Bergara Premier

[Ernest T]

I put this Bergara Premier Elite clone together using the same parts Bergara did. It's a Bergara Premier barreled action with no. 7 profile barrel, in an MDT ACC Elite stock, with a Triggertech Diamond flat trigger. I added a Anarchy Outdoors anti-cant picatinny rail, MDT rings and Zeiss LRP S3 4-25X50 scope. With one interior weight in the fore-stock and a bipod, it weighs right at 21 lbs and balances just in front of the barricade stop.

I took it out today for the first time using the same loads I do for my Savage Axis II Precision, 41.2 gr of RL-16 in SRP Lapua brass. It was windy as hell with some gusts up to 45 mph so it wasn't a good day for shooting groups. I get 2625 out of my 22" Savage with that load and got just over 2700 with the Bergara 26" barrel. I'm going to use this load until I run all the new Lapua brass through one firing.

[Robinhood]

Nice Work. Do you have anything to say about the Zeiss?

[Ernest T]

Nice Work. Do you have anything to say about the Zeiss?

There's a lot to like about the Zeiss. The glass is bright and clear, even at higher magnifications, and the sight picture is crisp out to very long range. It's got large, well-marked turrets that are tactile and audible when adjusted. Parallex is adjustable down to 15 yards and the illumination is day light usable and available in red or green on the fly. The eye relief is very good, but eye box is not very forgiving at large magnifications.

I selected the ZF-MOAi (FFP) #17 reticle which is a cross between a Christmas Tree reticle and traditional cross hairs. The cross hairs are large and visible while the Christmas Tree component is minimal, without labels.



The reticle is very small at magnification below 10X so I don't think its usable without the illumination. The Parallax adjustment isn't labeled except at 15 yards, you just have a series of adjacent black and white boxes to keep track of where you are.

Here's the deal, I have this Zeiss and a Leupold scope, both with very good glass, which operate flawlessly. However, I like the operation of the Arken scopes I own better than either the Zeiss or Leupold. I don't like the capped windage turret on the Leupold or its lack of illumination. I don't like how you set the zero stop on the Zeiss because its unnecessarily complex.

[Ernest T]

Nice Work. Do you have anything to say about the Zeiss?

There's a lot to like about the Zeiss. The glass is bright and clear, even at higher magnifications, and the sight picture is crisp out to very long range. It's got large, well-marked turrets that are tactile and audible when adjusted. The windage turret is uncapped and locks by pressing it in. It also has a zero stop because its got miles of probably unnecessary adjustment. Parallex is adjustable down to 15 yards and the illumination is day light usable and available in red or green on the fly. The eye relief is very good, but eye box is not very forgiving at large magnifications.

I selected the ZF-MOAi (FFP) #17 reticle which is a cross between a Christmas Tree reticle and traditional cross hairs. The cross hairs are large and visible while the Christmas Tree component is minimal, without labels. The center dot is tiny at all but the highest magnification.



I have tended to spend more time at higher magnification on this scope than the Leupold or Arkin because the reticle is so small from 10X down to 4X. I don't know that its even usable there without illumination.

I have been moving back and forth on the cheek riser because of the fidgety eye box. I'm hoping that will change as I get more time behind this scope.

Right now, I think this is a great looking scope--you can't beat the view through the eyepiece. I'm just not sure it's a great value for the money as it looks like you are getting exactly what you pay for. No more, no less. Maybe at this price range it's hard to deliver any extra since the quality has to be so good for the product to sell.