I acquired a Bergara B-14R the other day. I'd planned on just getting a barrelled action and out it in the Hogue overmolded stock I took off a Remington 700 Tactical.
But then I considered why I took that stock off in the first place. The bedding block Hogue stocks are fine, but their pillar bedded stocks are way too flexible in the forend. So I coughed up another $300 to get one in Bergara's HMR stock.
Reports on Bergara B-14R accuracy are spotty. Some folks report excellent accuracy and others get mediocre accuracy.
I took a few shots to bore sight the scope at 50 yards, and the shot a 5 shot group in the .3-.4" range despite the variable wind and figured it was going to shoot just fine. I shot about 100 rounds or so at 50 yards on paper and on 6" plates at 200 yards, before I took a break for dinner. Despite the winds
Subjectively, it's a heavy rifle. I have not weighed it yet, but I'm guessing it's in the 12 pound range with the optic attached.
It feels very similar to my Rem 700 and my Bergara B-14 BMP, which isn't a surprise as it's also a Rem 700 based action and uses Rem 700 style detachable magazine stocks.
The HMR stock fits well and the adjustable cheek rest is easy to use, and the stock offers the ability to shorten the length of pull.
The trigger is excellent, very crisp and around 2.5 pounds. A couple of the reviews I read prior to buying one blamed less than stellar accuracy on the trigger, and one of them indicated he was replacing it with a 4 oz Jewell trigger. If you need a 4 oz trigger to shoot decent groups with a 12 pound rifle, you have a *serious* skills deficiency. It's an excellent trigger with no creep and a very crisp break. In addition, if it's like the Bergara trigger on my BMP it can be adjusted down to around 1.5 pounds.
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After dinner the winds had calmed down slightly, so I shot 10 consecutive 5 shot groups using SK Standard Plus, best to worst:
.267" (.51 MOA)
.280" (.53 MOA)
.297" (.57 MOA)
.335" (.64 MOA)
.347" (.66 MOA)
.419" (.80 MOA)
.491" (.94 MOA)
.587" (1.1 MOA)
The two worst groups had uncalled fliers in them, and 2 fliers in a box of 50 is the norm for SK Standard Plus:
.671" (1.3 MOA)
.688" (1.3 MOA)
However, with the flier excluded the two groups were:
.322" (.61 MOA)
.413" (.79 MOA)
The average of the 10 groups at 50 yard then with the fliers was .438" (.84 MOA). The average with the 2 fliers excluded was .376" (.72 MOA).
That's not bad accuracy at 50 yards outdoors, with a fishtail wind and mid grade ammo like SK Standard Plus.
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I also shot my CZ 455 Tacticool Varmint, which is the most accurate and consistent of the three CZ .22LRs I own, for comparison purposes.
The CZ 455 averaged around 1 MOA under the same slightly fishtail wind conditions. It was a great comparison as well as the Boyd stocked CZ 455 Tacticool Varmint was one of CZ's tactical trainers at the time (alongside the Manners stocked version), the same basic role the B-14R covers.
Comparing the two, the Bergara trigger is notably superior to the trigger on the CZ 455. The CZ 455 is also an adult sized .22 LR, but the B-14R has the same weight and feel as a centerfire precision rifle.
The bolt is a hybrid. The aft half is a fairly normal Bergara centerfire bolt and contains the locking lugs, while the forward portion of the bolt slides in the receiver and doesn't rotate, similar the 2 piece bolt on the 77/22, but much heavier.
The bolt face has dual extractors and is a controlled feed design, picking the round up in the magazine and taking it straight into the chamber.
The bolt could be shimmed, like a 77/22 bolt, but based on the resistance on closing I didn't detect any excess headspace or need for a shim between the two parts of the bolt (using both SK Standard Plus and CCI Standard Velocity).
Long story short, it feels, opens, and closes much like a centerfire bolt, but with a much shorter stroke. Still, it's much more like a centerfire bolt than the bolt on the CZ 452/453/455 series rifles.
The magazine has the same overall shape as the centerfire B-14 rifles, but with an extension in the front portion of the magazine that holds the 10 .22 LR rounds.
The two rifles take different approaches with the B-14R using a heavy 18" barrel, while the CZ 455 Tacticool Varmint uses a 24" barrel with a slimmer (but still heavy for a .22 LR) profile. The difference in barrel length and velocity equated to 1 MOA at 200 yards. (26 MOA up from the 50 yard zero for the CZ 455 with it's slightly higher muzzle velocity, and 27 MOA for the B-14R.)
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I also shot a couple hundred rounds of CCI Standard Velocity through the B-14R. Accuracy wise it lags behind Sk Standard Plus by about .25 MOA, but still shoots right around 1 MOA. At 200 yards on steel plates, where atmospherics add more variables, it was also still hitting steel plates 100% of the time - at about half the cost of SK Standard Plus.
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Comparing the two head to head, the B-14R shoots slightly better, and feels a lot more like a centerfire rifle.
However, to be fair the CZ 455 Tacticool was a $450 rifle and it has a $200 Vortex Diamond back scope on it (a scope that really isn't all that great a scope).
The B-14R is a $950 rifle with a $700 scope on it, a scope that offers pretty decent bang for the buck.
So it's a $650 rifle and scope against a $1650 rifle and scope. The B-14R shoots better in terms of accuracy, consistency and subjective feel - but it's hard to argue that it shoots $1000 better than the CZ.
Still, it's my new favorite long range .22 LR and it is a superb rifle to shoot. The adjustment range on the Vortex Viper 6-24 HS-T isn't great (65 advertised and 69 actual), but mounted on a 30 MOA rail and zeroed at 50 yards it still has 58 MOA of adjustment left, enough to reach out to 345 yards with the dope on the scope, and another 30 MOA in the reticle would let it shoot to 450 yards - 150 yards farther than I plan to use it.
Bergara B-14R first range trip and accuracy report
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