I'm a CZ guy... I bought a carbon BMR, not all I thought it would be, so I bought a steel... I LOVE the steel! Better groups from my 2! The steel barrel one might shoot with my 452 Varmint when she gets broken in... lol

 

Steel all the way. Why pay more for a lighter gun. I want the weight. with the B14R or BMR you can use a 700 trigger.

 

Remember "carbon" barrels are steel liners with a carbon fiber wrap around it. One famous cheap barrel maker used to take a cheap liner and MOLD plastic around it. the plastic had a pinch of CF in the plastic so they could call it a CF barrel! They were awful! Because they were injection molded they "stress relieved" with any temperature change and changed the POI.

Before you buy a CF barrel be sure to check how it is made.

 

If you need or want a lighter barrel go with the carbon fiber. That's all that it is for. It is not more accurate than a steel barrel. Personally, I think it is silly on a .22 rimfire.as the weight savings is minimal. It makes sense on big centerfire rifles you need to hike with for miles and miles, but I am unconvinced anyone really need a .22 rifle with one. But it is your money and your choice!

 

I like my BMR steel. It's accurate enough but could probably do better if I was better. If it wasn't so cold out I'd go shootin today.

 

When my B14R carbon was stock it seemed a little tail heavy. The HMR style stocks are definitely heavier than the BMR. I can't complain with the accuracy of the carbon barrel. It did have a cold bore shift that was consistent though. With Midas + and Xact I did shoot some hummer groups at 50 on occasion. I'll post three cold bore pics and then a cold bore five shot group. This was with Xact or Midas +.

Brad

 

Nice shooting . My br 14 carbon groups like that with Eley black box , don`t have any targets to show . Only bad thing I can say is ARA matches, carbon barrels are not allowed because of price difference , but you can shoot steel.

 

I have various carbon barrels from Bergara, VQ, and PWS. All are carbon wrapped, thin steel tubes and all perform admirably. For me, the choice between steel and carbon comes down to use of the rifle. For rifles meant for walking around all day and being minute-of-squirrel, youths and smaller statured adults, or fast-paced shooting sports such as steel challenge, carbon is great. For full-sized adults, range work and various other disciplines where more weight and balance forward can be an asset, steel rules.

That said, I would not kick a carbon B14r out of my safe. I would love to have a lightweight version of my steel NRL22 rig.

 

I just bought a BXR steel. The carbon version is better balanced and would be my choice for a field/hunting gun where I had to tote it around but for range work, I think the steel is the better choice. On the BXR anyway, it's slightly muzzle heavy.

 

thanks everyone. sort of agrees with my inclinations.prob go steel as weight on bags is most helpful for me. now have to decide cz457 varmint or begara BMR. any thoughts there? have a 455 that shoots very well for me. likely boils down to load and operator.

 

I own both . I had the mind set prefer heavy Steel barrels but I bought a spring field Waypoint ,Carbon stock and barrel it weighs about 1/2 of my Seekins havak , both in 6.5 creedmoor they both shoot lights out . I would say it depends on do you prefer a heavy or light rifle both guns will shoot 1/4” @ 100 yards so both are very accurate

 

I use my bergara bmr for groundhogs. I really didn't have any interest in it being particularly light. For walking varmint gun I'll use either tikka or steyr. They are both lighter and for some reason I find the tikka more maneuverable. Steyr is very light with lighter optic maybe 6# and change. Steel barrel is fine for my purposes. All 17hmr.

 

I have B14Rs in both Carbon and steel, shooting wise I see very little difference, other than the additional 1# for the steel version