Davidson Defense Review from Delta Team Tactical

[Marinos]

I went on Delta Team Tactical and ordered a Melonite Nitride BCG, Extended Tac Latch Charging Handle, and Davidson 16" match fluted upper with a 12" Keymod Handguard. They emailed me a few days after ordering and informed me that they were out of the 12" keymod handguards and gave me a few to pick from if I wanted my order to ship out right away. I looked at them and then found a completely different one on their website that I liked and asked if they could use it instead. They honored my request and gave me a carbon fiber handguard at no additional cost. When I received it the the handguard was a little loose. I made a few adjustments to the handguard and was able to take all of the play out of it so that it is rock solid. Overall the quality is good on the upper. The BCG is also good quality with staking that works but could be a little better. I did test shoot it a few times and everything functioned properly. I'll do more accuracy testing once my optic and brake come in. Their uppers are not bad at their price point.

EDIT: The barrel is not resting on the handguard. That is just an optical illusion.

[Jimi Jah]

How is the accuracy? I have a similar barrel, spiral fluting. It's their super match barrel.

After a good break in at the local 25 yard range I took it out to Octillo. Results were not very good, about 4 moa at 100 yards. XM193, Hornady 75 and 77 grain match made little difference.

Then my cheapo ARD barreled 7.62x39 came out and was drilling the bullseyes with 20 cent Tula 124 grain. Go figure.

[Marinos]

I'll report back once my Leupold scope comes in. Did you check if the handguard was touching the barrel? Mine was a little loose and was touching the barrel. I re centered it and tightened it down.

[Jimi Jah]

I just bought the barrel. I had Gunfighter Tactical assemble the upper, it's all gtg. That barrel has me baffeled, it should do much better with that good match ammo.

I also have a upper assembly I'm having done, replacing a Daniel Defense 16" that's not good with a Criterion I got from Brownells on sale. That ought to do 1/2 MOA.

[kcheung2]

This person had a bad experience.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=1308604

[mitch1]

I'm just lucky, I have bought from them on 4 different occasions. Nothing but great service, good quality stuff

[Rocketrob]

I have the upper with the spiral (ultra match) flutted barrel. First time out shooting surplus ball ammo xm855 and a 1x6 primary arms scope it was all over. ditched the scope and put on a Trijicon TA33 GH and got better ammo and still all over the place - yep about 4 MOA

[Marinos]

Just and update. I fired a few more rounds through it today and noticed that it was short stroking. Eventually it stopped cycling all together. I took off the handguard and noticed that the gas block had moved and that both set screws were completely loose.


I took the gas block off and noticed that there was only one dimple for alignment. It'll work but it's not the best design. I went ahead and Loctited the set screws back in and shot a few mags through it. It now cycles perfectly.


I wouldn't buy another one of their uppers unless you don't mind wrenching on your upper to fix little issues. I'll report back tomorrow when I mount up my scope and do some precision shooting.

[Jimi Jah]

I do have to say the ARD cryo/nitride Hbar 7.62x39 barrel I bought from them is lights out. It's amazingly accurate with cheap Russian ammo.

It's a better performer than my $300 Daniel Defense 5.56 by a long shot. Bulleyes at 100 yards all day long at 20 cents per round. I hit the 400 yard steel every shot, it's getting boringly accurate.

[Marinos]

I mounted a Leupold 3-9x40 scope on the rifle and sighted it in at 100 yards. It was really windy but the best I could group was 2 MOA. The only ammo that it shot decent with was the Hornady 55 gr V-MAX. When I shot Federal 55 gr it shot terrible and grouped around 4 MOA. I also shot my custom AR-308 which normally groups under an inch but today it was grouping at around an inch. I got to say I'm a little disappointed with the accuracy of the Davidson Defense "Ultra Match" upper. I have another AR-15 that is completely mil-spec and it was grouping the same or better at times and I was only shooting regular non match ammo through it. The gun cycled perfectly and shoots like a standard AR but can definitely not be considered match. Here's a picture of the best group..

[CMBrowning]

Nice! I assembled a Daytona tactical pistol upper for a friend of mine. Was your bolt pretty tight when in the carrier? His was. It loosened up after the first 100 shots.

[Marinos]

Just wanted to update this thread to be fair. I've shot about 200 rounds through it of various ammos. It cycles everything perfectly. Here's an updated pic of how it looks now as a featureless rifle.


I shot couple of groups that are hard to explain both using the same match ammo. The lower one was shot off of a cold bore with most of the 5 shot group measuring half an inch. The upper one was shot just after the first group. I have to assume that this barrel likes to be shot cold for match accuracy. Keep in mind this is my group after installing the Miculek brake.

[Jimi Jah]

Yours is doing a lot better than mine. I'll probably sell my upper.

[kcheung2]

That's hard to explain. The cold bore shots look good, but shots 6-10 look odd. It shouldn't be that hot that fast, and the fluting is supposed to help a bit. With my ARs I generally don't see shots opening up until after 50-100 rounds, and that may be due to shooter fatigue as much as barrel heat.

[Marinos]

I can assure it wasn't me. The only difference between the two shots was a slight elevation adjustment on my scope. I was even worried about the slightly bigger bullseye so I put a piece of tape in it to give me a smaller target.