Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/812511
S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S • 141 T he first Spanish-made rifle barrel I ever shot (knowingly) was chambered for the 6.5 Creedmoor. According to the numbers printed out by my Oehler M35 Proof chronograph, it launched Winchester 140-grain match loads at an average muzzle velocity of 2,677 fps. More significantly, it delivered three of those sleek projectiles into one ragged hole 100 yards away. Center to center, those three overlapping holes spanned .240 of an inch. Ladies and gentlemen, that is one-quarter MOA. A quater-inch group. From a factory rifle. Shooting factory ammunition. That got me real interested in Bergara rifles. Bergara? As in the town in north- central Spain? Yes. From my perch in the Rocky Mountain West, it seems almost un-American to acknowledge a Spanish rifle, let alone admire one. This is the land of the Hawken rifle, the Henry, Winchester, Marlin, Mossberg, and Remington. We are home to Kimbers and Noslers, Rugers and Coopers, Brownings, Weatherbys, and Dakotas. As if those weren't enough tradition, we celebrate custom and semi-custom innovators and gunbuilders like Jarrett and Turnbull, Rifles, Inc., and Holland. There are New Ultra Light Arms, Hill Country and Christensen Arms, Bighorn Arms, Fierce, H-S Precision, Gunwerks, and Montana Rifle Co.—and many others. Do we really need rifles from other countries? Of course we don't. But we enjoy them anyway, don't we? Krieghoff, Mauser, Steyr, Sauer, Merkel, Blaser, Holland & Holland, Sako, and CZ. We truly are a land of immigrants. So why not rifles with Spanish flair? After all, it was the Spaniards and their 7x57mm Mausers in Cuba that inspired us to modernize our own rifles more than 100 years ago, culminating in the .30-06 Springfield. So I looked into this Bergara company— and discovered it was not a Spanish rifle manufacturer after all. The barrel blanks are made in Bergara, Spain, then sent to Bergara Rifles USA, an American company in Lawrenceville, Georgia. There, Dan Hanus, former gunmaker in the U.S. Marines Precision Weapons System Section, mates them to the bolt-action receivers and hand-laid fiberglass stocks that constitute rifles by ron spomer The skilled riflemakers aT Bergara specialize in precision- crafTed Barrels. Bergara rifles. Hanus is more than ably assisted by his team of craftsmen, each of them former U.S. military. That's American enough for this Dakota farm boy. Hanus and his crew build a variety of rifles in three broad categories: Custom Series starting at $2,900; Premier Series starting at $2,190; and B-14 Series starting at $825. The Premier is crafted around a push- feed action featuring a floating, dual-lug bolt head pinned to a one-piece bolt body. The front of the lugs is slightly beveled or "coned" to aid smooth feeding, and the body is spiral-fluted to aid sure cycling despite dirt and grime you might accumulate during your stalks through the wilds. A rotating gas block behind the lugs remains in the raceways at all times, and a narrow channel in the right lug rides on the right raceway lip. This contributes mightily to a delightfully slick, smooth bolt-throw. Hanus claims the nitrided finish on the bolt head, gas shield, bolt handle, and bolt shroud not only protect against rust, but self-lubricate, further aiding smooth function.