Any chance of a necro update?
Certainly.
I won't touch much on the Cerakoted Defiance - it's an old Rebel action from an old GAP Crusader action. Bolt lift is stiff on this one, and it doesn't do very well with debris. Was my original PRS rifle, and it didn't handle the TX and OK dust well. Had to run it dry and pull the bolt often in order to keep it running. Lugs ended up galling on this action, it just wasn't meant to handle any dust.
The above action was replaced with a DLC'ed Mausingfield. My Mausingfield has a LRI bolt handle and BnA Tacsport two stage trigger. Bolt lift and close is really light. At the 2018 Quiet Riot PRS match, it was super windy and dusty, the kind of environments that make actions like mine above quiver and go down. The Mausingfield handled it very well, much better then my previous Defiance. It would feel gritty if you ran the bolt slow, but wasn't noticeable when you were behind the rifle on the clock. Cleaned and lubed the bolt at the end of each day. I will say some critique the Mausingfield saying it has a heavy bolt lift - my friend who has an identical action with the exception of the LRI bolt handle and a Huber trigger does feel ~3x heavier on bolt open and close then mine. This made me really realize how important the trigger and action mating (or "timing") is in how a bolt action feels. Mine feels great. This is the only CRF action in this list. It's a cool feature, helps prevent double feeding but I personally feel it's more of a "nice to have" then a "must have" feature.
My DLC Defiance Deviant is a LA on my .300NM. It doesn't spend extended times in adverse environments like my PRS rifle is, so I can't give it an honest view on reliability in adverse conditions to the extent I can with my PRS use actions. I haven't had any issues with it in the dust, thus far though. The action feels super smooth - between getting the raceways polished and the DLC treatment, the action feels slick. Bolt lift and close is light, similar to the Mausingfield. This action also sports a BnA Tacsport trigger, with the correct sear height and sear engagement adjusted to "time" it to the action. I'm very happy with this action as a magnum action, no regrets. I think the newer Defiances are built to handle dust and debris better then my older Rebel, people like Terry Cross have a lot of success with them. I would stick with nitride or DLC as a surface treatment, and skip Cerakote unless you spec the action appropriately and have a well known Cerakote applicator apply it.
The Lone Peak is really nice. It has a different feel to it with bolt lift. The first initial ~10-15% is a slightly heavier bolt lift to my Mausingfield and Defiance Deviant, but after that it feels like it "snaps open", it almost opens itself. Bolt close is light as well, overall really nice and smooth bolt manipulation. This action handles the dirt/dust and wind
really well. At that same 2018 Quiet Riot match, where I had to clean the Mausingfield after each day and had a grittyness to it when running slowly, there was a Lone Peak in my squad which just ate the dust. Run the bolt fast or slow, the dust didn't affect the action in the slightest. At the end of day one I felt the Lone Peak in my squad, ran it back and forth nice and slowly and no grittyness at all. The owner didn't see any point in cleaning it at the end of the day. I will give this action the nod above the others for reliance in adverse conditions. I will say the ejector on my wifes Lone Peak is a bit weak - this is my only "gripe" (and not really a gripe since it can be remedied really easily, and this can happen on most any action). It ejects empty brass fine, but sometimes loaded 6BRA rounds don't get completely ejected. This is a
very easy fix however, and can happen with any action that doesn't have the robust Mauser style extractor (so almost any custom action available minus say the Mausingfield and a handful of others). I haven't bothered to fix it, it's my wifes plinker rifle and doesn't happen often enough to bug either of us.
Overall, all of the 3 actions I go into above (ignoring the cerakoted Defiance here) run great and I am very happy with. I think the important thing is getting a trigger properly mated with the action, in regards to feel. Surface treatment matters as well, nitride and DLC are much superior to Cerakote in my books. Cerakote is thicker and will reduce the tolerances in your action, potentially reducing reliability (as it did in my case). The Lone Peak is definitely an excellent 2 lug push feed option - the quality is great, it eats the dirt like its candy, bolt manipulation feels really nice and that action feels almost faster with the bolt wanting to "snap open" on it's own. If you want a good quality 2 lug push feed action, I definitely wouldn't discount the Lone Peak Fuzion, for a PRS style rifle, I don't think you can do better.
