I still remember the first time I saw it. It was a beautiful mid-summer day in July in Utah. After lunch I decided to peruse the mobile product display trailer of Fierce Firearms. I was fortunate enough to get an invite to their dealer event through sheer luck. And boy am I glad that I did because I was exposed to some of the best hunting focused rifles on the market—and I didn’t know it. Heck, I’d never even heard of Fierce Firearms until I arrived at their private ranch which has plenty of range space for shooting and a massive newly built and immaculately furnished bunkhouse. I was intrigued if not a little embarrassed by my ignorance.
In my defense, Fierce is a fiercely hunting-dedicated brand of rifle, of the semi-custom nature and I am a mostly target-focused bolt action rifleman since that’s what I run 90% of any given year. I don’t typically research new hunting rifles because my own hunting setups are so dialed, but after this experience I feel that I may need to change my ways.
Reaper HTAC — Love At First Sight
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As I was saying, I was in an open trailer ogling all the Fierce wares when one in particular stood out to me. I didn’t know it at the time but it was the Reaper HTAC and I tell you, it spoke to me. The draw? Well the looks of course and while that sounds shallow and maybe cheesy at best, it’s really saying something significant because the walls and the racks were full of great looking rifles with solid components, features, finishes and well honed details. Carbon fiber barrels were amuck, with carbon stocks, and grips. Satiny black finishes with popping colors—just the right amount of contrast. Grab one of them, any one of them and you might send it flying due to the light weight. It took me some time to get acclimated because these rifles looked like they needed heft to them because they looks so good.
The Reaper looked “different”. Like it was built with intentionality. It struck me as the rifle imagined for the target shooter who was accustomed to target rifle features and wouldn’t settle for less in his or her hunting rifle. I studied it intently. Picking it up. Placing it back in it’s resting spot. Then starting over. I was hooked. And while over the course of a few days we’d shoot many different models, all very capable in their own right it was the Reaper HTAC that I wanted to know more about.
The Reaper is one of Fierce’s top selling rifles and I can understand why. They also have a newer version, the Mountain Reaper which is a lighter, updated version to the HTAC. But the Mountain Reaper does not come in a left handed model yet.
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Action & Chassis
The main focus for me is the Fierce C3 carbon fiber chassis. This is what gave me the PRS rifle “feels” when I discovered it. Made of aluminum and carbon fiber it’s light and strong. The entire rifle, mine in a left-handed version of course, weighed 7 pounds on my scale. Quite impressive considering all the features it has.
The action and chassis are mated together so well, it’s difficult to tell where one starts and the other ends. It looks monolithic. The magwell features high cut always on the sides so that you can get a hand on the magazine should you need to extract it. It also allows you to insert the magazine with full contact guiding it into place as opposed to putting it in the magwell and seating the magazine by pushing on the bottom of it. Paddles on either side of the front of the magwell have plenty of tension to resist inadvertent actuation and dropping the magazine.
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Forward of the magwell, with a 90 degree cut reminiscent of a barricade stop, is a four-inch Arca dovetail section built into the chassis. It’s in the right place, allowing you to center the rifle over the tripod.This touch is the one that sold me on this model. If you need more real estate you could add an accessory dovetail rail to the M-Look slotted forend. I did. A Really Right Stuff dovetail section up front for a tripod attachment point. Again, there is intention here. Someone did their homework and answered the call.
Grips & Stock
The grip is a hollowed-out and well contoured carbon fiber version with thumbrests. I like the stock on the Reaper as well. It has a large L-shaped hook that is mostly like a bagrider. It’s adjustable for cheekpad height as well as fore and aft adjustment. Length of pull is 13.5 inches but spacers can be added to increase LOP. I’d need another 3/4 inch or so for perfect balance.
The stock also folds in a two piece manner. Push the button and the stock folds to an L shape and locks. Push it again and it hinges one more time, resting against the receiver. My guesstimate is that it take off some 7 plus inches off the total length and could be great for helping with transport especially since my sample has a 22-inch barrel before the suppressor was added.
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Reaper HTAC’s Barrel
The barrel is carbon fiber wrapped in the Fierce facility in Utah where they do all the carbon fiber bits and pieces for their rifles. It’s truly an impressive set up. Fierce manufactures the entire rifle in house so that they can control quality. They even make their own Dropbox magazine. It’s worth noting that they have a one-mile range in just outside the rear doors of the facility. They can build and test rifles with ease and expediency. This barrel has a stainless steel core that is hand lapped with a .5 MOA accuracy guarantee.
I typically like to start with action as the area of focus but the chassis was so well designed it took my attention. The action, again a SS version features two lugs with 70 degrees of throw. It’s got a good quality feel with a but of roughness and smoothness no doubt due to the DLC finish. This is my first experience with a long action chambered in 6.5 PRC. My personal hunter is a short action chambered the same. This Mountain Reaper action looks good. Proper. And feels the part as well with a spiral fluted bolt.
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Trigger & Glass
Rounding it all of is a Trigger Tech Primary Pro Curve single stage trigger set to 2.5 lbs although it is adjustable between 1.5 and 4 pounds. Overall initial quality, fit and and finish of the Fierce rivals is exceptional as far as I can tell. They really give off a premium look and feel but in a price range that has it punching above it’s weight class.
Speaking of weight, by the time I made all of my “necessary” additions to the system, the rifle was sitting at 12 pounds. I could have saved some weight by using lighter rings on the Leupold MK5 HD 3-18x44mm. Heck I could have used a different optic but I always hunt with the MK5HD and won’t sacrifice it’s usefulness and reticle to save a couple ounces. The optic is only 1.9 lb. The suppressor, the Dead Air/Ruger RXD 30 Ti adds 12.4 ounces of weight and 7.34 inches of length to the system. Again, I won’t sacrifice suppression, that said their are lighter options for hunting. This is the lightest one I have on hand.
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Reaper HTAC On The Range
I shot the rifle out in Utah in windy conditions on realistic terrains and it shot well. It was plenty accurate out to some 800 yards, although I was shooting a 7 PRC chambered rifle.
I took the 6.5 PRC sample to the range to get some data. With several loads of 6.5 PRC the best group I shot was .67 inches with Hornady’s 130 gr. CSX.
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After some short range stuff I took it out to distance where the longer barrel added ample velocity to the 6.5 PRC and made shots easy out to 1080 yards. It’s what I remembered and what I expected to be honest.
These barrels performed well enough but with the addition of the suppressor point shifted a little low. That’s to be expected. Keep in mind this is a 1-2 or maybe heaven forbid, three round rifle when utilized properly (ahem) in the field. Continuous long range bombing isn’t it’s ideal situation although we did do that in Utah. Even then theses barrels held their own round after round.
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Wrapping It Up
I like the entire Fierce lineup. I think it’s a solid rifle that while isn’t cheap, provides the entire suite of performance and quality look and feel. It’s the type of rifle that should serve the owner well for many years. I’m looking forward to getting more time on the Mountain Reaper to see what she’ll do over time. I guess sometimes you luck out and happen upon a real gem. Looks like I did in this case. The Reaper HTAC is a hunting rifle with definite roots in the target precision rifle field. It’s design is right and unapologetic.
Fierce Firearms Reaper HTAC Specifications
- Type: Bolt action repeater
- Action: Stainless Steel, two lug, 70 degree throw
- Caliber: 6.5 PRC
- Weight: 6.7 lb
- Length: 44 inches
- Barrel: Fierce Tech C3 Carbon
- Stock: Fierce C3 Carbon Fiber Stock
- Trigger: Trigger Tech Primary Pro Curve
- Capacity: 4 rd.
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