Frustrated with new 28 Nosler

[Dmagna]

I have had two 28 noslers and neither one would shoot factory ammo sub moa. But with handloads with proper seating depth on the bullets both rifles shoot 1/4 inch groups at 100 yards. You probably have a long throat in the fierce chamber, so it will be great when you load your own bullets. I don't know many people who own a 28 nosler and don't Reload for it. I am sure your rifle will be a shooter when you find the right load. Just clean the carbon out every 20-30 rounds.

 

[just_jon]

Inconsistent cheek weld pressure can also cause vertical stringing. I was frustrated that my 6.5 CM was shooting 1-1.5" groups at 100 yards stringing from 7:00 to 2:00. After learning on this site that cheek weld could be the cause, I set up my iPhone to film my cheek weld in slo mo and sure enough I was all over the place because I'm now shooting bug eyes with that gun.

 

[fmuguira]

I ve had terrible luck with Eld X bullet, substitute the EldM and try again as previously mentioned

 

[Alibiiv]

I did weight sort brass and bullets with a digital scale.

Bedding, I hope not, I can run a thick piece of paper all the way up the the recoil lug.

Something that I suggest when I read a post like this is to start with the basics with the sighting system, make sure everything is tight, and torqued to factory specs, and the scope is a reliable/proven scope. I know this sounds simple, however sometimes we can be chasing the wrong problem with a situation such as this one. From your OP you have a great platform and you are doing all that can be done with your reloads. I don't have anything fancy when it comes to stocks (factory wood), but....have found bedding does improve accuracy tremendously. What I have experienced is that "glass bedding four inches in front of the recoil lug" gives better performance than floating the barrel up to the recoil lug. I also float the barrel with two layers of .010 thousandths Plumber's Wrap tape from Brownells out to the end of the barrel channel; again starting from four-inches in front of the recoil lug. There are some opinions that bedding the taper from the receiver too far in front of the recoil lug will cause the barrel to rise when it heats up due to expansion of the barrel's taper, this I have never experienced. Also have found that pillar bedding improves accuracy tremendously with the wood stocks. Sorry to read that you are having this experience with a new rifle, this really sucks. Also....if you haven't contacted the manufacturer that might give you some answers to your situation. Curious about the twist rate in the barrel for the weight bullets you are shooting? I'd also try the guys from Hammer bullets to get their opinion on bullets, bullet weights and loads.

 

[bikerbowhunter]

Your story is almost exactly mine also with my Fierce 28 Nosler Edge (but not carbonfiber barrel) For over a year I tried everything, including having "expert" long distance shooters try it. Different bullets, different seating depths, different powders, torguing action and scope screws, sent my Kahles scope back to the factory, finally sent it back to Fierce. They said they deep cleaned it (less than a hundred rounds through it) and shot a .5 MOA group. They said they only guarantee that group with the load (bullet , powder and OAL) that they shot it at the factory with. For my rifle it is a 168 Berger VLD-H 78.5 gr H1000 OAL 3.500" To be honest I haven't even tried these loads yet because I am disgusted with it. Needless to say, this will be my first and last Fierce rifle.

 

[6.5-300 BEE]

Hmm,

I have a 300 win mag that shoots MOA

I have a 28 wiz-bang-boom that will not

Guess which one I'm taking hunting.

 

[XSIVSPD]

Great point. How many times do guys find scope hardware has loosened up?

I put 30+ rounds through a 7.5lb unbraked 375h&h in an afternoon trying to find a type of factory ammo that shot decent. Found that the scope rail was loose, after that, everything shot into about an inch if I could control my flinching lol. Man, my shoulder was sore for days after that oversight.....

 

[fmuguira]

A friend bought a Fierce Ti Carbon barrel 28 Nos and three months later got it figured out. ( Took some serious conversations between him and Fierce and a return to the factory)

Gun shot well but a fired case stuck in the chamber every time. Fierce blamed the Nosler and Hornady brass, the Nosler was a factory load; Hornady was a reload. Asked how they shot their factory group and told ADG brass .... we didn't but that. After talking to both Hornady and Nosler tech the guy at Nosler, very sharp fellow, looked at some of the fired brass and said chamber had microscopic length wise scratches in the brass. His expert opinion was Fierce cut too many chambers with the reamer. Said he had 8 similar issues on Fierce rifles all in 28 Nosler.

So, rifle went back and supposedly got their deep clean! Came back and improved/useable but bad experience for my friend on a $4500 rifle.

And yes I kept cases from "before" the deep clean and compared them to after cleaning fired cases. Guess what, chamber ended up .001 - .0015 larger!
They never confessed to what they did so personally no confidence in them.

Good luck with your accuracy issue.

 

[PddPdd]

I also have a Fierce 28 Nosler CT Edge that would show case scratches when firing hot Hornady factory loads. I had to use a cleaning rod to remove the Hornady brass due to the imperfections in the chamber.
I had my local gunsmith clean out the chamber roughness and no longer a problem.

 

[David Emerson]

I purchased a new Fierce Edge carbon fiber barrel in .28 Nosler. I starting to work up good long range elk hunting load. I broke the barrel in with a box of factory Hornady 162 ELD-X. Only shot the last three rounds for groups, it wasn't impresseive 1.5" group. All groups are three shots. I wasn't to concerned. Bought a box of Nosler 160 accubond factory loads. Couldn't get better then 1.5" group either. So I took my bullet removal tool and extended the COAL out to 3.340 since they were short from factory. I did shoot a 1/2" group with them, 1 group. Maybe three lucky shots. I give the gun 10 - 15 minutes between groups and 2-3 minutes between shots. Barrel never has gotten hot. All of my shooting so far has been at an indoor 100 yard range off sand bags.
So know I'm onto developing some hand loads. I have only tried RL33 so far.
Berger 180 gr VLD hunter, 88 grains RL33 all three loads, CCI 250 primers
.010 off lands. vertical string - 1.68" group
.050 off land vertical string - 1.3" group
.090 off lands vertical string - 1.9" group
all vertical strings go from shot 1 high shot 3 lowest. All three groups go from high to low. Left and right is good

New Nosler brass. Neck trimmed to .0155 thick
Case OAL 2.575
Neck outside diameter after being shot .320

I'll try a ladder test maybe this coming weekend. and break out the chronograph.

Questions I have are:

1. should I trim my neck diameter? Is .0155 a bit too tight?
2. Why am I getting vertical string with shot 1 being high and 3 being low?
3. Should I use once fired brass for better groups? Have only used new brass run thru my RCBS FL sizing die and neck trimmed to .0155.

Feeling flustraded since this gun is about 6x more expensive then my Ruger MKII .300 WM that will shoot 1" or under with almost anything you throw at it. I'm new to precision reloading. I have reloaded for years, but never for 1/2 MOA accuracy. I weighed every case, bullet, powder to exact accuracy. Each loaded round had less then 1 grain of tolerance. distance off lands were less then .0015 tolerance. I feel they should've grouped better out of a new rifle of this quality.

You say .0155 neck clearance. Are you sure it is not a misprint? .003 is more like it. Total or .0015 per side. And you seem a little warm. The guns I have built shoot very well with 87 to 89 with a 175 depending on the land diameter. As another said here the 28 will dirty a barrel quickly. Using us869 I had to JB one after very few rounds when the barrel was new. A factory nosler rifle. And as far as bedding it seems odd that it shoots lower as you shoot it. But I guess it is possible. Seems more a barrel fitment issue. You could try a bushing die to give you more neck tension. I have a 30 nosler that with redding dies barely had any neck tension and shot poorly. After using a bushing die to get .004 neck tension it behaved.

 

[Ronald W Schaefer]

Well a good place to start is try the ammo they shot the 1/2" proof target with--work up your load using that bullet. You can also ask the questions you have for the group to Devin Archibald or John Mogel at Fierce Firearms.

 

[B-LOT Banga]

I've shot my best groups with fierce rifles. However I bought most of my fierce several years ago, from what I've seen something has changed in the last couple years. I've got fury's, edge's and CT edge's and they all shoot 1/4 MOA of better and three of em with Hornady ELD-X's. I did have stacking Problems but talked to fierce and as per conversation I slacked the action screws, inspected for debris, wiped it clean and re-torqued it to 65-inch/lbs front and 35 inch/lbs back and got exactly what I wanted. I don't know what I did to correct the problem but it went away and never came back. Good luck

 

[C S Fever]

I've shot my best groups with fierce rifles. However I bought most of my fierce several years ago, from what I've seen something has changed in the last couple years. I've got fury's, edge's and CT edge's and they all shoot 1/4 MOA of better and three of em with Hornady ELD-X's. I did have stacking Problems but talked to fierce and as per conversation I slacked the action screws, inspected for debris, wiped it clean and re-torqued it to 65-inch/lbs front and 35 inch/lbs back and got exactly what I wanted. I don't know what I did to correct the problem but it went away and never came back. Good luck

Yup that's my go to as well especially with it stringing check the action screws. It's your link to the action if it's not right you can spend a ton of time and money trying to work up a load to no avail. I have a 195 eol load in 28 nosler that is showing great promise at 3050 fps , there is always a load that starts coming together eventually.

 

[JMack]

Could it be your scope?

Second this. My fierce 300rum ct edge was giving me fits early on. Turned out to be Talley one piece mounts , the front loosened enough to open the groups. Switched to a rail and nightforce rings and haven't looked back