I own a bunch of DAR22 stuff: 3 receivers, one barrel, a bunch of charging handles, and some small stuff like bolt buffers and action screws. And it's been nice that they carry Kidd stuff I can order.
Here's a pic of my favourite build, just finished redoing the bedding, and gave it a 2-stage KIDD trigger.
These are some earlier results where I just squeaked by in the 50 yd rimfire challenge; I plan on giving it another go with this rifle, and with my other nice DAR22 based rifle.
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/895924-My-22-shoots-1-2-quot-groups-at-50-yards-meters-all-day!-Really-Prove-it!?p=13525081&highlight=shilen#post13525081
My thoughts about DAR22 stuff:
Pros:
- I just love the design of the receivers with the integrated rail. It's so frikkin' strong, so much thick aluminum. The picatinny rail that extends past the receiver is very useful for getting my scopes mounted comfortably, especially with one-piece scope mounts that are less flexible about mounting position (see the pic above). Two of my three receivers have the 30 MOA cant in the integrail rail, which is perfect for long range shooting. One of my receivers (I think it's the second canted receiver) is made of 7075 aluminum, which is pretty sweet.
- My two receivers with cant got a Shilen 16" and a Dlask 12" (sporter chamber) barrel. Fit was very tight, which while making installation challenging (making sure I had good alignment with the extractor cutout, and then in the end both needed a 2-ton arbor press to fully seat the barrel into the receiver), the fit is likely a very good contributor to accuracy. While of course I use v-blocks, the barrels are in so tight I honestly doubt they need them.
- My Shilen and Dlask builds shoot well; the Shilen already passed the 50 yd challenge, and the Dlask barreled gun was looking very good with SK Rifle Match last time I was out, so I need to go back out with some more Rifle Match and Center X.
- Fun to have a factory 12" barrel (which we can't get from 'Murica)! And in stainless which I like.
- I like the charging handles, and their newer versions are made in such a way that changing springs is a little bit easier.
- Bolt buffers and action screws are nice. I found for my stocks (two Tactical Solutions Vantage RS stocks and one Victor Titan) I needed to shorten the screws by about 40 thou, but that's easy for any amateur home gunsmith.
- Maple leaves on my receivers and charging handles!
Cons:
- On my second canted receiver (with the Dlask 12"), the last part of the picatinny rail is about half the width it ought to be (ie it's some millimeters too short in the direction towards the muzzle, compared to my other two receivers). It's not a concern unless I was using the very last picatinny slot, but it's still an oversight.
- The Dlask sporter chamber barrel has a tight chamber! The first two times out it didn't feed and eject reliably with Winchester Dynapoints and 555, but it did with a variety of match ammo. The third time out it did generally work reliably, although it was still a noticeably tight chamber. And that third time out it was also starting to really shine in my hands with SK Rifle Match, so I'm excited to get it out again. It'll probably continue to get smoother with further use. This being the sporter chamber (not their tighter option) I was surprised, since I never experienced this with my Shilen barrel.
- My third rifle has a non-canted, integral rail receiver, with a Ruger factory barrel. (I wanted one gun capable of shooting anything, like Velocitors, etc). The fit of the barrel to the receiver is quite loose, doesn't make much contact, although it's fine once the v-block is tightened. I know it's tough to match things up between different manufacturers, and the fault could just as easily be with Ruger. I didn't measure the barrel channel in this receiver. The rifle still shoots nice.
Summary:
- I like my Dlask stuff!
EDIT: I'm a fan of my Vantage RS Stocks, give them a look. I got mine a while ago at Wholesale Sports.