Author Topic: TC4100F 28" Stainless Bergara barrel (Read 3279 times)

w7dry · « **on:** November 01, 2009, 02:33:27 PM »

I have purchased the TC4100F 28" stainless 243 Win Barrel forn bergara.
Not trying to throw them under the bridge just yet, Although, this barrel is on its way back for repair sfter less than 100 rounds
First of all it shoots very accurate, sub MOA @ 100 yds. Other than point of impact it held great groups with any ammo I put through it. Somwhere a few shots ago the barrell stopped locking up tight, after inspecting the gun, I found that the front of the welds on the lug to barrel were both cracked about 1/8th of an inch. I hope that I just got a Monday or Friday model, love the preformance of this barrel compaired to my others pro hunters for accuracy. I did notice that the welds from the barrel to lug on my TC made barrels is very clean and flawless. The Bergara's Weld is a little sloppy and not so clean. Will follow up with report on how the repair goes.

Keith L · « **Reply #1 on:** November 01, 2009, 03:13:37 PM »

Sad to see that. It doesn't look very safe. But I bet they make it right for you. There are to many out that people like for them to have many defective ones. If it is made by man it can be made wrong.

Grumulkin · « **Reply #2 on:** November 02, 2009, 12:06:50 AM »

Actually, if judged by complaints on the web, there are significantly more complaints about Bergara barrels than about T/C barrels and since there are relatively few Bergara barrels out there it would indicate to me that their main advantage is being cheap. I've NEVER heard of welds cracking on a T/C barrel.

Hopalong7 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 02, 2009, 12:35:02 AM »

Ditto what Grumulkin said!

nomosendero · « **Reply #4 on:** November 02, 2009, 05:21:42 PM »

I am hearing alot of good things too! I find the Optima guar. to outshoot an Encore interesting!!

w7dry · « **Reply #5 on:** April 09, 2010, 06:24:34 PM »

Just to follow up on the Bergara barrel repair.
Only 28 weeks later, I have a barrel!
Just for fun. Check it out. Call after hours 1-877-892-7544 this will show you what I was up against.
"Too bad Huh!"
I saved a $100. on a barrel purchase, and spent 50 man hours on the phone helping my self to a full dose of crazyness.
Next time I will buy OEM, or EABCO and get something that will hold up and maybe product support.

An guy lives , and a guy learns.
73rds.

Grumulkin · « **Reply #6 on:** April 10, 2010, 11:30:52 AM »

So, you "saved" $100. "Only" 7 months and you have a barrel. If your time is worth $5/hour that means $250 worth of your time is down the drain. If your time is worth more, then more is down the drain. It seems to me that you probably could have bought a barrel from any custom barrel maker and would probably not have been out any more money.

Oh well; I hope your new barrel shoots well for you.

doc-and · « **Reply #7 on:** April 10, 2010, 02:00:21 PM »

While I was working (now retired) I worked for a international company that had a facility in Spain. Since under their laws, employees are paid whether they work or not. So inorder to keep them working we sent a lot of orders for our tooling to them to build instead of doing it in-house. To make a long story short, the company spent $15million on tooling that when received was put in the scrap barrel. Their workmanship was extremely poor. Enough said, I was the Engineer who was ordered to send those tooling orders and waste those tooling dollars.

I would recommend to all spend your money on T/C built barrels or better yet one of the better custom houses, ie: SSK, MGM, Bullberry to name a few.

docand

Keith L · « **Reply #8 on:** April 10, 2010, 08:31:58 AM »

I hope you get good service from your new barrel. I get routinely reminded by one reader of this board that I commented at one time that it is counter intuitive to get product from a costly labor country like Spain, who has to import steel, uses fairly routine manufacturing methods if the sales video that is on the web is correct, at the lowest price available and expect it to be better quality. There is mixed opinion about these barrels, but I always hope folks like what they get.

yooper77 · « **Reply #9 on:** April 10, 2010, 07:08:06 PM »

Very bad welding job, obviously safety and quality isn’t the first on Bergara's list.

I have had several T/C Encore factory rifle and pistol barrels and they all performed flawlessly every time.

Manufactured in Bergara, Spain, well I see you do get what you pay for there. Thank you so much for updating the failure of Bergara Encore barrels.

yooper77

Ladobe · « **Reply #10 on:** April 10, 2010, 07:30:39 PM »

For S&G... I can't speak for the other shops, but I know that back when I lived in SW Utah and ran with Fred at Bullberry he wouldn't trust anybody else to weld the blocks on their custom barrels (he did them all himself). No doubt it's one of the biggest safety issues with making barrels for the TC's.

DEACONLLB · « **Reply #11 on:** April 11, 2010, 01:27:57 PM »

I talked to MGM today at the gun show and they take your order and email or call when barrel is ready do not ask for a deposit or anything and they sure make a fine looking barrel ,another point is that if you are looking for TCR barrels ed's contenders has a bunch of 7mm rem mag a 270 a 243 in stock the 7mm mags are only 150.00 nib and are very nice.

Deaconllb

yooper77 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 11, 2010, 02:35:29 PM »

Quote from: DEACONLLB on April 11, 2010, 01:27:57 PM

I talked to MGM today at the gun show and they take your order and email or call when barrel is ready do not ask for a deposit or anything and they sure make a fine looking barrel ,another point is that if you are looking for TCR barrels ed's contenders has a bunch of 7mm rem mag a 270 a 243 in stock the 7mm mags are only 150.00 nib and are very nice.

Deaconllb

I don’t know if you realize, but TCR barrels are not for the Encore.

yooper77

DEACONLLB · « **Reply #13 on:** April 12, 2010, 03:54:25 AM »

Yes I know that they are not for Encores but this is a rifle forum and about the only place to post it and be seen by Thompson users and Ed is a sponser on the pistol forum. I have also ask questions on this forum about TCR barrels. I dont think there are enough of us who own a TCR to have our own forum so maybe we could have Encore contender and TCR rifle forum how would that work out?

Deaconllb

AH-1G · « **Reply #14 on:** April 28, 2010, 02:59:22 AM »

I will add ed is a straight up guy and those are excellent prices on those barrels.I have seen them at gunshows double that.
pete

bendbullets · « **Reply #15 on:** June 04, 2010, 09:59:01 PM »

I have been told Bergara barrels have a similar problem they experienced in the mid to late 90's; soft steel. Apparently, the barrel lug steel is really soft. If you shoot light loads you may not notice for quite sometime, however, if you shoot mild to heavy loads then the steel on the barrel lug lip bends then the locking bolts get too much vertical play and the barrel won't lock up and/or the hammer won't cock. There are thousands in circulation, BPI has been on the quiet getting owners to send the barrel in and they do the hardening in-house. Some of the new barrels (2010) have obvious tempering. A thousand or so of these scrap barrels BPI collected, Mike Bellm bought them at scrap prices and is pawning them off to people, saying he has given them the Bellm touch. Now he has a restraining order against him I don't see how he can do that. Anyway, I am the first to agree the Bergara barrels are much better than the T/C counterparts but you have to be very careful. The adage "You get what you paid for" is in full force. If you want a sub MOA barrel that has had care and attention paid to it through the entire process stick with Bullberry, MGM, SSK and so on.

Win 1917 · « **Reply #16 on:** June 06, 2010, 03:36:18 AM »

Quote

I did notice that the welds from the barrel to lug on my TC made barrels is very clean and flawless. The Bergara's Weld is a little sloppy and not so clean.

I'm definitely not an expert welder but I have done some over the years. Those welds look to have quite a bit of undercutting to me especially for using an automated process. Undercutting isn't necessarily bad but it can indicate they're running too hot that can contribute to the cracking problems. They're probably using the correct filler metal by specification but if it's low quality that could be giving them problems too. It seems to me like people are usually happy with Bergara accuracy. It's the cracking, fit-up problems, etc. that seem to plague them.

yooper77 · « **Reply #17 on:** June 08, 2010, 10:59:51 AM »

Quote from: bendbullets on June 04, 2010, 09:59:01 PM

Anyway, I am the first to agree the Bergara barrels are much better than the T/C counterparts but you have to be very careful. The adage "You get what you paid for" is in full force. If you want a sub MOA barrel that has had care and attention paid to it through the entire process stick with Bullberry, MGM, SSK and so on.

I fully disagree, Thompson Center factory barrels are stellar in quality and performance and are above anything Bergara can make or attempt make. I do agree you get what you pay for and Bergara is a proven example that makes the statement so true.

I have owned and fired several factory T/C barrels and all have performed flawlessly in every aspect. Why doesn’t Bergara make any pistol barrels?

Aftermarket higher priced barrels should be far superior since you get what you pay for once again.
http://sskindustries.com/encore.htm are tops in the business.

yooper77

saltydog · « **Reply #18 on:** June 25, 2010, 05:18:40 AM »

Thank you for the heads up on the 243 barrel lug issue. I just bought a new 28" Bergara barrel in a fluted 243 Win and will watch it closely. After a through cleaning I took my new barrel to the range to shoot with midrange loads using Varget, 58 gr. Vmax and new 243 Win brass. It shoots fine for accuracy 1 moa or less at 100 but getting the brass out after firing almost requires a pair of pliers. I purchased it as a trial as the T/C shop is down until they restructure according to the rep I talked to. Normally I would send it back for fitting but after reading the post on returning the barrel I think I will put up with the sticky brass situation and not buy another one.

sweetwyominghome · « **Reply #19 on:** June 25, 2010, 04:46:14 PM »

That is definitely poor customer service from Bergara -- and there is no excuse for it.

But don't for a single second think weld failures are unique to Bergara. Here is a link to a recent TC Encore factory barrel weld failure:

http://bellmtcs.com/store/index.php?cid=175

And this one was a little more dramatic than the Bergara here as you can see for yourself that the barrel went downrange...

Last year, the same happened with an Encore barrel from a very prominent maker. I won't even mention the maker as it will only rile a couple of folks and distress their blood pressure. But a simple web search will reveal it for those interested enough to want to look it up. I've also seen another a couple of years ago from a former custom barrel maker. This one also came completely unglued.