Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Bergara Woodsman -- caliber choice?

I have decided I'm going with a Bergara B14 Woodsman as my next rifle. My caliber choices are 6.5 Creedmoor, 7mm-08 or .243 win... My plans with the rifle are long range target shooting, coyote, whitetail, antelope, and possibly an elk one of these days. I'm leaning twords the 7mm-08 and I am a reloader. What would you go for?

Assuming the 7-08 is twisted correctly. I’d lean that way

1-10 I think

They're beautiful rifles but I think you'll be restricted by the mag box and twist if you want to shoot heavies.

Go for? Went for............6.5CM Shoots as good as it looks.

Nice! Have you tried any 140s out of it?

I have a Woodsman in 7mm-08 that couldn't meet the accuracy guarantee. Just got it back after 8 weeks. I'll save you all the details. When I finally got it back, the test target showed .71". I took it to the range and it shot two groups at .6 with factory Barnes 120 TTSX's. Bergara cust service, (Oliver), was great to deal with. They finally had to send me a brand new firearm because they could not make the original one shoot. They cherry picked one for me with a piece of wood very much like the previous post, for my troubles.

Really hard not to heed the Creed here, especially with the long-range target shooting component.

A no-brainer, actually.

I also have a Woodsman that I sent back that couldn't meet the accuracy guarantee. They installed a new barrel and sent it back after 8 weeks. Although it shoots better I'm still not impressed as I still haven't been able to group with it without letting it cool a lot.
I loaded up some loads which are better but my Tikka makes an AZZ out of it. It'll be the last Bergara I buy as I might send it down the road.

Maybe I got lucky, but the B14 Hunter 6.5 I tripped over has been a serious shooter.....and so far, it’s a better 700 than a 700.

With long range target shooting as even a remote possibility with deer and varmints most commonly hunted the 6.5 is by far the best option. If it were primarily for elk then I MIGHT lean towards 7-08.






I started with a Ruger Predator as the best, cheapest, option to try out the 6.5 CM. I came to the conclusion that it lived up to the hype and when the chance to buy a Bergara in 6.5 for $550 I jumped on it and sold the Ruger which I paid $350 for. The Bergara LOOKS nicer, but doesn't shoot any better, if even as good. I don't dislike the Bergara, but normally the Bergara and Tikka are very close to the same price. For the same money I'd buy the Tikka 10 times out of 10 over Bergara. And for about 1/2 the money the Ruger is the best value.

Sorry for your luck. But the customer service part is good to hear!

My brother traded for a B14 Bergera in 6.5 CM. The previous owner said that he couldn’t get it to shoot well enough. I got the rifle, put a scope on it, and reloaded for it. Very quickly and easily I found a terrific shooting load (H4350 and 120 gr Nosler BT). It was an extremely accurate rifle, and my brother is really happy. The rifle is a real shooter, and I sure don’t know why the first owner couldn’t make it shoot. I bought Norma cases and used CCI BR2 primers and had no problem at all.

As for me, I prefer my Tikka, but would be happy with a Bergera.

I like the 243 but if elk are likely would go 6.5 Creedmoor. The 7-08 the 1-10 twist might be a deal killer it could limit you to bullets of 168 grains or less, they might not be an issue but I would like at least the capability to use heavier bullets if any long range target shooting was in the picture. But the Bergara is not exactly a long range target rifle so may be a moot point.

Tried some 140SST's and 140 Interlocks. Easy to get them to 1" for 3 but trouble getting them consistently smaller.

On a side note I took the Bergara out to verify zero over the weekend. First shot from a clean and cold barrel was 1/2" low left, 2nd and third were in one hole 1.75" directly above the middle of the target. Shot 3 more at 200 into a steel plate. All 3 were in 1 1/2". Ready for a mule deer buck on Thursday. Load- 130TGK w/ 41.1gr H4350 CCI 200 Hornady Brass 2.820 OAL. Not real fast at 2740 but extremely accurate.