Defiance Rebel or Pierce

[jfesi]

Doing a new build to use for fun and some F-Class. I normally shoot Bats, but don't want to wait a year for the action, and nobody stocks what I need. So I have narrowed it to the Defiance Rebel or the Pierce. It is going to be a long action repeater.
I am looking for any ones opinions of either.
Thanks,
Joe

 

[LitLBoy]

I have a Rebel (SA) REALLY like it!
LitLBoy

 

[Wirelessguy2005]

I have a Pierce action and its excellent. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to buy another, not only are they great to deal with but they produce a very high quality action.

 

[40X Guy]

I don't think you can go wrong with either. I have a Pierce that I love and my local gunsmith swears by the Defiance Rebel actions.

Frank

 

[kjcpoint]

Defiance rebel or the deviant. And they are 2 months out.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I have both of those and would add in a kelbly atlas or stiller to trump those

 

[Scott Harris]

Defiance all the way. If you want something cool and different, get the action melonited.

 

[Ringostar]

I'm not sure about everyone's lead times, I have a pierce that I really like. It took 7 months to get this past year. It was a total custom though, XL long w/ right bolt left port, cone bolt face, spiral flutes, 20 moa rail.

 

[Jay Christopherson]

I think the Defiance actions are excellent. I've played with two Rebels and they are extremely nice.

That being said, I think I would go with the Pierce - John is a strong supporter/shooter of F-Class and it's always cool to buy a product from a guy who uses it in the same discipline you do.

 

[abishai]

I have both. Both are nice . You will be happy with both . I like the defiance a good bit more . Personally , I would wait an extra month and get one custom made . Pick the bolt handle cerial number . fluting etc .......

 

[Sniper338]

I run several defiance deviant actions because i love the integrated rail and recoil lug... and id buy one again if i had money to do so.

 

[Dans40X]

Buy the best, Borden. The ONLY action made that is timed right out of the box. It is designed right and built right

Third choice would be a Pierce
Anything from MT or TX isn't in my vocabulary


My first choice is a Barnard (no Rem pattern trigger group will compare)

 

[Eddie Harren]

Dan, I've got some pictures ready to send to you. All I need is an e-mail address.

 

[GSPV]

Borden.

 

[Rustystud]

+1 for what Dan Armstrong said. Do your homework and don't listen to a bunch of keyboard jockeys.

Borden, Pierce, Kelbly are all in a class of their own.

Nat Lambeth

 

[SmokinJoe]

All of the actions mentioned are excellent, so aesthetics & personal choice will probably determine your selection. The only thing I will add is that IMO it is worth considering whether the bolt is made in one piece vs a soldered on bolt handle. Unless you have experienced a bolt handle coming off (always at the worst possible time) or witnessed someone else have that problem, it would be hard to understand my feelings about this, just take it from somebody who has experienced both. I know that the Defiance & Borden (if you order it that way) are made with one piece bolts milled from a billet, maybe some others that I'm not aware of. Jim Borden has put a lot of effort into optimizing the bolt timing on his actions (I have 3 of the BR actions), as well as perfecting everything else about them; he is a hair splitter. I have 2 Defiance Rebels, and they seem to run very smoothly, too. John Pierce is a great guy & perfectionist, too. So it will come down to who you prefer to work with. You really won't go wrong with any of them.

 

[GPat]

Joe, I am with you on the BATs, they are tough to beat and occasionally tough to obtain.

Those actions listed so far are all great options and you really can't go wrong with any of them. For my money, I'd get the Pierce if I'm staying with a Remington pattern.

Pat

 

[XTR]

Unless you become very, very good at shooting BR I think that any of the listed actions are going to be far more precise than you have the capability to be. I believe that guys who measure groups to .001 or smaller can see differences that the rest of us never will.

I have a Defiance Rebel I think it's a great action. On targets, with my two nearly identical F-TR rigs, I can't tell the difference in it and my R700, but the Rebel is a darned sight prettier, it's tighter, and smoother; but both will consistently shoot under ½ MOA vertical at 1000 yards if the load is right. You won't be dissapointed in any of them unless you are expecting it to magically make you a better shooter.

My gunsmith once told me he liked building my guns because I know how to make bullets. He said it's really hard when you build someone a $4000 rifle on a custom action and they come back in complaining that it won't shoot groups with surplus eastern block ammo. The point being, the action is only one part of the system.

 

[jfesi]

Thanks for the updates everyone. I appreciate the info.
Joe

 

[Joe R]

Seems like everyone has great things to say about Pierce Engineering, and I'm glad they had great experiences, I didn't.

Last May I received two rifles assembled by Pierce using their tube gun actions and Eliseo chassis. These rifles were the first time I had a custom rifles built for me so I really didn't know what to expect. As soon as I received it and noticed that the bolt was a sticky when extracting even before the first firing. I have never owned a Remington type rifle so I could only compare it to my Savage. The Savage was much smoother.

I started using the .308 right away, I thought it was because it was a tight fit and after a break-in period it would work itself out. I was wrong. I have put 3,300 rounds through that rifle and it is still sticky. I have called Pierce back and explained my problem to Jim Ayers (at Pierce) and he offered no solution other than having a gunsmith look at it. In all fairness I did not demand that they do something, simply because I don't want to ship my rifles from Texas back to Michigan. Additionally, the 308 rifle shoots really well.

My other rifle, a 6mm Comp Match has only had 10 rounds through it an is just as sticky as the 308. Both of these rifles had barrels that were cerakoted. On Tuesday (2/3/15) I took my 308 to the gunsmith to have a new barrel installed. I explained my problem to him and he said that he's had another client with the same problem with a Pierce action and its because a tiny amount of Cerakote got inside the action making sticky and it needs to be removed. It should work flawlessly once that is done.

My point is this, those rifles should never have left Pierce's shop in that condition, and IMO it reflects badly on Pierce. YMMV.

Regards,

Joe