Thanks that’s great information. Let us know if Bergara ever steps up their game on these shortcomings.I try not to complain but these bolts are just plain ridiculous.They are nicely machined though at the face is usually centered with the bolt body. Not something I get to say too often with Rem700 bolts.
Laser welded. That is good to know. The two example bolts that I had had a significant difference in weld quality.Two years ago I emailed Bergara in Spain questioning the space between the bolt body and bold handle
and the welding.
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ME
I own a Bergara B14 HMR. I would like to know how the bolt handle is attached to the bolt.
Is it welded or is it brazed?
If you look at the attached photos you can clearly see that I can take a piece of paper and slide it between the bolt and bolt handle.
To me it does not appear to be a very solid connection.
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Bergara Response.
This is Bergara Europe, probably our dealer in USA (BPI) could you offer better after sales service. I will add a copy of this email.
Your query is totally compressible, and fortunately is has a technical answer:
The bolt handle is laser welded, forming an “L” shape that surrounds it at the rear, it’s not brazed. Our abusive tests (250 kg force applied on the knob) concluded that most of the times the bolt itself will break prior the welding fails.
The inclined front wall is functional. It prevents the cocking piece kicking the sear HARD when pushing the bolt assembly forward, and also it acts like the primary extraction CAM (pulling the fired case rearward slightly, in case it’s stuck to the chamber). This surface is critical for rifle perfect performance, those dimensions must be under strict tolerances, so welding this angle isn´t best idea.
After ensuring that the “L” shape was strong enough to fix the handle, we decided not to weld the inclined functional wall.
View attachment 1189844
View attachment 1189843
With that said I like my Bergara its on its second barrel has around 4000 rounds through it and the only issue I had was the extractor spring failed.
I can't comment on their bolts, but I had one of their barrels for a TC Encore that didn't end well. About two years before I retired MIDWAY had Bergara barrels for TC Encores, so I purchased one in .223 Remington with the intent of making a walking varmit rifle. After retiring I got all the necessary pieces and parts to assemble the rifle (it was originally a 50 cal ML). After bore sighting it I sat down with a box of factory ammo to verify the accuracy before the final sighting in. All the fired cases came out with the primers standing proud of the cartridge case by .007-.008". My experience with this with factory ammo is it's either the ammo is under loaded, or the gun has excessive head space. I called CVA, the importer of Bergara products and explained the problem, and they asked that I send them the barrel. I did, and they verified that the head space was just as I suspected, +.007-.008" and couldn't be corrected because it goes to a break action single shot. So I asked them to send me a new barrel, this wasn't possible because from the time I purchased that barrel until I experienced the problem, they no longer were in the TC replacement barrel business. So I wound up with a replacement gun of something I really didn't want.
With that experience behind me, I'm wondering if the problem isn't so much with the manufacturers, but lies with the vendor. Last spring a friend of mine ordered a .308 Win replacement barrel for a Savage through MIDWAY. Before he installed it, he did a chamber cast and the neck dimension was .350-.351", grossly large for a .308. Are they selling seconds as first line products. Has anyone here ever ordered a barrel from them, and if so how was it?
Dont base your opinion off this video please. Always check things yourselves because there are a ton of folks that like emI have never fired a Bergara, I can't remember if I have ever held one. I looked some over at the pharmacy and gun shop in north Georgia(yea that seemed kinda weird to me too). But I have always had it in the back of my mind they were one of the best rifles on the market today. I tried to figure out where that impression came from. OHHH now I remember where that comes from reading a gun magazine. This sure adds credibility to the old thread on this forum right now about gun writers and politicians and not being able to believe either of them.
I have one of those. IIRC, it doesn't work on the Bergara.