Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Bergara Encore barrels?

I was wondering what you guys think of these barrels? I am considering a couple of them. The website is impressive. Don't want to waste my money if not good. Thanks for the feedback.

I am interested in 28" .45 cal muzzleloader and 7mm-08 standard contour.

Coop

First off the .45 caliber muzzleloader is "DEAD" as far as the bullet manufacturers are concerned. For the last 2 or 3 years none of the newer bullets have been made in .45 (.40) because of the lack of demand. Almost none of the big box stores or the largest gun distributors stock .45 caliber rifles because the consumers or dealers don't want them. It's a .50 business.

I personally like the .45 and have had 2 T/C barrels in the .45.
I made the wise choice of shooting the .50 using .45 caliber 200 grain bullets(again .40 diameter) with the blue MMP sabots. Accuracy is MOA and the desired recoil and extra speed is exactly what I wanted.

I do not have any Bergara barrels nor will I. The accuracy I have desired and have obtained from T/C manufactured barrels plus the "no BS warranty" will not make me change.

I just recieved a T/C custom shop savage 250-3000 barrel 2 weeks ago and it is shooting .515 for 4 shots with the Hornady 100 gr and REL-15 powder with very little load developement on my part.

Your choice of the 7-08 regardless of barrel manufacturer is a perfect choice. I really favor the T/C pro hunter barrels.

The extra length is providing about 100FPS extra speed.

Doc

Thanks for the info on the .45 Doc. You made me realize something that I wasn't aware of.

I was really hoping to get opinions from people that actually shoot Bergara barrels. If they are no good I'm leaning towards a MGM barrel in 7mm-08.

Coop

I too have had great dealings with TC. I would by no means try to make them loose a sale, but the Bergara barrels are good barrels. In my family we have 2 Bergara .223's 1 Bergara .243 and a TC .243 prohunter. They all shoot under or at .5 MOA with 3 shots. David White and Mike Bellm do a lot of TC work and they say they are very good barrels, that is why I tried one. Again I am not saying Bergara is better but not worse either.

Mike Bellm is a good friend of mine... he is really jazzed on these Barrels... I know he has had good luck with them and also has great expectations on the level of quality they come with...

I can tell you by personally knowing him, Mike Bellm is a perfectionist... I am not an Encore Fan, but If Mike says it is a great product, I wouldn't even question it...

he lives and breathes this stuff... and he is sold on them..

Seafire,

Many thanks for posting that Mike Bellm is "Jazzed" on the Bergara barrels. His endorement says volumes on Bergara quality.

Doc

I can tell you by personally knowing him, Mike Bellm is a perfectionist... I am not an Encore Fan, but If Mike says it is a great product, I wouldn't even question it...

he lives and breathes this stuff... and he is sold on them..



Ditto!!!

I have looked all over Bellm's website and can find nothing mentioned about his endorsement of Bergara barrels. I would rather get opinions from shooters on this forum that actually have them.

Cooperfan

Well, I have one of there barrels on a cva optima elite and that 308 shoots under 1" groups with all factory ammo that I've tried(8 different loads/brands) but with handloads I'm cutting just a hair over 1/2". Actual measurement is .509 4-shot group @ 100 yards.

Coop...

Drop onto his web site and sign up for his news letter...

He is leaving real soon after making his shop mobile inside a 5th Wheel.. He is going back to Illinois to visit family and then going down to Oklahoma to work with another guy down there for a while... He indicated he'd be back here in Oregon sometime in July or so...

only reason that I mention that, is his newsletter may be a little sporatic during that period, but he has mentioned quite a bit about the Bergara barrels on his news letter.. he will be carrying them as a stocking dealer evidently..

Stay tuned, it will be on there...

Here's a link to Mr. Bellm's Bergara page. LINK

It looks like the .223 & 22-250 barrels are 1 twist in 10". I wonder how heavy a .224 pill would stabilize in a .223 Rem. 69 gr. SMK? It sure would be nice if they'd offer a 7 or 8 twist for the heavy bullets. With no magbox length restrictions to limit COAL, it would make for a fun heavy bullet project, IMO.

I think I'll be giving one of these a whirl soon. With Ed Shilen involved in the production, these barrels sure seem to be worth a try...