Fierce Firearms Disaster

[ljalberta]

I can’t possibly understand how a smoothbore rifle makes it out the door through all the required building steps and all edged testing/QC once. Twice is simply mind boggling.

 

[Thegman]

I can’t possibly understand how a smoothbore rifle makes it out the door through all the required building steps and all edged testing/QC once. Twice is simply mind boggling.

Well, look on the bright side, if you ever decide you want to hunt with a musket, you know where to go...

 

[fbhandler]

I can’t possibly understand how a smoothbore rifle makes it out the door through all the required building steps and all edged testing/QC once. Twice is simply mind boggling.

It’s cuz you gotta pay more for rifling… I’m sure it’s in the fine print somewhere

 

[Gingerman]

It’s cuz you gotta pay more for rifling… I’m sure it’s in the fine print somewhere

He forgot to check the rifled barrel rifle box on the menu...

 

[Laelkhunter]

I'm thinking they left the rifling out to meet the weight limit. All that steel can add up to make that rifle a heavy boat anchor.

 

[wind gypsy]

I'm thinking they left the rifling out to meet the weight limit. All that steel can add up to make that rifle a heavy boat anchor.

Thats not how rifling works haha.

 

[RMM]

 

[PantherMike]

I'm so thankful I ran into this thread!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had decided that Fierce was the cream of the crop among semi customs.
To all the Members who have good running Fierce rifles I am genuinely happy for you.

I place a tremendous value on integrity and accountability. This thread has given insight into the people at Fierce and fortunately with the help and heartache of many of you........I'm bowing out on a new Fierce purchase.

 

[Stalker69]

My buddy has a fierce and had to send it back also, he hasn’t had any recent problems. But it took him a lot to find a load that would shoot decent. Very picky rifle.

 

[PantherMike]

I forgot to mention the absurdity in paying or even offering a Machinist $17.00 an hour. Perhaps Fierce is manning their shop with vo-tech students in their first machining job.

 

[Gingerman]

Looks like Fierce learned a little. Bro reported his rifle back yesterday with rifling. I told him to clean the thing before shooting and watch that the cleaning rod rotates!

 

[Gingerman]

OK, now the gun won't chamber factory ammo. Fierce rep said they shot 4 boxes of ammo thought it before shipping out with no problems...(They didn't, and even then, who would fire 80rnds or need to fire that many to test function?)

Bro got some gruff from the rep as well. When Bro said he could send them videos of the rifle not chambering the reply was, "Oh so your taking videos now?" In a condescending tone.

Bro going to have the local smith hopefully fix the headspace issue and sell the rifle back to Cabelas and take a loss to get out from under the Fierce Fiasco.

 

[david2duck]

@Gingerman they also “shot” 4 rounds, and videoed them doing so, out of my 300wm shotgun. I wish I still had the video but lost it on an old phone.

For years now I’ve thought about getting a booth at some of the big shows. Maybe we should round up some of these guns and put together a nice display.

 

[swavescatter]

OK, now the gun won't chamber factory ammo. Fierce rep said they shot 4 boxes of ammo thought it before shipping out with no problems...(They didn't, and even then, who would fire 80rnds or need to fire that many to test function?)

Bro got some gruff from the rep as well. When Bro said he could send them videos of the rifle not chambering the reply was, "Oh so your taking videos now?" In a condescending tone.

Bro going to have the local smith hopefully fix the headspace issue and sell the rifle back to Cabelas and take a loss to get out from under the Fierce Fiasco.

Same issue with my Reaper 6.5 PRC. It would chamber Norma ammo, but not Hornady. I've heard that Fierce is too damn cheap and tends to use their reamers too long, meaning that the rifles manufactured towards the tail end of their reamer life can have chamber issues.

 

[SDHNTR]

OK, now the gun won't chamber factory ammo. Fierce rep said they shot 4 boxes of ammo thought it before shipping out with no problems...(They didn't, and even then, who would fire 80rnds or need to fire that many to test function?)

Bro got some gruff from the rep as well. When Bro said he could send them videos of the rifle not chambering the reply was, "Oh so your taking videos now?" In a condescending tone.

Bro going to have the local smith hopefully fix the headspace issue and sell the rifle back to Cabelas and take a loss to get out from under the Fierce Fiasco.

Not defending them as a factory gun should have the headspace room to shoot most all factory ammo, but they may have cut that chamber tight for perceived accuracy purposes and the factory ammo Bro used was a bit long. Not uncommon. I’ve had a couple custom guns that were tight on some factory ammo. Factory ammo is not all formed to the same dimensions, far from it. Use the ammo Fierce suggests and see if it chambers and shoots well. Or take to a local gunsmith and have him cut out another .001” if you want more tolerance.

 

[Harvey_NW]

Not defending them as a factory gun have the headspace room should shoot most all factory ammo, but they may have cut that chamber tight for perceived accuracy purposes and the factory ammo Bro used was a bit long. Not uncommon. I’ve had a couple custom guns that were tight on some factory ammo. Factory ammo is not all formed to the same dimensions, far from it. Use the ammo Fierce suggests and see if it chambers and shoots well. Or take to a local gunsmith and have him cut out another .001” if you want more tolerance.

Depends on where it's tight though, I just had a custom chamber that was .0035" small in diameter in the web area and it chambered just fine but locked the bolt up and stuck a case at 2gr over a min book charge.. I would color a round with a sharpie and try and find out where it's making contact, and go from there.

 

[SDHNTR]

Depends on where it's tight though, I just had a custom chamber that was .0035" small in diameter in the web area and it chambered just fine but locked the bolt up and stuck a case at 2gr over a min book charge.. I would color a round with a sharpie and try and find out where it's making contact, and go from there.

True. Good advice. If the sharpie shows rubs on the shoulder, it’s a headspace issue, and the chamber is too short. If it shows rubbing back at the web, just forward of the case head, it’s tight on diameter.

That said, I’ve never seen a chamber cut so tight in diameter that factory ammo won’t even chamber to begin with. Tight diameter at the web usually shows after firing.

 

[PantherMike]

Not defending them as a factory gun should have the headspace room to shoot most all factory ammo, but they may have cut that chamber tight for perceived accuracy purposes and the factory ammo Bro used was a bit long. Not uncommon. I’ve had a couple custom guns that were tight on some factory ammo. Factory ammo is not all formed to the same dimensions, far from it. Use the ammo Fierce suggests and see if it chambers and shoots well. Or take to a local gunsmith and have him cut out another .001” if you want more tolerance.

SAAMI accepted and published reamer and chamber drawings for 300 PRC & 6.5 PRC, June 13, 2018 with zero Revisions. If Fierce were chambering to the stated SAAMI prints, an ammunition mismatch would be unlikely as these issues would have already been considered prior to SAAMI publication.

Dull on size tooling I think would cut oversize or cause chatter.

If the issues are headspace in nature and the go gauge, and reamer are in good shape...the problem is human in nature particularly during the Machinist's inspection and final QC.

 

[SDHNTR]

SAAMI accepted and published reamer and chamber drawings for 300 PRC & 6.5 PRC, June 13, 2018 with zero Revisions. If Fierce were chambering to the stated SAAMI prints, an ammunition mismatch would be unlikely as these issues would have already been considered prior to SAAMI publication.

Dull on size tooling I think would cut oversize or cause chatter.

If the issues are headspace in nature and the go gauge, and reamer are in good shape...the problem is human in nature particularly during the Machinist's inspection and final QC.

I’ve seen a few supposedly SAAMI spec’d factory rifles show a stiff bolt close on factory ammo. It happens. Tolerance stack up is a thing.

 

[Roadrunner1]

I was also looking at them and thought about getting one but now forget it.