Desert Tech MDR
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Clean or dirty these should cycle, packing grease maybe not so well. Hard to judge a rifle off one video.
According to the conversation I had with a guy from DTA these do have a Lothar Walther barrel.
Regardless, I still think it should feed pretty much any 308 ammo between 140-180 grain. I've owned 3 HK SL8's and they have a Lothar Walther barrel and they would cycle anything.
Not sure why so many new rifles seem to have so much trouble cycling reliably, seems like all new firearms are magazine and/or ammo picky.
I'm looking forward to seeing these rifles in Canada. I used to have an SRS in 338 Lapua and it was a very well made rifle that was hard to shoot worse than 1 moa and usually easy to shoot 1/2 moa.
Time will tell but one thing is for sure though, I will once again not participate in any pre-order nonsense.
Yes, $1500 sounds fair
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Clean or dirty these should cycle, packing grease maybe not so well. Hard to judge a rifle off one video.
According to the conversation I had with a guy from MDT these do have a Lothar Walther barrel.
Regardless, I still think it should feed pretty much any 308 ammo between 140-180 grain. I've owned 3 HK SL8's and they have a Lothar Walther barrel and they would cycle anything.
Not sure why so many new rifles seem to have so much trouble cycling reliably, seems like all new firearms are magazine and/or ammo picky.
I'm looking forward to seeing these rifles in Canada. I used to have an SRS in 338 Lapua and it was a very well made rifle that was hard to shoot worse than 1 moa and usually easy to shoot 1/2 moa.
Time will tell but one thing is for sure though, I will once again not participate in any pre-order nonsense.
Yes, $1500 sounds fair
It should feed reliably. I agree. I only mentioned the lube because I have seen a lot of firearms that require a "break in period" which actually don't if you clean/oil them properly. Others mess around for 200 rounds, I never had to. But there are lots of other variables too.
I have three AR10B rifles two AR10t and one SASS that have Lothar Walther barrels and feed everything no problem. Also extremely accurate. I have shot a SL8 rifle before as well. However keep in mind that H&K uses proprietary magazines along with a piston system. This is for both their 5.56 and their 7.62x51 offerings. Interestingly enough so do those three AR10 rifles I mentioned. They use the post 2006 gen2 M14 based Armalite mag. One thing I like about that is that you don't get feeding/mag problems. That's more an issue with the rifles that use the DPMS/SR25 based system. Unfortunately while DPMS made that mag the standard (Actually the same mag design as the Armalite AR10A mag) they have garbage quality control and are often speced all over the place. Finding the right mag can actually make or break the reliability of these rifles. Contrary to many the Pmag is not the end all be all of magazines. Works great in the AR15 rifles I have, but I won't use them in my Tavors, T97 etc. I actually find the D&H mags to be my all around go to for Stanag based rifles. I only use Pmags in AR15 rifles. This could be similar as the MDR is not an AR10 based system.
But yes it should be reliable as it's built from the ground up, is a short stroke piston system with a good barrel. I'm wondering if they made the rookie mistake of basing their mag feeding geometry off a DPMS instead of the SR25/LMT MWS. We've seen that before. The current Pmag gen3 is speced to the KAC/LMT.
Ya, It will be $3400-3500. I wish it was $1500. $3400 isn't too bad as it doesn't need a bunch of extra stuff to be changed out. Of course providing it works as expected. Less is always better. Especially for a non military grade firearm.
I did put in on the pre order. I am however getting a bit nervous over this. I have a fair stock of various mags etc along with match grade ammo both off the shelf and reloaded. But... it should run almost everything out of the box, like you stated. Plus... I'm a bit suspect of the company I did my pre order with. I ordered a barreled 6.5 CM action from them which was $650. 8 days later I get a notice that it was sold in store and not taken off the web inventory. But... they can order in another one for me which will be a little bit more at $800. Of course that delay cost me other sales during the black friday/big store sales period. An extra $150 made it not as attractive for a build as before. I was trying to keep the price down. I could have bought a gen 2 5R at the reliable sale for not much more. In fact I would have if I had known. Anyways, I'm tempted to get my deposit back based on those shenanigans alone. I also hope someone took a screen shot of the price for that pre order along with the store stating that the price will remain the same. I'm not convinced when the MDR hits shelves that the price will be what was stated during the pre order. My recent experience supports my skepticism.
Second review with issues now and that includes new parts being provided by the manufacturer / one idiots opinion still not ready for prime time & I was looking forward to its availability as a new platforms as a former DTA boltgun owner.
gadget
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I'm thinking I'm going to have to cancel my preorder. This reminds me of the jam o matic modern hunter/shotgun I had. Something seems inherently wrong with the gun design. I would be interested to see how it does with the Ejection chute off
What a total train-wreck! Another ultra-hyped firearm that turns out to be a jam-o-matic. What a farce after all of the production delays to get the gun "just right" prior to public release. If Desert Tech doesn't sort out the problems very soon, there will be little point as the rifle's poor reputation will be sealed. That won't do Desert Tech's reputation or financial bottom-line any favours either.
If I had a pre-order with funds attached I would be cancelling ASAP to beat the rush....
Up next is the Tavor 7. I expect perfection from IWI, but then again I expected the same of DT and look what they've done! Hopefully IWI continues its tradition of not releasing anything until it is thoroughly war-worthy. The MDR is effectively dead to me. Even if DT manages to work out the bugs I would never trust the system with my life, and that is the bottom line for me. Desert Tech MDR = FAIL.
If I had a pre-order with funds attached I would be cancelling ASAP to beat the rush....
Up next is the Tavor 7. I expect perfection from IWI, but then again I expected the same of DT and look what they've done! Hopefully IWI continues its tradition of not releasing anything until it is thoroughly war-worthy. The MDR is effectively dead to me. Even if DT manages to work out the bugs I would never trust the system with my life, and that is the bottom line for me. Desert Tech MDR = FAIL.
Stop being so dramatic and look at the bigger picture.
I agree with some thing you said (reputaion)
But honestly, everyone goes on about "their life depending on it" which is absolute bull####.
Sure, no military or police would adopt it with the current issues.
And you may lose points in competition...
But no civillian is going to die because of a MDR.
And even if.... a big if.... your .308 is your home defence gun (which makes you a god damn idiot) then you will still get one round, and to the bullseye at 10,000m crowd here that is enough to take out the three thugs your home invasion fantasy circle jerk has.
Point is, DT has earned the reputation they have, and they don't want it to fail either. So watch the development, and let's see what happens.
If this gun is a fail at the end of the day.... it sucks for everyone involved, but those things happen.
If a good company goes under due to social media and public perception (when most have never owned a DT product) then the shooting community is only doing itself a disservice.
Now I am not saying support them at all costs... but for #### sakes, let them fix the problem before labeling the gun (or the company)
Nope, nothing dramatic whatsoever. At the end of the day, a firearm that doesn't fire every time it is supposed to is a liability. In the case of the MDR, a much-hyped (by the parent company) liability. Desert Tech has pooped the bed big-time by releasing a rifle that is simply not ready, despite a lengthy delay to "get it just right". Make all the excuses for Desert Tech that you want. The widespread problems and couriering of revised parts to reviewers speaks volumes and is all I need to see to know that the MDR is clearly not yet ready for public release. DT must have become desperate for some income from their problem-plagued bullpup project....
I genuinely hope for the sake of both the company and the MDR's early-adopters that Desert Tech gets its act together. That said, I am glad that I never bit.
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I've been following the MDR on the bullpup forum and lots of people have been having the same issues and some are relieved to have sold theirs. They're hoping the negative YouTube reviews will get Dt to actually do something.
I agree with Mark, it's clear that this rifle is not ready and they likely released it to get some money back. Hopefully they keep working on it and make it reliable or at least drop the price massively.
I agree with Mark, it's clear that this rifle is not ready and they likely released it to get some money back. Hopefully they keep working on it and make it reliable or at least drop the price massively.
