Bergara B14 Crest Carbon

I have always been a bit of a Remington 700 fan and from the first moment I saw a Bergara B14 some years ago, I immediately recognised what Remington should have done to evolve their 50-year-old design and keep up with the competition. Bergara has gone from strength to strength with huge US market involvement, design cooperation, and exciting products.

Have they found the Cure?
The Crest Carbon uses the latest Cure carbon barrel to complement Bergara’s still generic Rem 700 footprint action. The 20”/510mm barrel shows a threaded muzzle (5/8x24) for the attached brake or a moderator of your choice. Cure barrels include stainless steel mesh within the carbon weave, intended to help conduct heat away from the inner barrel. The 21.5mm diameter barrel is fully free-floated within the fore-end of the carbon-fibre stock. This, incidentally, features a vertical pistol grip with an ambidextrous palm swell and slender, high cheekpiece.

Two lugs
Bergara updated a Remington 700’s fundamental dimensions and operating process. The recoil lug is still pinned between the barrel tenon and the action, but it’s enclosed within the action face and unable to rotate, making any barrel changes far easier. The bolt is still a twin lug, push feed unit with a 90-degree lift to cock, but it now shows a separate Sako-type extractor claw. There’s fluting on the bolt shaft which runs very smoothly in the action, making it virtually impossible to jam.
Ammunition feed is via an AICS-compatible, single-column detachable magazine that clips into the floorplate. This works without snags and allows easy access to spares of greater capacity than the five-round unit supplied. You can pre-load a round in the chamber for a 5+1 capacity if desired. The ambidextrous release catch is positioned to the front of the trigger guard, and when pressed, the mag falls free of the gun without undue effort. New mags clip solidly into the rifle without any snags either.

Cycling efficiency
The bolt handle is 65mm long and features a 22mm teardrop knob. The overall travel is 103mm on this conventional action length, and other than bolt face diameter, it is identical to the Creedmoor, for example. The action cocks on opening and shows plenty of primary extraction to pull the case from the chamber. The brass is then ejected confidentially from the rifle with a sprung ejector. The other thing Bergara did to improve on the Remington design was to add a separate bolt release catch on the left side of the receiver.
The two-position safety catch is silent in operation and is positioned to the right of the bolt shroud, with forward for fire and rear for safe (no bolt lock).
During use, I had no problems with the operation of the rifle, and unlike many .223s, you can just drop a round into the ejection port and close the bolt in a backup situation. The round just loads smoothly into the chamber, which is an appreciable benefit.

Anchor points
The receiver is anchored into the stock with twin bolts spanning the magazine well, and they go through the separate aluminium floorplate. These have 5mm Allen heads, and when released, allow the barrelled action to lift free, showing the internals. The trigger is a generic Rem 700 compatible unit, meaning it is easy to swap out if desired. This one is a single-stage adjustable unit, breaking at 780g/28oz. In fairness, it offers a crisp pull that is predictable and reliable enough for most shooters. There are no pillars or bedding within the neatly formed inlet, although the fit and finish seem refined and dimensionally accurate for the cylindrical action. Nothing is ever quite as good as a full bedding job, and if I owned this rifle, I would put it on my to-do list.

Stocky
Carbon fibre stocks always look expensive yet sometimes conceal gremlins, but the Bergara stock was genuinely very nice. The fit and finish were exemplary throughout, and the ergonomics were also quite good. The fore-end has a flat underside that is 47mm wide. There is no chequering anywhere on the rifle, but the matte finish seems reasonably tactile and shows occasional blue flecks to break up the otherwise uniform warp and weft of the carbon-fibre. Everything is rigid, meaning there is no intermittent barrel contact from any shooting position, and when shooting prone the rifle will take shoulder pressure if desired. Even though the stock is lightweight, it feels solid and assured on point of aim. It seems a rifle cannot be deemed precise without an aluminium chassis, but this carbon stock is really appealing, with no hollow resonance on firing or while handling it.

Butt
The cheekpiece is tall, and it is close with the underside of the bolt shroud and striker, meaning you get a comb about as tall as possible without cutouts or adjustability. It’s slim (36mm wide) and comfortable to use. The comb swoops down, Monte Carlo style, to the heel of the recoil pad, which is 25mm thick. Even though a .223 is no real test for recoil transfer, I think this rifle will shoot equally well in larger calibres. The balance point with a carbon barrel is at the front of the action, and this will no doubt move forward with a steel barrel fitted, helpfully calming more of the muzzle rise in the larger calibres.

Sling it
Regarding carrying the rifle, it’s good to see a broad selection of standard studs and QD flush-cups to the front and rear of the stock. The vertical pistol grip offers a thumb-up or wrapped hold and a spacious 85mm reach to the trigger blade, ensuring linear pressure application. The butt itself has a small bag rider at the very rear, although it can’t be termed a hand stop as it is sloped on the front face, making it impossible to add pressure to your shoulder, if that’s your preference. This is a slight downside when it comes to an otherwise excellent stock design.

Pleasure and pain
Shooting this rifle highlighted that mechanically and ergonomically, it was a delight to shoot, boasting a consistent trigger, smooth/fast bolt operation, and no hangups at all from the magazine. The fore-end was stiff, and I had no problems achieving a secure, stable position while prone or when clamped in a tripod. However, the barrel was very susceptible to dispersion when heating up. Given the ‘heavy’ barrel and five-round magazine, I zeroed the rifle easily and shot a nice three-round group. However, on a sunny day (16ºC) with a quite strong breeze blowing, I struggled to keep the gun cool enough. With 30 minutes between groups, the moderator removed and the barrel in the wind, I could make three rounds sit sub-MOA with 55gr V-max, but never a five-rounder. This also made judging inherent precision tricky. As suspected, the 73s threw some big flyers, as they are too heavy for the twist rate. They were worth a try though.

Conclusion
This is a very attractive rifle that boasts a lot of modernity and some great handling dynamics for what seems a very modest asking price. I like what Bergara has done, and I am pleased they are not just sitting around lazily as Remington did. However, I would buy the steel-barrelled version. I just can’t trust a carbon barrel that gets so hot, so quickly and is difficult to cool down. It is ok as a hunting rifle, where the first and backup shot from a cold barrel matter, but after that, I was chasing failure.