I got my green on green DTA in about a week from the time of order. I went through Bobby at Freedom Gunworks. To say that Bobby was a big help would be a HUGE understatement! Bobby was a super nice guy to deal with and is very knowledgable on the DTA systems. I would recommend him to anybody. I chose to chamber it in 6.5x284 to start. Benchmark Barrels did all the Gunsmithing. I used there barrel too, of course. So here is my take on the DTA. Let me preface this with saying overall i love this setup and would not trade it for any other rifle. In the interest of being objective, i am going to report with 100% honesty on MY opinion of the DTA. Positives and negatives.
<span style="font-weight: bold">THE CHASSIS SYSTEM</span>
The balance of this rifle is perfect! Yes perfect, not good or great, PERFECT. The rifle's center of gravity is illustrated in the picture below with a red arrow.
I Used a 28" Benchmark Barrel, 3-groove 1-8" twist. Went with 8 flutes. The contour has to be to DTA's specs which is roughly 1.250" for the first 4.5" so there is not much weight savings. I chose to base it off the Medium Palma contour. The rifle is .750" at the muzzle.
DTA gives approximate weights for their rifles of 9.4lbs for the .308win, and 11.6lbs for the .338Lapua. I weighed the chassis, barrel extension, scope base, .308 bolt, and an empty 300win magazine and came up with 8lbs 3oz. Now with a barrel that starts out 1.250" for the first 4.5" it's going to weigh alot more than 9.4lbs or even 11.6lbs. When i put the complete rifle on the scales (minus the scope) it weighed in at <span style="font-weight: bold">13lbs 8oz</span>. So with a 2lb scope and 1lb bipod your looking at AWSM weights. I estimate that my rifle with the USO on it will weigh about 15.5lbs. That being said a guy at the range picked it up with the scope on it and said: "this weighs what? 8 or 9lbs?". He was shocked when i told him about 14lbs. It feels lighter than it is. It is the best balanced rifle i have yet to pick up which is probably why it feels so light.
The Plastic work on the chassis is about as good as it gets for molded plastic. I would give it a slight edge over the AICS as far as fit and finish. For example the seams did not have sharp burs on them and everything seems to line up nicely.
The action is Phenominal. The bolt kind of suprises you when you close it, it's almost as if it closes itself. The bolt manipulation only took about 20rnds to get used to. I didn't even notice it shooting today because i had gotten so used to it.
I did not like the magazine release. In theory it looked good, being able to use your weak hand while supporting the rear of the rifle to release the mag. However I found that i kept fishing for where the mag release was. I'm sure that with further training this will go away but it was a minor annoyance.
<span style="font-weight: bold">THE TRIGGER</span>
I am used to Jewell triggers. Zero creep, light, no overtravel. In my opinion they are the perfect trigger. Using the trigger on the DTA took some getting used to. After a little tuning there was no creep at all. The trigger broke sharply and consistently around 1.5lbs. The overtravel took some getting used to but let me explain why. Jewell's do not budge after you pull the trigger, i got used to that. When a factory Remington trigger has creep it is sloppy side to side and after the trigger breaks there is no tension on the trigger. I would describe the DTA trigger as more of a 2 stage match trigger where the first stage has no creep and breaks at about 1.5lbs and the second stage is the overtravel which feels like it has slight resistance to it. It took some getting used to but i think i am beginning to prefer the DTA trigger setup a little over the Jewell for the nice 'follow through' feel. Also the DTA trigger is fully adjustable from the trigger gaurd. No taking it apart. The coolest thing about the trigger is that you can adjust it's position in the trigger gaurd. I set mine all the way forward so that only the tip of your trigger finger touches the bottom shoe of the trigger. It is very nice.
<span style="font-weight: bold">ACCURACY</span>
I was able to load at the range and i got a nice load figured out. On shot 3 i noticed through the spotting scope that my first 3 shots were in the same hole. Like a jackass i got nervous and pulled the 4th shot a little high and right. After some swearing and settling down, shot 5 went back into the first 3 shot group. Overall the gross CTC group was .276" for 5 shots, but the 4 'perfect' shots measured .117". I was nervous when i invested in this rifle because i had not seen a single 1/4moa group in pictures on the forums. The best i could find was 2 back to back 5 shot 3/8moa groups. I didn't know if i would get the accuracy i was after. Needless to say i am not worried anymore!
<span style="font-weight: bold">CONCLUSION</span>
I plan on doing further load testing with H4350 and 140 Bergers. I think this rifle is capable of consistent 1/4moa groups. I had not shot a rifle in about 1 month before today because i had to sell them all to fund this one! I am very happy with it. It is a little heavier than anticipated but everything else more than makes up for it. I plan on shooting it in F-class, Tactical matches, and Hunting.
.338Lapua Improved coming soon....spitting lathed turned solids
I will post more groups and pictures when my USO shows up in FEB.
<span style="font-weight: bold">THE CHASSIS SYSTEM</span>
The balance of this rifle is perfect! Yes perfect, not good or great, PERFECT. The rifle's center of gravity is illustrated in the picture below with a red arrow.
I Used a 28" Benchmark Barrel, 3-groove 1-8" twist. Went with 8 flutes. The contour has to be to DTA's specs which is roughly 1.250" for the first 4.5" so there is not much weight savings. I chose to base it off the Medium Palma contour. The rifle is .750" at the muzzle.
DTA gives approximate weights for their rifles of 9.4lbs for the .308win, and 11.6lbs for the .338Lapua. I weighed the chassis, barrel extension, scope base, .308 bolt, and an empty 300win magazine and came up with 8lbs 3oz. Now with a barrel that starts out 1.250" for the first 4.5" it's going to weigh alot more than 9.4lbs or even 11.6lbs. When i put the complete rifle on the scales (minus the scope) it weighed in at <span style="font-weight: bold">13lbs 8oz</span>. So with a 2lb scope and 1lb bipod your looking at AWSM weights. I estimate that my rifle with the USO on it will weigh about 15.5lbs. That being said a guy at the range picked it up with the scope on it and said: "this weighs what? 8 or 9lbs?". He was shocked when i told him about 14lbs. It feels lighter than it is. It is the best balanced rifle i have yet to pick up which is probably why it feels so light.
The Plastic work on the chassis is about as good as it gets for molded plastic. I would give it a slight edge over the AICS as far as fit and finish. For example the seams did not have sharp burs on them and everything seems to line up nicely.
The action is Phenominal. The bolt kind of suprises you when you close it, it's almost as if it closes itself. The bolt manipulation only took about 20rnds to get used to. I didn't even notice it shooting today because i had gotten so used to it.
I did not like the magazine release. In theory it looked good, being able to use your weak hand while supporting the rear of the rifle to release the mag. However I found that i kept fishing for where the mag release was. I'm sure that with further training this will go away but it was a minor annoyance.
<span style="font-weight: bold">THE TRIGGER</span>
I am used to Jewell triggers. Zero creep, light, no overtravel. In my opinion they are the perfect trigger. Using the trigger on the DTA took some getting used to. After a little tuning there was no creep at all. The trigger broke sharply and consistently around 1.5lbs. The overtravel took some getting used to but let me explain why. Jewell's do not budge after you pull the trigger, i got used to that. When a factory Remington trigger has creep it is sloppy side to side and after the trigger breaks there is no tension on the trigger. I would describe the DTA trigger as more of a 2 stage match trigger where the first stage has no creep and breaks at about 1.5lbs and the second stage is the overtravel which feels like it has slight resistance to it. It took some getting used to but i think i am beginning to prefer the DTA trigger setup a little over the Jewell for the nice 'follow through' feel. Also the DTA trigger is fully adjustable from the trigger gaurd. No taking it apart. The coolest thing about the trigger is that you can adjust it's position in the trigger gaurd. I set mine all the way forward so that only the tip of your trigger finger touches the bottom shoe of the trigger. It is very nice.
<span style="font-weight: bold">ACCURACY</span>
I was able to load at the range and i got a nice load figured out. On shot 3 i noticed through the spotting scope that my first 3 shots were in the same hole. Like a jackass i got nervous and pulled the 4th shot a little high and right. After some swearing and settling down, shot 5 went back into the first 3 shot group. Overall the gross CTC group was .276" for 5 shots, but the 4 'perfect' shots measured .117". I was nervous when i invested in this rifle because i had not seen a single 1/4moa group in pictures on the forums. The best i could find was 2 back to back 5 shot 3/8moa groups. I didn't know if i would get the accuracy i was after. Needless to say i am not worried anymore!
<span style="font-weight: bold">CONCLUSION</span>
I plan on doing further load testing with H4350 and 140 Bergers. I think this rifle is capable of consistent 1/4moa groups. I had not shot a rifle in about 1 month before today because i had to sell them all to fund this one! I am very happy with it. It is a little heavier than anticipated but everything else more than makes up for it. I plan on shooting it in F-class, Tactical matches, and Hunting.
.338Lapua Improved coming soon....spitting lathed turned solids
I will post more groups and pictures when my USO shows up in FEB.
