Bergara B14 Hunter 30-06 all purpose western gun

tbull

FNG
Joined
Sep 1, 2021
Messages
4
I recently picked up a Bergara B14 hunter 30-06 with a vortex viper hs 4x16 44. I was able to get a sweet deal with somewhat limited choices in gun and optics. I will be going on my first western trip this year hunting elk and antelope. I am just looking for people's opinions and thoughts on how this combo will work for an all purpose short-long range western setup. Also what grain do you reccomend to start out trying and why? Thanks in advance!
 
OP
T

tbull

FNG
Joined
Sep 1, 2021
Messages
4
Short range? That gun will do fairly long range depending on the shooter. Really versatile setup.


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Thank you for your input! I'm glad to hear versatile. That's what I was hoping for. I say short range because my buddy said the Elk shots are usually 75 yards or less. So I was worried about the 4x on the scope.
 

11Justin22

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 19, 2020
Messages
121
I bought that exact gun last year for the exact same reasons. Plan on taking it next year to Alaska for caribou. The ammo situation right now sucks and I haven't been able to grab ahold of very many different rounds to try. Weight of ammo doesn't seem to matter in my particular rifle as much as the actual bullet. Federal terminal ascent at 178 gr. Send to shoot excellent but some cheaper stuff like corelokt and federal soft point at 180 were terrible.... Around 2" at 100 yards. It shot 150 grain federal fusion just a hair over an inch and I used that for whitetail last year with 3 drt does. Shot a few Winchester ballistic silvertip at 165 and there ok. Would like to find some of those at 180 and try them.... Haven't been able to track down any accubonds to try
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2020
Messages
677
Hey Tom lol, it’s joe. That setup will be perfect. Great scope, I had that on my last gun. We’ve always used 180gr for elk. We’ve shot lots with core lokts. I’ve played around with nosler partitions, and barnes TTSX both 180 gr. This year I’m shooting 180 accubonds. The core lokts almost always get caught in the hide on the exit side. The partitions and barnes both exited. The results have always been the same tho. Shoot them in the lungs, they run 50 yards and die.
Don’t overthink the bullets too much. Anything 150+ gr will do the job just fine.
Feel free to text me if you have any questions about anything.
 

2ski

WKR
Joined
Jul 17, 2012
Messages
1,811
Location
Bozeman
Don't listen to these guys. Horrible set up. Horrible. You'll have a rough time reselling it because of how horrible it is. But because I'm a nice guy, I will allow you to give it to me.....cause I'm just a nice nice guy. 😉
You'll like it.
 
OP
T

tbull

FNG
Joined
Sep 1, 2021
Messages
4
Hey Tom lol, it’s joe. That setup will be perfect. Great scope, I had that on my last gun. We’ve always used 180gr for elk. We’ve shot lots with core lokts. I’ve played around with nosler partitions, and barnes TTSX both 180 gr. This year I’m shooting 180 accubonds. The core lokts almost always get caught in the hide on the exit side. The partitions and barnes both exited. The results have always been the same tho. Shoot them in the lungs, they run 50 yards and die.
Don’t overthink the bullets too much. Anything 150+ gr will do the job just fine.
Feel free to text me if you have any questions about anything.
Ha! Hey Joe. Thanks for the info. I will text you with any questions I have. Let's get to the range sometime soon.
 
Joined
Jun 18, 2019
Messages
368
That should be a great set up and should be the only rifle you ever need. 44mm is perfect...good light transmission while still being relatively compact. I was shooting 165 grain accubonds out of mine with decent accuracy. I could find the 165s and tried 180's. Not sure why it took me 30 years to try 180's however they shoot lights out. So it could be worth experimenting different weights of the same bullet.

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