Anybody own a Bergara ridge?

[Deleted member 103481]

Thinking I'm going to order one of the little special purpose models with the shorty barrel. Need a simply eastern whitetail rifle that I can toss around a bit, and these are threaded from the factory 5/8 which is quite appealing.

I've seen good things and seen bad things, anybody have any real experience with one?

 

[Korhil78]

I have one and am also the one that had problems with mine. Before the problem was fixed, it was frustrating as heck. The firing pin was piercing primers even on mild loads and that caused the whole assembly to come back and hit the bolt shroud and it broke as well. Finally sent it off to Gre-tan and had a new firing pin and spring put in and had it bushed. Now it works great and is pretty dang accurate. Did some test loads the other day and they all shot sub-moa with the potential to have half moa. I have a 300 win mag.

If there is anything else you want to know about it, ask or PM me and I will answer everything that I am able to.

 

[Deleted member 103481]

I have one and am also the one that had problems with mine. Before the problem was fixed, it was frustrating as heck. The firing pin was piercing primers even on mild loads and that caused the whole assembly to come back and hit the bolt shroud and it broke as well. Finally sent it off to Gre-tan and had a new firing pin and spring put in and had it bushed. Now it works great and is pretty dang accurate. Did some test loads the other day and they all shot sub-moa with the potential to have half moa. I have a 300 win mag.

If there is anything else you want to know about it, ask or PM me and I will answer everything that I am able to.

Hmm glad you got it worked out.. makes me hesitate. Did you speak with Bergara at all about it or take it straight to Greg?

 

[Korhil78]

I spoke to Bergara about it and they wanted me to send it in but I called Greg and he said he had some time to get it done in about 5 weeks and you and I both know how long it can take if you send it in to a manufacturer. But others have had no problems at all. The rifle shoots really well though. The trigger is also nice.

 

[Lowedown]

I have a Ridge in 7 RM I am currently in load development with. First 3 shots out of it went into a penny. Thus far it has shown the ability to be VERY accurate, however there have been a couple poor groups (Not ruling out shooter error here). I ended up re-stocking it with a B & C for a more benchy feel. The original stock had a nice rubberized feel to it but the grip was too swept back for what I wanted. When upgrading to a TriggerTech Special the firing pin was not getting held back. Bergara paid the shipping both ways for my bolt so they could put a better firing Pin Head in that would catch the trigger sear. Turn around was quick and the fix worked. Most impressive thing to me was my Ladder test group at 200 yards, 5 grains of powder difference and all but 2 went into a 2" dot (pretty sure I pulled one), seating depth test also had 3 very different COAL go from 7/16" to 7/8".

 

[Deleted member 103481]

Thanks guys. Seen a decent number of small issues(both of y'all) , but also understand that that's a thing with factory rifles and there's probably thousands out there without any.

I'm close to giving it a try. Not many other factory bolt guns with 18" threaded barrels ready to roll, and don't really think I need a custom for this job.

 

[Deleted member 103481]

I spoke to Bergara about it and they wanted me to send it in but I called Greg and he said he had some time to get it done in about 5 weeks and you and I both know how long it can take if you send it in to a manufacturer. But others have had no problems at all. The rifle shoots really well though. The trigger is also nice.

Have you seen any cold bore issues? One of the more extensive YouTube videos (2 part series) the guys have a massive repeatable poi shift like 1.5 moa left on the first shot.

 

[Korhil78]

No, mine has not had a cold bore shift. But I have not had the chance to shoot it at distance yet. I shot some loads the other day just to test out because when I sent my bolt in to get the new spring, firing pin and have it bushed, my load I had lost 50 fps for some reason so I had to go up in powder charge to get it back to the velocity and accuracy I was getting before. The first group I had measured .75" at 100. 2 were in the same hole pretty much and the other was off to the left .75" but it was the second shot so I am thinking that it was me on that one. All the loads shot sub MOA though.

I will be testing 76.3 gr of H1000 with the 215 gr berger to see how it goes.

 

[Deleted member 103481]

Well... ordered. Gonna give it a try

 

[Korhil78]

You will like it.

 

[Deleted member 103481]

Oh I know I will, it's a creed

 

[Korhil78]

Now you went and done it!

 

[WWP2012]

I have one in 7mm Mag. It had issues but now is shooting 3.5-4" groups out at 500.

Issues to look for:

The firing pin has pierced primers.

The bedding pillars are flat on a round receiver. It will shift POI no matter how tight you make it. It needs to be fully bedded.

Stock feels great in your hands but has a lot of flex when on a bipod.

For what you spend on it, your getting a good start at a shooter.

 

[Deleted member 103481]

I have one in 7mm Mag. It had issues but now is shooting 3.5-4" groups out at 500.

Issues to look for:

The firing pin has pierced primers.

The bedding pillars are flat on a round receiver. It will shift POI no matter how tight you make it. It needs to be fully bedded.

Stock feels great in your hands but has a lot of flex when on a bipod.

For what you spend on it, your getting a good start at a shooter.

Thanks for the notes, hoping they have addressed the firing pin issues. The stock stuff is as to be expected by a factory synthetic rifle IMO, they rarely seem to like bipods.