During the course of my researching Begara, the history of the brand and the parent company – Dikar S Coop, I encountered this very interesting tour of the Dikar S Coop factory in Bergara, Spain. It was conducted in 2019 and is a chance for you to see some of their barrel, bolt and receiver making plus assembly and testing.
In both videos, you can see in that they have invested in modern CNC manufacturing and have quality control steps integrated with manufacturing including visual inspections, go-no jigs and testing for run out.
They show their process for making B14 barrels. Here, they are getting ready to do button rifling.Here’s a screen shot of the CNC milling of a B14 receiver body.In addition to the manufacturing, you can see them assembling receivers.Here, the gentleman is assembling a B14 Wilderness.All rifles are proof tested. The person on the left is a rerpesentative of the Spanish proof house – he’s inspecting a casing.The tested rifles are packaged and then stored in the warehouse to await loading into containers.
Now, watch the video!
This first video was produced by Bergara and was the source for the above photos:
Please note, all photos are screenshots from the video and remain the property of their respective owners. They are used solely to highlight the video.
A Second Video From 2022
This second video was produced by Pedro Ampuero in 2022 and is also very cool. I’d recommend watching it as well for further insights. It is just over 20 minutes long so he could get into more detail.
Summary
I hope you enjoy these videos as much as I did. I’ve learned a great deal about Bergara over the past year and the fine barrels and rifles they make and wanted to share these.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
After going over my new Bergara B14 HMR, I realized there was actually nothing I needed to change in the base package itself. You need to understand, it is very rare that I don’t fiddle with a firearm and change things. The B14 HMR is a hidden gem in my opinion. A shooter wanting sub-MOA accuracy can buy one of these and then add the muzzle brake, bipod (if they want one) and a scope of their choice.
You’ll notice the brake and scope mirror what I added to my Aero Solus – I wanted to be able to compare the two rifles side by side. I always want a bipod option and that required a different tact with the B14 HMR than the Solus given the different chassis designs.
To do the work, I mainly used my Tipton Ultra Standing Gun Vise. If you need a free standing rifle vise, the Tipton is solid.
Muzzle Brake
I went with a Precision Armament Hypertap. It can cut felt recoil by up to 88% with little to no impacts on accuracy. Click here to visit their site.
I really like the Hypertap brakes.The Hypertap has the big rear-angled exhaust ports to push the rifle forward and offset the recoil. The integral locking collar on the right allows you to time (rotate) the brake you want and secure it by tightening down that rear nut. The “dimples” you see on the body are locations you could drill additional gas ports to customize the venting of gasses to offset vertical forces.
Bipod
I like Picatinny rail mounts for bipods and the Bergara stock did not have one. I installed an Atlas BT17 4″ rail adapter that goes under the existing dual sling swivel studs to create a solid mounting point. This then enabled me to use an Atlas bipod.
You could install a bipod that mounts on the sling swivels if you wanted. In my case, I prefer having a rail on the bottom so I used an Atlas BT17 4″ rail adapter that uses the sling swivels. The rear slot gives you some “wiggle room” to allow for different distances between the first and second sling studs.
I haven’t settled on which exact bipod to use yet but it will be one of my Atlas units – either a BT65 or BT46 with an American Defense Manufacturing (ADM) clamp.
Base, Rings & Scope
The Bergara is drilled and tapped for a scope mount and uses the same pattern as a Remington 700 short action receiver. I installed a Seekins 0-MOA aluminum rail segment to accomodate Vortex Precision Rings and a Vortex Strike Eagle Scope.
I was working on the Aero Solus and Bergara B14 HMR back-to-back and bought the scopes and rings at the same time. The Bergara needed a mount and I bought a Seekins 1-piece 0-MOA Picatinny rail base. Vortex gave me a pleasant surprise in the box – a bag of their own Columbian Supreme coffee – it was surprisingly good.My current go-to bit set is from Dewalt. I used a Wheeler for a while and slowly the most used hex head bits started rounding over so I bought this kit. It’s very nicely done plus I can use the bits in my Vortex torquing screwdriver.Installing the scope mount. I applied blue loctite to the screws before installation. The longer screws go to the back – check that the bolt moves freely before you call it done.I used a Vortex torquing screw driver (they refer to it as a wrench) to finish installation. It’s served me well for years and I always return the torque to zero to unload the spring in the driver. There are a ton of look-alike knock offs on Amazon. You have no guarantee of their accuracy or how they will hold up over time.I really like Vortex Precision Rings. You can really dial in the height you want to get the scope close to the bore but also allow the bolt handle to clear the scope. By the way, a huge difference you will see witth quality rings is that they will give you torque specs because the material can handle it. Cheap rings and the marvel mystery metal they are made from are a “best guess” in terms of torque and often strip out. Quality rings also are true with the tube to correctly hold the scope.To this day, I always enjoy opening a new scope and seeing it. This is a Vortex Strike Eagle 5-25x56mm Front Focal Plane (FFP) scope with 34mm tube. The images are bright and crisp and it has a cool MRAD reticle.I use a Wheeler Scope Level tool kit to make sure the scope and reticle are perpinduclar to the bore. The Wheeler unit is the easiest model I have found. There are cheap knock offs out there but I have no idea of their quality. I’d recommend sticking with the Wheeler unit.I like using a Wheeler professional laser bore sight. I have one with a green laser but you may find the red laser model available at a very decent price. It attaches via a magnet to the muzzle and while it is quick to attach, the end of the muzzle must be cut perpendicular to the bore. I’ve found it doesn’t work well on barrels that have the muzzle sloppily cut or muzzle devices that aren’t true to the bore or unevenly machined as well.
Plano All Weather Hard Case
I’m a fan of Plano’s All Weather hard cases. Maybe you haven’t encountered them but they are solid, waterproof, and have pluckable foam so you can easily custom fit whatever firearm(s) you want to store.
It’s a big case for sure. ID is 51.5x14x5.5 inches. OD is 53.5x17x7 inches.The pluckable foam makes customization easy and there are keys for the locking latches.I lay my rifles on the foam and then pluck out the sections until I get the fit I want.Once I get the rifle situated, I’ll then do whatever other “pockets” I need for magazines, ammo, etc. In general, I like to keep the weapon away from the edges as much as I can to ensure protection. Once everything is done, I spray the bottom of the pluckable foam layer (it is removable) and then spray it with 3M Super 77 spray adhesive to lock it in place.
Result
Here’s the rifle with the muzzle brake, bipod rail adapter, and Vortex scope. Note the three spacers to the left of the recoil pad and the adjustable cheek piece is raised up just a tad.A tad closer view of the scope.Here’s the rifle laying in the other direction. I find the brake design intriguing with it’s big ports and the ability to fine tune.
Summary
The base Bergara B14 HMR is a solid rifle to then do the final touches on. I added the things I like – the brake, bipod adapter and scope. With that done, it was ready for the range.
I hope this helps you out.
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
In a recent post, I gave some background on Bergara and as mentioned, after learning more, I did go back to Michigan Gun Exchange and buy the Bergara B14 HMR.
The B14 HMR is made in Spain in a modern factory with CNC machines and careful quality control. This results in consistent parts with fairly tight tolerances – certainly better than years ago when parts still required a great deal of hand fitting.
With the Bergara B14, you are getting a receiver that has the same footprint as Remington 700 short action receivers. Bergara makes their own by the way plus one of their high quality button rifled barrels.
Bergara’s Performance Trigger is quite nice. It is set at 2.8 pounds at the factory and is adjustable from 2.8-4.4 pounds via an adjustment screw. I have run really light triggers in the past but 2.8 pounds is in my sweet spot and it breaks nicely when pulled.
The HMR stock has an aluminum chassis that stock is then formed around. This means the receiver has a solid platform that is not going to flex or warp.
One of the things I like about the stock is that it can be adjusted to fit the shooter and the “bottom metal” meaning the floor plate area, supports the use of an AICS-style magazine. This magazine design started with Accuracy International in their Chassis System ( hence “AICS”) and now a number of makers produce that pattern inclduing Magpul.
The base rifle comes in at 9.5 pounds and is 40 inches overall – bear in mind there are spacers in the recoil pad so between that and if you install a muzzle device, that overall length can vary.
What does it look like out of the box?
Not to be funny but what you get is a base bolt action platform that you then customize. Now you are getting a jump start in terms of having a really good stock and pretty decent trigger right out of the box.
Let’s look at some photos:
It comes in a box with a nice secure molded liner that protects everything. It looks like many other bolt action rifles albeit with a cool stock.The stock design is very well thought out and fit me very well.This is an interesting view of the bolt face. You can see the big ejector and the extractor claw off to the left plus the firing pin hole. What you also ought to notice are the wear marks on the bolt lugs. This bolt has two lugs – the protrusions on the left and the right. When you push the bolt in and then bring the bolt handle down, these lugs are travelling in the receiver into a locked position that then withstands the enormous pressure of the cartridge when it is fired. The wear marks are showing the contact points where the bolt is rubbing on the receiver as it goes into the locked position and also when it is unlocked. How well the receiver, lugs and bolt body “fit” each other contribute to how smooth the action feels. Also, the more consistent the lock up, the better the repeatable accuracy is.This is the back underside of the bolt assembly. We are looking at the firing pin to the left and the Bergara is designed to cock on open, meaning that as you open the bolt, the firing pin is pulled back and spring compressed. You’ll note there is some debris here that needs to be cleaned up. Even so, it was pretty smooth right out of the box. Scott had the rifle on display so there’s no guessing how many times the action was cycled – at least a hundred of times probably – before I bought it. Also, note the oversized bolt knob. The larger size makes manipulating the bolt easier.The receiver comes drilled and tapped for whatever Remington short action scope mount you want to use. The bolt release is sticking out at the rear, closest to us. The left close to the “B-14” in the photo is the safety lever.It comes with a very decent thick recoil pad on the far right. The black “discs” are spacers that you can add or remove to adjust the scope to your desired length of pull.Protected by a muzzle cap are the 5/8″-24 TPI threads. This is a very common thread size for .308 muzzle devices and gives you a ton of options.
Summary
I’m going to wrap this post up at this point. The base Bergara B14 HMR is a very nice rifle – sub MOA guarantee, good barrel, action was pretty smooth, decent trigger and a very slick stock. It definitely gave me a starting platform to build on and a rifle I wholeheartedly recommend. In the next post, I’ll tell you about what I added.
I hope this helps you out.
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
To be honest, Bergara wasn’t even on my radar until the Summer of 2023. I was talking to my good friend, Scott Igert, who, along with his wife Alicia, own Michigan Gun Exchange, about a slick looking bolt rifle he bought for inventory to sell – it was a Bergara B14 HMR. I’d not heard of the brand before and he told me they were known for their barrels. If I had heard of Bergara before then, I really hadn’t paid attention and what was in front of me was a very nicely done bolt gun with a sub-Minute of Angle (MOA) guarantee.
The Bergara B14 HMR looked and felt good – nice trigger, smooth action and shouldered well. My only problem was that I knew nothing about them so I didn’t buy it and decided I better do some digging. What I found out was impressive and want to share it – by the way, I did go back and buy the rifle a few weeks later.
Corporate and Brand Structure
Like many arms companies these days, understanding the organizational and brand structure around Bergara took some research. Bergara is basically a brand owned by Dikar S Coop of Spain who is owned by Mondragon. Let me show you a chart to better explain this – click on the diagram to see a full size copy:
That diagram is the best I can come up with after reading Mondragon, Dikar S Coop and BPI Outdoor websites, 3rd party stories, etc. If anyone from BPI or Dikar want to email me some corrections, I’d very much welcome them.
Let’s Look At Each
Mondragon Corporation – Books could be written about this firm and their cooperative business model – I can only summarize a tiny bit. Mondragon was founded in 1956 in Mondragon, Spain. Today, Mondragon is the seventh largest corporation in Spain (based on asset turnover) and is a worker cooperative [Click here for a ton of webpages that cover their “co-op” model in more detail]. In 2024, it had over 70,000 workers, 30,660 in the Basque Country, 29,340 in the rest of Spain and around 10,000 abroad. It has four broad categories of business – finance, industrial/equipment (I’ve seen this group mentioned three different ways – industrial, equipment and manufacturing), retail, and knowledge. To me, I think of them as a holding company with a very interesting set of management principles.
Dikar S Coop – Is a cooperative owned by Mondragon Corporation. It’s part of the industrial/equipment group. Dikar S Coop focuses on sporting goods. It was formed by the merger of two Spanish gunmakers in 1969 Mendi S Coop (shotguns) and Jukar (muzzle loaders). Jukar was looking for access to the US market and Mendi mainly sold there. It joined Mondragon in 1991. In 2003, Dikar bought BPI Outdoors who was their largest barrel customer at that time. Today, Dikar it has over 300 people and markets in 45 countries. Note, their website links to online stores for Quake and Bergara direcly.
Dikar Portugal – Launched in 2003 initially to produce products for Quake Industries. There are current references to them making products for Bergara, CVA and Quake.
Bergara – the brand was launched in 2010 initially focused on barrels and introduced rifles and accessories to the US market in 2015. Within five years, Bergara sales exceeded the other brands. Note, the Dikar website is ambiguous but I think they mean within five years after the introduction to the US market. What I find interesting is their early emphasis on producing high quality barrels. They actually retained Ed Shilen, the brains behind Shilen custom barrels, to help them understand the process and methods behind quality barrels. While you may know Bergara for their rifles, they make a ton of different barrels for other big name companies.
Quake Industries – while focused on the American market, Quake products are sold in 45 countries. They make various accessories for shooters including bags, belts, optics covers, staps/slings and more.
BPI Outdoors – Black Powder Inc (BPI)was founded in 1999 and bought Connecticut Valley Arms (CVA) that same year. BPI Outdoors is directly owned by Dikar S Coop and isn’t surprising given Dikar’s history of muzzleloaders. As of September 2024, they employee about 75 people in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
CVA – is the #1 brand of muzzle loader rifles in the US. In 2020, they entered the centerfire market. They did get a black eye with a barrel quality problem in 1995 and 1996 model years but that was before BPI bought them in 1999. My understanding is that Bergara makes the CVA barrels now.
PowerBelt – is a leading brand of muzzle loader ammunition launched in 2002.
Durasight – is a brand of sights, scope bases and rings for CVA firearms launched in 2005.
Bergara Custom Rifles – In 2012 BPI hired retired USMC Msgt Dan Hanus. Mr. Hanus was schooled and then led the USMC’s Precision Rifle Section in Quantico, VA. He then brought in a few more builders he knew plus BPI invested in CNC machines for them to use. Their custom rifles were almost immediately adopted by a number of Georgia SWAT teams. If I had $5-6,000 + money for a comparable optic, I’d sure get in line for one of their BCR19 Heavy Tactical rifles.
Bergara Academy – they offer long-range shooting classes in Montana and Wyoming. Small class sizes and all-inclusive pricing makes their offerings very interesting. [Read that as “I would go in a heartbeat if I could afford it!”]
Summary
You’d think “Who is Bergara?” would get a simple answer. I guess it depends on where you stop but I learned quite a bit. For example, I had no idea that Bergara started with barrels and that partly explains why my B14 HMR was so accurate. I also didn’t know about the business model set forth by Mondragon.
In short, there is a lot of experience behind Bergara not to mention capital for innovation and expansion. I also think there is a lot of good momentum pushing them forward and we will see more and more from them.
I hope this helps you out.
References
This post took some digging so I want to provide the source pages in case you are interested:
Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
