I got the B14 Timber, 6.5 Creedmore, walnut-stocked with cheekpiece. Once it arrived at my home I scrubbed the factory-supplied traces of copper out of the barrel with JB Paste until the bore shined and then applied the Dyna Bore Coat.
Yesterday I fired the ten curing rounds and got the scope adjusted to near a 100 yard zero at the same time. As with past rifles, the curing rounds don't produce a very good group.
Today I cleaned the barrel by first removing the over-night soak of Wipe-Out foam, then going after the traces of copper with KG-12 and Montana X-Treme. The borescope told me when the last trace of copper was gone.
The bright shine in the bore produced by the JB Paste is now replaced by a somewhat darker, duller appearance that is characteristic of a DBC treated bore.
In my opinion, this thorough cleaning of the bore (but without abrasives) after the initial 8-10 curing shots is important to help get a consistent coating spread over the entire surface of the bore.
The initial curing shot always leaves some copper fouling, as does each subsequent curing shot. It is likely that this copper fouling will block those areas covered by the copper from developing complete coverage of the cured ceramic layer that we desire.
It is common experience that the first bore cleaning after the curing shots shows almost no reduction in cleaning effort required, or reduction in fouling. But then there is a very significant reduction in fouling for the next two or three cleanings and then fouling stabilizes at the new-normal state of reduced bore fouling compared to the pre-treatment level. From that point on we enjoy the benefit of the product: reduced fouling and easier cleaning, less often.
I believe this shows that curing of the DBC treatment is still continuing to take place, producing an even coating to the entire surface of the bore, for the first few dozen rounds fired through the bore, possibly aided by the next two or three cleanings of the bore. High temperature and pressure is what is doing the "curing".
I suspect that any copper fouling from the initial curing shots that is not removed during the first cleaning after initial curing may result in incomplete coverage of the ceramic coating within the bore.
This may be the cause for some few first-time DBC users concluding that the treatment didn't work very well for their rifle, or why an occasional rifle may need a follow-up treatment to get satisfactory results.
For those reasons I try to do a very good cleaning of the barrel for the first couple of cleanings after treating with DBC, and I have always gotten good results.
I did not hesitate to treat this brand new Bergara barrel because close inspection with the borescope showed a high level of finish quality. No flaws or obvious tool marks were found and the leade area was very clean and smooth. A very tight patch run down the barrel showed no change in drag from end-to-end, indicating consistent dimension.
The Bergara company claims to use a proprietary honing process on their button-rifled barrels to produce a fine finish, which seemed confirmed by my borescope observations.
A future report will include information on accuracy. My observations of the rifle itself are very positive.
Function for the curing shots was flawless. The action of the bolt is very smooth. The trigger pull was crisp and clean at just over three pounds. The bare rifle weighed 7 lbs., 6 ozs., as expected, so this is not a light-weight. The synthetic-stocked rifle is about a half-pound lighter.
There is also a walnut-stocked version of the rifle with an American-style classic stock sans the cheekpiece and monte carlo that is listed at 4 ozs. lighter than the Timber. I have yet to see that version.
The fit and finish of the wood and metal are exceptionally good for a rifle in the under $1,000. class. With DROS fee and sales tax my out-the-door cost at Sportsman's Warehouse was $842. The synthetic stock version is $100 less.
This rifle is a good example of the state-of-the-art of high-quality CNC machining of the metal and the wood, including the flawless checkering. The barrel is free-floating and the action is pillar-bedded. The bottom-metal is aluminum. When I checked to make sure the magazine box wasn't binding I found that it wasn't, by the tiniest amount of movement, that was almost undetectable. Another indication of the precise CNC machining.
A plus factor for the American market, the rifle is deliberately dimensioned to Remington M-700 specs. Scope bases, triggers and I believe even stocks are interchangeable,I have been told. I used a nice set of two-piece Buehler Rem 700 bases and rings finished with Birdsong Black-T that I recently obtained from Campfire member RDFinn, and they fit perfectly.
The finish on the walnut stock is a very light oil finish with no attempt to fill the grain. It is attractive and very smooth. The pistol-grip has a pleasant, but modest, Wundhammer swell on the right side. The checkering is attractive, generous, and functional.
So far the only nit-pick I have found to criticize is the location and the somewhat low-quality appearance of the rifle's serial number on the forward right side of the action. Also uncommon is the fact that all the barrel markings and the chambering stamping are on the right side of the barrel.
The bolt-knob is perfectly round, which I prefer; not too big and not too small. The knob is screwed onto the end of the steel handle, but the knob itself is not steel. In any case it looks good and works well.
So far I am pleased with my purchase of this Bergara rifle. When I get a chance to spend some time at the range with it I will provide a follow-up report.
