After shooting my B14R for a year, I have to say that I have enjoyed many hours tinkering, upgrading and shooting it.
I haven’t kept an accurate count on rounds fired but guess about 4000. After that many rounds of target velocity European ammo, it’s almost annoying to fire high velocity stuff. The 1080 FPS stuff is just fun to shoot. Very quiet and relaxing.
I originally bought the rifle to be able to shoot with my friends on a 100 yard benchrest range. I have a variety of centerfire rifles but reloading precision ammo got to be time consuming. I was doing about 40 rounds of .308 and about 60 rounds of .223 3 times a month. I work full time, mow 5 acres and have Grand kids in 2 states. I’m sure some of you can relate.
I have use of a private range 4 miles from the house that my friend kindly lets me use. I have shot everywhere from 35 to 275 yards with the Bergara. The wind is always an issue. The backstop is on the east side of property. So 7-12 mph cross wind is normal. When I see 2-4 mph on the phone app. I start getting antsy. Wife looks at me and says better get going.
I am sure this gun has improved my shooting abilities at least from a target range perspective. I shoot prone 90 % of the time now.
The gun is more accurate than I am, I am going to have to upgrade the trigger before long, as it is the least precise part of the gun and getting precision results will wear you out over a 50 to 100 round session.
My setup is a B14R steel, Leupold Vari X III 4.5 x 14, AO, target turrets with Mil dot reticle. I run turrets so Mil dot is just decorative for me. The rail is a 20MOA Leupold and scope is mounted in Vorex rings. I use a harris 6”-9” swivel bipod and some version of a sand bag or rear bag. The only other add on is a cheap ported muzzle device that I bought on eBay. I wanted the barrel a little longer and it was all I could find with the matte finish and same diameter as barrel.
Performance wise the gun has been accurate enough to keep my attention with no thoughts of any changes other than a better trigger. My scope adjustment was ok to about 250 yards before the 20 MOA rail now I think 325 is realistic, that is as far as scope adjustment goes.
I have pretty much settled on 100 yards as my standard shooting distance. With Center-X I was getting 10 shot groups right at an 1” at 100 yards. GECO Semi Auto Was more like 1.25”. My gun has done its best with Eley Edge, Match and 10x. But haven’t found my deals on it lately. I max out at $10 a box so most of my Eley purchases have been second hand stuff.
I recently went to shooting 3 shot groups at 100, I shot 5 groups on 1” orange target dots on a sheet of copy paper. It’s cheaper than 10 shot groups and occasionally if the planets seem aligned I do 5 shot groups.
I get varied groups and the point of impact changes with ammo, wind and how I hold gun. I have had groups every where from .5” to 1.5” in 5 groups at one time . I attribute this to Me, trigger quality, and wind. Occasionally I get bragging groups and sometimes after 2 rounds things are so spread out and I move to the next target. LOL
I don’t acclimate between ammo brands and the first group is usually the largest of the batch.
I know the magazine looks obnoxious, but it’s really pretty handy in practical use, easy to get in and out of gun. Loads easy, works fine, easy to field strip and blow trash out of it. Recently the mosquitoes have been bad out on my friends range and I have been wearing the thin net style hunting gloves, not as easy but no problem loading these magazines. The face mask is challenging though!!
I am a Left hand shooter and had hoped for a LH model. Now they are available I am wondering if it’s worth it to change guns. It’s a 12 pound rig , shot bench or prone. I run it right handed , I can see if the magazine still has rounds in it. So not a lot to gain for me.
As a side note. when the new BMR comes out, I will buy the first LH that comes available. 🤞 anybody listening??
2 things I don’t care for on B14 , trigger needs to be better for its intended uses. And the Match chamber won’t always let me eject loaded rounds. I am sure it aids accuracy but feel a cleaning rod is a must have at all times.
All in all the rifle is a winner in my book, serves its purpose, shoots plenty accurate for my skills, I have never felt it was holding me back accuracy wise. But it think I could improve slightly with a crisp , creep free 1 pound trigger.
Randy
Don’t know why picture is upside down.
I haven’t kept an accurate count on rounds fired but guess about 4000. After that many rounds of target velocity European ammo, it’s almost annoying to fire high velocity stuff. The 1080 FPS stuff is just fun to shoot. Very quiet and relaxing.
I originally bought the rifle to be able to shoot with my friends on a 100 yard benchrest range. I have a variety of centerfire rifles but reloading precision ammo got to be time consuming. I was doing about 40 rounds of .308 and about 60 rounds of .223 3 times a month. I work full time, mow 5 acres and have Grand kids in 2 states. I’m sure some of you can relate.
I have use of a private range 4 miles from the house that my friend kindly lets me use. I have shot everywhere from 35 to 275 yards with the Bergara. The wind is always an issue. The backstop is on the east side of property. So 7-12 mph cross wind is normal. When I see 2-4 mph on the phone app. I start getting antsy. Wife looks at me and says better get going.
I am sure this gun has improved my shooting abilities at least from a target range perspective. I shoot prone 90 % of the time now.
The gun is more accurate than I am, I am going to have to upgrade the trigger before long, as it is the least precise part of the gun and getting precision results will wear you out over a 50 to 100 round session.
My setup is a B14R steel, Leupold Vari X III 4.5 x 14, AO, target turrets with Mil dot reticle. I run turrets so Mil dot is just decorative for me. The rail is a 20MOA Leupold and scope is mounted in Vorex rings. I use a harris 6”-9” swivel bipod and some version of a sand bag or rear bag. The only other add on is a cheap ported muzzle device that I bought on eBay. I wanted the barrel a little longer and it was all I could find with the matte finish and same diameter as barrel.
Performance wise the gun has been accurate enough to keep my attention with no thoughts of any changes other than a better trigger. My scope adjustment was ok to about 250 yards before the 20 MOA rail now I think 325 is realistic, that is as far as scope adjustment goes.
I have pretty much settled on 100 yards as my standard shooting distance. With Center-X I was getting 10 shot groups right at an 1” at 100 yards. GECO Semi Auto Was more like 1.25”. My gun has done its best with Eley Edge, Match and 10x. But haven’t found my deals on it lately. I max out at $10 a box so most of my Eley purchases have been second hand stuff.
I recently went to shooting 3 shot groups at 100, I shot 5 groups on 1” orange target dots on a sheet of copy paper. It’s cheaper than 10 shot groups and occasionally if the planets seem aligned I do 5 shot groups.
I get varied groups and the point of impact changes with ammo, wind and how I hold gun. I have had groups every where from .5” to 1.5” in 5 groups at one time . I attribute this to Me, trigger quality, and wind. Occasionally I get bragging groups and sometimes after 2 rounds things are so spread out and I move to the next target. LOL
I don’t acclimate between ammo brands and the first group is usually the largest of the batch.
I know the magazine looks obnoxious, but it’s really pretty handy in practical use, easy to get in and out of gun. Loads easy, works fine, easy to field strip and blow trash out of it. Recently the mosquitoes have been bad out on my friends range and I have been wearing the thin net style hunting gloves, not as easy but no problem loading these magazines. The face mask is challenging though!!
I am a Left hand shooter and had hoped for a LH model. Now they are available I am wondering if it’s worth it to change guns. It’s a 12 pound rig , shot bench or prone. I run it right handed , I can see if the magazine still has rounds in it. So not a lot to gain for me.
As a side note. when the new BMR comes out, I will buy the first LH that comes available. 🤞 anybody listening??
2 things I don’t care for on B14 , trigger needs to be better for its intended uses. And the Match chamber won’t always let me eject loaded rounds. I am sure it aids accuracy but feel a cleaning rod is a must have at all times.
All in all the rifle is a winner in my book, serves its purpose, shoots plenty accurate for my skills, I have never felt it was holding me back accuracy wise. But it think I could improve slightly with a crisp , creep free 1 pound trigger.
Randy
Don’t know why picture is upside down.
