I shot the MDR last night.

At SHOT right now and typing on a phone, will give a more detailed post a bit later

Sven
Manticore Arms

Hey guys, finally have time to sit down for a few minutes and type a response about shooting the MDR.

First off, the rifle itself:

1.  Fairly lightweight, good ergonomics
2.  The safety selector on the MDR I shot (there were two there) did not seem to have positive detent clicks, but it could have been that particular gun
3.  I have no idea if this was a tool room gun, pre-production gun, or production gun, or however they break them up in their production line.  
4.  I do know the gun was capable of full auto but the full auto sear was not installed. I was told this by the Desert Tech employee who handed me the gun.
5.  I fired 5 rounds as did everyone else who fired it.  That is what you were given.  I do not know the brand of ammo we used.
6.  Recoil was...stout.  In part, it is a lighter rifle so that may have to do with it.  But based on my experience with 308 semiautos I would say that part of the stout recoil is based on the spring rate and recoil distance of the bolt.  It definitely has a sharp recoil compared to any other 308 semiauto I have ever fired.
7.  I had no malfunctions, and heard of no other malfunctions while I was there.  Nick Chen said he had one malfunction, but he did not specify what, and there is some speculation that he thought it was a malfunction due to a case not ejecting or due to it being the last shot in the gun.  I don't know either way.

As for the event:

The event was at night, after SHOT Show was closed down for the day.  It was a semi-private event (if you knew about it you could get in, we were invited by the hosts some weeks before SHOT) at an indoor range.  Multiple companies were there with their new guns, and multiple companies were set up in the lobby to show off their new products.  We were invited to bring our products and set up if we wanted to, but had elected not to (we were just at SHOT for meetings, and didn't want to have to coordinate bringing a bunch of stuff to a 4 hour event).   The event was held at an indoor range so that it was warm, well lit, easy to find, there was a place for Vendors in the main shop, and they could provide food.  Basically it was an after party that happened to have guns.  We were not aware the Desert Tech would be there, we showed up and found out that they were there.  The event was very informal, mostly a meet and greet for people in the industry to get a chance to see and try out some of the new stuff, get some food, and unwind after the third day of SHOT Show.

The short range for shooting was simply a byproduct of the location- this was simply a "try out a few rounds through our guns" for all companies, not a "wring out the maximum accuracy at 500 yards"  event, which would have been pointless anyhow as quite honestly many shooters can't shoot to the mechanical accuracy of the gun.  

Media, Manufacturers, and a bit of the public were there.  I would estimate that 50-70 people shot the MDR that night, and that I was one of the first dozen people give or take.

That is everything I know, and I would not try to draw any conclusions beyond the straight facts of what I said.

Sven
Manticore Arms

Browning43,

You bring up several interesting points and I think it is good for me to respond to them.  Prior to that, I should say my first post was factual without any emotion in it.  I know there are a lot of emotions riding high on the MDR, so I thought it was best to simply present the facts as I saw and experienced them.  That being said, I can inject some of my personal thoughts and view on the MDR into this thread.

First off, I design gun parts and even firearms for a living (yes, we are directly involved in gun design at this point even though we don't discuss it publicly due to NDA's and contractual agreements for the most part).    That means it takes A LOT to impress me these days, as truth be told I can usually design something just as good or better than most the stuff out there, at least in my opinion.      

I think the MDR has good ergonomics, the controls are well laid out (the dual charging handle is pretty cool!) , and overall the construction seemed good- the polymer appears to be molded on a production mold.  It is really lightweight and compact for a 308, quite impressively so. The guns were full auto guns that had the auto sear pulled so they would only shoot semi auto- based on that I would sy they are not "production" guns that the public would see, but I don't know exactly how they are set up for full auto or what changes are necessary for a semi auto to be ATF approved.

The gun functioned fine.  That being said, I found the recoil to be stout, and it wasn't just the gun I shot- the crew of We Like Shooting fired the other one and also commented that the recoil was harsh (Ava from WLS said it felt like it bruised her cheek bone).  To me, the core of a rifle is shootability, and I *personally* felt that the recoil is too much for what should be expected from a 308.  I would not enjoy shooting it.  That being said I am 5'6" tall and not a big guy.  Some of you larger guys probably would find it fine.  If I were to take points off for anything, it is that recoil is too much in my opinion.  

As for the caliber interchangability, I personally as a consumer and shooter have never understood the "I want to be able to shoot a bunch of calibers from the same gun" mentality.  I don't plan on carry caliber conversion, I don't want to carry multiple types of mags or guts for a gun.  In my world if I want a different caliber I just buy a different gun.   Also, the ejection port thingy to me just doesn't matter.  I have always been fine with standard ejection ports, and as a righty that isn't a big deal with bullpups.  For those that like that kind of thing this gun is right up your alley.  But for me, and to be clear on my personal bias, those features add nothing for me, so they don't really wow me.

I think Desert Tech has managed to create a really compact and lightweight 308 bullpup with a lot of features.  But I also think that by making such a compact and lightweight package, we start to see the actual power of a 308 start to come out in the form of felt recoil, and if I was to hazard a guess I believe that is the downside to the genius of making it so lightweight and compact- in order to make it competitive with 5.56 guns (of which it is supposed to be able to compete on size and weight) the sacrifice is recoil.

I hope that clears up my feelings on the gun and that I am open about my personal biases.   I don't think there is a Desert Tech rep here, but I am certainly willing to get feedback from them on my comments if they would like to respond to my thoughts!


As far as the event, yes, Desert Tech was one of many companies attending and event to show off their wares.  The media, industry, and some public got to shoot the gun.  It shot, it worked.   My guess is Desert Tech wanted to let people see it actually worked and this is a bit of a "soft launch" prior to whatever they are doing for the full launch of the gun, but to be clear, that is only my personal opinion.  

Sven
Manticore Arms

Not that i am aware of, i was at shot.