MDR

I have only fire about 200 rounds, but I’m having no problems. Averaging about an in. at 100 yds withave only with a 1-6 tactical scope. Pleased so far

Unfortunately, this rifle has choked at every corner from when I first received the preorder, to when I had to ship it back for its third time. 10% of this rifle’s life has involved shipping the rifle to Desert Tech for repair and 3 of 4 extended range trips have resulted in catastrophic failures. Although the MDR is very innovative and forward thinking in its overall internal and external design, I do not believe this rifle can be classified as a battle rifle in the truest sense of the word. Some may claim that I haven’t fired the rifle enough, but with 600-700 rounds of assorted quality and surplus .308 ammunition through it, I’m certain the 5%-8% failure rates, from stuck cases, to ripped rims, and even double feeds (all none user induced - induced by the firing of the rifle under proven and tested gas settings) is enough evidence for me to move on from this platform. Pros: - As a PDW C model, the MDR has great potential in .300blk and 5.56 for those willing to use the shorter 10.5” barrel when it’s released. - Magazine release options. - Bolt release options. - Overall Length. - Balance. Single handed shooting is easy with the rifle. - Versatile with OTB suppressors. Cons: - Ambi safety has a weak detent and turns at the brush of clothing or local flora. This is a major safety concern. - Recoil - this is the most aggressive .308 I’ve ever fired. Put a brake or a can on it if possible. - Barrel block rail - you will burn your hand at the range. Good luck. - Ejection chute reliability is contingent on leaf spring stiffness. More parts to fail. - Notorious for ripping rims (bolt overspeed). - Magazine release requires about 12 - 15 lbs or pressure to actuate. Don’t rely on rapid mag changes with this system. - Charging handle doesn’t function ambidextrously all the time. Anyhow, I could list more cons, but these stand out as the worst. I’ve already requested refund from DT for selling a faulty system and advertising it as a Battle Rifle. Their updated warranty is a blessing, but also a necessity from an objective and business standpoint. I’ve requested refund at this point and have unfortunately been denied it. Although I have considered a small claims suit to recover the minimum value spent on this system I will likely avoid this route for now. Considering these defects often result in catastrophic failures under use, this rifle isn’t something they should be selling, especially for people looking to use it for duty or home defense. My experience isn’t uncommon, but also isn’t representative of the majority of owners. The consistency of these reported issues is concerning all the same. My suggestion? Avoid this platform until they can demonstrate off the shelf regularity and consistency with a number of basic cartridges without failure. Wait for a gen2.

I'll preface by stating that my MDR was made after the running change to the ejector and the gas system. I believe those two things have solved the early issues that people were running into - because I'm not running into any of them. I've run around 1000 rounds of a variety of milsurp M80 Ball through it, a few boxes of Gold Medal Match, and several boxes of 168gr Speer Gold Dot (which outshot the GMM.) The rifle has cycled everything I've fed it, suppressed and unsuppressed. For the first 200 rounds I ran suppressed on setting 2 and unsuppressed on setting 4, per recommendations, and after that I have used setting 1 and 3 respectively. Zero failures of any kind that I did not induce myself. On the self-induced failures: I did manage to induce a failure to eject for a live round when clearing my rifle. While brand new, the ejection shute is quite stiff and unless you rack the rifle pretty hard, it may not push the round far enough to the side of the shute, and then jam. Easy to clear - just rack the thing good and hard a second time. Only ran into that once. I did have a hard time removing the firing pin the first time I did a full cleaning - a small lip of metal had peened around the portion of the pin that impacts the bolt when the hammer hits. I clamped the protruding butt-end of the pin and tapped the firing pin out and filed that little burr and it hasn't reoccured. More to do with very tight tolerances in the firing pin channel than anything I suspect. I did contact Desert Tech about this and they assured me that my 5 minute file-job was exactly what they would have recommended, and that I should not experience any further issues from it. I believe it - looking at the design of the firing pin channel, it looks like it's actually designed to create a larger bearing surface as it is used (the entrance of the channel is chamfered.) I am a reloader, so I value my brass, and this thing makes it easy to retrieve. It's far easier on brass than any AR-10 I've ever shot. No ejector smear, no bent or torn rims - it does put a little "chip" in the side of the rim right where the ejector pushes it out, but it's extremely small and far less brass damage than an AR-10. I'd be comfortable reusing brass fired by this rifle 4-5 times before throwing it out, for those who roll their own. I haven't tried reloading for it yet but based on the performance of the 168gr speer gold dot, that's the bullet I'll be using. As for accuracy - it's been excellent for me. After the first hundred rounds or so, everything settled right down (I re-torqued the barrel to the specs in the manual, which is probably important). It puts the M80 ball stuff into about 2-2.5 inches, which is fine for that type of ammo. Gold Medal Match went into just a hair over an inch. And, to my surprise, the 168gr Gold Dot regularly shot between .3-.6 inches at 100 yards (front and rear bag when shooting for groups, and an 8x scope). I use 5 shot groups off a front bag. No rear bag needed for the MDR - 20-round PMAGs are exactly the right length to next in your fist to adjust elevation, just like a rear bipod. I will say, the factory trigger leaves a bit to be desired. It's a bit gritty and the travel is long. I solved the gritty with some mother's metal polish on a felt wheel. Putting 1000 rounds through it would have polished it just as effectively, polishing just sped things up. Clearly the trigger isn't THAT bad though, because the gun groups great. Looking forward to a good 2-stage trigger pack. I've competed in two 3-gun matches with the rifle, and two 2-gun. It's done an excellent job for me in all of them, and I didn't manage to induce any malfunctions even under pressure, which says something. I didn't try competing with it until after 200 rounds, based on the recommendations for break in that are in the manual. All in all...very pleased. There are a few quirks (trigger could be improved, firing pin burr I ran into). Nothing serious though, and it's clearly very well put together. Everything works, and it's very accurate. It's a sub-gun sized .308 that's perfectly capable out past 600 yards. I'm looking forward to see how it handles extreme low temperature hunting conditions in South Dakota this winter. Everyone always compares it to the SCAR....well the SCAR is significantly more expensive and has YEARS of post-development behind it, with hundreds of thousands of hours of experience and feedback from soldiers. Remember when the entire buttstock was breaking off of the SCAR-H? The SOF community does. That problem got solved. Any minor ones on the MDR will too, and Desert Tech has a rep for excellent customer service - they're retrofitting all the early MDRs with the new style extractor and 6 position gas block. There's nothing as egregious as the breaking buttstock the SCAR suffered from. And I've NEVER had an AR-10 go 1000 rounds without something breaking. I'd be comfortable recommending this, hands down, particularly if you want something short. 4 out of 5 stars, with the missing star due to the trigger and the burr on the firing pin.