Bergara B14R Issues & Solutions

[357Max]

There are several B14R threads scattered about & I've posted bits here and there.
Thought it would be worthwhile to post a thread geared specifically towards B14R issues & solutions that have worked very well for me.

Issues:

1. Poor or inconsistent feeding especially with aftermarket stocks.
2. Ejectile dysfunction.
3. Excessive cock on close with aftermarket triggers.
4. Hard bolt close.

Going to have to split this into 2 posts since it's picture heavy.

#1 Feeding:
The B14R seems very similar to the Vudoo & Rim x with regards to feeding in that it's basically a controlled round feed. The B14R is very very sensitive to the height at which the round is presented to the chamber. In practical terms what this means is that although it's a 700 footprint, even a .010" mag height deviation (@ the front) via aftermarket stock will cause feeding problems. To explain this a little more in depth it's not just mag height. The mag height in any stock is obviously controlled by the mag catch just in front of the trigger guard. The rounds however are at the opposite end of the AICS SA length mag. So even if the mag catch in your aftermarket stock is at the perfect height; all it takes to muck things up is a slightly bigger magwell (these vary), thus allowing the important end of the mag to drop a little. In my case it is a Manners EH-4 mini chassis that has generous mag clearance allowing the front of mag to dip a little & resulted in shaving or jamming bullets as they chambered. If I held up pressure on front end of mag it fed perfect.
As a side note: Full disclosure the manners actually had a higher mag catch height & I cut a large radius on the top side of my mags to allow them to suck up a little higher to the bottom of the action (thinking this would solve/prevent feed issues). It didn't due to the looser mag well that lets the front of the mag dip down.

My solution for this one is simple and has worked flawlessly for 1250 rounds. I just cut and polished a small feed ramp in the chamber. This could be accomplished with several methods. I used an air powered mini angle die grinder with quality Shars mini carbide flame cutter followed with a shaped felt and polishing rouge. The small ramp makes the B14R & I suspect similar 700 footprint 22 actions much more forgiving of mag height. As a bonus it also makes it pretty insensitive to having your mag bumped up against a barricade. If you attempt this do not get carried away. Small is all you need. If someone were to get a little to aggressive with a big ramp I might worry about case rupture @ the unsupported area on HV rounds.

Below pictures show the ramp & a sample of what I've tested it with to include the highest pressure 22LR rounds I could find. Also pictured is a comparison showing the ramp imprint left on the back of a Norma - Tac 22 LV contrasted with a HV CCI Stinger.

#2 Ejectile dysfunction:
This one has been a common topic in other threads & I'm pretty confident that I've run this to ground. The problem is 2 fold and so is the solution.
My B14R was getting ejection failures at a rate of about 1 in 10-20 (completely unacceptable). The failures were never a failure to extract, but failure to completely eject the spent case leaving it in the action & causing a jam.

The B14R ejection system is comprised of an ejector claw on the port side, a tension claw, & a floating ejector bar.
The first cause of failure happens as the spent case is pulled rearward and catches on the rim of the next round. I played with this on the bench for a while loading a spent case above a loaded case (pictured below). This would sometimes result in the empty getting knocked loose in the chamber before reaching the ejector.

The second cause of failure is due to the mag feed lips. If you look at the picture above you can see the sharp corner of the feed lip in the middle of the loaded round. As you pull a spent case the round below rises up as you pull the spent to the rear. In the above picture the loaded round is blocking the feed lips, but I discovered that as the spent case rim is pulled past that location it can and does catch the lips knocking the case loose before reaching the ejector.

So in both cases the cause is premature ejectile dysfunction.

The video below prior to any modifications you can see the first round is ejected by the mag feed lips. It just so happened that it left the action on this one, but usually it doesn't. The next round you can see it snag on lips first, then rim of next round before finnaly reaching the ejector.



Fixes are 2 fold:
1. Stiffen spring of secondary extractor (tensioner). I used a small piece of an AR15 take down detent spring. Cut too about .070 shorter then tensioner spring, then nested within the stock spring. This eliminates intermittent failed ejections (usually straight up, remaining in the action) caused from contact with rim of shell below in mag.
2. Bevel the front corners of the feed lips in the mag. This guides the extracting shell up and over verses catching and prematurely ejecting in a random direction.

Beveled lips on stock mag & Mack Brothers mag

After mods it's been 100% reliable for 780+ rounds and counting. Edit: Just passed 1500 2000 rounds with zero failures.

 

[chevy_man]

Ah, I see the problem! Your rifle is much too clean, need all the gunk and lube in there to slick it up!


I'm wondering if I just got that lucky? Zero issues from mine. It doesn't throw brass far, but piles them up in a remarkably consistent pile about 12" from the rifle and slightly forward.

I did have an issue with scopes. I swapped my Tango4 for a Mark5hd for a match to switch it up. Damn empties were bouncing off the windage turret and back into the action randomly. I was finding them forward, backward, and sideways in the action all match. Swapped scopes back (smaller turret, smaller tube) and all my issues were cured.

 

[BoilerUP]

Thanks for this!

My B14R has spotty ejection, and the starbord/right/ejection port side claw is stiff while the port/left/action side claw is comparatively loose.

Just so I'm 100% clear, you added a second spring nested in the starboard/right/ejection port side?

 

[mccannicalbob]

Thanks! I haven’t had any feed or ejection problems yet, but I don’t have many rounds through it yet. I am looking forward to what your thoughts are on the hard bolt closing. That issue bugs me because it closes so hard I can’t keep my sights on target; the whole rifle twists in the rest I’m using when I close the bolt.

 

[JaoeyP]

I'd be curious as to what your unfired round looks after going up the feed ramp.

Generally I wouldn't recommend doing this unless the other feed fixes didn't work. The idea of the feed system is for the round to chamber with as little contact to the lead bullet as possible, which is why they don't come with a feed ramp.

The challenge with feeding is there is a very narrow window for the mag to be optimally positioned so as to not induce feeding issue. USUALLY the mag needs raised. This is usually cured with either an adjustable mag latch or a longer than standard mag latch that is filed/milled to the optimum length. The other potential issue is mag tilting, often cause by pushing the rifle into a barricade/bag on a barricade. Tilting can usually be cured by various means of shimming or by using a barricade stop of some sort that prevents mag tilting.

I would highly recommend exhausting every effort to fix the mag position/tilting before cutting a feed ramp into the rifle.

 

[Renoone]

Here is what we did to fix the feeding problem. A little piece of plastic glued to the mag. Zero issues since and have put a good number of rounds through it.

 

[JaoeyP]

Here is what we did to fix the feeding problem. A little piece of plastic glued to the mag. Zero issues since and have put a good number of rounds through it.View attachment 7614622

Was this to fix tilting?

 

[Renoone]

Was this to fix tilting?

Yes. Rock solid now.

 

[Fritzfritz]

Great information, thanks!

My initial failures to eject were solved with bolt lubrication.

 

[SirDrinksAlot]

Have just over 1k rounds through my B14R at the moment and have only the occasional failure to extract an empty case. Occurred less than 10 times. Hell it even feeds with Vudoo magazines.

Good info to have tho!

 

[357Max]

Thanks for this!

My B14R has spotty ejection, and the starbord/right/ejection port side claw is stiff while the port/left/action side claw is comparatively loose.

Just so I'm 100% clear, you added a second spring nested in the starboard/right/ejection port side?

Correct the second spring is nested in the stock spring of the tensioner side, not the ejection side.

I'd be curious as to what your unfired round looks after going up the feed ramp.

Generally I wouldn't recommend doing this unless the other feed fixes didn't work. The idea of the feed system is for the round to chamber with as little contact to the lead bullet as possible, which is why they don't come with a feed ramp.

The challenge with feeding is there is a very narrow window for the mag to be optimally positioned so as to not induce feeding issue. USUALLY the mag needs raised. This is usually cured with either an adjustable mag latch or a longer than standard mag latch that is filed/milled to the optimum length. The other potential issue is mag tilting, often cause by pushing the rifle into a barricade/bag on a barricade. Tilting can usually be cured by various means of shimming or by using a barricade stop of some sort that prevents mag tilting.

I would highly recommend exhausting every effort to fix the mag position/tilting before cutting a feed ramp into the rifle.

@JaoeyP - All valid points & they were all considered before making the mods I did. To avoid writing a novel I left out some of the thought process that led to these mods.

I delayed posting this thread to confirm function. @ over 1250 flawless feeds I'm satisfied. They is nothing I can do to the mag to cause a feeding issue. I could literally clamp the mag into a tripod and it would feed just fine (I'd probably miss though).

I would say "going up the feed ramp" isn't really a fair description of what is going on. Sometimes the bullet starts entry into my chamber slightly offset to the high side (cycling bolt slowly), however it was from the nose down entry that caused bullets to get shaved or jammed @ bottom of chamber.
For the most part all the Ammo I'm shooting is heavily wax lubricated (SK match, long range, RWS 50, Lapua etc.). The ramp simply makes it more forgiving to slight misalignment.

The ideal feed system will feed the round without damaging the bullet. While I can't say definitively I suspect the reason they don't come with a feed ramp is because they're tuned to work with their mag in their chassis & they are mass produced. Despite the factory tuning I've read several instances in other B14R threads where the bullet shaving/poor feeding was happening with complete factory rifles.

There is a very narrow feeding window with these, but I think the real challenge is self imposed on the 700 footprint actions. We are using a 3" long mag to feed a 1" long round & the latch is at the opposite end from the round. The mag pivots on the catch so if you have a magwell with .003 length clearance the round can drop .009, with a .005 clearance it drops about .015 etc. The other issue is whether or not all chassis systems bottom metal presents the mag at the perfect angle (nope). Now add in aftermarket mags & there dimensional deviation.

In my case the mag height could not be adjusted to correct my problem YMMV. The manners mini chassis mag catch was already high, to high in fact as the mags wouldn't even clip on the catch before hitting the action body. I chose to split the difference via filing the mag catch shelf on the mags a few thousands + running a 1-3/8" end mill down the top of the mag body to allow it to raise a little tighter to the action .005.
The other problem with just taking a raise the mag approach is that it aggravates the ejection issues.

The other valid option is the one @Renoone posted. Shim the mag.

Here is a picture of 4 rounds. The 3 on the left were chambered and ejected due to timing out in a match last weekend. I typically don't like to reload them for match purposes. The ramp does not cause any deformation or scratching of the projectiles, it prevents it.

 

[BoilerUP]

Correct the second spring is nested in the stock spring of the tensioner.]

Is your port-side ejector claw "loose" compared to the tensioner before your mod?

 

[357Max]

Is your port-side ejector claw "loose" compared to the tensioner before your mod?

Not sure what you mean by loose?

Well crap I just realized I might have confused some. When I say port side I mean ejection port which is the right side on my RH action (not port starboard).

My port side actual ejector claw is pretty stiff. A guess would be +- 12lbs tension. The tensioner side was only about 30% as stiff originally. With mod I'd say it feels about 70% as stiff as the extractor claw.

 

[BoilerUP]

Okay...so your ejector claw on the bolt handle side, the ejection port side, right side if you're behind the rifle, is stiff but the tensioner side (non-ejection port left side if you're behind the rifle) is comparatively loose and that's where you put the nested spring to tighten it up.

Just wanted to double-triple check.

Note to self: dumbass pilots should avoid nautical jargon

 

[357Max]

Okay...so your ejector claw on the bolt handle side, the ejection port side, right side if you're behind the rifle, is stiff but the tensioner side (non-ejection port left side if you're behind the rifle) is comparatively loose and that's where you put the nested spring to tighten it up.

Yes this is correct.

 

[357Max]

Following up on post #1

Issues:

3. Excessive cock on close with aftermarket triggers.
4. Hard bolt close.

#3 can contribute to #4, but not as much as you would think.

I'm going to tell you right up front this was an exercise in futility. Read on if you want or skip to item 4 which will also likely be a let down.

Cock on close Is a topic often misunderstood. The B14R is designed as a 90degree throw cock on open. This means upon opening the bolt the striker assembly is fully camed into the cocked position. From there it should not need any additional striker spring compression or striker travel added to function. All 700 footprint actions can end up with 1 of 3 scenarios depending on trigger selection, the B14R is no different in that regard.

You first have to identify which of the 3 scenarios you have before you can decide if any corrective action is needed or worth the effort.

1. Neutral = striker position is the same from bolt open (fully cocked) to bolt fully closed.

• No additional bolt closing force added.
• Striker spring cocked tension & travel are per design intent.

2. De-cocks on close = striker/cocked indicator on back of B14R bolt will be less protruded when bolt is fully closed then it was when fully cocked on open.

• On some 700 actions this may slightly reduce closing force, but not so much on the B14R
• Reduced striker spring tension & travel.
• Could cause light strikes and FTF

3. Added cock on close = As the fully cocked striker is handed off to the trigger top sear, it is then compressed more as the bolt lugs cam into the locked position.

• Added firing pin strike force.
• Added striker travel.
• Added bolt closing force as your further compressing the already compressed striker assembly.
• If the additional cock on close is minimal it can have an overall positive effect of increased ignition reliability.
• If excessive it has the detrimental affect of hard bolt close.............normally, on the B14R not so much.

Obviously scenario #1 is GTG, but 2 & 3 if excessive can and will cause problems.

It appears to me that Bergara likely just engineered their cocking sear to work with the trigger they supply. As a result it seems to be biased towards added cock on close with many aftermarket triggers.

There are various methods used on 700 style actions to tune cock on close. Some action makers offer different length cocking pieces (ARC), some use trigger hangers, some triggers offer optional top sears (this is for sear engagement) & or sear engagement adjustment (Bix'n Andy), or your gunsmith can fit your trigger to tune via cutting the cocking cam.

For the B14R there is really only 2 options to correct for excessive cock/de-cock on close.

1. Swap triggers until you find one that results in neutral - slight cock on close.
2. Will require machine work by a competent gunsmith & they better get it right the first time because Bergara does not sell any replacement parts (WTF Bergara).

I will detail #2 because that's the route I took.

I had a Huber 2 stage 1.5# that I wanted to run. The Huber had + .070 cock on close & a really hard bolt close. Without fully investigating I assumed most of the hard bolt close was due to the excessive cock on close so I set out to fix it.

Warning - Bergara doesn't sell jack shit for these. That's right they offer zero replacement parts. Per them, parts are for warranty only!!
@Chad@Bergara - If your paying attention, the above is why this will be the only Bergara I own.

So I posted a WTB add on here for the old style cocking piece. Before cutting on mine I wanted to be able to restore it to stock condition & or have a back up just in case. I scored one of the old style assemblies thanks to a Snipers Hide member.

Bergara sent out revised replacement cocking piece/striker assemblies for the early run of rifles. The only difference I could find between the new/old style was the spring. Old style had 17 coils & new style had 14 with a slightly thicker wire.

For the hell of it I tried the old style assembly with my Huber & with the +.070 cock on close, the bolt would not close. It put the spring in coil bind whereas the new assembly (3x less coils) does not.

I cut it to achieve zero additional cock on close.

Edit warning: When you shorten the cocking sear you are also shortening the striker travel & you risk light primer strikes. It's not shown in my pictures, but I removed the striker from the cocking piece & milled the face of the cocking piece so the striker would thread in deeper to regain the striker travel. i.e. I now have the same striker fall as would be the case with + .035 cock on close.
This would be the best fix I can think of for a de-cock on close situation.

Here is where issue #3 meets #4 hard close.

#4 Hard Close.
The engineers at Bergara shit the bed with regards to action timing. The timing is so bad it was a waste of my time to set cock on close correctly.

The cocking piece gets dropped of the bolt cam before the lugs have hold of the ramps in the receiver, hence the big speed bump on close.
Don't believe me? Try this........ with the chamber empty & safety off, hold the trigger depressed while closing the bolt. It will pretty much close itself.

When you close the bolt it un-cocks about .060-.080 before its fully on the lug ramps & then re-cocks the .060-.080 when you cam in on the ramps.
Watch the Red cocking indicator closely in this video. This is why you have a hard bolt close.


The only way I see to fix this would be to tig weld the cocking ramp in the bolt & re cut a steeper ramp shifted over to delay hand off of the cocking sear for about 15 degree more bolt close.

It's a shame really, with a little thought during engineering this could have been a much smoother running action.

Adjusting cocking piece on these B14R's isn't really worth the effort unless it's so bad your close to coil bind.

On the bright side if you lube all the right friction points of the bolt I don't even notice the hard close running it pretty fast.

In fairness to Bergara this was a barreled action & not a complete rifle. Still they need to sell parts & they did shit the bed on action timing.

My build was to suit my taste as I wanted something in a traditional stock, classic & proportional looking, yet with balance & ability to compete with chassis at PRS type matches.
There were many other custom mods required for this Manners EH-4 build to get it to balance, mount an Arca, enable the Mack brothers double sided mag to function in the mini chassis etc. I'm still playing with version #2 custom tuner/dampener I made.

Those mods are build specific & I meant this thread to be more focused on the B14R action. If anyone is doing a Manners mini chassis build feel free to ask.

Ultimately I'm very happy with the final outcome on this project.

Last weekend I needed to get some data in a hurry morning of a last minute match I signed up for.
Target below small dot upper left .5" 10x group @50 cold clean bore with magneto speed hanging off.
Next group down zero check without magneto speed 5x (shanked 1).
Bottom left 5x @50 trying to shoot a group .25"
Big target was @200y truing Strelok pro data. For this I paid no mind to the wind as I was after vertical & it held 1" at 200. I'll take that all day.

13# -5oz as pictured. Balance point is 3" in front of barricade stop.

 

[Jtclark509]

Can you show the modifications you performed to get the magazine to fit in ur manners chassis. Currently having an issue where the mag latch won’t lock in.

 

[357Max]

Can you show the modifications you performed to get the magazine to fit in ur manners chassis. Currently having an issue where the mag latch won’t lock in.

On my Manners the mag hit the bottom of action before it would lock in on the catch.

I filled the step on the mag carefully to maintain level/angle until it would clip.

I will caution you that the mini chassis magwell has a generous mag clearance front to back. Once you get the mag to fit you may have feed issues. This is because the front of the mag can/will drop even when it barely clips at the back.
This is why I ended up putting the small feed ramp/chamfer on the barrel chamber.

Making the Mack brothers double sided mag fit the Manners was a another can of worms requiring a milling machine. I would not attempt with hand tools.

 

[Jtclark509]

On my Manners the mag hit the bottom of action before it would lock in on the catch.

I filled the step on the mag carefully to maintain level/angle until it would clip.

I will caution you that the mini chassis magwell has a generous mag clearance front to back. Once you get the mag to fit you may have feed issues. This is because the front of the mag can/will drop even when it barely clips at the back.
This is why I ended up putting the small feed ramp/chamfer on the barrel chamber.

Making the Mack brothers double sided mag fit the Manners was a another can of worms requiring a milling machine. I would not attempt with hand tools.
View attachment 7617583

Thank you very much. That worked. Driving me nuts.

 

[629-4]

Thanks for the write up. Can you tell me what you determined was the total firing pin travel for reliable ignition?

Following up on post #1

Issues:

3. Excessive cock on close with aftermarket triggers.
4. Hard bolt close.

#3 can contribute to #4, but not as much as you would think.

I'm going to tell you right up front this was an exercise in futility. Read on if you want or skip to item 4 which will also likely be a let down.

Cock on close Is a topic often misunderstood. The B14R is designed as a 90degree throw cock on open. This means upon opening the bolt the striker assembly is fully camed into the cocked position. From there it should not need any additional striker spring compression or striker travel added to function. All 700 footprint actions can end up with 1 of 3 scenarios depending on trigger selection, the B14R is no different in that regard.

You first have to identify which of the 3 scenarios you have before you can decide if any corrective action is needed or worth the effort.

1. Neutral = striker position is the same from bolt open (fully cocked) to bolt fully closed.

• No additional bolt closing force added.
• Striker spring cocked tension & travel are per design intent.

2. De-cocks on close = striker/cocked indicator on back of B14R bolt will be less protruded when bolt is fully closed then it was when fully cocked on open.

• On some 700 actions this may slightly reduce closing force, but not so much on the B14R
• Reduced striker spring tension & travel.
• Could cause light strikes and FTF

3. Added cock on close = As the fully cocked striker is handed off to the trigger top sear, it is then compressed more as the bolt lugs cam into the locked position.

• Added firing pin strike force.
• Added striker travel.
• Added bolt closing force as your further compressing the already compressed striker assembly.
• If the additional cock on close is minimal it can have an overall positive effect of increased ignition reliability.
• If excessive it has the detrimental affect of hard bolt close.............normally, on the B14R not so much.

Obviously scenario #1 is GTG, but 2 & 3 if excessive can and will cause problems.

It appears to me that Bergara likely just engineered their cocking sear to work with the trigger they supply. As a result it seems to be biased towards added cock on close with many aftermarket triggers.

There are various methods used on 700 style actions to tune cock on close. Some action makers offer different length cocking pieces (ARC), some use trigger hangers, some triggers offer optional top sears (this is for sear engagement) & or sear engagement adjustment (Bix'n Andy), or your gunsmith can fit your trigger to tune via cutting the cocking cam.

For the B14R there is really only 2 options to correct for excessive cock/de-cock on close.

1. Swap triggers until you find one that results in neutral - slight cock on close.
2. Will require machine work by a competent gunsmith & they better get it right the first time because Bergara does not sell any replacement parts (WTF Bergara).

I will detail #2 because that's the route I took.

I had a Huber 2 stage 1.5# that I wanted to run. The Huber had + .070 cock on close & a really hard bolt close. Without fully investigating I assumed most of the hard bolt close was due to the excessive cock on close so I set out to fix it.

Warning - Bergara doesn't sell jack shit for these. That's right they offer zero replacement parts. Per them, parts are for warranty only!!
@Chad@Bergara - If your paying attention, the above is why this will be the only Bergara I own.

So I posted a WTB add on here for the old style cocking piece. Before cutting on mine I wanted to be able to restore it to stock condition & or have a back up just in case. I scored one of the old style assemblies thanks to a Snipers Hide member.

Bergara sent out revised replacement cocking piece/striker assemblies for the early run of rifles. The only difference I could find between the new/old style was the spring. Old style had 17 coils & new style had 14 with a slightly thicker wire.

For the hell of it I tried the old style assembly with my Huber & with the +.070 cock on close, the bolt would not close. It put the spring in coil bind whereas the new assembly (3x less coils) does not.

I cut it to achieve zero additional cock on close.

Edit warning: When you shorten the cocking sear you are also shortening the striker travel & you risk light primer strikes. It's not shown in my pictures, but I removed the striker from the cocking piece & milled the face of the cocking piece so the striker would thread in deeper to regain the striker travel. i.e. I now have the same striker fall as would be the case with + .035 cock on close.
This would be the best fix I can think of for a de-cock on close situation.
View attachment 7615026View attachment 7615033

Here is where issue #3 meets #4 hard close.

#4 Hard Close.
The engineers at Bergara shit the bed with regards to action timing. The timing is so bad it was a waste of my time to set cock on close correctly.

The cocking piece gets dropped of the bolt cam before the lugs have hold of the ramps in the receiver, hence the big speed bump on close.
Don't believe me? Try this........ with the chamber empty & safety off, hold the trigger depressed while closing the bolt. It will pretty much close itself.

When you close the bolt it un-cocks about .060-.080 before its fully on the lug ramps & then re-cocks the .060-.080 when you cam in on the ramps.
Watch the Red cocking indicator closely in this video. This is why you have a hard bolt close.


The only way I see to fix this would be to tig weld the cocking ramp in the bolt & re cut a steeper ramp shifted over to delay hand off of the cocking sear for about 15 degree more bolt close.

It's a shame really, with a little thought during engineering this could have been a much smoother running action.

Adjusting cocking piece on these B14R's isn't really worth the effort unless it's so bad your close to coil bind.

On the bright side if you lube all the right friction points of the bolt I don't even notice the hard close running it pretty fast.

In fairness to Bergara this was a barreled action & not a complete rifle. Still they need to sell parts & they did shit the bed on action timing.

My build was to suit my taste as I wanted something in a traditional stock, classic & proportional looking, yet with balance & ability to compete with chassis at PRS type matches.
There were many other custom mods required for this Manners EH-4 build to get it to balance, mount an Arca, enable the Mack brothers double sided mag to function in the mini chassis etc. I'm still playing with version #2 custom tuner/dampener I made.

Those mods are build specific & I meant this thread to be more focused on the B14R action. If anyone is doing a Manners mini chassis build feel free to ask.

Ultimately I'm very happy with the final outcome on this project.

Last weekend I needed to get some data in a hurry morning of a last minute match I signed up for.
Target below small dot upper left .5" 10x group @50 cold clean bore with magneto speed hanging off.
Next group down zero check without magneto speed 5x (shanked 1).
Bottom left 5x @50 trying to shoot a group .25"
Big target was @200y truing Strelok pro data. For this I paid no mind to the wind as I was after vertical & it held 1" at 200. I'll take that all day.
View attachment 7615068

13# -5oz as pictured. Balance point is 3" in front of barricade stop.
View attachment 7615072

 

[357Max]

Thanks for the write up. Can you tell me what you determined was the total firing pin travel for reliable ignition?

I haven't measured striker travel, but set it to add .035 from factory (stock trigger) setting. I did back the cocking pc out 1 full turn and struck a few empties. The rim indent was noticeably less, so I haven't tried running it that way.

 

[629-4]

I haven't measured striker travel, but set it to add .035 from factory (stock trigger) setting. I did back the cocking pc out 1 full turn and struck a few empties. The rim indent was noticeably less, so I haven't tried running it that way.

Thanks! I have a B’n A tacsport pro with about.040 cock on close it looks like I have about .285 total travel which is probably more than enough but I think I will leave well enough alone.

 

[357Max]

Thanks! I have a B’n A tacsport pro with about.040 cock on close it looks like I have about .285 total travel which is probably more than enough but I think I will leave well enough alone.

You should be fine on striker travel. Within .005 of what I've got & never had a FTF.

Per B&A the sear engagement is important to check and could have a negative impact on accuracy if to much.

I'd be curious to hear if the Tack Sport Pro Sear engagement adjustment affects cock on close? I'd think since the surfaces are angled it would have some effect.
I've got right at .030 sear engagement with the Huber.

 

[629-4]

You should be fine on striker travel. Within .005 of what I've got & never had a FTF.

Per B&A the sear engagement is important to check and could have a negative impact on accuracy if to much.

I'd be curious to here if the Tack Sport Pro Sear engagement adjustment affects cock on close? I'd think since the surfaces are angled it would have some effect.
I've got right at .030 sear engagement with the Huber.

View attachment 7618242

I think it would have an effect as well. I measured sear height and it was ok with the standard top sear. The hand off from the bolt to sear is about.010 which isn’t very noticeable when you run the bolt normally. It’s not as smooth as a properly timed Remington but from your experience I think I will leave it alone.

 

[tomcatfan]

Here is what we did to fix the feeding problem. A little piece of plastic glued to the mag. Zero issues since and have put a good number of rounds through it.View attachment 7614622

What was your source for the plastic piece? I might give this a try.

 

[Banetoast]

Great information, thanks!

My initial failures to eject were solved with bolt lubrication.

Can you be more specific? I’m getting fairly frequent fte of spent cases (1-2/mag). They just fall into the action.

 

[Znutar]

I've had zero issues with my B14R or the 3 mags I have for it...that said I do have one "problem." The action is so smooth that if I tilt the rifle about 20 degrees forward and then 20 degrees back it will strip and spit rounds out...have to be careful to keep the rifle level when moving at comps to avoid the "auto" feed...

 

[308pirate]

I've had zero issues with my B14R or the 3 mags I have for it...that said I do have one "problem." The action is so smooth that if I tilt the rifle about 20 degrees forward and then 20 degrees back it will strip and spit rounds out...have to be careful to keep the rifle level when moving at comps to avoid the "auto" feed...

Same here

Mine has been flawless. I don't expect it to be flawless if I start bolting on aftermarket things like triggers, since that's completely outside Bergara's control.

 

[Banetoast]

Same here

Mine has been flawless. I don't expect it to be flawless if I start bolting on aftermarket things like triggers, since that's completely outside Bergara's control.

I wish I could say the same. To be fair, I haven’t contacted bergara yet as I haven’t really had it for long and have 200 rds through it. I will try to troubleshoot it a bit before I call them. Also, I want to get a bit of video to see what is exactly happening during the ejection of the case.

Also, mine is a 100% stock CF version bought new as a complete rifle. Other than the frequent spent case remaining in the action I like it a lot. Bolt seems smooth, trigger works for me, and it seems pretty accurate with the only ammo I’ve used so far -Norma tac-22.

 

[Znutar]

I wish I could say the same. To be fair, I haven’t contacted bergara yet as I haven’t really had it for long and have 200 rds through it. I will try to troubleshoot it a bit before I call them. Also, I want to get a bit of video to see what is exactly happening during the ejection of the case.

Also, mine is a 100% stock CF version bought new as a complete rifle. Other than the frequent spent case remaining in the action I like it a lot. Bolt seems smooth, trigger works for me, and it seems pretty accurate with the only ammo I’ve used so far -Norma tac-22.

Mine was a B14R carbon barreled action I got direct from Bergara. I put it in an MDT XRS chassis and have zero complaints...hope you can solve your problem quickly as nothing is more frustrating than trying to diagnose issues with your rifle. I just fixed (I hope) an issue with my Tenacity action and weak ejection of my 6 mm BR Norma brass...put a Wolff extra strength ejector spring in and it seems to be better but won't really know until the next competition...

 

[Renoone]

What was your source for the plastic piece? I might give this a try.

Sorry for the delay.
DST Precision in MN. Troy Tyson [email protected]

 

[Natureman]

I wish I could say the same. To be fair, I haven’t contacted bergara yet as I haven’t really had it for long and have 200 rds through it. I will try to troubleshoot it a bit before I call them. Also, I want to get a bit of video to see what is exactly happening during the ejection of the case.

Also, mine is a 100% stock CF version bought new as a complete rifle. Other than the frequent spent case remaining in the action I like it a lot. Bolt seems smooth, trigger works for me, and it seems pretty accurate with the only ammo I’ve used so far -Norma tac-22.

Had a similar problem. After shooting about 500 rounds of SK Standard Plus it now cycles fine. Other ammo does not fair as well.

 

[tomcatfan]

Sorry for the delay.
DST Precision in MN. Troy Tyson [email protected]

Thanks for the reply. I just used some steel reinforced epoxy and it turned out great. For anyone who wants to give this a try, I don’t have a ton of rounds through my rifle after the mod, but it seems to have fixed the issue.

 

[cyclepath37]

How thick is the plastic shim on the mag?

 

[tomcatfan]

How thick is the plastic shim on the mag?

This was exactly my problem. It will depend on your specific set up, chassis, rifle, mag, etc. Thats why I went with the reductive technique of removing material until the mag fit tight and snug.

 

[srt-4_uk]

Same here

Mine has been flawless. I don't expect it to be flawless if I start bolting on aftermarket things like triggers, since that's completely outside Bergara's control.

Bergara sells Trigger tech triggers from their online shop. Seems odd the gun won't work properly with an accessory they sell.

 

[GimpyGolden]

I have TT Primary on my B14-r. 2k+ rounds and not a glitch.

 

[357Max]

Update I'm now 1100 plus rounds & zero failures to eject. No issues whatsoever.
Gun shot a100yrd 6 x 5 today with avg .683 moa

 

[tomcatfan]

Update I'm now 1100 plus rounds & zero failures to eject. No issues whatsoever.
Gun shot a100yrd 6 x 5 today with avg .683 moa

What ammo?

 

[357Max]

What ammo?

SK Long Range match

 

[rookie7]

Mine was a B14R carbon barreled action I got direct from Bergara. I put it in an MDT XRS chassis and have zero complaints...hope you can solve your problem quickly as nothing is more frustrating than trying to diagnose issues with your rifle. I just fixed (I hope) an issue with my Tenacity action and weak ejection of my 6 mm BR Norma brass...put a Wolff extra strength ejector spring in and it seems to be better but won't really know until the next competition...

Any mag issues with that stock? Fit and function?

 

[lennyo3034]

I have two B14Rs, one that has intermittent failure to eject and one that’s been perfect. I broke down the bolts and the two and took some measurements.

The right side( ejection port) extractors were exactly the same between the two. However the left side (parallax knob) was different. The one that ran perfect has a thickness of .052” and was very smooth in it’s bolt groove. The one with issues was .062” and wanted to hang up a little.

I took the left side extractor to a file to remove about .001” of material. I have had far fewer failures to extract after doing this. Dropping from maybe 10% to not even 1%.

Next time I do a breakdown I’ll probably take a little more off.

 

[r3plicator]

Any mag issues with that stock? Fit and function?

I'm running a B14R steel with the MDT XRS for NRL22. The magazine will usually fail to feed on the seventh or eighth cartridge. As cartridges are fired, the front of the magazine slowly slouches forward and tilts to the side. This eventually causes a cartridge to get hung up on the lip of the chamber. There is a LOT of side to side roll in this configuration. FWIW, this also occasionally happened in the HRM chassis that it came with, but it was much more rare.

I tested @Renoone's solution and it works perfectly. However, it is specific to the chassis configuration and won't necessarily work if the action is moved to another chassis.

 

[Merle]

I just bought a CF barreled action and installed it in a Grayboe Neo chassis. On my first and only outing with it I had feeding problems with SK Rifle Match and Eley Tenex. However, CCI mini mags fed perfectly. The first 5 in the mag would feed fine but as the mag would droop down a little in the front the problems started happening just as others have described. My fix was to stipple the front and back of the mag body with a flat soldering iron tip. I've cycled a few full mags through it and it seems to have cured it. Now I just need to go out and shoot it to verify all is good.

 

[lennyo3034]

C

I just bought a CF barreled action and installed it in a Grayboe Neo chassis. On my first and only outing with it I had feeding problems with SK Rifle Match and Eley Tenex. However, CCI mini mags fed perfectly. The first 5 in the mag would feed fine but as the mag would droop down a little in the front the problems started happening just as others have described. My fix was to stipple the front and back of the mag body with a flat soldering iron tip. I've cycled a few full mags through it and it seems to have cured it. Now I just need to go out and shoot it to verify all is good.

Can you post pictures of the stippling?

 

[Merle]

C

Can you post pictures of the stippling?

If this doesn't fix the issue I'm probably just going to get rid of the barreled action. I've never been a fan of wasting time and ammo trying to get something to work right. I also have a Tikka T1X and it has been 100% reliable right out of the box.

 

[tomcatfan]

If this doesn't fix the issue I'm probably just going to get rid of the barreled action. I've never been a fan of wasting time and ammo trying to get something to work right. I also have a Tikka T1X and it has been 100% reliable right out of the box.

Just curious, are you running your Tikka in a factory stock or did you buy it as a barreled action?

 

[Merle]

Just curious, are you running your Tikka in a factory stock or did you buy it as a barreled action?

It came in a stock. I don't think you can even buy a Tikka as a barreled action.

 

[tomcatfan]

It came in a stock. I don't think you can even buy a Tikka as a barreled action.

Not really a fair comparison then. The issues with the Bergara and feeding are almost all to do with aftermarket stocks and chassis. If you want to fix your feeding issues without doing any custom work, buy an HMR stock and give it a go.

 

[Merle]

Not really a fair comparison then. The issues with the Bergara and feeding are almost all to do with aftermarket stocks and chassis. If you want to fix your feeding issues without doing any custom work, buy an HMR stock and give it a go.

I guess I missed the fine print in Bergara's advertising. They shouldn't be selling these as barreled actions only if they only work in their stocks. If I would have known that I would have just bought a complete rifle.