Well, so much for building up the rat hole fund for now. I went to a gunshow and saw one of the new DD carbines. $1800.00. I knew the dealer and told him I liked the carbine but he was a little high. He rolled his eyes and said you never know at a gun show. About 2 hours later I went by and he offered it to me for $1632.00 plus tax. I kept going and went to see what they were online. Another hour and I walked out for $1620.00 total. I’m not totally excited but feel like it was OK. I was looking into a Colt 6920 I found for $1499.00. About the same overall deal but I would have ended up with more in the Colt by the time I added a rail, rear BUIS, and sling swivel attachments.
The only thing that jumps out at me is the standard grip. A MOE or Ergo wouldn’t have cost much to add and would have added to the package. The rear sight is good to go. Receiver sling attachment the same. The bolt and carrier looks good as does the general fit and finish. The extended Omega is nice but I’m not sure it is needed. It is a lot of rail space! Overall a nice package. I started to figure up the cost to put one together using the same parts they used and the price is not enough to be worth the headache of chasing down the parts and paying shipping to 7 different vendors and then waiting for months to get it all.
I believe that they went with the standard A2 grip because 1) they are popular with some and 2) when you have to count on another manufacturer to deliver a part, it can really slow you down.
I like it so far but I have’nt shot it yet. I don’t expect any surprises. I’ll probably end up with a Norgon ambi mag release and an ambi safety. VCAS sling right away. And I’ll throw on an Aimpoint T-1 on it and SureFire Scout light once it gets promoted to home security use.
Congrats on the new carbine. I just picked up one myself on Thursday. I had ordered a S&W M&P15T on Dec 1st and still no sign of it. Same local place had the DD M4 in stock. Decided to pay the difference and have the better carbine right away.
I plan to sell the vertical grip and rear buis though. Just not my style.
You did a good job of bargaining to get a total price of $1620. I paid $1499.00 which came to $1605 OTD, and that’s the lowest price I’ve heard anyone say they paid.
I thought the same thing about the grip, but I figure DD considered supply chain issues and factored in that the grip is both very personal and fairly inexpensive, so they kept price down and future availability up by leaving it standard.
I’ve only put about 600-700 rds through mine, but no problems yet. Don’t you love the weight / balance while having all that rail estate?
I see a TangoDown battle grip and stubby in the near future. Now for the tough decision…which color? Since it doesn’t cost anymore I don’t mind a little variance in colors in my carbines. On my last build I used the Larue UDE. I’m leaning towards DE for the furniture on this one.
I finally got the chance to handle one at one of the local shops today. I loved it, and I was extremely impressed with the weight, considering the long rail. I was also impressed with the quality of the assembly. I definitely want one, but its gonna have to wait for a bit.
