Fierce Firearms Disaster

[Roguemountainhunter]

OP: sorry this happend to you and other customers. Thanks for sharing. I ordered a Carbon Rival XP a few months ago, before I saw this post.I'll report back once I get my hands on it. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[nobody]

I like backfire but he is too chummy with the owner. He normally gives good reviews but he gets a long with the owner so he failed to discuss the customer service problems.

Agree, liked him better before he had any industry connections and was doing it all on his own 100%. His old stuff from when he started during the pandemic is pretty good, but he’s getting way to hard to watch anymore.

 

[Stuckincity]

Man! So sorry to have heard this. Like others, I joined this forum because of this post. Wish I would have read it sooner. Just ordered the Fierce Reaper last week and gave them a deposit. A friend of mine has been recommending Fierce for a while. Now I’m super nervous. At least it won’t be my only hunting/shooting rig.

 

[Weldor]

Lots of questions, but like I said earlier , I have 2 prc's and they shoot great. I understand all dis-trust. Like all brands good and bad.

 

[Mountain_Life]

Lots of questions, but like I said earlier , I have 2 prc's and they shoot great. I understand all dis-trust. Like all brands good and bad.

The difference with Fierce is that it's overwhelmingly more bad than good as we've read in the last 16 pages.

 

[chasewild]

Late to the game here. And I certainly won't defend shitty customer service, so that's on Fierce.

But what I will say is that my wife bought a Fierce Rival Twisted from Cabelas in .300 win. We took it out of the box, and when she dry fired it in the kitchen before breaking it in, the bolt locked up. Took some muscle, but it unlocked and we headed to the range.

She shot 3 shot groups with 150 grain bergers (cheap ammo) to break it in. After 3 groups, she'd clean it and dry patch it. Repeat for 40 shots -- more than necessary since that barrel is hand lapped.

At 40 shots, we had a gunsmith mount the scope and bore sight it. Took it to the range and 3 bullets were touching at 100 with 180 Barnes TSX.

She slowly but surely sighted it in, and her groups were always about .75-1.00". Not amazing, but she's a new shooter and is progressively getting better. By March 1, she was zeroed at 200.

March 9, she took the Fierce on her bison hunt and made a perfect shot at 220. The bolt has not locked up since.

You can't go wrong with a Tikka, but it just wasn't what she wanted for several reasons (pistol grip on the Fierce is nice BTW). Her Fierce experience has been adequate.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

I hope all of you that are posting here are leaving Google reviews. Leave them with a link to this thread.

 

[Kuhsoy]

I hope all of you that are posting here are leaving Google reviews. Leave them with a link to this thread.

I posted the link to this forum as a comment on this youtube video

. My comment got deleted overnight.

 

[Okieflatlander]

Similar experience w/ Fierce. Had a 6.5 PRC in their reaper I had to send back because the bolt wouldn’t open and would stick spent cases in the chamber. Even after I got it back that gun still has pressure signs on the case if I run it with a suppressor. Does however shoot around .75 MOA.
I also have a CT Edge in 300 WM. I’ve tried every box of premium factory ammo you can buy, even tried working up a hand load for it w/ premium components and that gun won’t shoot a 5 shot group under 2 MOA. It’ll fool you every once in a while and throw a 3 shot group at .5 MOA but the next couple shots will open it back up well over an inch at 100 yards. The customer service experience has been terribly aggravating the whole way through. They fit a real niche in the market of semi custom rifles, and are super feature rich, but they’re not worth the risk considering what you’re paying.

 

[Balderdash]

I posted the link to this forum as a comment on this youtube video

. My comment got deleted overnight.

"9 out of 10 rifles leave with a custom turret". Sounds like they're really catering to serious shooters.

It's EPIC, brah!

 

[SDHNTR]

Carter just texting away on his phone while Mogle is talking, Classic! I agree with him tho, that was painful to listen to.

 

[wind gypsy]

"9 out of 10 rifles leave with a custom turret". Sounds like they're really catering to serious shooters.

It's EPIC, brah!

Selling "competence" to people who don't know better. It's the new path. Gunwerks and Leupy CDS have shown the way.

 

[Fartrell Cluggins]

I posted the link to this forum as a comment on this youtube video

. My comment got deleted overnight.

I just did the same. We'll see how long it stands.

 

[bojangles808]

I posted the link to this forum as a comment on this youtube video

. My comment got deleted overnight.

It might be bc you posted a link. my comment is from awhile ago and still there. You can tell backfire and epic are both getting free rifles from this dude. Pretty gross.

 

[Balderdash]

Selling "competence" to people who don't know better. It's the new path. Gunwerks and Leupy CDS have shown the way.

100% correct. The early CDS scopes I had back in the day (never had a custom turret cut, just used moa) made it doubly difficult to hit with, as they didn't always track or RTZ! Eventually moved back to working off the reticle, then moved on to more capable FFP scopes.

I think he mentioned that most customers expect 1000 yds capability. Imagine the customer who's having a BDC turret made to fit ammo that the gun maker selects and sights in with, all the while expecting to take that rig to 1k . . . Me thinks this is a set up for a real wound fest. Not fully blaming the companies that accommodate what a customer wants, just thinking of the shenanigans that inevitably go on each fall with trying to take far off game.

 

[JRO]

Made an account just to reply to this thread. I was set on buying a fierce due to the great reviews by backfiretv. I started googling reviews on Fierce and came across this thread. Turns out I’m not fit for the Fierce life.

Sorry this happened to the OP and thanks for sharing your story.

I made the mistake of listening to the Backfire guy. Worst decision I've made in recent years.

 

[CMP70306]

Selling "competence" to people who don't know better. It's the new path. Gunwerks and Leupy CDS have shown the way.

100% correct. The early CDS scopes I had back in the day (never had a custom turret cut, just used moa) made it doubly difficult to hit with, as they didn't always track or RTZ! Eventually moved back to working off the reticle, then moved on to more capable FFP scopes.

I think he mentioned that most customers expect 1000 yds capability. Imagine the customer who's having a BDC turret made to fit ammo that the gun maker selects and sights in with, all the while expecting to take that rig to 1k . . . Me thinks this is a set up for a real wound fest. Not fully blaming the companies that accommodate what a customer wants, just thinking of the shenanigans that inevitably go on each fall with trying to take far off game.

At least now with their range finder Gunwerks can give you a shoot to range for your ballistic turret that adjusts with the atmospheric conditions. I haven’t personally used it as I don’t have any of those turrets but I noticed the spot for it in the app.

 

[wind gypsy]

At least now with their range finder Gunwerks can give you a shoot to range for your ballistic turret that adjusts with the atmospheric conditions. I haven’t personally used it as I don’t have any of those turrets but I noticed the spot for it in the app.

There's certainly some better ways and tools out there to make things work well. My sour grapes is more centered on point that most people that would want a ballistic turret don't have a clue about the factors that go into a ballistic solution, when they might change, and how to address them.

 

[Rebelfan22]

Long read but could save you some money and headache.

A few years ago we placed an order through a local Fierce distributor for 4 rifles. A Fury in 28 Nosler, a Fury in .300wm, a Carbon Fury in 6.5 PRC, and a Carbon Edge in .300 PRC. Out of those rifles the Carbon Edge was the only one to shoot well and show up as advertised.

The 28 Nosler. After the second shot through the gun, with factory ammo stated by Fierce to shoot awesome, the bolt locked up and we had to ship it back to Fierce to get it open. They sent the rifle back with a clean bill of health. On arrival we noticed that every time we opened the bolt the firing pin would disengage once we closed it. Back to Fierce it goes. Gun comes back with another clean bill of health. This time we get to the range and after 5 shots the bolt won’t open again. We take a rubber mallet to it and get it open. We get it zeroed and take it out to distance. Call Fierce and they mail us out custom ammo that will 100% work. On the first elk hunt with the gun my buddy misses a 6x6 bull and goes to open the bolt and it’s stuck again. He had to take a rock to it to get it open. That is a very condensed version as start to finish took almost 8 months to get to my buddy hunting with it and having it fail yet again. They sent him an upgraded rifle after a year of back and forth. He sold it and now owns a Seekins that is his favorite gun.

The Carbon Fury showed up 12 ounces over weight. I sent it back and they said they would upgrade me to a different rifle that would meet my requirements for a small up charge. Never actually received that rifle because after what happens next I cancel the order and never saw my money for two years.

The Fury in .300wm. This is where it gets really good. Took the gun to sight it in. The gun had a 5 port muzzlebrake on it and after the first shot I told my buddy that it kicked so hard I was actually nervous to shoot it again. Don’t consider my self to be a b**ch but it freaking rocked me. Lucky for me the bolt wouldn’t open. Back to Fierce. They test fire it 3 times and send a video of them doing so. Back to me w/clean bill a health. I go to sight it in and I can’t get it to hit paper. I take the scope/rings off and start from scratch with mounting process. Shot it at 50 yards and it hit’s bullseye. Back out to 100. First shot nothing. Second, barely hits the edge of the target. Third shot, opposite side of target and the hole looked off through the scope. Get to target and the bullet was going through the target completely sideways. I open the bolt and look down the barrel and the gun had NO rifling. Take it to a local gunsmith and he mics the barrel and finds out it had only been pilot drilled. On my very first shot I put a .308 sized bullet down a barrel that was only .299 or .300. Luckily it didn’t blow up in my face. I call Fierce and have a somewhat heated discussion with John Mogle (owner) and at one point he laughs and says get a lawyer and have fun. So I did. It took 2 years but in the end I got roughly 10k. They actually didn’t complete their end of the agreement so I still have the rifle as evidence.

This story is so shortened so you wouldn’t have to read through 25 passages of sh*t to understand how ridiculous they are as a company. I spoke with 5-6 different employees and not one of them came through on helping me rectify the situation. In the beginning I would have accepted an apology and a new gun or two and moved on but when John told me to get a lawyer and have fun I was pot committed. Probably could have taken it to court and done more but after two years I was over it. Hope this helps some of you not waste your money with what I consider to be an absolute joke of a company from the top down.

They seem to be hit or miss. Unfortunately everyone I’ve talked to that have owned them that have issue report awful customer service. I was actually interested in placing order for a carbon rival and emailed them to see what current turnaround time would be and never heard another word back. Email and Call and no response. Needless to say won’t be ordering from them.

 

[wind gypsy]

It might be bc you posted a link. my comment is from awhile ago and still there. You can tell backfire and epic are both getting free rifles from this dude. Pretty gross.

What a surprise, 3 Utah entities teamed up for the $ and free stuff. That’s why the rifles will continue to sell. Backfire proved his Utard credentials when he made a video saying lottery tags are a scam and government is overreaching by putting limits on weapons and seasons..

You guys made it through an hour+ of that podcast?