I've witnessed otherwise. I noticed this immediately when logging into .47, none of my hits with the fire axe were landing. It was useless for anything but being a massive can opener.
Same with the pipe wrench, baseball bat, and pickaxe. Got killed by a single zombie as a fresh spawn. I normally side-step zombies and attack after their swing. Even standing idle, the axe, pipe wrench, and baseball bat did nothing.
I did however find luck with a splitting axe that seemed to work perfectly, had no issues whatsoever while I had it.
Hopefully this gets fixed ASAP. I don't want to keep dying because a zed finds me before I find a working weapon. I can deal with buggy/clunky, but this major part of the game, is simply broken now.