TacticalTeacher
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Georgian Bay, ON
Among my PR / PRS community, I’m often being asked about different platforms, upgrades, barrels, receivers, chassis, and other gear questions. I can best summarize things by saying people love to do the research and enjoy the upgrading / learning / shooting / observing / then sharing process with me/us.
That’s what I dearly love about this community. What a great crew I have surrounding me.....
I recently came across this DD Delta 5 Pro platform after having ventured into the Accuracy International family for a few years. As many of us PR/PRS shooters do, we dabble here and we dabble there. That’s the fun of this pursuit.
I was surprised to discover that Daniel Defense was trying to hit a price point of $2500 USD (Production Class) down in the USA and I’m taken back to the questions my clients always ask me....
Custom build or high end platform purchase??
Many pros and cons come to mind with both solutions. Here’s one that tries to hit the middle ground; a higher end platform that attempts to provide a close-to-custom approach.
Muzzle Brake:
Area 419 partnered up with DD and the Hellfire MB is provided with this platform. You can swap it out for a barrel tuner if you would like since the threads are 5/8”-24 tpi. 3 port brake it’s gonna be. I happen to like their indexing method. Easy to do, no specialized gunsmith tools. Perfect for my beginner level clients. Hey, someone has to look after them (and their questions).
Barrel:
DD makes their own cold hammer forged barrels with the spiral twist effect (Can you say; Steyr?) . It’s designed to be changed at home by YOU employing a barrel collar wrench and spinning off said collar and then installing a pre-fit barrel that headspaces similar to Savage/Rem 783/AR15 principle. I’m speaking in general terms here. I ain’t a design or manufacturing engineer. Just a humble Science Teacher. My .308 barrel is 20” long. The DD barrels come in Varmint and H Palma contours they say. AHA... concentric hammer forging is their term... in order to ensure perfect quality dimensions.
Bolt Design:
It’s a 3 lug 60 degree design. And as I mentioned in my ‘impressions’ post, I was able to employ my MTM bolt guide from my Remmy/ Winnie rigs. The bolt is blackened with what looks like a Nitride finish. I’ve come to like these darkened finished surfaces. The factory handle is threaded for the Area 419 bolt handle and is swap able for your favourite design. My impression is that the bolt handle is a one piece design with the bolt body. Reminds me of my Surgeon 591. I should look into this more....
Picatinny Rail:
The DD Rail is a 20 MOA pic rail, but here’s what I’m digging.... it’s secured by 10-32 bolts. Not the usual Remmy/ Winnie 6-48 screws, nor my beloved Marlin 8-40 screws. Now that’s getting pretty serious for fasteners.
A picture from my barrel break in at the range...
I don’t know about you shooters, but I never did warm up to my KeyMod slots in my Accuracy International rig. I remained annoyed for years about the accessories or lack of accessories (at my price point; retired teacher with no cottage or trailer, just rifles). I’m a Magpul / MLok fanboy and I love all the MLok slots on the chassis of the Delta 5 Pro. I even love the hood of the chassis with MORE MLok slots.
I discovered that the ability to attach accessories really raised your shooting game ( or lowered your performance, more funny stories on that later on). And this MDT manufactured chassis for Daniel Defense is no different. I’m an MDT fan boy and I have owned: LSS, HS3, and ESS in that order. I love this chassis!! I also love the AR15 grip and the ability to customize the grips for YOUR game. Take that Accuracy International fans (I own one, too so I can say that)
And for the PRS crew.... ARCA Swiss and Really Right Stuff fan boys!! This chassis is totally ready for said accessories. The bottom of the forend IS grooved/machined / ready for ARCA Swiss fun. Yahooooo.... No need to add/screw on an ARCA Swiss rail like my KRG Bravo and KRG Xray (my 2 Remmy rigs).
Of course being an MDT chassis, the CNC engineers will have a huge textured barrier stop in front of the magazine well. I really loved the Torx 30 actions screws right inside that barrier stop. Well engineered!! As a matter of fact, the 2 action screws were mated perfectly to this chassis. This observation comes from many different stocks / chassis/ bottom metal/ Remington/ Savage/ Tikka/ Winchester upgrades and journeys. Happy to see this all come together
Trigger:
The DD Delta 5 (and Pro Models) come with the Timney Hunter Elite trigger from the factory. It’s adjustable from 1.5 lbs to 4 lbs. DCRA NSCC rule book says 1 kg trigger weight, so this will work for me hopefully when life returns to normal in Connaught Ranges, ON.
Strong Hand Thumb Rest:
Hey, you can change this from side to side or remove it entirely. How forward thinking is that? I’m kinda old school so I’m wrapping my thumb around the grip (AR15 and Magpul Fanboy, yahooo, a match made in Heaven).
Butt Stock fun:
This MDT chassis (very MDT Like) has what appears to be something like THEIR skeleton buttstock from my ESS unit. Great adjustability for my different sized clients at Garrison Petawawa (I miss you guyz). Thumb wheel and tool less LOP lengthening/shortening. The cheekpiece is height & toe-in/out adjustable. As I mentioned in my other DD Pro post, the mechanism is spring loaded. Nice touch.
And the 2 posts of the cheekpiece are ‘spitzer bullet shaped’ so that it’s a one handed return to the spring clamped mechanism, after say.... removing cheekpiece for barrel cleaning. Super well thought out, DD / MDT!!
That butt pad can be canted in / out as well as raised or lowered depending on your geometry or shooting position.
Another picture at the range.....
For you serious Bullet Seating worshippers.... this one is for you. I was at the range yesterday with my NSCC DCRA/ORA handloads that work well in my : AI AT .308 / M1A Super Match Faxon barrel/ Remmy M700 Varmint .308 24” barrels. All magazine tolerant because I’m a Service Rifle guy having worn the uniform for over 15 years. I would love to say, I load to kiss the lands/grooves or a few thou off the lands / grooves and don’t need a binder plate in my steel AICS magazines. But (big BUT) yesterday I had a situation where my magazine tolerant loads were kissing the lands/grooves and I cycled the bolt to discover lots of ball powder all over the magazine follower, action, bench top.
Ha ha ha ha the joke is on me. Okay, it’s not a Juggernaut booolit or 175 SMK. It’s merely a 155 AMax booolit, and here I was getting a booolit stuck in the barrel lands/grooves. Ha ha ha I had to laugh at myself.
Long story short.... that’s chamber/ throat is cut really TIGHT! I’m used to Remmy Varmint .308 chambers where the throat lands/grooves are way the FREAK out there! You get my drift. It’s a hell of a booolit jump to the lands and grooves, and here I am with a Delta 5 Pro, getting 2 booolits stuck.
You FCLass guys get the last laugh on me! Hey, what a discovery... a factory rifle that has a short and tiny boooolit jump? Who would have thought? That’s that last thing I ever expected.
Now with the Delta 5 Pro, one will get a factory barrel with a tight chamber and short boooolit jump, that translates (this is for my rookie client crew, not you expert category dudes) into tighter groups. It’s all proven and a mature technological principle. FClass and Benchrest (BR) shooters can all agree on this principle. Shortest booolit jump is best sometimes to the detriment of magazine function which is crucial in PRS/PR matches.
We Service Rifle shooters don’t care about boooolit jump. Magazine tolerant has to work when the ammo is cold, wet, tired, rusty, corroded, angry, pissed off, and far from home. F Class and BR shooters lean to the spectrum of closest and tightest booolit jump (read: kiss the lands / grooves), and PR/PRS shooters fall somewhere in between. It’s all good!
In Summary:
I’m always getting questions about starting points and their journey(ies) of upgrades. For example:
Savage 10 into MDT into MDT magazines into Harris/Atlas/CKye / into various pic rails and rings
Remmy SPS Tac 20” into Magpul Hunter into KRG, into IBI barrel , into Bolt handle machining, into pic rail into 20 MOA pic rail, into MDT ACC, then Defiant receiver
My clients are all on this identical journey. Issues arise constantly such as:
* my barrel has over 7000 rounds of .308 through it. I need to upgrade.... IBI, Krieger, Benchmark, Bartlein, Criterion (I’m yanking your chain) ... I’ve got one on my Garand.
* My Savage 110 needs a magazine feed system, MDT or MDT....
* My Tikka is ready to move out of proprietary Tikka mags into AICS mags; KRG or MDT ?
* My Remmy bolt handle sucks: Which bolt handle and which gunsmith and turnaround times?
* Who will rebarrel my Rem 710 (I actually had a client like this)?? I sent them to the Chou Brothers !
* I love my Rem 788, now to build a PRS shooter out of it.... where do I start? McMillan or Manners?
You get the impression because you have seen this happen all around you, and chances are you have done this journey, too.
Well this Delta Pro 5 abbreviates said journey and one can assume to improve their game with an upgraded factory platform ready to compete. And it comes with many , many desirable tweaks that will satisfy the Pro / Open Category shooters. MDT, Area 419, Timney come to mind. Many of you shooters will recognize these brands. They are all better than I can shoot that’s for sure.
More to come once I tailor some handloads to this rig. See you on the other side.
Enjoy the learning journey
Cheers, Barney
That’s what I dearly love about this community. What a great crew I have surrounding me.....
I recently came across this DD Delta 5 Pro platform after having ventured into the Accuracy International family for a few years. As many of us PR/PRS shooters do, we dabble here and we dabble there. That’s the fun of this pursuit.
I was surprised to discover that Daniel Defense was trying to hit a price point of $2500 USD (Production Class) down in the USA and I’m taken back to the questions my clients always ask me....
Custom build or high end platform purchase??
Many pros and cons come to mind with both solutions. Here’s one that tries to hit the middle ground; a higher end platform that attempts to provide a close-to-custom approach.
Muzzle Brake:
Area 419 partnered up with DD and the Hellfire MB is provided with this platform. You can swap it out for a barrel tuner if you would like since the threads are 5/8”-24 tpi. 3 port brake it’s gonna be. I happen to like their indexing method. Easy to do, no specialized gunsmith tools. Perfect for my beginner level clients. Hey, someone has to look after them (and their questions).
Barrel:
DD makes their own cold hammer forged barrels with the spiral twist effect (Can you say; Steyr?) . It’s designed to be changed at home by YOU employing a barrel collar wrench and spinning off said collar and then installing a pre-fit barrel that headspaces similar to Savage/Rem 783/AR15 principle. I’m speaking in general terms here. I ain’t a design or manufacturing engineer. Just a humble Science Teacher. My .308 barrel is 20” long. The DD barrels come in Varmint and H Palma contours they say. AHA... concentric hammer forging is their term... in order to ensure perfect quality dimensions.
Bolt Design:
It’s a 3 lug 60 degree design. And as I mentioned in my ‘impressions’ post, I was able to employ my MTM bolt guide from my Remmy/ Winnie rigs. The bolt is blackened with what looks like a Nitride finish. I’ve come to like these darkened finished surfaces. The factory handle is threaded for the Area 419 bolt handle and is swap able for your favourite design. My impression is that the bolt handle is a one piece design with the bolt body. Reminds me of my Surgeon 591. I should look into this more....
Picatinny Rail:
The DD Rail is a 20 MOA pic rail, but here’s what I’m digging.... it’s secured by 10-32 bolts. Not the usual Remmy/ Winnie 6-48 screws, nor my beloved Marlin 8-40 screws. Now that’s getting pretty serious for fasteners.
A picture from my barrel break in at the range...
I don’t know about you shooters, but I never did warm up to my KeyMod slots in my Accuracy International rig. I remained annoyed for years about the accessories or lack of accessories (at my price point; retired teacher with no cottage or trailer, just rifles). I’m a Magpul / MLok fanboy and I love all the MLok slots on the chassis of the Delta 5 Pro. I even love the hood of the chassis with MORE MLok slots.
I discovered that the ability to attach accessories really raised your shooting game ( or lowered your performance, more funny stories on that later on). And this MDT manufactured chassis for Daniel Defense is no different. I’m an MDT fan boy and I have owned: LSS, HS3, and ESS in that order. I love this chassis!! I also love the AR15 grip and the ability to customize the grips for YOUR game. Take that Accuracy International fans (I own one, too so I can say that)
And for the PRS crew.... ARCA Swiss and Really Right Stuff fan boys!! This chassis is totally ready for said accessories. The bottom of the forend IS grooved/machined / ready for ARCA Swiss fun. Yahooooo.... No need to add/screw on an ARCA Swiss rail like my KRG Bravo and KRG Xray (my 2 Remmy rigs).
Of course being an MDT chassis, the CNC engineers will have a huge textured barrier stop in front of the magazine well. I really loved the Torx 30 actions screws right inside that barrier stop. Well engineered!! As a matter of fact, the 2 action screws were mated perfectly to this chassis. This observation comes from many different stocks / chassis/ bottom metal/ Remington/ Savage/ Tikka/ Winchester upgrades and journeys. Happy to see this all come together
Trigger:
The DD Delta 5 (and Pro Models) come with the Timney Hunter Elite trigger from the factory. It’s adjustable from 1.5 lbs to 4 lbs. DCRA NSCC rule book says 1 kg trigger weight, so this will work for me hopefully when life returns to normal in Connaught Ranges, ON.
Strong Hand Thumb Rest:
Hey, you can change this from side to side or remove it entirely. How forward thinking is that? I’m kinda old school so I’m wrapping my thumb around the grip (AR15 and Magpul Fanboy, yahooo, a match made in Heaven).
Butt Stock fun:
This MDT chassis (very MDT Like) has what appears to be something like THEIR skeleton buttstock from my ESS unit. Great adjustability for my different sized clients at Garrison Petawawa (I miss you guyz). Thumb wheel and tool less LOP lengthening/shortening. The cheekpiece is height & toe-in/out adjustable. As I mentioned in my other DD Pro post, the mechanism is spring loaded. Nice touch.
And the 2 posts of the cheekpiece are ‘spitzer bullet shaped’ so that it’s a one handed return to the spring clamped mechanism, after say.... removing cheekpiece for barrel cleaning. Super well thought out, DD / MDT!!
That butt pad can be canted in / out as well as raised or lowered depending on your geometry or shooting position.
Another picture at the range.....
For you serious Bullet Seating worshippers.... this one is for you. I was at the range yesterday with my NSCC DCRA/ORA handloads that work well in my : AI AT .308 / M1A Super Match Faxon barrel/ Remmy M700 Varmint .308 24” barrels. All magazine tolerant because I’m a Service Rifle guy having worn the uniform for over 15 years. I would love to say, I load to kiss the lands/grooves or a few thou off the lands / grooves and don’t need a binder plate in my steel AICS magazines. But (big BUT) yesterday I had a situation where my magazine tolerant loads were kissing the lands/grooves and I cycled the bolt to discover lots of ball powder all over the magazine follower, action, bench top.
Ha ha ha ha the joke is on me. Okay, it’s not a Juggernaut booolit or 175 SMK. It’s merely a 155 AMax booolit, and here I was getting a booolit stuck in the barrel lands/grooves. Ha ha ha I had to laugh at myself.
Long story short.... that’s chamber/ throat is cut really TIGHT! I’m used to Remmy Varmint .308 chambers where the throat lands/grooves are way the FREAK out there! You get my drift. It’s a hell of a booolit jump to the lands and grooves, and here I am with a Delta 5 Pro, getting 2 booolits stuck.
You FCLass guys get the last laugh on me! Hey, what a discovery... a factory rifle that has a short and tiny boooolit jump? Who would have thought? That’s that last thing I ever expected.
Now with the Delta 5 Pro, one will get a factory barrel with a tight chamber and short boooolit jump, that translates (this is for my rookie client crew, not you expert category dudes) into tighter groups. It’s all proven and a mature technological principle. FClass and Benchrest (BR) shooters can all agree on this principle. Shortest booolit jump is best sometimes to the detriment of magazine function which is crucial in PRS/PR matches.
We Service Rifle shooters don’t care about boooolit jump. Magazine tolerant has to work when the ammo is cold, wet, tired, rusty, corroded, angry, pissed off, and far from home. F Class and BR shooters lean to the spectrum of closest and tightest booolit jump (read: kiss the lands / grooves), and PR/PRS shooters fall somewhere in between. It’s all good!
In Summary:
I’m always getting questions about starting points and their journey(ies) of upgrades. For example:
Savage 10 into MDT into MDT magazines into Harris/Atlas/CKye / into various pic rails and rings
Remmy SPS Tac 20” into Magpul Hunter into KRG, into IBI barrel , into Bolt handle machining, into pic rail into 20 MOA pic rail, into MDT ACC, then Defiant receiver
My clients are all on this identical journey. Issues arise constantly such as:
* my barrel has over 7000 rounds of .308 through it. I need to upgrade.... IBI, Krieger, Benchmark, Bartlein, Criterion (I’m yanking your chain) ... I’ve got one on my Garand.
* My Savage 110 needs a magazine feed system, MDT or MDT....
* My Tikka is ready to move out of proprietary Tikka mags into AICS mags; KRG or MDT ?
* My Remmy bolt handle sucks: Which bolt handle and which gunsmith and turnaround times?
* Who will rebarrel my Rem 710 (I actually had a client like this)?? I sent them to the Chou Brothers !
* I love my Rem 788, now to build a PRS shooter out of it.... where do I start? McMillan or Manners?
You get the impression because you have seen this happen all around you, and chances are you have done this journey, too.
Well this Delta Pro 5 abbreviates said journey and one can assume to improve their game with an upgraded factory platform ready to compete. And it comes with many , many desirable tweaks that will satisfy the Pro / Open Category shooters. MDT, Area 419, Timney come to mind. Many of you shooters will recognize these brands. They are all better than I can shoot that’s for sure.
More to come once I tailor some handloads to this rig. See you on the other side.
Enjoy the learning journey
Cheers, Barney
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