B-14 Heavy Barreled Action

[LuckyDuck]

Howdy Rimfire peeps-

I was hoping to drop a quick inquiry about the Bergara B-14 Heavy Barreled Action and what the collective experience has been thus far outside of the other postings of experimenting with it. Just to explain my expectations- I've been playing around with NRL22 matches for the past 4 years using a Ruger 10/22 Target model with a Vortex Diamondback Tactical 6-24x50 scope and have had varying results but nothing egregious. Last year I purchased a Kidd Supergrade around January and added an Athlon Cronos BTR GEN 2 Scope in May during a Memorial Day sale. I just got the scope mounted to the rifle last weekend and am hoping to try to put that combo through its paces next Sunday.

Back to the Bergara- I can't help but feel an attraction to this as a bolt action product/possible trainer and was hoping folks here could share their experiences. I can't imagine that the heavier barrel profile provides much more benefit with a 22LR cartridge as compared to their standard barrel profile other than weight/balance but am open to hearing any opinions to the contrary if I'm mistaken in that. Aside from that, is there a general consensus/opinion on what the proper chassis/stock is to mount that action on?

Competitions around here are actually rather prolific- the NRL22 matches are mostly monthly with my initial shooting crew- MARS matches used to be pretty big around here in the area but PRS22 matches seem to be slowly taking more and more ground in that regard.

Anywho- all that to say with someone that has a Kidd SuperGrade to run through its paces this year, is there any value in purchasing the Bergara B-14 Heavy Barreled Action as compared to their standard 22LR barreled action from an accuracy/balance standpoint? Any recommendations from the Hide on stocks/chassis/scopes from what I'm figuring out?

I've been playing phone/email tag with A&J over the past week and am planning on calling them back this week to provide my own questions to them but just wanted to see what the Hide thought ahead of time is all.

-LD

 

[DFOOSKING]

I have a post in a b14r thread...scroll almost to the bottom.

Bergara b-14r pic thread

I was leaning toward a Bravo, but decided to turn my B14R into a clone of my precision centerfire. I bought a used AICS chassis from a member here and it arrived on Saturday. The Viperskins (to delete the thumbhole) are supposed to be here today. Can't wait to shoot it in the new...

www.snipershide.com

 

[LuckyDuck]

Thank you for pointing me to your post. Can't say that I'm surprised that you didn't notice any noticeable accuracy improvements with the heavier profile given that the cartridge but it does look sharp in the KRG Bravo Chassis and aside from the cold bore shot you mentioned, seems to be putting out nice groups.

 

[P35]

I have both the 18" steel HMR and the 20" barreled action in an MDT XRS chassis. They are both tack drivers but I would give just a slight edge to the 20" barreled action. Is it worth the difference in price, IMHO no. If you want the weight and heavier barrel then it's worth the extra money.

 

[LuckyDuck]

P35- Greatly appreciate your commentary/comparison. I recently got off the phone with Aaron from A&J today and he did give me his permission to post the following- First off- he seemed like one heck of a guy- I didn't get a single 'tingle' of concern from talking with him. He's a straight shooter and when I asked about the "B-14R Holiday Bundle" he told me that A&J would honor that commitment for one more month after things get worked out on their end. The issue that they're working through is for the Fed's to renew their FFL- story checks out on my end and hopefully that will be resolved within the next week or two. So once their FFL gets renewed, the Holiday/Bergara Heavy action barrel offering should remain open for one month. They seem like great people to me but just wanted to share our conversation in case anyone else was following this thread. I'm leaning to taking Aaron up on his offer in March to see what this heavy barreled action has to offer- might even take it to Ohio for Lapua to match a lot of Midas+ or CenterX to it...

-LD

 

[P35]

luckyduck- All the people I've dealt with at A&J are great. I was lucky and got my barreled action just before they let their FFL expire at the end of the year.

I've shot mine with Midas and Center-X and both did good. So far mine produced some of it's best groups with RWS R50 but I've read others that said they didn't have as good of luck with it. Mine will shoot anything SK or Lapua good but it doesn't do good with the two different lots of Eley I have and while my HMR 18" shoots well with RWS Rifle match the 20" didn't fair as well with it.

 

[GearMaker]

Hi Luckyduck - I don't have the heavy stainless version, but I do have the 18.5" standard steel B14r, and perhaps my perspective on your question could be helpful. I like my Bergara quite a bit, so I would not dissuade you from purchasing the standard version in general. When it comes to shooting NRL22 or PRS rimfire matches, the balance becomes a major issue for the standard version. With the money I have spent so far trying to get my rifle to balance forward of the magwell, I could have purchased the heavy steel version (although it was not on the market at the time I bought my Bergara).

I think that the real question for you is: how much you want/have available to spend on your rifle for your intended purpose? For me, the less expensive version of the Bergara ends up costing more in the long run for my intended purpose. If I had to do it over again, I most likely would have waited longer and saved up more money to either start building a RimX, or to have the standard Bergara B14r rebarreled and tuned up by a quality rifle builder.

A new stock/chassis may also introduce feeding/extraction issues in the Bergara. There are threads here on the Hide that detail those issues. That's another thing to think about. So far I have put my Bergara in an MDT XRS and a KRG X-Ray. It fits fine in both of those. They are also not an MPA or MDT ACC chassis, which have provision to add much more weight to balance the chassis than either the XRS or X-Ray.

 

[djdilliodon]

I have a few of them but all are built with the only thing left being factory is the action. All of mine have lilja 3 grooves custom fitted with a chamber i designed years ago. Feeding and extraction issues happen even with the higher dollar customs, you just need to know your way around a rimfire to tune them is all. Rifles that rely on the trigger guard that do not have a Mag well attached to the action will almost always need tuning for proper feeding. In laminate, composite, or wood stocks, this is easy to accomplish by adjusting the inletting on the stock by either removing material, bedding the guard area, or both. On a chassis this is done by removing material on a mill or bedding the guard area to add height or both as well. Extractors can be tuned by reshaping them and when fitting a barrel making sure you get as close to the chamber wall as you can for the extractor to have more rim to grab onto. For the money, the b14 is unbeatable imo, if built properly it will shoot lights out and cost less as well. The issues you read about aren’t unique to just the B14, they tend to happen to all.

 

[LuckyDuck]

luckyduck- All the people I've dealt with at A&J are great. I was lucky and got my barreled action just before they let their FFL expire at the end of the year.

I've shot mine with Midas and Center-X and both did good. So far mine produced some of it's best groups with RWS R50 but I've read others that said they didn't have as good of luck with it. Mine will shoot anything SK or Lapua good but it doesn't do good with the two different lots of Eley I have and while my HMR 18" shoots well with RWS Rifle match the 20" didn't fair as well with it.

P35- yes, I'd have to agree. Aaron called me back rather quickly after leaving a message with them and we had a good chat and I never once felt rushed. I really don't have any complaints and left that conversation with a rather favorable opinion of him at least. As I mentioned previously- I did ask him if he'd be ok with me posting the details of our conversation on here and he was all about it and gave me the proverbial "green-light". Just figured I'd give credit where credit is due because I at least appreciate their transparency. I figured that I'm likely not be the only long-term lurker on here with an interest of the heavy barreled action and when Aaron said he planned on extending their holiday bundle offer another month once the FFL issue gets resolved I figured that from my angle at least, that's a class act and I don't mind sharing that experience with anyone. I know that we keep going down the rabbit hole of comparing the heavy barreled action against the standard barreled action (at least I have been) but from my camp, I find their transparency & responses refreshing as I debate my next steps.

It's rather interesting to me that you mentioned having problems with Eley with your Bergara because you're not the first one to share that experience with me. One of our regulars from our NRL22 crew also has a very high performing Bergara on an MDT chassis (which is what initially attracted me to the Bergara Heavy Barreled Action in the first place) and he was having very poor results with the Eley as well (Tenex if I recall correctly). I wouldn't fathom to take the opinion that Eley's products are subpar because I know lots of folks report great results using them but in our small shooting group, I don't know anyone that's been able to support their marketing claims. Perhaps it works better in other rifles as our group is comprised of mostly Kidd and some Vudoo & Bergara offerings. Truth be told- (as I understand it at least but by no means am stating this as a fact)... several years ago, you could purchase Wolf Extra Match and, at the time, it used to be produced at the same factory as Lapua 22LR ammunition. Something changed recently (again, from what I understand) and now Eley is producing the Wolf 22LR and that's made me a bit gun shy in using that product as an option. So while it seems rather economical to stock up for at least practice ammunition using the same lubricant for their bullets (not sure if that's still even a concern currently with mixing bullets in this game) because it all seems to me like the European companies are all using the same sort of beeswax (my best guess) for lubricant. But anywho- I'm sure there are smarter people on this board than me that explain why some folks swear by Eley and others figure that they're better off shooting CCI Target at a fraction of the price

If I remember right- I do have a box of 50 RWS Rifle Match tucked away somewhere and it sounds like I need to dig it up to do some accuracy testing there. Thanks again for your recommendations.

-LD

 

[LuckyDuck]

Hi Luckyduck - I don't have the heavy stainless version, but I do have the 18.5" standard steel B14r, and perhaps my perspective on your question could be helpful. I like my Bergara quite a bit, so I would not dissuade you from purchasing the standard version in general. When it comes to shooting NRL22 or PRS rimfire matches, the balance becomes a major issue for the standard version. With the money I have spent so far trying to get my rifle to balance forward of the magwell, I could have purchased the heavy steel version (although it was not on the market at the time I bought my Bergara).

I think that the real question for you is: how much you want/have available to spend on your rifle for your intended purpose? For me, the less expensive version of the Bergara ends up costing more in the long run for my intended purpose. If I had to do it over again, I most likely would have waited longer and saved up more money to either start building a RimX, or to have the standard Bergara B14r rebarreled and tuned up by a quality rifle builder.

A new stock/chassis may also introduce feeding/extraction issues in the Bergara. There are threads here on the Hide that detail those issues. That's another thing to think about. So far I have put my Bergara in an MDT XRS and a KRG X-Ray. It fits fine in both of those. They are also not an MPA or MDT ACC chassis, which have provision to add much more weight to balance the chassis than either the XRS or X-Ray.

Hello GearMaker!

I really do appreciate you weighing in on my question/post. Your perspective is spot on and essentially where I was leaning already and I sincincerly thank you for the validation. I figured that the 22LR cartridge wouldn't benefit too much from a heavier barrel but rather that the benefit would be in the balance point should I choose to put the action on the chassis I was planning on and figured the extra 2" and weight would help me achieve the desired balance point around the magwell.

As for your question- I'm hoping to keep the action & stock/chassis under $2K with respectable performance if possible since I'll still need to throw an optic on top of it. Around my neck of the woods- we have a monthly NRL22 match (which I'd like to compete in with both the semi & bolt division) the PRS 22 matches are a several hour drive from my AO and seem to be focused around the Pittsburgh area- I know that lots of folks that compete don't mind driving several hours for a match but I'm more so concerned about keeping things relaxed with my 22LR matches because once it starts feeling like 'work' it defeats the purpose of why I'm doing it. So all that to say that I want to keep things fun and within a reasonable budget.

So after limiting PRS 22 matches locally- I still have my monthly NRL22 matches and would like to start participating in the "MARS" matches here which would be quite a bit closer. I do appreciate you mentioning that there are threads about the MPA/MDT chassis with regards to the Bergara Heavy Barreled Action & magazines because frankly they were the two chassis I was really focused on. I reckon that I'll need to do more research there. I'll share an experience that seems like a lifetime ago, I spent a small fortune pursuing paintball as a hobby & as a competitor, after untold thousands I've since grown into a more conservative approach with being cautious of how far down the 'rabbit hole' I want to go on my hobbies.

Anywho- all that to say, I appreciate you sharing your experience and you giving me some new information to chew on.

-LD

 

[LuckyDuck]

I have a few of them but all are built with the only thing left being factory is the action. All of mine have lilja 3 grooves custom fitted with a chamber i designed years ago. Feeding and extraction issues happen even with the higher dollar customs, you just need to know your way around a rimfire to tune them is all. Rifles that rely on the trigger guard that do not have a Mag well attached to the action will almost always need tuning for proper feeding. In laminate, composite, or wood stocks, this is easy to accomplish by adjusting the inletting on the stock by either removing material, bedding the guard area, or both. On a chassis this is done by removing material on a mill or bedding the guard area to add height or both as well. Extractors can be tuned by reshaping them and when fitting a barrel making sure you get as close to the chamber wall as you can for the extractor to have more rim to grab onto. For the money, the b14 is unbeatable imo, if built properly it will shoot lights out and cost less as well. The issues you read about aren’t unique to just the B14, they tend to happen to all.

I'm past my 4th year of playing around with precision rimfire matches and holy smokes, it's such a fickle beast and I still have so much more to learn. You're absolutely right though- I've seen all manners of "higher dollar customs" choke with rimfire over the years. I figure most of that is ammo related since rimfire is so... speculative I'll say. I appreciate you sharing your opinion & experiences though.

-LD

 

[Habituallinestepper]

FYI. These are available for sale again

 

[Little_Fish]

Maybe a dumb question, but will this action and any of the other B14R actions take a standard R700 trigger? Want to build a clone of my centerfire rifle with the same trigger, and would like to carry only one spare trigger that could go into either action.

 

[GearMaker]

Maybe a dumb question, but will this action and any of the other B14R actions take a standard R700 trigger? Want to build a clone of my centerfire rifle with the same trigger, and would like to carry only one spare trigger that could go into either action.

Yes, Remington 700 triggers will fit.

 

[Big Phish]

Even the BMR series take REM 700 triggers.

 

[DFOOSKING]

Took the Stainless out after work. It went from 44°F down to 36°F over the period of an hour. But got some shooting done.

You'll have to forgive the target. I can't say no to free mostly clean targets that people leave behind. The X's are where someone shot prior. 50 yards away.

Bottom right diamond is 10 shots including cold bore (as noted). Bottom left diamond is shots 11-20 after a brief cool down period that was forced upon me by another range user.

After those two groups, I decided to start up in the upper left side and kill all the physical numbers along the side then along bottom (left to right) then right side of the target (bottom towards the top)....kinda like a dot drill. Killed 13/20. My rear bag needs replacing. That shot along the Bottom left corner (number 3 and number 0) really got away from me.


Not bad...not great. I'll take it. Definitely getting a new rear bag.

 

[LuckyDuck]

Looks like good shooting to me DFOOSKING- I see in your first picture that you were running a bipod in those target pictures- I don't suppose you could speak to the balance point of your set up by any chance? That's kind of what's leading me down the heavy barreled action path thinking that'd make things easier/more 'turnkey' by plugging the action into a well respected chassis and giving me something to play with for a few years at least.

 

[DFOOSKING]

It's more front heavy than my Carbon in the AICS. My prior rig was much better balanced front to back (and top to bottom). I like the feel of the KRG....and it runs fine. Especially for the $350 I paid for it. But it has a front bias that barricade shooters prefer. I can't show you till maybe later tonight. I should also note that I have no arca rail on here either or spigot adapter. I still haven't made a cheekriser block to lock the height down perfectly and make removal/reinstall for cleaning easier. The AICS just swings out of the way for cleaning.

I personally didn't need the extra weight of the Stainless. I did fine with my old rig. It had developed poi shift when it cools down (that I couldn't remedy) so it was more of an issue of performance and my 308 needed all it's parts back.

 

[Simonsza1]

FYI. These are available for sale again

The 20”? Where?

 

[LuckyDuck]

The 20”? Where?

A&J Sporting LLC is the exclusive distributor of the 20" Heavy Barrel Actioned from Bergara.

 

[Habituallinestepper]

Ordered Monday, shipped yesterday

 

[redneckbmxer24]

I saw this and got excited for a longer heavier barrel since I'm considering a B14R but have concerns about balance based on some reports, then I saw the price. $1100 for a barreled action... Hard pass. By time I buy a rail I'd only be about $500 from what I can get a RimX and a Proof SS for and have a custom action and a cut rifled barrel.

 

[Habituallinestepper]

I factored in that I'll use the factory trigger and that it comes with 2 mags, an extension, and a rail. Won't argue that a rimx is/is not a better decision, but this is where the value is for me and for what my kids and I will do with it.

 

[LuckyDuck]

Ordered Monday, shipped yesterday

If you don't mind me asking, were you able to snag the "Holiday Bundle" with your order? I've shared this before, but Aaron had mentioned when I talked to him that he was planning on offering that deal for about a month once shipping resumed but I'm not seeing it on their website presently.

-LD

 

[Simonsza1]

Dam a $450 jump in price for a different barrel seems excessive to me.

 

[LuckyDuck]

Dam a $450 jump in price for a different barrel seems excessive to me.

Your opinion isn't unfounded but that's essentially what was the motivation behind starting this thread for me. I like the 20" barrel idea and figured the heavier barrel would help with the balance point but was hoping to learn from others what their experience was to quantify the $ to performance ratio. I did have a conversation with someone this week about balance points and if the heavy barrel does the trick, it sounds like I'd still be money ahead even with spending $450 more if I don't need to go down the "add weight" rabbit hole.

-LD

*edited to add that I should have mentioned the price swing difference being why I was inquiring about the "Holiday Bundle" option because the extras included softens the blow (it was the same price as the standalone product plus some interesting extras thrown in)

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Dam a $450 jump in price for a different barrel seems excessive to me.

Yeah for a barrel of the same machining quality but stainless and not as much material turned off the end or contour. You can get standard BA's for under $600 delivered and those are $1100 before shipped and tax (if they charge it) so it works out to over $500 and to me the value just isn't there. If I'm going to have $2K into a 22 rig by time I drop it in a decent chassis it sure as shit isn't going to be a factory Bergara barreled action.

 

[Simonsza1]

Ya I love the 20” idea that’s for sure. Definitely have to break down the pricing and see if it makes sense. Which it seems you’ve done.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Your opinion isn't unfounded but that's essentially what was the motivation behind starting this thread for me. I like the 20" barrel idea and figured the heavier barrel would help with the balance point but was hoping to learn from others what their experience was to quantify the $ to performance ratio. I did have a conversation with someone this week about balance points and if the heavy barrel does the trick, it sounds like I'd still be money ahead even with spending $450 more if I don't need to go down the "add weight" rabbit hole.

-LD

But you're paying that much more for weight and balance. You can pay that much more on top and have a custom action and a cut rifled barrel...

 

[LuckyDuck]

But you're paying that much more for weight and balance. You can pay that much more on top and have a custom action and a cut rifled barrel...

This is great feedback and exactly what I was hoping to learn. You mentioned that you can build a RimX within $500 with a better action/barrel as compared to dropping the Bergara into a chassis and calling it a day. Not arguing that point by any means but would love to hear how you'd go about that potential build. At the end of the day, I'd prefer to minimize making my curiosity of a bolt action 22LR from becoming a full blown 'project' requiring months of tinkering with it to get it to the point of being reliable.

-LD

 

[redneckbmxer24]

I'd order an action and barrel from Front Range, Altus, or anywhere else, bolt it together or ask them to do it for me and then drop it in whatever chassis sounds good with a Triggertech trigger and call it a day.

As far as needing to tinker, go read about all the people with factory B14R rifles having feeding and extraction issues and having to fuck with them and that's on a factory rifle package... drop a barreled action in a chassis and that possibility only increases. There's no guarantee that any of them are just going to go together and run 100% and they usually don't. I've had CZ and Anschutz rifles and I've shot Voodoo's and none of them have been 100% reliable. It's just the nature of the beast with 22's.

 

[dirtybores]

Dropping that holiday bundle definitely puts it back in the overpriced for what it is category for me.

 

[LuckyDuck]

I'd order an action and barrel from Front Range, Altus, or anywhere else, bolt it together or ask them to do it for me and then drop it in whatever chassis sounds good with a Triggertech trigger and call it a day.

As far as needing to tinker, go read about all the people with factory B14R rifles having feeding and extraction issues and having to fuck with them and that's on a factory rifle package... drop a barreled action in a chassis and that possibility only increases. There's no guarantee that any of them are just going to go together and run 100% and they usually don't. I've had CZ and Anschutz rifles and I've shot Voodoo's and none of them have been 100% reliable. It's just the nature of the beast with 22's.

Appreciate you sharing that- it certainly gives me something to think about moving forward.

 

[LuckyDuck]

Dropping that holiday bundle definitely puts it back in the overpriced for what it is category for me.

Give them a call- at this hour you might get their voicemail but they'll get back to you. When I talked to them last week- they seemed like pretty cool people and customer focused.

 

[dirtybores]

Give them a call- at this hour you might get their voicemail but they'll get back to you. When I talked to them last week- they seemed like pretty cool people and customer focused.

I guess I don't see the point in begging for an average deal on a factory Bergara. At this time, I see very little "this thing is amazing" feedback. What I see is basically it shoots and functions about like the regular BA, which is good but only good, and the two pounds extra make it balance better. You know you have to add a rail and will probably drop in a better trigger. I'm just not getting there on this being a buy-now for me.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

I guess I don't see the point in begging for an average deal on a factory Bergara. At this time, I see very little "this thing is amazing" feedback. What I see is basically it shoots and functions about like the regular BA, which is good but only good, and the two pounds extra make it balance better. You know you have to add a rail and will probably drop in a better trigger. I'm just not getting there on this being a buy-now for me.

Exactly, a cheap rail and a $40 magazine don't exactly make it a bargain all of a sudden and you're still paying basically $400 more at that point just for a heavier barrel to balance and getting nothing else. If it was in a HMR stock for $1100 I would see it being worth it but that price increase for them to load a different material into the machines that costs a few bucks more and key in a different program for profiling the barrel... LOL.

Even if one doesn't want to spend the $$ increase to go to a RimX and actually get something for the increased price you could get a CZ and a Lilja barrel for less than this thing.

 

[DFOOSKING]

Should've got on board when they offered this. I had two mags in my box when mine arrived. Still haven't bothered with the bolt handle or mag extention.

 

[CajunExpat1]

I think the Bergara 20” loses out on the value proposition. You’ll be at $1200 with BA and a rail, and you’ll still have a crap trigger and a gun that won’t balance perfectly for PRS and will likely only ever shoot “good” but not great.

I’d vote RimX, you can get a BA with a 24” custom or prefit barrel around $1600-1800 (maybe less if you prowl the market here for used, seems like they pop up every couple weeks) and add a great trigger for another $200-275ish. It’ll balance better and be more accurate than the Bergara while allowing easy prefit barrel changes in the future. And if you haven’t run the action on a RimX after running a Bergara… you really should before you part with $$.

Value judgements have to be individual… if I was going as low dollar as possible and wanted to stay in the R700 footprint, I’d do an 18” steel Bergara BA in a KRG bravo and you’ll be around $1100 but giving up the competitive advantages of a great trigger and balance off a platform. The 20” bergara in KRG bravo will end up around $1600 (and have shit trigger and probably still iffy balance). A custom RimX with a triggertech in a bravo would hit around $2100 and outshoot/outbalance the 20” Bergara by a significant margin… probably much more than $500 worth according to most people shooting expensive rimfires. All those guns can use L3I $75 14 rd magazines and take R700 triggers and stocks, so those bits are a wash. Coming from the 10/22, I found the triggertech special (which will drop to a 1lb pull) to be a great value though it seems most folks (me included currently) shoot triggertech diamonds at less that 1lb.

As others mentioned, a CZ with a custom barrel that will be objectively better than the 20” Bergara can be had around the same price if you leave the R700 world.

I have an 18” Bergara in HMR that I really did enjoy (and it got me started down the precision rimfire path after moving on from the 10/22 platform) and have since moved on to a custom RimX in a KRG W3 that is far more accurate (0.3-0.5” groups vs my Bergara’s 0.5-0.7” regularly at 50 yards with SK rifle match). Looking back, I personally should have skipped the Bergara from a financial standpoint.

 

[djdilliodon]

Personally, I’d rather just get the regular barreled action and just do a match barrel in whatever contour I wanted. That’s exactly what I did and last night I ordered a mdt field stock cause I thought it would be nice to build another one in that stock .

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Personally, I’d rather just get the regular barreled action and just do a match barrel in whatever contour I wanted. That’s exactly what I did and last night I ordered a mdt field stock cause I thought it would be nice to build another one in that stock .

And you’ve got as much money (or more) into having that barrel fitted on that action as you could have bought a RimX and a prefit and had a better action…

 

[djdilliodon]

And you’ve got as much money (or more) into having that barrel fitted on that action as you could have bought a RimX and a prefit and had a better action…

Being someone 5 years ago that use to build rimfires for others from Cz’s to anschutz and everything else, I don’t have to pay anyone to do it. I’ve retired from building for others. I have lilja 3 groove barrels left over from back when I was building but was considering trying something else on this one. I actually might pay someone if they have a blank available to put a barrel on this one. I did a lot of benchmark, shilen, and lilja barrels. I really wanna try a Krieger.

 

[Mr. Wolf]

My personal experience/opinion so take it with a grain of salt.

The steel barreled B14Rs shoot well with most ammo but great but great with lot tested ammo.
Kenny at DPG builds excellent CZs, Bergaras, RimX, Voodoos but guarantees 0.3" for 5 shot groups at 50.
Some may scoff at 0.3" but for practical shooting, this is plenty.
Granted, his rifle builds seem to be less finicky with ammo but his builds are usually are longer barrels which I've read can reduce SD and "settle" the bullet better than shorter options. To me, "settle" seems to mean decreased procession or bullet wobble resulting in less BC degradation with longer distances.

For NRL22, 100 yards is the normal max range unless they choose the farther distance stage options or if the match director wants to do a bonus stage. 0.47" 5 shot groups at 50 yards is adequate to do the job since the smallest target I've encountered were 0.25" KYL @ 50 yards.
1.5" 5 shot groups at 100 yards seem to be more than adequate for NRL22.

IMHO where you will start seeing differences are shots past 200 yards (ie: NRL22x or PRS22 matches) and when shooting off barricades that needs the rifle to be balanced (ie: tripods are impractical or not allowed). In these situations, a longer, heavier, higher end barrels tend to do better.

Some Bergaras have weak ejection issues but with ~4000 rounds fired, I've not experienced it. Don't stake the ejectors before ever sending a round down range! I've seen people introduce a problem even before seeing if it worked.

Lastly, IF I had to start all over again, I would buy a used Carbon Barreled B14R on a discount, then send the barrel to Modacam and have them fit a 22-24" truck axle barrel and put it in a stock/chassis of your choice.

YMMV, happy shooting.

 

[LuckyDuck]

I think my original question is going to end up costing me some serious money. Redneckmxer24's post now has me going down the rabbit hole of researching RimX as an alternative and throwing on a Proof Research or Bartlein barrel and then going to finalize a stock/chassis decisions. Those RimX magazines being $125 a pop makes me shudder ever so much at the thought though.

-LD

 

[GearMaker]

I think my original question is going to end up costing me some serious money. Redneckmxer24's post now has me going down the rabbit hole of researching RimX as an alternative and throwing on a Proof Research or Bartlein barrel and then going to finalize a stock/chassis decisions. Those RimX magazines being $100 a pop makes me shudder ever so much the thought though.

I didn't want to say it before because I didn't want to influence your decision, but after doing some number crunching and thinking hard about what I want to achieve with my rifle situation, this is the direction I am headed.

 

[CajunExpat1]

I think my original question is going to end up costing me some serious money. Redneckmxer24's post now has me going down the rabbit hole of researching RimX as an alternative and throwing on a Proof Research or Bartlein barrel and then going to finalize a stock/chassis decisions. Those RimX magazines being $100 a pop makes me shudder ever so much the thought though.

-LD

These work great in my rimX. Not a huge cost savings but worth a box or two of ammo.

700 Elite Rimfire Magazine – L3I Design Solutions

l3idesignsolutions.com

I don’t think going RimX will cost more in the long run. You’ll save all the $$ of building a Bergara and deciding it isn’t good enough and then building a RimX in the end

 

[LuckyDuck]

I didn't want to say it before because I didn't want to influence your decision, but after doing some number crunching and thinking hard about what I want to achieve with my rifle situation, this is the direction I am headed.

You've been great and I appreciate your input thus far. I'm glad that I asked the question though because the responses I've received has given me a lot of new information to consider that I didn't have before.

-LD

 

[LuckyDuck]

These work great in my rimX. Not a huge cost savings but worth a box or two of ammo.

700 Elite Rimfire Magazine – L3I Design Solutions

l3idesignsolutions.com

I don’t think going RimX will cost more in the long run. You’ll save all the $$ of building a Bergara and deciding it isn’t good enough and then building a RimX in the end

Good input- Assuming they provide a high level of reliability at $75 a mag I'd still be $50 ahead for each magazine I'd potentially purchase all things considered. Thanks for sharing!

-LD

 

[021411]

Just spend the money on the OEM RimX mags. They work flawlessly and have zero chance of rim lock when loading. They are pricey but well worth it if you’re shooting one.

 

[Zap_Rowsdower]

I bought one of the earlier "Zero Luck" magazines to try in my RimX. After fiddling with the match catch and loading it really carefully, I can get it to run sometimes with 8 rounds. If I load more than that, the round jumps the bolt and you're digging it out of the chamber. I wish the RimX mags were cheaper and had an adjustable mag catch from the bottom but they run well even when not carefully loaded.

 

[CajunExpat1]

Just spend the money on the OEM RimX mags. They work flawlessly and have zero chance of rim lock when loading. They are pricey but well worth it if you’re shooting one.

Have you had issues with the L3I mags?
I don’t have an enormous amount of rounds through mine… probably around 1500ish across 4 “Elite” L3i mags, but can’t say I ever had a rim lock or trouble feeding (once the mag height was set correctly) with the L3i. Also holds 4 more rounds than factory RimX, though I know there are extensions out there.