Fierce Firearms Disaster

[Mike Islander]

Being that the vast majority of people feed one round at a time into the chamber when they zero or shoot them, never using the magazine, no- most have no idea how their rifle functions.

Shooting alone for 50+ years (except for gunfighter classes with my AR), I had no idea people don't fully load their bolt rifles when they sight them in. Still learn something new here every week. Glad I've accidentally been doing it "right" .

 

[SDHNTR]

Being that the vast majority of people feed one round at a time into the chamber when they zero or shoot them, never using the magazine, no- most have no idea how their rifle functions.

A few years ago I had a custom rifle built by one of the most well-known and well respected custom rifle shops in the country. Cost me $6k. They also did the load work up and provided all the data. Something like 93 shots were fired during development. When I received the rifle, of course I was super excited to hit the range. Only to leave furious that it would not cycle a single round out of the magazine. Apparently all 93 rounds fired during load development were single fed and they never even tested it for function. They eventually made it right, but it wasn’t without me having to make a bit of a fuss and them arguing with me that it wasn’t possible to have a feeding problem make it out their door. It took me sending multiple video clips for them to take it back and fix it. It’s not just the weekend warriors who do this.

 

[Formidilosus]

A few years ago I had a custom rifle built by one of the most well-known and well respected custom rifle shops in the country. Cost me $6k. They also did the load work up and provided all the data. Something like 93 shots were fired during development. When I received the rifle, of course I was super excited to hit the range. Only to leave furious that it would not cycle a single round out of the magazine. Apparently all 93 rounds fired during load development were single fed and they never even tested it for function. They eventually made it right, but it wasn’t without me having to make a bit of a fuss and them arguing with me that it wasn’t possible to have a feeding problem make it out their door. It took me sending multiple video clips for them to take it back and fix it. It’s not just the weekend warriors who do this.

I have used and seen so many “customs” from some of the most well known smiths and shops in the country that don’t feed/function, it is more surprising to see one that does. It’s better now that AI mags are more the norm, but still….

 

[Korhil78]

Lol…after watching that video, I would have so loved to have been the camera man. After that fourth shot and the mag dropping out, I would have yelled out…”FIX BAYONETS!!!” Lol

 

[Balderdash]

Lol…after watching that video, I would have so loved to have been the camera man. After that fourth shot and the mag dropping out, I would have yelled out…”FIX BAYONETS!!!” Lol

Fix something.

 

[Bushman77]

Just throwing my experience here. My dad picked up a carbon rogue in 300 win mag and ended up putting groups up less than .2 MOA (200yards, only 2 shots). I decided to get a 300 prc carbon rogue and took it to a range yesterday and had a hit on 16” steel at 1 mile. So I’m quite pleased with our 2 rifles

 

[Kenn]

Is 2 shots a “group”?

 

[Bushman77]

Is 2 shots a “group”?

By definition, yes. For internet points, no. Of course a 5 shot group would be better, but I wasn't going to use $15 of my dad's ammo for 1 group. Since its a hunting rifle, we were more than happy to have consistent shots like this

 

[Kenn]

By definition, yes. For internet points, no. Of course a 5 shot group would be better, but I wasn't going to use $15 of my dad's ammo for 1 group. Since its a hunting rifle, we were more than happy to have consistent shots like this

I agree, in that I'm not a bench rest shooter and if I got that two shot group I'm ready to hunt. I would think differently if I was touting a rifle, scope, or ammo

 

[MT_Wyatt]

So…what is the point of getting on this particular thread and touting the performance of a couple fierce rifles? No one said they all were all bad (maybe someone did months ago and I forgot, this discussion is a bit dated). The need to hop on the tail end here with a “but mine’s good” post, which appears to be supportive of the Fierce product, is certainly a reasonable viewpoint in the right context. But - I’m guessing the OP could care less how well your rifles are performing, because he was sharing what he went through.

This thread is about a very specific experience someone had. And a warning that not all purchases have a happy ending. Almost a PSA. A few groups does not invalidate that. Hopefully that wasn’t the intent. In any event, glad you got some shooters.

 

[Balsak]

Glad I read this

 

[Ricard13]

I had a 338 Lapua put together by them. Had them put an ATACR scope on it and fully assemble the rifle for me (first dumb rookie mistake). Immediately out of the box the coating on the stock started peeling. It was some rubbery feeling coating. Sent it back to them and they stripped it and just painted it. Then I could t get it to hit anything. I was shooting the ammo they told me they had sighted it in with. Couldn’t hit anything. 338 Lapua ammo is crazy expensive keep in mind. I start inspecting the gun closely and notice my scope rail is moving on the action. I tear it apart and 3 of the 4 scope base screws are stripped off. Completely broken inside of the action. I had to take it to a smith to get them extracted. Im beyond pissed and call Fierce and they tell me that I broke them when I assembled it. I told them that THEY put it together and I was told that a gun would never leave them in that kind of condition. Sold it shortly after and washed my hands of them.

 

[atmat]

So…what is the point of getting on this particular thread and touting the performance of a couple fierce rifles? No one said they all were all bad (maybe someone did months ago and I forgot, this discussion is a bit dated). The need to hop on the tail end here with a “but mine’s good” post, which appears to be supportive of the Fierce product, is certainly a reasonable viewpoint in the right context. But - I’m guessing the OP could care less how well your rifles are performing, because he was sharing what he went through.

This thread is about a very specific experience someone had. And a warning that not all purchases have a happy ending. Almost a PSA. A few groups does not invalidate that. Hopefully that wasn’t the intent. In any event, glad you got some shooters.

I get what you’re saying. But by this same argument, no one else should be posting their own “I also have a bad experience with Fierce” stories. Which we’ve been cool with for 18 pages.

If someone describes a terrible service with a company, I think it’s a good idea to let folks respond with their experiences. It gets us more data points so as to say which type of experience (good vs bad) are the outlier.

 

[MT_Wyatt]

I get what you’re saying. But by this same argument, no one else should be posting their own “I also have a bad experience with Fierce” stories. Which we’ve been cool with for 18 pages.

If someone describes a terrible service with a company, I think it’s a good idea to let folks respond with their experiences. It gets us more data points so as to say which type of experience (good vs bad) are the outlier.

Agreed. It didn’t come off that way in the moment but I absolutely agree on the idea of experience exchange, good and bad.

There’s a lot of “this X thing failed or sucks” threads where that back and forth on the product is super helpful for people to understand its limitations, intent etc.

 

[Gear-Reviewer]

And still no response from Fierce after most of a year. Wow is all I’ve gotta say… There’s much better options out there.

 

[Stuckincity]

Just an update from my end. I had stated I ordered a Reaper in 6.5 Creedmoor topped with a Zeiss V6. I tried to cancel it, but would have lost my deposit. So I decided to just let it go through and see how it played out. Fierce took about a month longer to build it than they originally quoted. But the rifle eventually got here and first impressions were impressive. No blemishes. They provided the target and box of the Hornady 147 grain ELD-M's they found to be the best. Given the experiences here, I was still super nervous to go shoot it. Everything checked out ok. The barrel even had rifling in it. Hahaha. Anyways took out and tested it. Absolute shooter. No feeding issues. Even after adding the suppressor. Drilling 6 inch plates at 700. I was super relieved. Not sure what I would have done had it been a lemon. The customer service still seems sketchy.

 

[swavescatter]

Glad yours panned out. Their CS NEVER responded to my request for warranty work after initial contact. Radio silence. So glad Cabelas just bought it back from me and I got to walk away (still lost $100's in ammo).

 

[DuckDogDr]

And yet there’s a thread on here equating members to tools for going with a quality custom build vs dealing with BS like this……

I’ll support my buddy any day of the week.

Sorry you’ve had to deal with this. Thank you for the heads up

 

[Coach529]

Stumbled upon this doing a google search. I was really interested in a Fierce MTN Reaper until reading this.

You cannot explain away piss poor QC and CS.

Hard Pass!!

 

[Craniak17]

Hey guys I'm new to the Forum world and have never posted on this site, I am the Sales Manager here at Fierce. I'm not posting this to stir the pot, in fact I want to try and make it better from our end and for everyone else. We are striving to make customer service better week by week. We are striving to please everyone, some are tougher than others but we will do our best!

I'm not sure why this resurfaced two years or so after it happened but David felt it appropriate to post this. I personally have not seen the gun to be able to look it over. I did see the pictures that he posted. I would like to see it in person and go over it. I have messaged David from my cell phone and left him a voicemail to contact me.

Back when this gun was built it was built up in Canada with John's then partner, now known as "Antler Arms". The guns were built up there and shipped down to us, we would then ship them out to the customer or dealer. The barrel is a barrel that we sourced from McGowen Barrels. McGowen builds a good barrel and we have had good success with their product.

John is no longer affiliated with his partner in Canada, and has bought him out. We are now building the guns down here in Utah. Made in the USA. We are also building our own carbon fiber stocks, carbon fiber barrels, and contouring the steel barrels here in the shop. We have renamed that Model to the Rage (Three lug type action), and changed up the stock configuration to make it a better gun, we feel.

David mentioned that he got a lawyer, and "It took 2 years but in the end I got roughly 10k". I don't ever recall hearing of a phone call or seeing a letter from David's lawyer. I'm not entirely sure what the monetary value is associated too that he mentioned. I did look and did not see any checks that were written to him. I do know that we did try to make things right with David, we did upgrade his Carbon Fury to a CT Edge (for a small fee) to make him happy with the weight discrepancy that he encountered. As well we did end up sending David three guns that he did not mention above either in trying to make things right with him. I feel like that is pretty fair on our end in trying to make something right, for his time and the process. Again I would love to see this gun in person to look at those rifling's. It just hard to think that it would go through McGowen, Fierce Canada( Now known as "Antler Arms"), and our shop like David had mentioned when it came back.

We are striving to be better and we strive for our customer service. We are not perfect but we are working that way week by week. Cody now in customer service is great and super thorough so please don't hesitate to call. We know stuff happens, but we want to make sure we get it taken care of. We feel that our guns are the best out there and we want to make sure that it continues. We also want to make sure that you guys/gals are taken care of if they feel something is wrong.

Again this is not to stir the pot, this is the first time that I have seen this post. It was brought to my attention by a good customer, and I didn't want people to think that we don't care.

Happy Hunting this Fall