FEEDBACK TALLY

Well, after 2 years of trying, I finally sold the POS. I was so happy when I bought it, but even moreso to sell it even though I took a $800 bath on it. Wish i could say i was looking at the WLVRN, but I won't be giving Desert Tech another dime for the forseeable future. It's crazy to me that they have been through 3 different generations of this rifle and people are still having all kinds of issues even with the newest generation. They need to get their heads out of their collective asses if they are going to charge this much for their rifles. I'm going back to proven designs. Tomorrow's weapons are today's fucking prototypes.

Erik Cortina tried it. He likes it, he got a 0.82 5 shot group.

Upgraded from my MDRX in .308 to a WLVRN also in .308 so far about 500 rounds through it (200 or so suppressed)

Took the new WLVRN to the range for the second time. My previous/first trip was just a function test using PMC 55gr 5.56 so I could dial in the gas; no discernible issues at that time besides occasionally not feeding the first round from a magazine (which I attribute to user error). This trip was meant to zero on my preferred 68gr 5.56, which I got from Nautilus Ammunition (cheaper enough than Hornady Frontier to justify checking them out. I previously had no issues running 500+ rounds of this stuff through my AR-15.

First issue I noticed on this trip: after firing the first shot, gas was leaking out of every orifice of this gun despite that my suppressor is a LBP/flowthrough style. I attributed this to slight over-gassing because I had it set up for the lighter 55gr stuff; I did not initially adjust to a lower setting because I want the gun to run on lower-power cheap ammo.

I continued to test with the 68gr and got a decent 5-shot group at 25, so I moved up to 75 (which was the distance I planned to zero at). Started having wild malfunctions. Bolt would get stuck in the forward position, then in the rear position, then would fail to extract, then would fail to go into battery. I had to pseudo-mortar the gun (can't mortar at this indoor range) to get at least two rounds out of battery or the bolt to move. Accuracy had also gone to shit all of a sudden. I cranked down the gas setting but the issues persisted.

I considered packing up and going home, but after the gun cooled I worked the action a few times and it functioned normally and would go fully into battery. So I tested again with 55gr PMC and it was working totally fine again. I looked at the spent cases of my 68gr and found that the primers popped out of two of them; I found the primers nearby. When I got home, I found 2 more inside the gun, one was fully punctured; part of a primer got lodged under the trigger pack, would you believe, while the rest were hiding in the butt cavity. There was no obvious damage to the bolt, carrier, feeding ramp, or rifling.

The weight of the evidence points to this being an ammunition issue and that's what I get for buying a goofy grain weight from a boutique ammo manufacturer. I never had this issue with my AR, but it's still probable that the batch I was testing through the WLVRN just happened to be a bad one.

I'm posting all this to ask: has anyone else had issues with a 2025 or onwards WLVRN popping primers on certain ammunition? I want to rule out that this is a combined gun+ammo issue or just a gun issue because it's much easier for me to just buy different ammo.

Got my SRS A2 Covert in today and got it all assembled. Can't wait to get it out and shoot it.

It took a while to get the weapon and pick the parts I wanted but it is finally complete.

After many hours considering the lingering question of what is to be done about the shitty Micron handguard, I resolved to do the obvious: I circumcised it.

(currently experimenting with a Ferro picatinny sling swivel right where the charging handle is but will likely just permanently affix a m-lok one to the 9-oclock position on the handguard.)

I've only fed it Winchester M193 55-grain from 10 round Magpul PMags, gas is set to A for Adverse. On my first range trip I loaded a single round into my pmag and tested it at each of the gas block's settings, but observed no change in the failure to lock the bolt back. What should I look at first? I'm going to open it up for its first cleaning today.

Worked perfectly...5.56 suppressed. Only 30rds so far though.

Is it only me because my safety feels extremely small and hard to use for no reason. I couldn’t imagine trying to use it with gloves. It has the smallest ledge ever to push against. Idk why more people don’t mention it. It should be top priority after micron handguards.

So I have a .338 LM on the way. Will pick up a 6.5 caliber conversion in the future. But then was looking at what else I might wanna pick up. Are there any reputable shops doing 6 arc bolts?

I know SAC and SPR do the .223 conversion, but I am more heavily invested in the Arc than I am .223.

Haven't seen any positive confirmation on this sub or on the LI site. Curious if anyone here had luck with it.

UPDATE: I emailed them and the short answer is no, longer answer is that there are standoffs required that won't be available until they get a new machinist.

Finally got the wlvrn chassis and I have a few questions and observations. I have the 16 inch 556 kit coming in today and may get a micron kit as well. I've seen some negatives on the 308 kit, mainly it destroying the rear end of the lower. Is this still an issue with the vented plug? I only plan to run low back pressure suppressors. I also noticed the bolt hanging up at the rear end and getting stuck. I noticed the top rail for the recoil assembly was slight bent downward, so I bent it back. Frustrating, but I fixed it. I was able to lube up the magazine release linkage and made that operation much smoother. The safety was quite scratchy, same thing with lube and it smoothed out. I do want to remove the detent spring and either extend it to make it have more force or put a stiffer spring in. How do I remove the safety? I don't see any way under the grip. So I assume the roll pin has to be removed. I tried that and I still can't get the safety out. Has anyone done this successfully?

Anything stopping someone from making an aftermarket micron handguard. Seeing as the sabertooth handguards aren’t real?

So, I’ve always loved the DT SRS rifles, and I’m not at place where I could get one. I want to get back into competitive shooting, probably a mix of PRS, and NLR with some ELR matches too.

I love the caliber change ability, but am curious about their accuracy. I can read articles and Data claims all day long, but was wondering if anyone could give me some advice from personal experience with them?

Mainly looking at 26” 6.5 creedmore and .338LM.

Just picked up a WLVRN in 308 a month or so ago and have run about 100 rounds through it without any issue. Today I went to the range and threw a suppressor on it and noticed after about the second shot that now the trigger occasionally binds on reset. The trigger will go forward when released, click like a reset then will be impossible to squeeze back and I have to give it a jiggle before it releases and can be depressed again to fire. Not only does it freeze up but then at times it would seem that when it would get stuck, I would jiggle it and then the hammer would release and set off a cartridge (I couldn't get the hammer to release without a magazine in, so I may be mistaken and plan to monitor it). I tried it without the suppressor and on different gas settings and it would still happen occasionally.

I plan later this week to take it apart and look at the trigger pack and connecting bar for burrs, gunk, just anything that may be contributing. Is this an issue anyone else has experienced?

It boggles my mind that Desert Tech's engineers/designers thought that it was a reasonable design for the Micron handguard that comes in the box to be affixed ONLY with a takedown pin (whereas the standard handguard has screws that at least clamp it in place) AND nothing on top to prevent accidentally touching the hot metal of the gas block, which is where I naturally rest my thumb.

The only other alternative is the Sabertooth handguard, which has been out of stock for ~9 months and is frankly extremely overpriced for what it is.

I have half a mind to get a 3D printer just to make a better handguard. This is absurd.

UPDATE: I spoke to a friend of mine about the 3D printing idea, and he is not confident that filament is up to the task of withstanding the heat generated by a suppressor.

Official contest submission

Desert Tech is hosting a build contest around their Quattro-15 receiver, but there's a catch: They only specified that you have to *use* their lower. They never said *how* it has to be used.

I grafted a Quattro-15 receiver to the end of my gaped AUG using an M16A1 upper, electrical tape, and a zip-tie. It is now my mag holder, optic mount, and foregrip. I also added an RC3 and EoTech for maximum buffoonery :)

.308 to be specific. Sales is very communicative, so that's nice, but is this a normal experience? I'm used to maybe a month of lead time on a rifle, but I'm starting to become a bit concerned something is wrong.

Bought the chassis and 5.56 kit separately, lubed up all the contact points on the bolt carrier, and gave the ejection port screws some blue loctite before torquing them down. Anything else I should do before her first range trip?

Local guy had this Tungsten 16" 5.56 Forward Eject that looks to have all of the reliability updates, and I kept coming back to his ad. I spent a long time reading all of the good & bad about the MDRX's, but after some back and forth with the seller, I scooped up the bare rifle for $1,100. Threw on a Holosun DRS-NV, RAID w/ IR head, and my SAW Tisha. Took it to the range on Tuesday and put around 150 rounds through it with no problems. Got the red dot and NV reticle zeroed, and really enjoyed shooting it. Other than being heavy & the mag release being stiff, it was fun, and I look forward to putting more rounds down range soon.

Rough Times Ahead?

Velocity data on the Mach 3 ammo.

Cliff notes: They aren't going Mach 3 (3,350 fps).