{"id":600,"date":"2012-07-27T09:31:10","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T14:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/?p=600"},"modified":"2020-01-04T19:00:56","modified_gmt":"2020-01-05T00:00:56","slug":"desert-tactical-dta-srs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/2012\/07\/desert-tactical-dta-srs\/","title":{"rendered":"Desert Tactical Arms Stealth Recon Scout Rifle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DTA<\/a><\/p>\n

Desert Tactical Arms<\/a> currently makes the only bolt-action bullpup rifle available in the U.S. Given my love of the bullpup style I was excited to find them, until I saw that their prices start at over $4000. I said, “No way; I’ll wait until someone does it cheaper.” A year went by with no signs of anyone moving to compete in this niche. I did some more research, found a dealer selling them at a 20% discount to retail and, as you can see, finally convinced both myself and a friend to pull the trigger. Pictured here is my SRS Covert (the shorter one) in Olive-Drab Green and my friend’s full-length SRS in Flat Dark Earth.<\/p>\n

\"DTA<\/a>
\n(Of course once you spend $4000 on a rifle you don’t want to cut corners on the scope: Mine carries a $1700 IOR Valdada 6-24x56mm FFP. The other wears a $2200 NightForce 3.5-15×50 FFP.)<\/p>\n

The Covert chassis is the bare minimum 26″ in overall length, and is equipped here with a 16″ barrel chambered in .308 with a 1:8 twist — optimal for running subsonic loads as well as the heaviest .308 bullets. The standard SRS has an extended fore-end that pushes it to 32″ long, and is shown here with a 22″ .308 barrel, 1:11 twist.<\/p>\n

These rifles are supposed to compete not only in price but also in performance with the finest precision bolt guns on the market: Accuracy International<\/a>, G.A. Precision<\/a>, Sako<\/a>, Surgeon<\/a>, and higher-end custom sniper rifles.<\/p>\n

The DTA SRS has some remarkable features (in addition to the bullpup configuration I love for its compactness):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Quick-change caliber conversion:<\/strong>\u00a0Using a single torque wrench a barrel can be swapped out in under a minute and replaced without losing zero<\/em>. \u00a0The chassis accommodates conversion bolts and magazines to cover calibers from .243 Win up to .338 Lapua Magnum.<\/li>\n
  2. The trigger<\/strong> is the finest I have ever pulled. \u00a0It is a single-stage design and is adjustable for creep and weight. \u00a0I have mine turned down to 1.5 pounds. \u00a0(Granted, I don’t have trigger time on the competition, and many shooters who do claim that Sako and AI triggers are better. \u00a0Many also lament the lack of a second stage and adjustable stop.)<\/li>\n
  3. All DTA barrels are match-grade Lothar-Walthers. \u00a0The rifles have developed a reputation for world-class long-range precision<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  4. Quick-Detach sling mounting points are included everywhere you might want them.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There are some fundamental shortcomings:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The bolt assembly\u00a0— essentially the only mechanism on the gun that has to move — has a matte finish. \u00a0It should have a high-lubricity coating. \u00a0I paid ROBAR<\/a> $65 to coat mine in NP3.<\/li>\n
    2. The single-stack magazines are made to very loose tolerances and, given their construction, are absurdly expensive. \u00a0DTA charges over $100 for a part that it appears they haven’t spent more than $15 to make.<\/li>\n
    3. The butt is hard, and there is no means of adjusting the comb.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Another drawback is that the company is still immature. \u00a0I wouldn’t expect sloppiness like the following given the price they are charging:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. My barrel arrived with copper fouling. \u00a0(Hopefully only “tested,” not “used.” DTA claimed that after test-firing barrels they don’t clean them in case customers want to run the break-in rituals that high-end barrel makers eschew.) [Update:<\/strong> I actually couldn’t get it to shoot under 1.5MOA, and after several range sessions to eliminate any other sources of error returned it. It took them a month, but they finally sent me a new barrel that shoots .5MOA with factory match ammo.]<\/li>\n
      2. To date they have included a “test target” with every gun that is just a photocopy of one shot earlier in the year on a different gun and in a different caliber.<\/li>\n
      3. They have a few good service agents, but also some very incompetent ones.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Desert Tactical Arms currently makes the only bolt-action bullpup rifle available in the U.S. Given my love of the bullpup style I was excited to find them, until I saw that their prices start at over $4000. I said, “No way; I’ll wait until someone does it cheaper.” A year went by with no signs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arms"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/po3d1-9G","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1669,"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions\/1669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/david.bookstaber.com\/Interests\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}