the springs were replaced.

IMO, in the BMR Bergara made a fantastic walkabout bolt gun, one would be hard-pressed to top it for capping, say, squirrels off-hand, but the company made one "mistake" - they put a match chamber in it, which attracted attention of precision shooters, some of whom will complain about this rifle not being what it was never meant to be - Bergara clearly advertises the BMR as a sporter.

I'll report back on the shooting results after modding the stock - we'll see if my optimism regarding making the stock (much) heavier improving my accuracy with the rifle is warranted.

Oh, yeah - Happy New Year everyone!

 

[ScoobyDoo]

This is great information! Thankyou, keep it coming.

ZMan57, I look forward to the updates.

 

[reb henderson]

I own them both and like them both. They are two different birds. Both shoot really well but the real difference is in the weight. My rifles are used almost exclusively for squirrel hunting. The Tikka is heavier but not excessively heavy while the Bergara is very light. The Tikka feels better if you can measure something like that. Just enough weight to make it feel like a real rifle. However, you can carry the Bergara all day and not notice it. I am left handed and carry the rifle on my left shoulder. The annoying thing about the Bergara is that I am constantly knocking the bolt handle up when carrying. It is easy to do. The Tikka on the other hand, locks the bolt when on safety. A minor difference to many but a big one to a lefty. Unfortunatley, I havent been able to get hold of a left handed Tikka 22 yet. I would mention my Christensen Arms, but don't want to get that stirred up. Let me put it this way, if you could put a stock that balances like the Christensen Arms stock on the Bergara, you would have the perfect walking around squirrel rifle. Hope that hasnt confused you too much. Both great rifles. I also need to mention, I have the Bergara with the carbon fiber barrel.

 

[reb henderson]

I have a T1x in .17hmr that I restocked as the factory stock was a bit flimsy, it's a good shooter with a factory trigger that goes down to about 2lbs. but with a spring change can go lower. Just got a BMR in .22 lr and the stock is much better than the Tikka factory stock, rifle has a true match chamber and with a 4-40 tap and set screw the trigger can go down to 6 oz. if desired, mine is now set at 1lb.

Dead stock I'd go for the BMR every time, with a bit of tinkering they're very close but the tinkering for the Tikka includes a $300 stock replacement so for me at least the BMR wins.

for $800 or

for $500

Scope has been swapped out on the BMR since these photos.

Both rifles will shoot in the .3's with ammo they like, so considering the difference in caliber accuracy is a wash. Don't think you'd regret buying either. YMMV and all that.

What stock do you have on your Tikka?

 

[gmd1950]

Bell & Carlson

http://www.bellandcarlson.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=1147

It's considerably heavier than stock but I really like the feel.

 

[RGSIII]

Gerald, What scope did you in up using with the BMR? Is it a 30 mm tube and have you had any trouble with the 30 MOA rail? Thanks

 

[gmd1950]

Gerald, What scope did you in up using with the BMR? Is it a 30 mm tube and have you had any trouble with the 30 MOA rail? Thanks

For now a Athlon Talos 4-16x 1 inch tube, no problem with the 30 MOA rail at all.

 

[cznut]

Actually for shooting unsupported I like a little more weight out front. It's personal preference IMO. However, I will say that I've held my T1X offhand many times and I considered it to be pretty well balanced. I never thought it felt front heavy. It's a different stock now so I can't check again

I've not handled a BMR yet but given how light it is I find it hard to believe it would be a better choice for offhand unless it's a squirrel gun that you'll be carrying all day. Then the light weight definitely is an advantage

I agree with PW........I havent personnaly fired a BMR but I have a close shooting buddy who has both the BMR and T1X, he says his T1X has the edge in the accuracy dept using several match ammos, although this is only 1 sample of each.

 

[ZMan57]

This is the followup on my Bergara BMR project, where the goal was to increase rifle's weight in order to help stabilize it, and get better accuracy out of it.

I was actually able to find some lead shot - I robbed an old Caldwell bag for one of their rests of 1 lb 10 oz of it (that's how much would fit) and poured it into the compartments in the forend, and then poured some Z-Poxy, stained with black powdered paint, over that.
This process was very tedious - I kept coming back, probably 6 times total, with more Z-Poxy as it kept seeping in between the pellets, creating little surface bubbles I kept popping.
When I do it again (more about that later), I'll use a little less per compartment.

Overall, though, this part of the project turned out a lot nicer than I expected, and certainly nicer than it should have, since up until that point I was only vaguely aware of the existence of epoxy, and mostly as something to be given a wide berth on the account of its unpredictability and difficulty of removing.

Unfortunately all this tediousness has apparently exhausted my commitment to doing quality work, because to rebalance the rifle I just poured 1 lb 10 oz (simply same amount of weight I added to the forend) into a Ziploc bag, stuffed it into the buttstock and topped it off with a couple of sections of a paper towel for a snug fit - I wish I was making this up, but even this atrocity worked out pretty well, you can only hear the shot making a racket when you bump the buttstock on a very hard surface, and like you mean it.

Of course by now I have a fair amount of ego invested in the project and I really want the rifle to do well, so I topped it off with a Nightforce Precision Benchrest (12-42 x 56 mm), but this choice may have possibly held me back instead, because in order to accommodate the 56 mm objective I had to use high rings, which did 2 things, both of them bad:

* It made my cheekweld into more of a chinweldpotentially interfering with the consistency of my shooting and with the final accuracy test results.
* The high rings combined with the 30 MOA rail made it impossible to zero the rifle at 50 yards - I ran out of adjustment, and by quite a bit - around 5 inches, so I'm joining Doug from a different recent thread in protesting against Bergara not offering a 0 MOA - or at least "less than 30 MOA" - rail.
EGW rail is $70 AND out of stock, but, thanks to Doug the Warne bases are on the way:t
However, until they arrive, I'm going to install a different scope - Bushnell Engage 6-24 x 50 mm, which will install with medium rings.
BTW, this scope, despite being a "cheap" China scope, imo punches way above its weight/cost, at least for short range rimfire applications.
A little over a year ago I picked up 2 of them for $299 each on Midway, now they're almost $500 and not readily available....

If you've read this far, you're probably way past ready to hear the accuracy results, and, in absolute terms they are good, but not great, while representing a huge improvement over what I was able to accomplish without making the rifle heavier - the scoped rifle right now is heavier than the original sin at 11.4 lbs, just the way I wanted.
The average of 5 5-shot groups was .39", with the worst one at .50" and with 3 groups in the 3s, and there even was one .15 3-shot group, but during warmup, so it's excluded from the average.

Conditions in my favor were the almost complete lack of wind, something very rare in the "winter" in Florida.

What could have held me back?..
The stockweld, and still the relative freshness of the bore - under 500 rds., with almost all lubed bullets, so whatever break-in needs/can take place, hasn't yet.
Also, towards the end of the session it started to get dark.

None of the above - imo/so far - changes Bergara BMR's position v. Tikka T1X MTR, btw.
The stock mods, which were clearly necessary for me to get decent accuracy results can't really be recommended, unless you're not going to sell the rifle, or are at peace with the prospect of having to sell it at a deep discount.
Be that is it very well may my experience with Bergara BMR influenced me to get the BXR from Buds ($549) - both Buds and Grabagun had them in stock yesterday, they're both sold out now.
The stock on the BXR looks to be the same type as BMR's stock - basically a premium Tupperware stock, and I'll almost certainly also increase its weight, the same way.

...I'll probably come back with more, particularly if my accuracy with the BMR continues to improve