Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0: The Perfect Mountain Hunting Rifle? (video included!)
The Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 might just be the perfect rifle for backcountry mountain hunting. It checks all the boxes of durability, construction, performance, and weight savings and I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a better alternative to what Bergara is offering in the Mountain Rifle 2.0 at its current price point.
I’ve spent the few years researching my tail off for an upgrade to the rifle I’ve been hauling around with me since I was a teenager - a 1980’s Remington Sportsman 70 in 30.06. It’s served me well over the years and has been a reliable partner in the field, but it’s showing its age and the more I field it in those wicked October and November months, the more damage it receives.
Thus, my research began for a mountain rifle worthy of my time and money. It needed to be lightweight for backpack hunting (but not so light that it felt unsteady), durable enough to suffer through busting brush and PNW weather systems, and reliable in both accuracy and functionality. There are a lot of rifles out there that fall into this category and which are marketed as a “backpack mountain hunters rifle,” but it took me literally years to find one that actually felt good in my hands and included all the features I was looking for.
If you are also on the hunt for a mountain rifle then you’re in the right place because we’re going to dive into the Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 and find out why it has earned my vote as the perfect rifle for my backcountry hunting adventures.
Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 with its carbon fiber stock and Cerektote finished barrel.
Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0
What Makes a Mountain Rifle?
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the expert here when it comes to the teeny tiny details of what makes a “mountain rifle” worthy of its name, but I think if you look at it objectively with a little common sense, it’s pretty clear what the characteristics are. After all of my research and time spent studying the features of the brands touting a rifle in the “mountain hunting” category, I’ve come up with a shortlist of what to look for when shopping.
Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 - Image Courtesy of Bergara USA
Reduced Overall Weight:
Ounces quickly lead to pounds and in the backpacking world, that means energy savings. Hauling around a rifle that has a base weight of 8 or 9 pounds can get really heavy in the hand or on pack after a while and the last thing you need in the field when the time comes is to feel worn out. Take it from a guy who hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and learned very intimately what a single pound means over the course of a long day on the trail. It meant I either felt like calling it quits for the day and stopping short of a mileage goal OR I pushed on another few miles to my next campsite.
The weight of a rifle, however is different. In terms of accuracy, weight is a gift from the gods which is why you see match guns weighing up to 20 lbs at times. The heavier a rifle is, the less it wiggles around on you when you’re shooting it. An increase in weight means an increase in accuracy and a decrease in weight means a decrease in accuracy because every tiny human input is felt by the rifle and results in inaccuracies downrange. But who in the world is going to haul around a rifle in the mountains weighing 20 pounds?
Hunting rifles are far lighter than match rifles and MOUNTAIN HUNTING rifles are lighter than your average hunting rifle. Not because mountain hunters don’t care about accuracy - they very much do - but because they simply can’t afford to be hauling around a heavy firearm in the backcountry. Weight is precious back there and every ounce counts so they’re forced into a balancing act of weight, accuracy, and build quality.
Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0
In all my research and cross-referencing of data, I’ve found that rifles marketed to “mountain hunters” typically fall within the range of 5.5 to 6.8 lbs. Anything lighter would likely fade away into nothingness and anything heavier just isn’t light enough for those counting ounces.
Build Quality and Weather Resistance
Because hunting the backcountry means you’re likely miles from your truck and left to deal with whatever the mountains decide to throw at you, it’s important that your gear is built to endure. My rifle from the ’80s has a wood stock and blued barrel. It rusts easy and the stock swells with temperature shifts and moisture absorption. It’s not only taking a beating year after year and showing its age but anytime that rifle stock swells it risks impacting my overall accuracy. For the most part, you want your barrel to be free of anything touching it which is why you see such an emphasis on floating barrels and rifle stocks that are rigid enough to avoid any sort of impact to the barrel.
Mountain hunting rifle stocks are typically made of a synthetic material that can hold up to weather AND provide a sturdy platform from which to shoot from in terms of accuracy. Rifles that have very low overall weights are often paired with a carbon fiber stock that is strong, durable, and extremely lightweight.
As for the barrel of a mountain rifle, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone marketing a blued barrel to mountain hunters. Instead, it’ll be stainless steel, carbon fiber (wrapped over stainless), OR a stainless steel barrel with a Cerakote finish. The latter here is a weather-resistant treatment that seals off the barrel from any moisture and prevents rust from occurring.
Aside from the barrel and the stock, it’s the build quality that comes next. Whatever a manufacturer can do to increase reliability without increasing weight, they’ll do it. You might see grooves on a barrel to further reduce weight (fluted) or tiny adjustments here and there throughout the gun to shave as much weight as possible. You may even see unique materials such as titanium used to help increase durability and quality while maintaining a reduced weight.
Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 features a carbon fiber stock and Cerekote finished barrel.
It’s tough work for designers and for each and every change that is made to the rifle there is a cause and effect, be it in pricing, durability, or accuracy.
Handling
Mountain Rifles MUST be user-friendly. This means different things to different people but for the most part, it means that the rifle can’t be finicky. This one is a little hard to get a handle on, but as an example, you might see the bolt action of a rifle with a reduced throw or the actual knob on the bolt has a nice gripped texture on it. The rifle stock might be a little tacky or it might be smooth depending on your preferred flavor. And the stock might feel a little thinner in the hands for those wearing gloves or it might feel fat.
At this point, the handling becomes a personal preference and it’s really hard to nail down what works and what doesn’t so you must go and handle these rifles yourself to find out which feels the most natural to YOU; not to me or not to anyone else. You will be the one shooting it and that’s all that matters. I’ve had my mindset on a certain rifle thinking that it was “THE ONE” only to put it up to my shoulder and find that, sadly, it is not.
Caliber and Accuracy
I think it’s safe to say that the accuracy of a firearm is on the shoulders of the shooter. It’s also safe to say that 99.9% of rifles sold today can shoot accurately. If it can’t, it’s not getting sold, and yes there are variables to what makes a rifle shoot well, but for the most part, any rifle sold today should get the job done with proper technique out to moderate distances.
What I think is more important than accuracy is the caliber of your mountain rifle. Mountain rifles tend to come in a limited range of hunting calibers and from what I can tell this is based on the weight and overall accuracy of the chosen round. By weight, I mean that a larger caliber round requires more material for the rifle which would land it beyond that of the “mountain hunting” weight range. This is why you’ll see mountain rifles coming in more modern calibers like 6.5 Creedmoor; flat shooting calibers that can help keep the overall weight of the rifle down while maintaining excellent accuracy at distance.
Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 with classic lines and modern features.
Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0: Overview & Features
Now that you have an idea of what qualities are associated with a mountain rifle, let’s take each one of those and decode the Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0.
Overall Weight
The Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 ranges from 6.2-6.4 lbs depending on the caliber you decide to go with. I’ve personally found that anything under 6 lbs feels VERY strange to hold. Kimber makes a rifle in the sub 6 lbs range and anytime I put it to my shoulder it feels like I’m holding a toy. For me, there’s just not enough weight to it to feel comfortable. On the other end of the spectrum, anything above 6.5 lbs just seems a tad heavy.
This is why I think the Mountain Rifle 2.0 is so great. It lands right square in the middle of that range. Not too light, not too heavy. It feels balanced in the hands and to me, that’s what I think is important. You want a rifle to feel like an extension of your body and after handling dozens of rifles at gun shops, I’ve found the Mountain Rifle 2.0 to feel the MOST natural to me.
Below are additional specs of the Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 per their website:
Weight: 6.2 lbs-6.4 lbs
Overall Length: 41.5”-44”
Barrel Length: 22”-24”
Barrel Taper: No. 3
Magazine: Hinged floor plate
Mag Capacity: 4 standard, 3 magnum, 2 round capacity: 300 PRC, 28 Nosler, 6.5 PRC
Finish: Tactical Grey Cerakote
Trigger: TriggerTech® Frictionless Release Technology™
Stock: AG Composite 100% carbon-fiber
Scope Mount: Fits Remington 700 bases with 8-40 screws
Build Quality and Weather Resistance
When it comes to build quality and weather resistance, the Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 has it all. It’s part of their Premier Series lineup which means each rifle is assembled by hand at their factory in Lawrence, GA. This is not an assembly line situation and as such is reflected in the higher price point than their B-14 series. Each component of the rifle is quality that you can feel and see. They threw everything they could at this rifle and the result is a pretty incredible platform.
Tactical Gray Cerakote finish on the Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0
That build quality also delivers on weather resistance. The barrel features a stainless steel barrel with a Cerakote finish for weather protection and a carbon fiber stock. You should also know that Bergara excels in the barrel-making business as that is where they originated from. They’ve supplied barrels for a large majority of the rifle brands you know of and only within the last number of years did they decide to get into the full rifle business.
Everything about this rifle screams “built for the mountains.” I think it’s safe to say that whatever the mountains have in store for you, it can handle with grace.
Handling
A rifle can have all of the right specs on paper, but if it doesn’t feel right in your hands, then it’s no good. This is where our roads begin to diverge and splinter. What feels great to YOU might not feel great to me. This is why it’s so incredibly important to go and feel these rifles in person before buying one. Do NOT let your eyes get the best of you though. As I mentioned before, be objective because I’ve had my heart set on a rifle only to find out it didn’t feel right in person.
The moment I picked up the Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 it felt like home. I almost dreaded picking it up because I was afraid I’d find it to feel unbalanced but that’s not what happened. To me, the rifle felt natural. It wasn’t fat in the hands, wasn’t too long or too short, and didn’t feel too heavy or too light.
The rifle features a hinged floor plate for easy unloading after a hunt, a textured bolt knob for easy grabbing, an incredible trigger, and a carbon fiber rifle stock that in all honesty, I thought was going to feel slippery, but doesn’t. It has just enough texture on it from the modern camouflage paint job to feel solid in my hands.
To me, this rifle meets my needs and feels great to ME while doing so.
Caliber and Accuracy
This one is pretty easy. The Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 shoots great with factory ammo just like their website says it will.
“All Premier Series rifles are guaranteed to produce groups of 1.0 MOA or less at 100 yards with quality factory match grade ammunition.”
I’m not a crack shot, not a trained sniper, and I don’t spend hours upon hours at the range. I’m a “get in and get out” kind of guy and I was able to put my shots within an inch of each other at 100 yards (I don’t have the proof because I was too lazy to go grab my target and bring it home…). If I can shoot like this, then you can too. Take your time, get set, use proper technique, and let it rip.
One of the reasons this rifle is so light is because it has a slightly thinner barrel. That means it will heat up a little faster which will result in some fliers at some point. Lucky for you and I, we only need one shot in the field so it’s not an issue, but when you’re at the range, you’ll want to allow the barrel to cool down before ripping off more rounds.
That said, I wanted to see what would happen to my accuracy if I didn’t let the barrel cool off between shots, and to be honest…it was still REALLY good. With my old 30.06, rounds would start going crazy after about 4 shots in a row, but not with this guy. At most, it dropped away maybe an extra inch or so? Certainly not enough to be considered “inaccurate.”
Needless to say, this rifle shoots lights out and comes in a handful of calibers.
TriggerTech Trigger on the Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0
TriggerTech Trigger on the Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0
As of the fall of 2022, here are the calibers offered per their website (these will likely change year to year based on popularity);
That’s a pretty good lineup, but if you don’t like what you see there’s a chance it might come out eventually. Favorite calibers come and go so as time goes on, there’s a chance your caliber of choice will become available. I’m a 30.06 man myself, but as you can tell, it’s not available here so decisions must be made. Do you care more about the exact caliber or do you care more about features and what the rifle can do for you with these available calibers?
How Bergara Found Soul In The Mountain Rifle 2.0
I can appreciate the specs of a rifle on paper, if it doesn’t speak to me on a higher level then I find my desire to give that rifle a new home to very little. One of the biggest issues I’ve had shopping for a lightweight mountain hunting rifle is my ability to find one with not only the right specs and feeling but one that included character and soul as well. Until the Mountain Rifle 2.0 came along, it was either one or the other; a rifle either had my attention visually or it had my attention on paper. The stars never aligned for me and the one rifle that came the closest still fell short; I just couldn’t see myself in it in the field and it just didn’t feel like me. For me to make my purchase I would have had to sacrifice the one thing I think actually matters in life - character.
Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 features a bolt that can be disassembled in the field for easy cleaning and maintenance.
You might scoff at this idea and say “a rifle is a rifle no matter what it looks like. Just shoot the darn thing and stop thinking about it so much” and you’d be right to a certain extent. I could shut up and just shoot and probably be just fine, but I wouldn’t be proud to pull the rifle out and it certainly wouldn’t inspire me to give it that extra little adventure it was made for.
If you don’t think looks matter then after reading this sentence, go look in the mirror and then move onto your wardrobe and tell me again that “looks don’t matter.” They very much DO matter or else you wouldn’t have purchased what you’re wearing. Maybe you’re wearing a flannel right now, or maybe you’re wearing skinny jeans or a skirt. Whatever it is, you chose to wear what you’re wearing because you felt like it agreed with who you are and that it represented you the best.
If your equipment doesn’t inspire you, doesn’t speak to you on a different level, or doesn’t bring you joy, then what’s the point? People ask me all the time what tent they should buy, “this one or that one?” or which backpack is best “this one over here or that one over there.” My response is always the same - “which one do you like better?” “Which one do you see yourself using?” “Which one inspires you?” I say this because I’d much rather you be inspired by your gear and enjoy using it than know that it’s the best darn thing money could buy but you hate the way it looks or feels.
I like old things; always have and always will so for me I could never buy off on these modern rifles looking so modern. A rifle has a character on its own, but somehow all these rifle manufacturers find a way to pull the soul right out of a gun by either dolling it up with too much camouflage or giving it a rifle stock that looks like it came from the toy section at the supermarket. As I said before, it never would line up for me to match the specs and feel of a rifle with its soul, until now.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw a picture of the Mountain Rifle 2.0. I thought to myself “now that is a good-looking rifle!” Having experienced disappointment in the past, I figured I had finally found a rifle that had a soul, but that wouldn’t feel right to me in my hands. When I finally DID hold it for the first time, I examined it to make sure I wasn’t just making this all up in my head. I wanted it to be real.
I’ve since stared at that rifle over and over again trying to figure out what it is about it that makes it different than all the other rifles on the rack. I promise you this; it WILL stand out to you among the rest. You’ll see it from a distance and it will only get better as you get closer.
The Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 has a soul and it has character. The barrel shows that it’s ready for bad weather with its tactical gray Cerakote finish and the action is familiar, smooth, and trustworthy. The trigger is crisp and that carbon fiber stock is ready for big climbs and accurate shots. Normally this is where it breaks down for me - the stock. Carbon fiber normally sucks the soul right out of a rifle, but somehow Bergara has found a way to make it work.
The stock of the Mountain Rifle 2.0 is where its soul lives. To me is a perfect blend of the past, present, and future. The shape of the stock makes it handle like wood and the carbon fiber allows it to perform flawlessly. The only thing left to do is add a dash of the mountains to it to make it feel right at home and they’ve done just that by adding the perfect amount of subdued black and gray sponge-like camouflage as a nod to the hunt. Put it all together and you have something you’ll actually want to stare at.
The Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 screams adventure. It has the specs, has the feel, and has the look that I’ve been waiting for. I find myself continually excited to give it an adventure and I’m even more excited to tell you about it. That’s how you know you’ve got something good in your hands - when it all comes together and it finds a way to light a fire inside of you.
Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0
Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 with picatinny rail (note this rail is sold separately and does not come stock on the rifle)
Final Thoughts On The Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0
There are no doubt a TON of great mountain rifles out there - trust me, I’ve looked at all of them - but for me, my search is over. I’ve found what I’m looking for and if any of the above sounds good to you, I’d encourage you to track one of these rifles down to see for yourself what you think.
I’ll be fielding this rifle this coming fall and with any luck, I’ll put it to good use. I’m excited to see how it does on a hunt, but I have a pretty good feeling it’ll be just fine.
For more information on the Bergara Mountain Rifle 2.0 you can follow the link below;
https://www.bergara.online/us/rifles/premier/mountain-2-0-rifle
And for those looking to learn more about Bergara itself, please give a listen to Episode 117 of The By Land Podcast I’m joined by Tony Smotherman to chat about the brand and the Mountain Rifle 2.0. I came away from that interview with a sincere appreciation for Bergara the brand, where they came from, and the good they’re doing for Veterans.
Emory, By Land
Thanks for stopping by the website and checking out this article! If you have any questions for me or want to connect, you can leave a comment below or shoot me a personal message at emory@byland.co.
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