I have seen a lot of posts about bergara bolt guns shooting great groups so I have been curious about their AR barrels. After asking questions on multiple forums and getting nothing more than a group size reference from someone's bothers neighbors best friends ex-wife who shoots sub 1/4  moa 10 shots groups, I have decided to buy a barrel and give it a fair chance with factory match ammo.  If the results are promising I will work up a load to test the accuracy. I ordered an 18" 308 win barrel off their website and have an AeroM5 set that I have already trued the receiver face that will be the mounting platform. I will update when the barrel comes in.

Update - Received

I ordered this barrel on Monday and it arrived on Thursday.  Not bad for free shipping. I opened the box to find it in a nice plastic package. Also, I thought it was black but it is actually stainless ( a favorable oversite on my part). The barrel appears to be well machined and has a nice crown. The only negative which may not be a big deal, there is a lot of burs handing down in the bore from drilling the gas port. Had I not checked this and shot it, I would imagine the but debris would scar the bore. I will try to clear the burs and get it installed next week. Check out the pics below.

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Update: Installed

I ran a cleaning rod through the barrel and knocked the burrs off easily.  Took off my old barrel and got the new one mounted up. Also, I trued my receiver face to eliminate some variables. Torqued the barrel nut and timed my brake. I also bought some Hornady Match 168Grn BTHP's to try out. If these do at least moa I will work up a load using varget and various match bullets. Check out the pictures of the setup. I will update with shooting results tomorrow.

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Update: First Range Trip

Not impressed. Not even MOA with match ammo.
I sighted in with some old XM80 I had with groups around 1.8 moa.
Then I moved to the factory loaded Hornady Match 168 grain BTHP's both suppressed and unsuppressed.
On the last string of suppressed shooting my bolt catch broke. I noticed all my brass was thrown far forward so it is definitely running in an over gassed state. Also has some FTE.
Then I switched over to FGMM 175 grain SMK's with no more luck. I left the range frustrated. The best group was with the 175 grain SMK's at 1.487". Scope rings are toqued and barrel nut torqued correctly. As I said in the beginning, if the gun shoots promising groups with factory match ammo, I would develop a load for the gun but these are not promising results. I may take it back out with some lighter bullets before I disassemble. See some pictures below. The hits on steel are at 400 yards.

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FWIW, my buddy bought a 6.5 HMR from them this year.  We couldnt get it to shoot better than 3 MOA with even handloads wearing a Razor Gen 2 optic.. he called them and they gave him a Prepaid shipping label.  He sent it in and received it back 2 weeks later with a re-cut chamber and some bolt work (extractor), and it now shoots like everyone says it should.

There is always a lemon. Bergara has excellent customer service and I wouldnt hesitate to purchase  any of their rifles.

I plan on buying an HMR in 6.5 CM too. Thanks for this info. I agree there are always lemons. I would be willing to work through some issues to get an excellent shooter for the price they are selling the HMR's right now.

I just bought a 6.5 Creedmoor HMR yesterday and I'm taking it to the range today. For the time being I put my S&B PMII 5x25 on it. We shall see.

You will not be disappointed!

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I have a HMR Pro in 6.5cm. It took about 50 or so rounds for it to really come around, but its a sub .5 moa gun now. I shoot factory loaded 140 grain hornady through it.




This is a 7 shot group at a hundred yards I did a few weeks back. All factory loaded ammo.

Tagged for shooting results.

The burr at the gas port is not unusual.  I've even seen it on premium barrels.  Some of it may go away when you clean the barrel.  At any rate it will go away on the first shot.  I've never noticed any bore damage from shooting away the burr.

ETA, Just checked the Bergara web sight.  Holy Crap!  Those are cheap barrels.  I'm one of those who believe you get what you pay for with barrels.  Begara has a good reputation so it will be interesting to see how they shoot.

My 6.5cm B14 HMR shot well out of the box. I ran about 10 rounds through it just to get it smoothed out a little. I'm not overly impressed but not disappointed either. My .308 Weatherby Vanguard in a Boyd's At-One stock out shoots the Bergara at the moment but I haven't worked my magic on the Bergara yet. Factory ammo in both right now.

Bergara LRP owner here. Amazed at how accurate it shoots factory Hornady.

I’m on the Bergara owners FB group and I’ve questioned their AR barrels based on price but you should see some of the groups guys post with 223 and 308 AR barrels. Quite a few have seen half MOA.

Best of luck and keep us updated.

Fwiw, I left an honest review on the Bergara website for the barrel I purchased. That was over a week ago and I still haven't seen it posted. I guess you should only leave favorable reviews.

My JP shoots 168gr FGMM noticeably better than Hornady 168gr match.    You might run a box down the barrel and see what it can do.

I know many moons ago, PWS was using Bergara as a source for their barrels. If PWS was using them, it's usually a sign that they're probably pretty decent.  For 100.00, I would be stoked if it shot 1.5moa.  Anything less than 1.5 would be a cherry on top.

Wow.  $100 for a barrel?

For all the praise I read on their bolt action rifles I assumed those would be higher.

Hope you get it worked out OP.  How many rounds total did you shoot?

What buffer are you using?

Are you using an AGB?

How many rounds through it?

I experimented and had crazy issues with two AR10 builds until I added a JP silent captured spring system for an AR 10 and an adjustable gas block.  
Some guys have all kinds of secret tricks to make an A.R. 10 work. You know build a pentagram on your workbench with Copenhagen, only assemble them on a full moon, real stupid crap like that. Reliable function comes down to controlling the BCG speed to the rear when ejecting the spent case. When you slow down the bolt carrier group speed down so the rifle consistently ejects to the 3 o’clock or 4 o’clock position, you’re riifle should be running very reliably at that point.

Federal Gold Medal Match is the standard for repeteable accuracy.  168s or 175s should be grouping well after you break in the barrel.  Good factory loads or good reloads that are proven to work is what you should use to gage accuracy.  My rifles seem to settle down after 100-200 rounds through them.  I love it when internet sensations complain when their $3000 AR 10 wont run reliably with Wolf or Golden bear ammo.  Shit in=shit out.