The 7.62 DD5V1 Rifle – Heavy Metal from Daniel Defense

Sometimes you need to rain 7.62mm projectiles on target with great haste and precision. For this purpose, many look to an AR-10 style platform. This big brother to the AR-15 was developed prior to its ubiquitous little sibling, which was adopted by the U.S. military instead. While the Mk 11 and M110 7.62mm weapon systems have been fielded for service, there really is no Mil-spec standard for AR-10 platforms, as there is for the AR-15. Thus, there's a patchwork of different types of specs and systems in the commercial market for .308 AR-pattern rifles.

But that also means that manufacturers have more freedom to design their own weapon systems without being beholden to legacy specs. And that's exactly what Daniel Defense has done with the new DD5V1 rifle. Where it made sense, their engineers incorporated existing components, such as the Geissele SSA trigger. But in other areas, they developed entirely new designs, such as the interface between the barrel and upper receiver. The result is a new 7.62mm rifle that's fully optimized for performance, usability, and reliability.

In Issue 19, we took a look at a prototype of the DD5V1 — and now we got our hot little hands on the production rifle. We immediately sent it and a video crew to RECOIL Editor, Iain Harrison, to put it through its paces.

The DD5V1 has a 16-inch cold hammer forged, chrome lined barrel, mid-length gas system, and a 15-inch KeyMod handguard. It accepts SR-25 type magazines and comes with Daniel Defense's overmolded pistol grip and collapsible buttstock.

Two examples of Daniel Defense's innovative design include the barrel interface and bolt carrier group. The DD5V1 improves on the original Stoner design with a barrel extension featuring a flange that's sandwiched between the upper receiver and handguard. Four bolts securely clamp it down, threading into steel inserts in the upper and resulting in increased bearing surface of over 40-percent compared to a regular barrel nut. The bolt carrier group sports a proprietary finish, twin ejectors, and a larger extractor.

All controls are ambidextrous, and the charging handle is quite interesting — rather than the traditional spring-loaded latch, it has a ball detent as well as configurable handles in small and large sizes to fit your preferences.

We mounted Nightforce glass on the rifle and took it out to the range. The DD5V1 handled wonderfully and performed great. Iain's hanging on to this rifle a little longer to see if he can break it.

The DD5V1 rifle retails for $2,899 and will be available on October 23rd. The rig as seen in the video totals $6,150 with all the accessories.

Be sure to check out our other RECOIL videos.