Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,789
- 6,036
My youngest son has been hunting with two rifles for a long time now, a 50 year old 6mm Remington 700 which was mine since 1974... and a 100+ year old "sporterized" Model of 1917 30-06.
Both are fine rifles and he's done well with them taking a plethora of varmints, coyotes, whitetail, mule deer and even two black bear. But... He kinda wanted something more up to date. "Dad, I want a new rifle, that I can use to take mule deer, bear and elk out to 500 yards or so." Then he hastned to add that he wouldn't likely take such a long shot on game, just that he wanted a rifle that would do the job. Well, the old 30-06 would do that just fine, but I understood the desire for a newer more up to date rifle.
He did his research and decided on a Bergara B-14 Wilderness Ridge rifle in 7mm Rem Mag.
Okay then! Why Bergara? They're known first and foremost for their quality barrels. He wanted accuracy, so starting with a good barrel seemed prudent. He also wanted an all-weather rifle, without having to worry too much about rust & such. The Bergara action & barrel is Cerakoted. It's also got a rather nice trigger and a synthetic stock. Good looking rifle, a tad on the heavy side with a barrel contour that's a little heavier than a typical sporter. Also the rifle comes with a very effective muzzle brake.
He's still shopping for a scope but we wanted to shoot the rifle so I grabbed rings & bases I had on hand, and pulled the 4.5-14x Leupold from my coyote/varmint rifle. We took it to the range yesterday for the first time. I had an assortment of 7mm Rem Mag ammo that I'd loaded over the past year or so, only 5 rounds of each, for a total of 20. We went through them all!
I say "we" because I talked him into letting me shoot the last three. He'd gone through the rest.
Bergara urges that the barrel be broken in by cleaning, firing, cleaning again. I know that's a debatable subject, but it seemed best to follow the maker's instruction. We broke it in, while also getting it zeroed at 100 yards, and getting some chronograph data. John got familiar with his new rifle as well.
The rifle was shooting 150 gr ELD-X and 150 grain CX Hornady bullets at right about 3,200 fps. The 160 grain Noslers were accurate as all get out, but my chronograph had a melt-down and I didn't get a velocity for them. Hoping that the chronograph malfunction is just temporary. I couldn't figure it out yesterday. Haven't tailored a load for it, but Bergara promises 1 MOA, and the rifle was shooting well under that, down around 1/2 MOA... I don't think accuracy is going to be an issue. I was particularly pleased that the 160 grain Nosler Partitions grouped so well, as that's a great all-around bullet for a 7mm Magnum rifle.
The high point though was the grin on my son's face. "Dad, it kicks like my little 6mm!" Yes, I'd pretty much agree with that. The 7mm Rem Mag isn't a particularly vicious kicker anyway, but this rifle produced less recoil than any 7mm Rem Mag I've ever shot. Heavier than normal barrel, a #5 contour they call it. Heavy, well proportioned stock with a good recoil pad. And that muzzle brake... Like 'em or hate 'em, a lot of rifles have muzzle brakes these days - and wow - that thing took the sting right out of shooting a magnum rifle. We know better than to shoot it without ear protection though. I suspect that someday soon he'll get a suppressor for it.
Yes, a fine afternoon at the rifle range indeed.
***Edited to add that we ended up buying a mighty fine 4.5-14x Leupold with a 30mm tube from Fotis. Thanks Fotis!
And, I helped the young fellow sight in his new rifle. Fired this group with my old scope on there. 150 gr bullets at nearly 3200 fps and great accuracy!
Regards, Guy
Both are fine rifles and he's done well with them taking a plethora of varmints, coyotes, whitetail, mule deer and even two black bear. But... He kinda wanted something more up to date. "Dad, I want a new rifle, that I can use to take mule deer, bear and elk out to 500 yards or so." Then he hastned to add that he wouldn't likely take such a long shot on game, just that he wanted a rifle that would do the job. Well, the old 30-06 would do that just fine, but I understood the desire for a newer more up to date rifle.
He did his research and decided on a Bergara B-14 Wilderness Ridge rifle in 7mm Rem Mag.
Okay then! Why Bergara? They're known first and foremost for their quality barrels. He wanted accuracy, so starting with a good barrel seemed prudent. He also wanted an all-weather rifle, without having to worry too much about rust & such. The Bergara action & barrel is Cerakoted. It's also got a rather nice trigger and a synthetic stock. Good looking rifle, a tad on the heavy side with a barrel contour that's a little heavier than a typical sporter. Also the rifle comes with a very effective muzzle brake.
He's still shopping for a scope but we wanted to shoot the rifle so I grabbed rings & bases I had on hand, and pulled the 4.5-14x Leupold from my coyote/varmint rifle. We took it to the range yesterday for the first time. I had an assortment of 7mm Rem Mag ammo that I'd loaded over the past year or so, only 5 rounds of each, for a total of 20. We went through them all!
I say "we" because I talked him into letting me shoot the last three. He'd gone through the rest.
Bergara urges that the barrel be broken in by cleaning, firing, cleaning again. I know that's a debatable subject, but it seemed best to follow the maker's instruction. We broke it in, while also getting it zeroed at 100 yards, and getting some chronograph data. John got familiar with his new rifle as well.The rifle was shooting 150 gr ELD-X and 150 grain CX Hornady bullets at right about 3,200 fps. The 160 grain Noslers were accurate as all get out, but my chronograph had a melt-down and I didn't get a velocity for them. Hoping that the chronograph malfunction is just temporary. I couldn't figure it out yesterday. Haven't tailored a load for it, but Bergara promises 1 MOA, and the rifle was shooting well under that, down around 1/2 MOA... I don't think accuracy is going to be an issue. I was particularly pleased that the 160 grain Nosler Partitions grouped so well, as that's a great all-around bullet for a 7mm Magnum rifle.
The high point though was the grin on my son's face. "Dad, it kicks like my little 6mm!" Yes, I'd pretty much agree with that. The 7mm Rem Mag isn't a particularly vicious kicker anyway, but this rifle produced less recoil than any 7mm Rem Mag I've ever shot. Heavier than normal barrel, a #5 contour they call it. Heavy, well proportioned stock with a good recoil pad. And that muzzle brake... Like 'em or hate 'em, a lot of rifles have muzzle brakes these days - and wow - that thing took the sting right out of shooting a magnum rifle. We know better than to shoot it without ear protection though. I suspect that someday soon he'll get a suppressor for it.
Yes, a fine afternoon at the rifle range indeed.
***Edited to add that we ended up buying a mighty fine 4.5-14x Leupold with a 30mm tube from Fotis. Thanks Fotis!
And, I helped the young fellow sight in his new rifle. Fired this group with my old scope on there. 150 gr bullets at nearly 3200 fps and great accuracy!
Regards, Guy
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