Is a Daniel Defense AR-15 Worth the Money? The DDM4 V7 Review
BY Herschel Smith
2 years, 6 months ago
Whether a product is worth the price, recall from Mike Vanderboegh, depends upon what it can demand on the market. DD can demand this kind of money, and thus, they are worth the money – to a least enough buyers to keep them in business, and expand their business to become one of the largest AR-15 manufacturers in the game.
On October 3, 2021 at 9:36 pm, George 1 said:
I have owned two Daniel Defense rifles. They were both good rifles but they were not the best rifles for me. I judge AR15s by their reliability and how accurately they shoot XM 193, XM 855, or similarly priced “stockpile ammo.” If they can shoot 1/2 MOA with $2.00 a round ammo, that does me no good. YMMV, and your preferences may vary.
The DD guns were superbly reliable, never had any problems with either gun. However one would only shoot XM855 about 5 MOA and shot XM 193 about 6MOA. The other was a serious joke. It would not put the stockpile ammo into 7 MOA. Disclosure, That is a sample of two and I am not saying other DD rifles won’t do better. I sold them. I have also owned other brands that just did not fit the expected criteria for me.
I find that for my purposes the ones I build perform much better. I use premium parts, most importantly barrels, so the cost is not much less, if any less, than buying a good rifle already assembled. The majority of the rifles I put together will shoot the stockpile ammo into 2.5 MOA or less. I have had no issues with reliability with the rifles I put together either however I don’t toss them around like the host either. And I won’t be taking a shower with them.
On October 3, 2021 at 10:10 pm, Big Country Expat said:
Gawd… nice “Advertisement for DD”… This guy… What a douche. The report he’s referencing is from January 1966… nevermind… well wait, I’ma using this if I may to rip it to hell and gone on my site… What a shill…
On October 3, 2021 at 10:30 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@Big,
Well, he’s an annoying sort of guy, especially when he wears his short shorts. But I think he knows that and is okay with it.
@George,
Every DD rifle I’ve ever shot does WAY, WAY better than that.
On October 3, 2021 at 10:53 pm, George 1 said:
@Herschel Smith,
I don’t doubt you. I even had some friend shoot them and they were surprised. The consensus we came to was that they just were lemons. It happens.
I contacted Daniel Defense about the issue for the really bad rifle. I asked if the barrel was cold hammer forged. I heard they were but found no barrel markings to indicate that.
The man I spoke to said, “Yes.” It is forged. I again asked: “Is it cold hammer forged?” he said again: “It is forged.”
So since he was not interested in answering the question, I lost interest, cut my losses and sold the rifle. The DD rep also told me that the proper ammo was heavier bullets and then I could expect “Increased Accuracy”. I sold the other rifle shortly after the first one.
On October 3, 2021 at 11:42 pm, Ohio Guy said:
I’m like George 1. I build my AR rifles to perform a certain task. I aint naming names but I source the parts for each from Ohio to Florida. Two of my main lead spitters are 18″ CHF heavies. Others have the lighter barrels. They are all purpose built and driven that way. No problems yet and hope to keep it that way. At this point in time, I see quality rounds to feed em as an investment that will only go up in value, same as the rifle itself. YMMV
On October 4, 2021 at 11:09 am, NOG said:
If going to war in a ME or stan country, give the guys the very best. For a nutty old geezer, I prefer to just buy a “good” AR for less (much much less) and spend my money on better ammo, mostly Black Hills 60gr SP and 68gr BTHP and 64gr Fusion SPs. PSA AR and S&W AR have been just fine for us and you can buy a LOT of ammo with the price difference. Never a malfunction. Shoots 4-5 inch groups from the bench with 1-4 power scope with us shooting (better with a young Marine- he got 2-3 inch standing, damn youngin’). Also bought lots more mags. Mostly Magpul and D&H. For our (and likely most of us) needs this will do just fine whatever happens. I read about guys buying 3K guns and 20-50K of ammo. Do they really think they would live that long?
On October 4, 2021 at 1:02 pm, Brad said:
I made it 9 seconds into the video. That is ridiculous.
I own a precision machine shop. Our main purpose in life is machining parts for the DLA. Airframe parts, etc. But we also have our own billet upper and lowers for both the AR15 and 10 platform. I’m reading the above comments about accuracy and I got to say I’m still amazed and the difference in accuracy from one barrel manufacturer to another. And price has little to do with it. The AR15 barrels we finally settled on our very budget friendly. Barrel tolerances are pretty damn tight. You would expect more consistency from one manufacturer to another if they are in print.