Bergara BMR bolt action rimfire rifles... Anyone have one?

[WDR]

I bought a bunch of guns for my kids, but they don't seem to care about them, so now I am stuck.

I have a B14r that shoots really well. If the Begara makes the BMR as nice as the B14r, than I think you will be very happy with buying one.

@WDR Did you think the BXR was nicer than a standard 10/22?

The BXR is probably a better gun than a Ruger for similar money/model type. I own a couple older 10/22's that are good guns. Their newer guns seem cheaply made to me. I may end up with a BXR down the road.

[WDR]

Whelp... now I need a scope and rings.

[DamonL]

Congrats!

[SecondsCount]

Whelp... now I need a scope and rings.

Congrats!

What are the distances that you plan on shooting?

[WDR]

Congrats!

What are the distances that you plan on shooting?

Most likely would be typical .22 plinking and hunting ranges. I may stretch it out to 100-200 for fun, but for me the 30 MOA factory scope base is probably overkill. Might have to shim it, depending on what scope I go with. I may some day dip my toes in the precision rimfire stuff, but I mostly bought this thing for a light walk around varmint/plinking gun. I'm thinking I should keep it lighter. Adjustable parallax would be nice.

I will be honest, I didn't really have a plan as far as optic... so I'm still working that out in my head.

[sparkyv]

I enjoy shooting my BMR. I'm still testing, but so far it likes Norma Tac-22 and SK Std +. It's an excellent rifle and a good value. I have no regerts.

Some answers:
- yes, it's fairly light, great for offhand shooting (silhouettes) or hunting
- I think the stock is surprisingly stiff for it being polymer
- the polymer magazines seem robust and are now readily available, but cost $40
- I had no issues with either magazine
- correct, no sights; seems it's intended as a LR rifle, and a rail is included
- I shimmed my rail by 30 thou; I have no need for 30MOA built unto the rail

It was light, and felt well balanced (bare, no scope) while also feeling a bit more like a "real" rifle than some other bolt action .22's I've put hands on. The stock seemed quite solid, despite its very light weight. Light weight is a good thing, if I ever want to get the kids shooting this gun. I'm not a big fan of the idea of a plastic magazine, but it comes with 5rd and 10rd mags (the CZ's seem to only come with one). Downsides: no irons, and no provisions for irons that I am aware of, so I'd have to buy a scope for it. No irons isn't a deal breaker, but having the option is nice. I'd also have to buy another magazine or two to have on hand, but they are apparently somewhat hard to find and expensive.

Most likely would be typical .22 plinking and hunting ranges. I may stretch it out to 100-200 for fun, but for me the 30 MOA factory scope base is probably overkill. Might have to shim it, depending on what scope I go with. I may some day dip my toes in the precision rimfire stuff, but I mostly bought this thing for a light walk around varmint/plinking gun. I'm thinking I should keep it lighter.

[SecondsCount]

Most likely would be typical .22 plinking and hunting ranges. I may stretch it out to 100-200 for fun, but for me the 30 MOA factory scope base is probably overkill. Might have to shim it, depending on what scope I go with. I may some day dip my toes in the precision rimfire stuff, but I mostly bought this thing for a light walk around varmint/plinking gun. I'm thinking I should keep it lighter. Adjustable parallax would be nice.

I will be honest, I didn't really have a plan as far as optic... so I'm still working that out in my head.

30 MOA is a ton. You'll need a scope that can accommodate that.

I am running a 6-24X Cabelas Covenant. For the $249 sale price I am happy with it on a 22, and have shot with it out to 300 yards.

For something higher quality but budget friendly, check out the Vortex PST II, Brownells MPO, Burris XTR, and some of the Bushnell offerings.

[WDR]

30 MOA is a ton. You'll need a scope that can accommodate that.

I am running a 6-24X Cabelas Covenant. For the $249 sale price I am happy with it on a 22, and have shot with it out to 300 yards.

For something higher quality but budget friendly, check out the Vortex PST II, Brownells MPO, Burris XTR, and some of the Bushnell offerings.

As I understand it, Bergara aimed these guns at the entry level of NRL22 matches, which makes the 30 MOA base understandable. I'm okay with shimming it if I have to. It's made me pay far more attention to total MOA of travel available in the scopes I've been looking at. I've been reading about, and looking at specs for various scopes all day, and have officially reached Analysis Paralysis. I really don't think I want to spend $500 on a scope, but I may end up coming close to that. My gut tells me don't mount a large (over 16X) scope on this gun... as I don't plan to get into NRL22 matches any time soon. But it also tells me that I shouldn't scrimp on glass for what is probably a very capable gun.

[WDR]

I went to a local place and took a peek through a coupe scopes today after work. A Burris that I am not really interested in, because of the HUGE combination side focus knob/illumination dial... and A Vortex Diamondback Tactical 4-16X FFP. I had looked over the specs of this Vortex, and it seemed like a good contender. I can pick one up for about $315, I thought I might bring it home if I put hands on one today.

I am not a big fan of made in China optics, but the scope looked nice. The turrets felt good, with distinct clicks that lined up with the markings well. The power adjustment was smooth. The side focus seemed to work really well up close (15 yards or so) as well as farther out. I liked most everything about the Vortex, except that the center portion of the reticle was damn near invisible at 4X. This obviously improved when turning the power up, but I think for something like a snap shot on small game, I'd struggle to use such a fine reticle. I'm not very familiar with FFP optics, so it has me wondering if this is just the way they all are.

The invisible center cross hair at 4X has me thinking there has got to be something else out there. So I'm back to searching.

[OlongJohnson]

Also consider parallax adjustment. For rimfire, you might want to either have that set at a fixed shorter distance or be able to dial it down, depending on what distance you're shooting at. If you're going to be chewing on 50-yard targets, you might not want typical centerfire parallax settings.

Rimfire-specific scopes are set up this way. So are shotgun scopes.