I retired my CTR, second year in a row I didn't kill my buck with it opting for the lighter, easier to handle Tikka RoughTek in 7mm Rem Mag. I'll always have 2 .308's in my line up so the search was on. Enter a hunting partner with a Bergara that I really liked the feel, weight and handling characteristics of. I also noticed he center punched the dot on the zero check camp target.

Scheels is close and has a great selection of Bergara's . I bought the Wilderness Ridge. 22" barrel, cerakoted barrel and action, hinged floor plate, nice camo pattern on a stock with a grippy texture, 2.5 lb trigger I may not adjust for $850.00 It also came with a muzzle brake I took off and replaced with the supplied thread protector.

I always have my ears up on what other hunters say about accuracy and have never heard anything negative on Bergara. We'll see.

Same here.

Who has one? I have a few questions. Thanks.

I have owned a Bergara B-14 HMR in 308 for about two years now, and have shot out to 325 yrds consistently at the range I go to. I have never had any issues with my rifle; it's been a dream to shoot every time I bring it out. If I can, I'd be happy to answer questions.

I have a Begara in .308. It’s a very well made gun.


However, the first load I tried ( Fiocchi SST 150 grain ) thru bullets all over the paper. Thr load I got next was 165 grain hornady CTX outfitter and they will shoot about a 2” group.

Just bought some 165 grain core lokts and are gonna give them a go.

is yours the one with the adjustable cheekpiece and a more vertical grip? These guns are shooters for sure.

No, I have the Ridge West River.

2" is troublesome. Definitely not what I'm used to with Tikka. I'm getting some ammo recommendations. I'll of course start with what I have been using with great results for the last 7 years, Hornady Superformance, SST, 165 gr.

Thanks for the reply.

I would try Federal Fusions or the newer Tipped Federal Fusions. Federal has always shot well for me in various 308s before I started reloading.

If the Bergara won’t shoot, just bring the CTR out of retirement.

Bergara also has a list of recommended ammo, I've got the link below:

https://www.bergara.online/us/accuracy-testing/?_gl=1*11suwfh*_up*MQ..*_ga*OTA3MTgyODQxLjE3MzMwNjcxNzg.*_ga_ABCDEFG*MTczMzA2NzE3Ny4xLjAuMTczMzA2NzE3Ny4wLjAuMA..*_ga_H7XCS306WN*MTczMzA2NzE3Ny4xLjAuMTczMzA2NzE3Ny4wLjAuMA..

I have had best results (for .308) with Federal Fusion and Federal premium gold medal match, with165gr and 168gr respectively.

I’m gonna try a few more brands.

Only rifle I’ve seen this finicky was my wife’s weatherby. Would throw Nosler copper bullets all over the board. Puts accubonds into tiny clover leafs

I have a ridge in 6.5 and 308. Both are shooters and like the Barnes TTSX. Haven’t had to do anything to them, and honestly with how they shoot, I don’t plan to.

My premier in 300 prc has also produced less than stellar results with numerous loads. I’m debating reaching out to factory support.

I don’t shoot factory ammo but if I did I would start with Hornady Precision Hunter. Only Bergara I’ve shot was a Crest in 7 PRC and it shot that ammo sub MOA.

I think I’ve tried five kinds of factory ammo, and even swapped scopes. The rifle is a problem child. We’ll see what we see. I’ve got a Horizon .300 WM with no such difficulties.

I’ll try two more loads before I send it off

When I see reports that these rifles won’t shoot, I get fairly skeptical after many lessons learned on an ultralight rifle..

A couple of questions to ask yourselves as you go down the path: Realisticallu what accuracy are you capable of and what’s your goal for the rig? What is your rest setup? Start with a truly clean bore free of all copper? Was rifle balanced in the rest setup so recoil is directed correctly? What external pressures did you place on the gun with your hands and face? Were these pressures consistent? How even and consistent is trigger press? Did you flinch through trigger pull or keep eyes on target as rifle recoiled? What was your breathing pattern like?

OP - I’m shooting the 130gr Barnes VORTX with one ragged hole results. They’re 15% off right now on Midway.

Spot on. Thanks.

I’m fairly certain TxTrophy 85 and syncerus know how to shoot.

I wouldn’t know if they can or cannot and wasn’t implying either way. I appreciate their feedback. Augustus is providing a check list to me should I have issues.

Following this thread for results as I'm a huge Bergara fan.

My guess is it will shoot just fine. Most 308s are not picky on ammo. Dare I say “inherently accurate?” Look forward to seeing you post some good groups.

I have a Bergara BXR. It’s a 10/22 clone and I love it. Shoots great.

100% you have to look at all factors when making a determination on a rifle.

I’m a fair shot off a bench. Better than average but not “great”. I’ll have a flier about every 4th shot or so that is 100% caused by me.

But this is 100% the bullet and the gun not getting along.


I’m a big fan of the rifle though. Am gonna buy one in a left handed action for my truck gun. They are solid little rigs

That’s really weird it just won’t shoot. Is the bedding okay or stock pressing on barrel somewhere after the first shot or two?

4th shot flier is due to barrel heat.

I'm 100% sure about that.

The reason for heavy contour barrels is to tolerate excessive shot strings. Thin barreled hunting rifles are for being light weight, to carry a whole lot, and shoot one, maybe two shots. Asking a hunting rifle barrel contour to tolerate more than 3 consecutive shots is a fool's errand.

4th shot flyer is just due to me being fidgety.

I wait 5-10 min between rounds

Flier can be on the 2nd, 3rd or 5th round.

It’s never the first oddly enough.

I should have said 1 in every 4 shots will be a flier.

I have owned 3 Bergara’s two left handed and one righty. All started out as 6.5 Creedmoors and two still are. Shot the barrel out of the first one and now it’s a 6GT in a MDT chassis.
It started out as a B14 HMR but now it looks like this. Oh and the new barrel is a Bergara factory and shoots great. Built it for a PRS practice rifle.

Had 3 of them out at my place with different shooters. They'll consistently almost hang with my Tikka. Only guns I've had out to my place that I can say that about. Fantastic value for the B14 HMR considering the quality of the stock, trigger, action, and barrel. If I wasn't already in the Tikka game, I'd probably go that direction.

I went to the range over the break and chatting with a guy who was shooting a Bergara. 7-08 but not sure of the exact model. The barrel was certainly slightly thicker than a hunting profile. He was complaining about not getting the accuracy he was looking for. Then i went down to the target and saw he was getting something like 0.75"-1.5" over several different factory and hand loads. I was thinking, not bad at all. This guy just had higher expectations.

We'll see. Going to shoot it this weekend at the lease.

I shopped the HMR against the CTR when I was looking for a LR rig. Ton of value in the Bergara HMR, but since I wanted to hunt with it as well, I went with the CTR and the roughly 1lb less weight. I'd also heard a few negative rumblings about the HMR accuracy, and never heard similar about the Tikka. I made the right choice for my use.

But Bergara makes a nice rifle. It would probably be 2nd on my list of sub-$1500 rifles if I was looking for a new one. Most of them shoot; from friends, it typically takes a handload and some work to really make them shine. My best friend's son bought one in .300WM and is piling up the trophies, including a nilgai.

The CTR is a great rifle. I killed a truck load of stuff with mine, some of it way out there, banged steel and really enjoyed hunting with it. I shot it twice at the hunters challenge.
When I was looking for another .308 to replace it I almost bought a T3 lite, a Bell and Carlson Medalist Stock and bottom metal from High Desert Rifle Works. I did this on my 6.5 Creedmoor and it turned out great, a rifle lighter than the CTR that shot equally well.
Or, buy the Bergara in a stock I liked and hope it shot as well. It was $850.00. To get a Tikka to a point I'd be happy with it I'd be in for about $1250.00.

Yeah that's the deal with Bergara. It's 99% the performance of a Tikka for 70%-80% of the price. It's a smart choice. I was iffy on it til I saw several in person, and they all shot great.

I couldn't help myself. Took it to an indoor range and shot the ammo I had, Hornady SST, 165 gr. I had mounted and bore sighted the Burris Signature HD 3-15 x44 I had on another rifle. 2 shots at 25 and I went to 100 yards. So far so good, I only shot 7 total rounds and left with it perfect on windage and about 1" high. I never shot more than 2 rounds without making an adjustment or moving to another POA and those were tight, .5-.75".

Not sure how much time I'll have to shoot it at the lease where I can go some distance this weekend. Gonna rain. I'll hog hunt with it for sure. I really liked the trigger, very smooth. I shot it off of a bipod with a rear bag.

Good looking rifle. Can’t wait to see results this weekend.

Same here....nice rig!

This could be the start of a beautiful relationship. Hog was from the Bogpod, 165 yards, DRT with perfect shot placement. Coyote was 110 yards, rested on the bottom half of Ranger windshield as he was quick stepping almost over the crest of the road. Rifle is handy as hell, perfect length and grippy stock is really nice.

Nice shooting, and nice job on the vermin!

Nice boar. Glad it’s a shooter.

Still working on rifle. Those shots on game were about # 9 & 10 down the barrel. Went to camp and shot for groups and it opened up a little. I never went through a break in period with the last three new rifles (Tikka's) but this Bergara calls for it and sure enough it did open up a little. I'll go through their recommended process. Just cleaned, I'll give it another range session. It's a really great hunting rifle so far.

I could shoot several hogs a day. If I target only big boars it makes it a little more sporting and rewarding. There's something satisfying about putting one of these big ugly mean looking suckers on the ground. That 165 gr. SST bullet gets there quick and puts them on the ground right there every time.

He definitely has the Euro look to him. Looks heavy too. I shot one that size and two us could barely drag it. Mine was covered in mud to it was really hard to get a grip.

I've shot a dozen or more of this variety. This one was prolly #1 all time in size for me up there.

Glad to see the positive results and success in the field!

Just cleaned barrel and had a range session. Right now it's a solid .800" rifle. Hope it gets better. It hunts fine.

Good stuff sir

So I'm still bonding with this rifle. Hunted it again and did alright on a good hog, but missed a coyote. I wanted to put five shots through it so went to camp to shoot a 3 shot group. The first shot was high, like almost 3". I didn't have the shooting bench in camp so I was shooting off of a low folding table. Also, on the coyote I had to get prone quick and was actually on a decline with the rifle on a downward slope. Hmmm. Rifle is a little finicky when I put a little too much weight with my face on the stock. Next two shots were right where they belonged when I made contact with my cheek weld, but didn't totally rest on it. I can see how bearing down on the rear of the stock could push the bore up, but almost 3" seems too much.

I'm a little late to this thread. I'm shocked that you have retired the CTR! You've always been very high on the Tikka CTR, so I am surprised.

My experience with Bergara has been mixed. I bought a b14 hunter years ago in 6.5CM. Could not get the damn thing to shoot well at all. With handloads, I was only able to get it down to just over 1MOA. Most groups were 1.5, with some upwards of 3MOA+. I traded that rifle to 603country, and he told me that he was able to get it to shoot very well...but he was loading 120 grain bullets (maybe 130?) and I was loading 143. That rifle just did not like the heavier bullets for some reason. I have two buddies that have Bergara rifles. Both HMR's. Both of them shoot lights out with Hornady premier hunter ammo.

Interested to see where this one ends up for you as I do like the barrel profile of the Ridge. It seems almost as heavy of a profile as the CTR, correct?

IMO the CTR is a more accurate rifle than the Bergara. But, all features considered, the Bergara is a better "hunting" rifle for my needs. I have an extremely accurate Tikka Roughtek in 7mm Rem Mag that I now whitetail hunt with. I started having accuracy issues with my CTR after 8 years of hunting and many, many steel ringing trips.

The barrel contour on the Bergara is B5, I think. It's a lighter rifle and lighter barrel contour is most of that I'd assume.

Nice looking rig!

I have a Bergar HMR in .308 and a Tikka in 7mm-08. Love them both and use for different situations. Tikka, Bergara, and Ruger are the only rifles I recommend anymore.

My Bergara shoots a little over .5 MOA at 100 yards if I do my part with factory ammo. Smooth action, reliable, and accurate. Plus, a Rem700 footprint. Bergara has a good thing going on.

How many rounds? Over 1500? Maybe you need to replace the barrel?

About that many.

Both of my B-14 Ridges (7-08 and 30-06) shoot around .5 MOA with my hand loads. I did upgrade both of the triggers to Geissele Super 700 triggers, but the stock one is great.

I traded for a HMR in 6.5 creed. Put a NF SHV 4-14x on it. Factory ammo, it wouldn’t shoot 143eldx for crap but shoots Norma 140 extremely well. Been very happy with it and think I came out on the better end of the trade. It’s not a dedicated LR setup, but every time I’m headed to the blind it gets the nod over several other 308’s. It fills the gap between sporter weight hunting rifles and lugging a LR type rig around. Stock is solid, trigger is great, action is smooth.