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Shooting the new Firebird A1 at the 2014 MGM Iron Man


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I posted the below review of my recent experience with the Firebird A1 at the 2014 MGM Iron Man on the Firebird facebook page and thought I would post it here as well.  Also posted are links to a couple videos of me shooting my first few stages (and not very well...I never do well the first few stages).  Full disclosure - I am not sponsored by Firebird and am in no way affiliated with them. 

 

Video of me shooting Stage 10 -

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=789134927794115

 

Shooting Stage 9 -

http://s88.photobucket.com/user/gittings55/media/2014%20MGM%20Iron%20Man/VID_20140608_121530_599.mp4.html?sort=3&o=1

 

Posted on the Firebird page:

 

I'm a little behind on this, but wanted to post my experience with the new Firebird A1, and shooting it at the 2014 MGM Iron Man.

I received my new A1 the week before the IM. It is an amazing piece of work. The workmanship is really impressive. Everyone that picks up this shotgun immediately recognizes it as completely different animal in terms of quality of work.

I headed out to the range for a couple test sessions. The A1 ran 200 rounds of various ammo with only 2 malfunctions, both of which were mag related, not gun related.

Taking it apart is fantastic. I clean my shotgun after each day of the IM, (or any big match) as the grime can get fairly bad. I was so thankful that the A1 disassembles like it does.

I was super impressed with the tests, but the IM would be the true test. The first day, the A1 ran super. It was amazing. I did have a couple malfunctions (1 double feed, 2 FTF), but again, both were mag related. I think I've figured out that I need to tune a couple of my previously dependable mags. There was a lot of interest in the A1, as soon as word got around that I was shooting one, I got frequent visits from those that wanted to see it. As soon as they picked it up, I usually heard "wow".

Unfortunately, I was injured on the last stage of day 1 and that ended my 2014 IM. I will try to post a some pics and video of the A1 in action at the IM.

I would not hesitate to recommend the A1 to an Open shooter. For the money it is a fantastic option.

 

 

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Damn, that looks like fun! Any reason you don't run a brake on the Firebird A1?

 

BTW, you probably don't remember but we met a few years ago at the Prickly Pear range. I had a cnc guns AR45 I was testing.

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Damn, that looks like fun! Any reason you don't run a brake on the Firebird A1?

 

BTW, you probably don't remember but we met a few years ago at the Prickly Pear range. I had a cnc guns AR45 I was testing.

Hey SB, hope you are well. Always good to hear from a local.  You'd have to ask Jim why FB went away from the brakes, that's how the A1 come from them.  He may have already addressed this somewhere in this forum, but I seem to remember it might have to do with the inconsistencies in the barrel...but I could be remembering that wrong.  I'm all about reducing recoil - so whatever works, as long as the gun will run! 

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I was hoping it would be a little more forgiving with magazines, but it sounds like they still need tuning and tweaking to run.

And the mags need maintenance. 2 of those issues were with my most reliable 15 round mag.  I need to check the feed lips, I bet they got bent a little somehow.

 

I don't think I can blame the gun at all for any of those 3 feed issues.  Especially the double feed. Not much the gun can do there.  The other two were FTF, one where the shell was presented high and right at 2 o'clock and caught on the outside of the chamber port. Again, I don't think that is a gun issue.

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I was hoping it would be a little more forgiving with magazines, but it sounds like they still need tuning and tweaking to run.

And the mags need maintenance. 2 of those issues were with my most reliable 15 round mag.  I need to check the feed lips, I bet they got bent a little somehow.

 

I don't think I can blame the gun at all for any of those 3 feed issues.  Especially the double feed. Not much the gun can do there.  The other two were FTF, one where the shell was presented high and right at 2 o'clock and caught on the outside of the chamber port. Again, I don't think that is a gun issue.

 

 

Which might very well be true, but it points to a big weakness in the platform, the magazines. I guess I somehow hoped that the A1 would magically overcome the problem with shitty Turkish magazines and just work anyway.

Maybe with the BR99 steel mags things will finally fall into place.

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I had hoped maybe this would feature an upgraded magwell, so someone could make plastic mags like for the Saiga. You are correct though, the weakness in this platform is the steel lipped mags in my opinion and experience. But to be fair, some of the same issues are seen in the Saiga platform as well, feeding shotgun shells ain't easy out of a mag no matter how you look at it.

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I had hoped maybe this would feature an upgraded magwell, so someone could make plastic mags like for the Saiga. You are correct though, the weakness in this platform is the steel lipped mags in my opinion and experience. But to be fair, some of the same issues are seen in the Saiga platform as well, feeding shotgun shells ain't easy out of a mag no matter how you look at it.

Totally agree.  And, in past posts I've mentioned that even the non-mag fed Open guns have their fair share of problems.  However, this year I've been impressed with the Versas. 

 

I'm a crappy shotgun loader, so I'll stick with the mag fed shotguns but just try to keep an eye on the mags. 

 

Maybe we need a jig of some kind that you can insert the MKA mag into so you can quickly verify the mags feed lips are ok.

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