I first became aware of the Bergara .22 rifle when my buddy Mike Brookman showed up at our shooting range with one he had just bought. I didn’t pay much attention; it was just another .22, and I have seen a million of them.
Then he brought the 50-yard target over to my bench. That got my attention. His gun was a slam-bang shooter. So when I got a chance to review the newest version, the BMR-X Carbon rifle, I jumped on it with (in tribute to the recently passed Norm from “Cheers”) all four cheeks and a couple of chins.
With the rising cost of ammo, a .22 LR makes sense as we can shoot it for a fraction of the cost of our deer rifles. You can shoot all summer for what a couple of days with a centerfire rifle will cost. This allows plenty of offseason practice.
For small-game hunting the .22 LR has always ruled. With the outstanding hunting ammo now on the market, the .22 LR is the best it’s ever been, making this rifle an excellent choice for a serious hunter.
Most knowledgeable hunters know about Bergara rifles these days. The Spanish-made rifles are imported and sold by Blackpowder Products of Georgia, the same company that owns CVA. I first heard about Bergara when I was asked about reviewing their barrels by an editor for another NRA magazine many years ago. At the time, barrels were all they made and how they started. That’s important, as the barrel is the foundation of any rifle. Later, I started hearing more and more about their centerfire rifles and how accurate they were. Today, they are a big player in the hunting and target rifle arena. This rimfire rifle maintains their reputation as it’s more than accurate enough for serious competition as well as hunting.
This newest version features an 18-inch Bergara No. 6, carbon-wrapped barrel with a match grade .22 LR chamber. The muzzle is threaded for ½x28 accessories. There is little reason to install a brake, but a silencer (suppressor if you must) makes a lot of sense. I am waiting for delivery on a .22 suppressor from Silencer Central that I hope to use on this gun for fall hunting. The rifle comes with a knurled thread protector.
The scaled down Bergara Micro Rimfire action is drilled and tapped for a scope and the gun ships with a 30 MOA rail-style base installed.
The bolt is released by pushing on the pivoting stop on the left side of the action. The two-piece bolt has double extractors, one on each side. This ensures positive extraction, even if you have a sticky cartridge. The standing ejector is on the bottom near the left side of and behind the magazine well. The bolt features an oversize knob that is scaled to keep with the smaller rimfire action. There is a red dot on the rear of the firing pin to indicate when the gun is cocked. The two-position safety is on the right side of the rifle and does not lock the bolt shut.
The Bergara BMR-X Carbon is offered in .22 LR, .22 WMR and .17 HMR. Each rifle ships with a five-round and 10-round slim-line composite rimfire magazine.
The BMR magazines are removable box types, and the gun comes with a five-round and a 10-round magazine. The magazine is released by pushing on the release lever in front of the trigger guard.
While the barrel is the heart of any rifle, the trigger is the soul. The gun has an adjustable Bergara Performance trigger that, as this gun shipped, breaks clean and crisp at just 2.25 pounds with no noticeable take-up or overtravel. It’s an excellent trigger, which helps to harvest the outstanding accuracy potential of the rifle.
The Bergara synthetic X-Stock features an adjustable length of pull with three 3/8-inch spacers that can be removed one, two or all. There is a thick rubber recoil pad on the back. But let’s be honest, who needs a recoil pad with a .22 LR?
The stock has quick-release swivel pockets fore and aft on both sides of the gun. There are also conventional swivel studs on the front and rear of the stock.
The stock has a nearly vertical grip and a cut-out in the back for rear support when shooting. There are panels in the grip and fore-end that have a pebble surface to aid in gripping.
I installed a Zeiss 4X-16X scope with adjustable parallax. Then I shot the rifle at 50 yards with a variety of ammo, ranging from cheap blaster Remington Thunderbolt to some Eley-Remington match ammo that I found on the shelf. I also included CCI Stinger and Federal Hunter Match hunting ammo and some CCI Clean Target ammo.
The Hunter Match ammo took the trophy with a .15-inch group. The Match ammo had multiple .3-inch groups. Even the Stinger, which is not noted for its accuracy, produced groups as small as .45 inch.
The gun was not fussy and shot everything quite well, averaging .66 inch over 15 groups with five different ammo products. Not surprisingly, the Match ammo was the best with a .41-inch average.
The ergonomics of the rifle are very good and it’s most comfortable to shoot both off the bench and from hunting positions. The smooth action lets me run my 50-yard plate rack very quickly. I did some shooting at 100 yards and was consistently hitting the 2-inch target on the “know your limits” array. Hit average was in the high 90 percent range.
That’s off the bench; shooting standing and shooting offhand produced a lesser result!
Bergara BMR-X Carbon
- bergara.online/us/
- Type: bolt-action rimfire rifle
- Caliber: .22 LR (tested), .22 WMR, .17 HMR
- Magazine: removable box; composite; 10-rnd. and 5-rnd. capacity
- Barrel: 18"; No. 6 carbon-fiber; button rifled; 1:16" RH twist; threaded muzzle 1/2x28 TPI w/thread protector
- Trigger: Bergara Performance Trigger; single stage; adjustable 2.25 lbs.-4.5 lbs. pull weight
- Sights: none; 30 MOA rail for optics
- Safety: two-position lever
- Stock: Bergara BMR-X; straight comb; synthetic; green w/black webbing; adjustable LOP 12"-13.25"
- Metal Finish: blued
- Overall Length: 36"
- Weight: 5.7 lbs.
- Accessories: removable stock spacers (3)
- MSRP: $899
