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defiance tenacity ?

Joko111

Sergeant of the Hide
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 25, 2021
161
43
Maryland
has anyone built off of these actions? would like to see your builds and hear some comparisons with the bighorn origin as that's the other action I'm checking out
 
I had a nitrided one that I had a bartlein barrel spun up by John Beanland and chambered in 6.5 creed, shot great action is nice and smooth I didn’t have any issues.
 
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I had a nitrided one that I had a bartlein barrel spun up by John Beanland and chambered in 6.5 creed, shot great action is nice and smooth I didn’t have any issues.
sound like they are great actions... I'm building a hunting rifle and am not sure if i should go origin or tenacity.... i know the tolerance on the tenacity may not work well with dust and dirt so that is something to consider
 
I had one for a 223 and ended up selling it after 30 rounds.

It did everything it was supposed to do and was a nice action but the bolt lift felt big and heavy, like what I have experienced with a Savage. I bought it because I really like my Deviant and then sold it to put the money toward a Lone Peak.
 
I built 2 prairie dog rifles with them - love them! both are very accurate.
I read somewhere the tolerance does not impact function In hunting applications. maybe on their web sight. They are very responsive so contact them with any questions.
 
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I built a .308 on a Tenacity action with DLC last year. It works fine and is reliable but I don’t feel the cycling is as smooth or bolt lift as light as I read/heard. My $500 Howa barreled action is just as good. I would not buy another Tenacity. I went Lone Peak for my new build. Buy once cry once.
 
Great actions. I have G.A. pinnacle rifle with tenacity. Bolt lift a little heavy but it will loosen up. Highly recommended
 
Defiance has been around and does OEM for others. They're solid actions. They're also custom, so if you call and talk to them they will build it to "dirt tolerance". Open everything up a bit and give the dirt places to push out of instead of locking up.


If I was building a hunting rifle, it's a an-ti every time. Within an ounce or two of all the titanium actions but zero galling issues from titanium.

IMO, titanium is the worst thing you could build a rifle on. It's gooey and galls up way too easy.
 
My .223 is built on one of the earlier Tenacity’s with separate recoil lug. Love that setup.

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I have a black nitride Tennacity. I love the action. Very smooth action. Bolt lift is good nowhere near my savages. It is extremely easy to tune the lift effort with various weights of firing pin springs. I would highly recommend the action. I have around 3500 rounds through mine, just gets smoother
 
There is a touch of misinformation and derp here in this thread.
OP, you do not need to worry about tolerances being too tight with a Defiance UNLESS some inexperienced Cerakoter gets a hold of it.
If you leave it in the white, no issues. If you want it “finished”, have the bolt and shroud nitride finished by H&M and then the action body in Cerakote by someone that has experience with custom actions. Defiance is still the gold standard and I just recently bought a Tenacity. It’s super smooth and bolt lift is just right for me. Having it built out in .308 soon for a dual purpose (precision / hunting) rig.
for the value, it cannot be touched. However, it cannot be customized despite someone mentioning having it opened up for dirt. LOL.
You would have to custom order a Deviant or Ruckus. The Tenacity is not customizable but good to go out the box, and easy to find in stock at dealers.
 
Hi,

Tolerances have nothing to do with dirt and dust issues.

You are referring to clearances.

If a company making actions is listing their tolerances as a reason it does or does not function well in dirt then I suggest finding something else.

Tolerance is the allowed .001 deviation of ejection port length from unit to unit.

Tolerance is the allowed .002 deviation of recoil lug thickness from unit to unit.

Clearance is the .010 designed space between the bolt lugs and receiver raceways.

Stated simply, CLEARANCE is the distance between the adjacent surfaces of mating parts (how much the mating parts CLEAR each other), while TOLERANCE is the allowable variation of a dimension from its nominal (desired) value ( the amount of error one will TOLERATE ).


Sincerely,
Theis
 
Last edited:
Hi,

Tolerances have nothing to do with dirt and dust issues.

You are referring to clearances.

If a company making actions is listing their tolerances as a reason it does or does not function well in dirt then I suggest finding something else.

Tolerance is the allowed .001 deviation of ejection port length from unit to unit.

Tolerance is the allowed .002 deviation of recoil lug thickness from unit to unit.

Clearance is the .010 designed space between the bolt lugs and receiver raceways.

Stated simply, CLEARANCE is the distance between the adjacent surfaces of mating parts (how much the mating parts CLEAR each other), while TOLERANCE is the allowable variation of a dimension from its nominal (desired) value ( the amount of error one will TOLERATE ).


Sincerely,
Theis
thank you! i misworded that
 
I had one for a 223 and ended up selling it after 30 rounds.

It did everything it was supposed to do and was a nice action but the bolt lift felt big and heavy, like what I have experienced with a Savage. I bought it because I really like my Deviant and then sold it to put the money toward a Lone Peak.
what made you sell it
 
There is a touch of misinformation and derp here in this thread.
OP, you do not need to worry about tolerances being too tight with a Defiance UNLESS some inexperienced Cerakoter gets a hold of it.
If you leave it in the white, no issues. If you want it “finished”, have the bolt and shroud nitride finished by H&M and then the action body in Cerakote by someone that has experience with custom actions. Defiance is still the gold standard and I just recently bought a Tenacity. It’s super smooth and bolt lift is just right for me. Having it built out in .308 soon for a dual purpose (precision / hunting) rig.
for the value, it cannot be touched. However, it cannot be customized despite someone mentioning having it opened up for dirt. LOL.
You would have to custom order a Deviant or Ruckus. The Tenacity is not customizable but good to go out the box, and easy to find in stock at dealers.
I didn’t think they customized the Ruckus. I thought that was the point. It was Deviant for not a Deviant price, because it was offered one way.
 
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There is a touch of misinformation and derp here in this thread.
OP, you do not need to worry about tolerances being too tight with a Defiance UNLESS some inexperienced Cerakoter gets a hold of it.
If you leave it in the white, no issues. If you want it “finished”, have the bolt and shroud nitride finished by H&M and then the action body in Cerakote by someone that has experience with custom actions. Defiance is still the gold standard and I just recently bought a Tenacity. It’s super smooth and bolt lift is just right for me. Having it built out in .308 soon for a dual purpose (precision / hunting) rig.
for the value, it cannot be touched. However, it cannot be customized despite someone mentioning having it opened up for dirt. LOL.
You would have to custom order a Deviant or Ruckus. The Tenacity is not customizable but good to go out the box, and easy to find in stock at dealers.

Yeah, bad wording on my part.

My smith uses defiance as his oem, and they will add clearance if the customer requests it.
 
One thing is for sure, comparing a Defiance Tennacity bolt lift to a savage is crazy. I have both and shoot them regularly. Savage bolt lift is hot garbage compared to my Tennacity. It’s better than any rifle I own, and I have a wide variety.
 
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Tenacity is the step up from full custom 700 rem action. No complaints
 

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