So, had a client with a rifle, a Bergara HMR B14 in fact, that, despite our best efforts – just wouldn’t shoot.
Issues, just issues…
We ran through all the normal issues we could think off, pulled it to bits, checked torque, rings, scope, ammo, suppressor on tight, shooters, and it became a little bit of an exercise in frustration. We would get what looked like an ok group, then suddenly it was off the paper again.
After a couple of range sessions, however, we finally noticed something – what looked to be a ‘baffle’ strike on the suppressor.
Now, by memory, we had shot this with and without a can on it, without much success either time – however, there was definitely a hit on the front rim/baffle of the suppressor.
DPT to the rescue
Thinking it might simply have been the suppressor after all, I quickly googled the thread requirements, realised it was the same as DPT for the TAC A1 (5/8-24″) – put it on the rifle, took a shot, and send the can about 10 meters ahead of the firing line.
In hindsight, obviously, I should have had the factory threads checked before trying another suppressor, but it was just one of those days.
I was heading down to DPT for a visit anyhow, so take the rifle in, put the rifle and can down on the table, and was instantly informed that I had the wrong thread for the rifle (M15x1). Now, I can’t tell the threads by eye, and am always impressed by those who can, but, I obviously took what they said for the gospel (they were, of course, correct) – and then started wondering how I had managed to cock that up. I also wondered what thread the suppressor we took off the rifle had on it.
Also, while basically lamenting myself for being such an idiot, they did point out they had seen several of them in with the same issue.
Let me Google that for you?
I had a theory.
5/8-24″ is an imperial thread and M15x1 metric.
Bergara is manufactured in Spain, but the company is based in America.
There is more than one website for Bergara.
You get me yet?
Now, what is interesting (and likely now skewed by the searches that I have been doing on this subject) – is that for my previous searches, and for those of the firearms owner, the US site came up multiple times before the ‘world’ – so I was only seeing the 5/8-24″ suggestion, not the 15×1.
It’s a bit of a stupid mistake, and, I suppose I could have called the local importer and asked what the thread was, but, for many of us, Google is the first port of call for this sort of thing, and, to complicate matters – I have heard there are both threads in the country atm – but haven’t come across anyone with the imperial thread myself.
The issue being, that, IF you click onto the America Site itself, it tries to direct you to an international site, which has the metric thread sizing indicated.
If, however, you just do a google search and use the meta-data excerpt that Google returns in the top result – you may end up with the wrong information. Of course, compound this with getting differnt result depending on your browser history, and we will have some getting metric and some imperial info. Ah. Internet. It’s so now…
Ironically, this whole episode is a great warning against just reading the headline and not clicking through to the content!
Do you have a B14? What’s the thread on it? Know of any other rifles that have different threads depending on where they are market ed to?
