Bergara Stalker

WORLD T

Does anybody own or have shot a Bergara Stalker rifle? If so, how do you like it? I found this gun in several places for $1700. Is it worth that price?

http://www.bergarausa.com/bergara_premier_series_stalker_rifle.php

early

It sure does look nice!
First time I ever heard of em'.

NN

early wrote: »

It sure does look nice!
First time I ever heard of em'.

:agree:

Six-Gun

Bergara is a Spanish company, and a relatively new full-up rifle maker (few years old) to the US market but they didn't come to mess around. They make their barrels in-house, and had Ed Shilen consulting them as they started up. Seems their reputation is picking up and they are clearly starting to offer rifles with premium components. I got to handle some of their earlier samples at SHOT Show a few years back and they looked well-made, but I have yet to shoot one.

MileHighShooter

They used to make barrels for TC Encores, I think they've contract produced barrels for other companies as well.

In that price range, there are several great otions. I've handled the Bergara before, its nice. At 1200-2000 though, it would be a hard choice between them, LAW or Forbes, maybe throw in the Kimber Ascent.

bullsi1911

Bergara builds the CVA centerfire pistols and rifles. They are known to be hyper accurate... I know my 243 pistol is damn good shooter

shotgunshooter3

Bergara is very new in the US (I've only been hearing about them for the past few months) but they seem to be steadily gaining an excellent reputation. I would buy that rifle without concern if I were in the market for it.

WORLD T

Wambli Ska wrote: »

I'll be the dissenting voice. Nowadays it's so easy to just buy a Remington SPS, drop it into a nice stock and have a sub .5 MOA gun that in order for a rifle like that to even get my blood pumping it needs to loose at least a pound of weight.

Yeah, I have been thinking about just adding a nice stock from Boyd's Gunstock to the Ruger and keeping it.

JasonMPD

shotgunshooter3 wrote: »

Bergara is very new in the US (I've only been hearing about them for the past few months) but they seem to be steadily gaining an excellent reputation. I would buy that rifle without concern if I were in the market for it.

They've been an OEM barrel maker for a couple decades at least. They have held contracts with huge American companies to make barrels. Word is many folks probably owns a gun with a Bergara barrel and don't even know it. They make a couple long range rifles and one I handled (the "HMR") seemed damn well made.

Bigslug

They do a pretty good job of describing their build process on their website - they're doing a lot of custom accuracy work as a standard part of the build process, which is the way to do it if you want that work to be cost-effective. I never heard of the brand to this point, but from others, it's sounds like they're trying to make the right footprint, and are wisely trying to keep their price points within the range of the blue collar guy who hunts or shoots enough to take his gear seriously. For what they're claiming to offer, it does not sound in the slightest like they're trying to rob you.

What they describe for their extractor sounds like a clone of what was used on the Post '64 Model Winchester 70. Interesting they'd choose that, but it works - I used one of those hard for five years on my Highpower Match Rifle and never had an issue with that part of the gun.

They describe their 2-position safety that does not lock the bolt closed and allows unloading when on safe as a positive feature, so they and I have that difference in design philosophy at least. I've hunted many days with that setup on 700's and have yet to have the bolt inadvertently forced open by brush, but for my custom-gun money would prefer the Mauser/Enfield/Winchester approach that locks the gun closed. Yes, loading and unloading is the part of the movie where lots of people screw up and have their guns go off. . .which is why it's the part of the movie where you should PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU'RE DOING!

snake284

WORLD T wrote: »

Does anybody own or have shot a Bergara Stalker rifle? If so, how do you like it? I found this gun in several places for $1700. Is it worth that price?

http://www.bergarausa.com/bergara_premier_series_stalker_rifle.php

The more I look into these the more I like them. They seem to have all the custom features I like in some custom rifles such as Montana and Dakota rifle companies without overkill that makes them expensive. These look to be just a half step or so up from Kimbers.