A Feature-Rich Backcountry Hunter: The Bergara B-14 Ridge Carbon Wilderness (Full Review)

The Spanish rifle company cut its teeth as a premium barrel maker, and they still fabricate barrels for several American gun companies you’d recognize. But they also build their own complete rifles, and their quality parts and attention to detail has earned them a dedicated following of hunters, competitive shooters, and weekend warriors.

For this review, I got my hands on the B-14 Ridge Carbon Wilderness, courtesy of our friends at Scheels. “B-14” refers to the action, “Ridge” is the sub-category of hunting rifles underneath the larger “Wilderness” series, and “Carbon” indicates the carbon-wrapped barrel. This one is chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor.

• Caliber: 6.5 Creedmoor
• Platform: Rem 700-Style
• Stock Material: Synthetic
• OAL: 41.50″
• Sights: Drilled & Tapped
• Barrel Material: Steel core, Carbon fiber wrapped
• Muzzle Device: Omni Muzzle Brake
• Thread Pattern: 5/8″x24
• Twist: 1:9.5″
• Receiver Material: Stainless steel
• Receiver Finish: Gray Cerakote
• Safety: Two-position
• Barrel Length: 22″
• Max Capacity: 4
• Trigger: Adjustable, 2.8-4.4 lbs.
• Weight: 6.50 lbs
• Price at Scheels: $1,399.99

Bergara claims that their B-14 action is “super smooth,” so I set out to put that to the test. First impressions were positive. I received this rifle with several other review rifles, including a Ruger American Gen II and a Savage Axis 2. Unboxing the three bolt-action long guns side by side, the Bergara’s smooth action really stood out.

The two-position safety allows the bolt to cycle on “safe” but the trigger does not engage the firing pin.

The Bergara costs twice what the Ruger and Savage do, so that’s to be expected. Action smoothness also tends to be overvalued, and bolt guns get smoother with time and wear. But cycling this Bergara feels smoother than many other (more expensive) bolt guns I’ve owned over the years. A smooth action contributes to faster followup shots, and makes the entire shooting experience more enjoyable.

What’s more, the B-14 isn’t one of those glass-like actions that seize up the moment they encounter a speck of dirt. It’s designed for the field, and even though I didn’t get the chance to hunt with this rifle, I did put it through its paces.

One of the days I took this rifle at the range, the temps dropped to 17 degrees (which is cold for us here in East Texas), the head-on north wind whipped around at 20 mph, and the snow and sleet came in flurries. The gun I built on this Aero action iced up and refused to close on factory or reloaded rounds. But the Bergara kept chugging, and I never ran into any cold-related reliability or accuracy issues.

I can’t recall the last time I went to the range in such cold weather.

You northerners hunt in even more extreme conditions, but I was pleased with how smooth the action remained even with frozen rain whipping around. The simplicity of the bolt is part of what makes it reliable. Its two-lug design locks up tight, and it’s slightly fluted to save a little weight. It also uses a sliding plate extractor and a coned bolt nose and breech, which ensures smooth feeding and extraction of the cartridge. I never had any issues with feeding or extraction in my entire time testing and shooting the rifle.

To further test the reliability of the action, I removed the bolt from the receiver, dropped it in the dirt, returned it to the receiver, and attempted to cycle it. A rational person would brush the dirt off the bolt before shoving it back into the receiver, but I figured if it cycled smoothly, it could handle anything the real world might throw at it.

Don’t try this at home because it can cause the trigger to malfunction. But in my mind, this is good evidence for the B-14’s durability.

The bolt continued to run like a champ. I cycled through several rounds of live ammunition and didn’t experience any failures to feed or extract. The bolt ran along the rails and locked up tight even though I could feel the grit through the handle. Of course, introducing that much dirt into the trigger mechanism is a recipe for disaster for any bolt gun, and after a few rounds the sear failed to engage properly with the firing pin mechanism. Dusting off the bolt and blowing out the trigger solved that problem, but I stopped shooting it until I had the chance to give it a thorough cleaning.

The action is smooth and durable, but what about Bergar’s signature component, the barrel? Unlike gun makers that source their barrels from other companies, this 22-inch barrel is Bergara’s proprietary carbon-steel blend that, they say, solves a problem other carbon-wrapped barrels suffer from.

Bergara makes all their carbon-wrapped barrels in-house using proprietary methods and materials.

The theoretical benefit of wrapping a steel barrel in carbon fiber is that you get the consistency of a heavy profile barrel without the associated weight. That helps the rifle maintain a reliable point of impact even during long shot strings without having to lug around a bull barrel. The problem is, some carbon fiber barrels don’t actually handle heat like a heavy barrel does. They trap the heat between the steel core and the carbon wrapping, which makes the point of impact change even more drastically.

Bergara attempted to overcome this challenge by using a stainless steel mesh between the barrel and the carbon wrap to better dissipate heat. They also use a labor-intensive manufacturing process that ensures the center wrap carbon weave is aligned directionally true to the center of the barrel’s bore. Both features mitigate shot-to-shot variation as the barrel heats up and helps ensure that your first cold bore shot is on target.

That’s the claim, anyway. The results of my accuracy testing didn’t blow the doors off (more on that below), but I did notice that the center of each group didn’t change much from group to group. Some rifles I’ve tested shoot decent groups, but the center of each group shifts drastically. As the barrel heats up and cools down again and again, the point of impact drifts left or right, up or down. This could be due to the scope, but I think it’s more often due to the barrel. I didn’t see that with this Bergara barrel, which I take as a sign of its quality.

Plus, no matter how the rifle shoots, that carbon fiber wrapping saves a few ounces. This rifle clocks in at 6.5 pounds without a scope and 8.5 pounds with Sig Sauer rings and a WHISKEY6 3-18x scope. It’s light, but not too light, which is good news if you opt for a higher-power cartridge than the 6.5 Creedmoor.

The rifle’s reasonable weight is part of what makes it a great-shooting piece. It’s comfortable to shoulder and fire from the standing position, but the recoil is easy on the shoulder even without any kind of muzzle device. Slap a muzzle brake or a suppressor on there (which I did), and you’ve got an extremely comfortable, handy rifle that can take pretty much any big game animal in North America.

Standing shots are doable with an overall scoped weight of 8.5 pounds, and recoil is very tame.

The trigger helps a lot, too. It’s crisp and consistent, and definitely won’t be the reason you whiff a shot. The weight can be adjusted between 2.8 and 4.4 pounds (per the owner’s manual) using an external screw located just forward of the trigger. My trigger weight scale indicated the trigger on the model I received was breaking just a hair above two pounds. That’s great for me, so I felt no need to change it.

The trigger is adjustable using an external screw.

Bergara makes rifles with detachable box magazines, but this isn’t one of them. That’s one of my only gripes about the rifle’s feature set. I realize there are strong opinions on both sides of this debate, and I get it–blind box mags with hinged steel floorplates, like the one on this B-14, stay snag free in the woods and you never have to worry about forgetting a magazine in the truck. At the same time, they’re a pain to load, especially with gloves on, and a flush-fitting detachable mag won’t snag on anything, either.

Not my favorite magazine style, but I see why people like it.

That one complaint aside, the B-14 Ridge Carbon Wilderness is a durable, functional rifle with a great feature set and an attainable price point. The rifle’s biggest flaw? The sample I received wasn’t terribly accurate. As you can see in the chart below, only one of three Sig Sauer loads averaged less than an inch, and that was the match ammunition shooting three-shot groups.

Now, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, even expensive firearms can struggle to hit that magical one-inch-at-100-yards benchmark. If you get a Bergara B-14 and it shoots similar groups, I wouldn’t be too indignant. After all, like most rifle companies, Bergara’s sub-MOA accuracy guarantee only promises an average of less than one inch at 100 yards shooting three, three-shot groups with factory match ammunition. This rifle passed that test, even though it didn’t shoot either of the hunting loads as well.

A fairly representative three-shot group.

I also didn’t use every type of ammunition available. Bergara recommends Hornady’s 140-grain ELD Match or 143-grain ELD-X bullets, and you may be able to find something your rifle really likes.

Still, for a $1,400 rifle, I would have liked to see a little more consistency, especially with those 120-grain copper bullets. Monolithic bullets aren’t always the most accurate, but I like the option of using them, especially with some federal properties considering a ban on traditional lead ammo.

Bergara rifles live in a sweet spot between high-end and budget that a lot of folks really appreciate. The B-14 Ridge Carbon Wilderness isn’t a cheap rifle, but it’s attainable for many hunters, and it comes with a suite of features you’d expect on long guns in the $2,000+ range.

Whether you’re happy with the gun’s accuracy depends on your individual standards. I’ve spoken with B-14 owners whose guns shoot sub-MOA with most kinds of ammunition, so whether you get a normal hunting rifle (like this one) or a real tack driver can be a luck of the draw situation. Maybe that’s not good enough for you, but with Bergara’s extensive barrel-making pedigree, I’d say it’s a better bet than most you’ll find in the gun world.

To pick one up for yourself, head on over to Scheels.