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Official (DTA) SRS, HTI, Covert, Hunter Thread

#16,001
Ended up getting a 22” 6.5 creedmoor without seeing an SRS in person prior.

This gun is fantastic. First bolt action I’ve owned, let alone precision gun. First and second outing I was making hits out to 700 and 800 yards. Seems partial to 142gr SMKs. Special thanks to the guys at Special Purpose Rifles for getting me set up.

IMG_3280.jpeg
 
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#16,002
JK981 said:
Ended up getting a 22” 6.5 creedmoor without seeing an SRS in person prior.

This gun is fantastic. First bolt action I’ve owned, let alone precision gun. First and second outing I was making hits out to 700 and 800 yards. Seems partial to 142gr SMKs. Special thanks to the guys at Special Purpose Rifles for getting me set up.

View attachment 8173808
Click to expand...


I put together a similar build and it's a tack driver. Congrats and enjoy.

20230502_210204.jpg
 
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#16,003
Very nice, I’m glad I was able to find an OD green one too.

I was surprised to find that the 140gr Hornady ELD and 143gr ELD-X’s I bought grouped really poorly. I shot a group of 3 touching each other at 100yds with some cheaper Fiocchi 142gr SMK ammo, but then got a 2” group with the ELD-X stuff. Weird, but at least the ammo it likes is cheaper I guess.

Might be time to invest in a reloading setup soon.
 
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#16,006
JK981 said:
Ended up getting a 22” 6.5 creedmoor without seeing an SRS in person prior.

This gun is fantastic. First bolt action I’ve owned, let alone precision gun. First and second outing I was making hits out to 700 and 800 yards. Seems partial to 142gr SMKs. Special thanks to the guys at Special Purpose Rifles for getting me set up.

View attachment 8173808
Click to expand...
+1 for special purpose rifles. Solid guys. I’ve done the same thing a few years back.
 
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#16,008
JK981 said:
Ended up getting a 22” 6.5 creedmoor without seeing an SRS in person prior.

This gun is fantastic. First bolt action I’ve owned, let alone precision gun. First and second outing I was making hits out to 700 and 800 yards. Seems partial to 142gr SMKs. Special thanks to the guys at Special Purpose Rifles for getting me set up.

View attachment 8173808
Click to expand...
So glad we could help you out.
 
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#16,009
If anyone is looking for a 300PRC conversion kit(barrel, bolt, and mag) let me know, I have one to sell. Send me a PM if interested.
 
Last edited:
#16,015
I ordered a 7/300 PRC barrel on Monday as part of their sale. They also offer an extension wrench, but none available at the moment. I inquired about their status in the sale thread, so hopefully they'll let us know
 
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#16,016
prashants17 said:
called ES Tactical twice since this post - same answer, shipping any day now, I am sure they do quality work, but please have no expectations on a timely delivery, would be great if you could get a written due date commitment via email before placing an order. At any rate poor customer service experience thus far.
Click to expand...
I ordered and had mine in about 2-3 weeks. I went with a 7mm PRC.
 
#16,020
canezach said:
Would thousandths of an inch longer make a difference? I could understand if it was short, but longer?
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On Diameter it can cause issues.

For example on the SRS A2, we've found anything over 1.250" can have issues going into the A2 chassis. A1 chassis were a little looser and would allow for barrel shanks a few thousandths over to mount into the chassis
 
#16,022
canezach said:
Would thousandths of an inch longer make a difference? I could understand if it was short, but longer?
Click to expand...
I intentionally get my HTI blanks with 8” shanks for possible rechambering in the future.

I’ve also used a 1.25” straight to the muzzle taper in my SRS. Was a Krieger 338 off the shelf blank and was a great shooter chambered by ES tactical in 338LM.
 

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#16,026
secondofangle2 said:
I intentionally get my HTI blanks with 8” shanks for possible rechambering in the future.

I’ve also used a 1.25” straight to the muzzle taper in my SRS. Was a Krieger 338 off the shelf blank and was a great shooter chambered by ES tactical in 338LM.
Click to expand...
I too have one of ES Tactical's truck axles for my 25 PRC barrel!
 
#16,030
There are so many factors that go into military contracts. It's not as simple as "this shoots better than that" or "this has this unique capability." DT has had a number of military contracts for the SRS over the years with foreign militaries, but the scale of those contracts tend to be fairly small, from what I understand.

Some of the factors that helped the MRAD and hurt the SRS:
- Barrett is a manufacturing powerhouse with a proven track record while DT is comparatively small
- MRAD is a traditional action soldiers are used to; SRS is bullpup
- Magazines have always been the weak link with the SRS
- Program requirements change over time and I think in the past DT hasn't been nimble enough to match them
- When things go wrong during trials, it's almost impossible to recover

So it's a complicated topic, but nothing to necessarily fault DT for.


As for shooting both, the MRAD is easily Barrett's best rifle across a variety of factors. Personally I still prefer the SRS (I have two and have been shooting the platform for 15 years), but if I was still in the Army I'm not 100% sure I'd want to run one. Sure, I would prefer to hump/jump a Covert over a standard bolt gun any day, but actually fight with one? Hard to say. I can run the bolt faster/easier with a standard rifle, and yeah the mag issue would bother me a bit, so I don't know.
 
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#16,031
prashants17 said:
folks who use both, do they find any significant difference ?
Click to expand...
I was only being partly facetious. The truth is, like Dogtown said, far more complex. If I had to guess, sure, 10 round mags were another check box in favor of Barrett. Another is Barrett has already supplied the military with the M82. Desert Tech would need to significantly upgrade their manufacturing process in order to meet the demand of the military. Military trials don't always favor the best system.
 
#16,032
I took a blank, an old barrel for parts, a bolt, and a brand new reamer to ES tactical up in Logan Utah today and saw Eric. He is doing well and is very busy by all accounts. Can’t wait to get yet another 375 barrel. My fifth.
 
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#16,033
Doing some reorganizing in the garage this morning and took stock of my current SRS collection and realizing how much I've got in this platform. This doesn't count the eight barrels I wore out since I got the Gen 1 in 2009.

1688837407520.png

Gen 1 with added Covert handguard. Barrels from left to right:
- ES Tactical 16.5" 6.5x47L (installed)
- DTA 16" .308WIN (still going with over 5000 rounds through it since 2011)
- DTA 18" .338LM
- SSRNZ 18" .510 Whisper
- SSRNZ 20" 6.5x47L
- $900 paperweight
- ES Tactical 26" 6.5x47
- ES Tactical 36" .338LM Improved 40


1688837605495.png

SRS M2

- SAC 30" .300NM (installed)
- SAC 26" 6mm Creedmoor
- ES Tactical 30" 6.5x47L
- ES Tactical 34" 1:7 .300NM
- SAC 36" .338LM Improved 40
- ES Tactical 36" .338LM Improved 40


Before I got the Gen 1 SRS, I had four different bolt guns, from .308WIN to .408CT. I sold them all and the Gen 1 became my solo bolt gun. Last year I decided to add the M2 for that to focus on being my ELR-ish platform and the Gen 1 could stay a tiny Covert.
 
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#16,035
The main obvious differences are the built in top rail (40 MOA in my case) and arca lock on handguard. I like both because it makes it easy to shoot off tripod and use clip on NV, but they aren’t game changers for the platform as a whole. The earlier models were very involved if you wanted to swap handguards while the A2 made it much easier (though with the M2 there’s no handguard swapping, which is why it’s more of a dedicated LR/ELR platform for me).

The Gen1 extension with the pin is a pain. Over the years I’ve broken it a few times, which is just annoying but it wasn’t hard to replace. The real pain was when it would get bent, which wasn’t always obvious, and would result in a random zero shift. I now no longer use it, and just take care to align the extension to the receiver before closing the bolt and torquing the barrel. The much more robust feed ramp based extension that was added around 2011 is much better.
 
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#16,036
Yeah cool, The M2 arca rail system is probably one of the features I'd like to have on my A1. I'm not that keen on the polymer rails, haven't had an issue yet but I do think there's some flex in them. I've thought about upgrading my chassis to a M2, but I'm not sure the 7grand AUD price is a big enough step up from the A1 it self. Have you noticed anything with the M2 action anodizing scratching / flaking? my A1 has abit of wear but nothing too bad
 
#16,037
Nope, just normal wear and tear from mounting in tripod. If you have an A1, you should be able to mount an arca rail on the bottom and aluminum MLOk rails where needed, right? I obviously couldn’t do any of that with the Gen 1 quad rail handguards.
 
#16,038
Posted in a separate thread but hoping for a response here in the dedicated DTA thread:
Trying to install a handgaurd I bought here on the hide. I have the tool that goes on a 3/4 extension but that nut won’t budge! Anything that I could be missing? All help is appreciated
 
#16,039
I'm still running my Gen 1 purchased in 2010 and have yet to break or bend the alignment pin. I use the rifle for testing barrels made up for customers along with shooting my own oddities. I had a 33XC 32" which did quite well and my current 338 LM barrel is 30". I shot out the original 26" DT 338LM barrel. I'm also running a 7.5 X 55 Swiss barrel which is pretty amazing and run out to 2500yds with 175gr Sierra TMK's. 510 Whisper, 300 norma mag, 6.5X47 and 338BR are the other current barrels. There have been a lot of others done for customers.
The rifle gets used for demo's and teaching new owners how to swap barrels. The newer setup is a lot more friendly and the roll pin idea seems pretty silly, looking back. It does still work though.

Frank
 
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#16,040
Wildfire1550 said:
Posted in a separate thread but hoping for a response here in the dedicated DTA thread:
Trying to install a handgaurd I bought here on the hide. I have the tool that goes on a 3/4 extension but that nut won’t budge! Anything that I could be missing? All help is appreciated
Click to expand...
I’m not sure how the A2s are mounted, it the prior generations have a bolt on the top rail with an insert that you have to remove before you apply any torque to the handguard.
 
#16,041
JK981 said:
Ended up getting a 22” 6.5 creedmoor without seeing an SRS in person prior.

This gun is fantastic. First bolt action I’ve owned, let alone precision gun. First and second outing I was making hits out to 700 and 800 yards. Seems partial to 142gr SMKs. Special thanks to the guys at Special Purpose Rifles for getting me set up.

View attachment 8173808
Click to expand...
Very nice! I too purchased a DT A2 1 year ago and it is my first bolt gun, and I couldn’t be happier. Enjoy!
 
#16,043
On the gen 2 (A1) rifles, I vaguely recall hearing that the sleeve holding the handguard and receiver together had to be turned counterclockwise to remove as viewed from the front. Not sure if that is true or not. The tool turns the sleeve which is actually a turnbuckle type assembly. It has left hand threads on one end and right handers on the other. Turning it one way pulls the parts together, turning the other pushes them apart. From what I understand it was a pretty solid setup but a pain in the ass to change.

The gen 1 rifles had the front end of the receiver threaded and the handguard screwed on til it stopped. They sometimes needed to be shimmed to line up right and as Dogtown noted they had a key in the pic rail on top with a screw to hold it in place. That kept the handguard from rotating. It was a pretty crappy system. I don't know how the A2 rifles work.

Frank
 
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#16,044
biffj said:
On the gen 2 (A1) rifles, I vaguely recall hearing that the sleeve holding the handguard and receiver together had to be turned counterclockwise to remove as viewed from the front. Not sure if that is true or not. The tool turns the sleeve which is actually a turnbuckle type assembly. It has left hand threads on one end and right handers on the other. Turning it one way pulls the parts together, turning the other pushes them apart. From what I understand it was a pretty solid setup but a pain in the ass to change.

The gen 1 rifles had the front end of the receiver threaded and the handguard screwed on til it stopped. They sometimes needed to be shimmed to line up right and as Dogtown noted they had a key in the pic rail on top with a screw to hold it in place. That kept the handguard from rotating. It was a pretty crappy system. I don't know how the A2 rifles work.

Frank
Click to expand...
The a2/m2 rifles have handguards that slide over the receiver and bolt directly to the receiver with 8 bolts.
 
#16,049
They will probably install the extension off of an old barrel if you send it to them (like ES). In my case they had the barrel for almost 2 years, so they probably forgot that I had sent it in and just sent me the new barrel sans extension.
 
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