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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