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

Over the years I've found single feeding is kind of all over the place. If you just lay the cartridge on top of the follower on an inserted mag it seems like it's a 50/50 successful feeding (this is especially true of short action cartridges from my experience). I think part of the reason for failures to feed is the magazine not sitting properly, but otherwise it just seems too easy to have it strike the feed ramp, especially if I drop the cartridge as far back as possible. This seems to be the case not only with the Gen 1 but now also with the M2 (A2 I would assume), though a bit lesser with the latter. Also, I think the increased diameter of magnum cartridges can slightly mitigate the issue.

For the above reasons I just learned to make sure I get the bullet into the chamber enough so that as soon as I run the bolt there's no chance of striking the feed ramp. Yeah, it's not as fast as just dropping it in, but it's the most reliable technique I've found and is only take a slight bit more effort.
 
Are you able to reliably single feed? I’ve never been able to work mine as such.
I see what you’re saying now. The bullet wants to nose into the face of the chamber when you try to slide it in as you would on most rifles. I can make it work fine by pushing it further up/in before letting the round go though. With a little practice it should be no problem.
 
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I’ll have to practice more then; I’ve never had luck single feeding any of my conversions. Presume it’s physically possible, just overly technique sensitive during timed engagements. After a few minutes of fumbling when I first got the rifle years back, I just defaulted to “drop mag and rack till empty then reinsert” on my FTF/FTL drills.
 
I purchased one of the 3D printed magazine block someone on here made a long time ago and it works great single feeding anything I throw at it. The only time I use the magazine is when I’m hunting.
I would like one of those, do you remember where you got it?
 
The latest MKM single feed sleds feed my 223 260 308 and 338 almost without fail. If it saga in the well a little bit every now and again a 223 will get hung up but 99% of the time it works
 
I like my MKM! Like pinhead said, I use mine on the bench all the time and a mag while hunting.

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Damn good shooting man that’s ridic 🤙🏼
Thanks... But the HTI makes the task VERY easy !!!

Being so impressed with what my SRS does i purchased the HTI with 2 barrel conversion ,s.....375CT and 50BMG. The original intent was that 375CT would be the primary round used in the HTI and 50BMG just bought out for "special occasions" .

As it has transpired..... the 50BMG combined with the HTI has stunned me with how accurate and consistent it is at extended ranges!! I have fallen "in love" with this combo! :)

Just last week i had a couple of young shooting friends come out who were very keen to have a shot of the 50......both had never shot a 50 before. We set the same plate up at 1000yds. The first effort produced a 3 from 3 6" group on the plate centralised!! The second did 2 from 2 just below centre of the dot.... A hell of an effort considering it was their first effort with the 50 and not being their own rifle. Both made the comment that they have never felt so confident in a certain hit at that distance..

I originally purchased 200 factory Hornady 750 Amax rounds to use...but now that i am hooked i Have purchased 1500 Hornady 750gr Amax projectiles and 20KG of AR2218 powder and a 2000 RWS primers. Just learning to de crimp and seat the primers correctly and load my first rounds.

Much fun ahead!!
 

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Thanks... But the HTI makes the task VERY easy !!!

Being so impressed with what my SRS does i purchased the HTI with 2 barrel conversion ,s.....375CT and 50BMG. The original intent was that 375CT would be the primary round used in the HTI and 50BMG just bought out for "special occasions" .

As it has transpired..... the 50BMG combined with the HTI has stunned me with how accurate and consistent it is at extended ranges!! I have fallen "in love" with this combo! :)

Just last week i had a couple of young shooting friends come out who were very keen to have a shot of the 50......both had never shot a 50 before. We set the same plate up at 1000yds. The first effort produced a 3 from 3 6" group on the plate centralised!! The second did 2 from 2 just below centre of the dot.... A hell of an effort considering it was their first effort with the 50 and not being their own rifle. Both made the comment that they have never felt so confident in a certain hit at that distance..

I originally purchased 200 factory Hornady 750 Amax rounds to use...but now that i am hooked i Have purchased 1500 Hornady 750gr Amax projectiles and 20KG of AR2218 powder and a 2000 RWS primers. Just learning to de crimp and seat the primers correctly and load my first rounds.

Much fun ahead!!
That’s awesome man.
 
Well Desert Tech / Lothar Walther barrels continue to amaze me !!! Just installed my 338Lap Barrel picked a random load for starters and went out this arvo to sight in.

First groups at 200yds..... First shot of 3 was just left , next 2 touching...whole group still VERY good.
2nd group after moving .1 mil right......3 shots through basically one whole !!! VERY impressive.

Load used AR2225 and Sierra 250 Matchking.

Installed an MDT Comp Brake .... so far very impressed........puts the felt recoil in the vicinity of a 22-250!!

Tomorrow will be 1000yds and 1760 yds.......looking forward to seeing what it does at these ranges..
 

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I want to stone the trigger on my SRS A2 to get rid of the slight amount of creep, but am unsure if the most likely causal factor is the sear engagement (located at rear of transfer bar) or the transfer bar (I've heard of people polishing the transfer bar). Anyone screwed with this?
 
Tried finding a video somewhere, how hard is it to change the handgaurd from covert to srs on a A1? Where is the best place to buy one? Thanks
 
Changing the handguard on Gen 1 and A1s is a pain and not something you can do in the field like you can with the A2. It requires you remove the skins, mount the receiver in a vice, and then use a special tool to loosen/tighten the handguard. They come from the factory extremely tight, so the first time is always the hardest. The A2 made the handguards quick to swap with just removing screws.
 
If you know how to use a ratchet and socket, you have all of the skills needed to change the handguard out. The first time does require a vice in my experience, but it doesn't take more than a couple minutes total after that.

Finding them is the hard part. I tried looking up pricing and such before I listed my DT stuff for sale and couldn't get a good line on a Covert-to-Standard kit. Probably requires phone calls to the dealers that stocked A1's heavily and see if someone has something hiding on a shelf, or luck in the PX.
 
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for those of you interested, this is an awesome barrel option:

 
I want to stone the trigger on my SRS A2 to get rid of the slight amount of creep, but am unsure if the most likely causal factor is the sear engagement (located at rear of transfer bar) or the transfer bar (I've heard of people polishing the transfer bar). Anyone screwed with this?
Mine had what I considered quite a bit of creep for a precision rifle trigger. I used a stone to create a secondary angle(like you see on a 1911 sear) on the transfer bar. It only took a few minutes to make a huge difference in trigger feel and getting rid of the creep. Initially I was just going to remove material and reduce sear engagement but though it better to leave as much there as possible for safety reasons. I banged the gun around after with the skins off to make sure the striker wouldn’t release and double checked the adjustment on the safety screw in the trigger.
I did buy a spare transfer bar from Midwest gunworks for piece of mind before attempting this.

I am not a gunsmith, just a mechanic and home gunsmiff, tinkering on my own firearms and am not suggesting anyone else do the same.
 
Mine had what I considered quite a bit of creep for a precision rifle trigger. I used a stone to create a secondary angle(like you see on a 1911 sear) on the transfer bar. It only took a few minutes to make a huge difference in trigger feel and getting rid of the creep. Initially I was just going to remove material and reduce sear engagement but though it better to leave as much there as possible for safety reasons. I banged the gun around after with the skins off to make sure the striker wouldn’t release and double checked the adjustment on the safety screw in the trigger.
I did buy a spare transfer bar from Midwest gunworks for piece of mind before attempting this.

I am not a gunsmith, just a mechanic and home gunsmiff, tinkering on my own firearms and am not suggesting anyone else do the same.
Thanks, exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I have a few thoughts on doing this already, but appreciate a different view.
 
Has anyone had their desert tech in sandy or muddy conditions? I would think that with the wide open raceways, the bolt would gum up far quicker than a conventional action.
 
I’ve shot mine in some really sandy conditions in CA and NV, as well as muddy conditions in NZ. But just normal target shooting or hunting, not low crawling with it under barb wire. It wasn’t an issue for me but the bolt got a bit sluggish, that’s all.
 
Over the past weeks i have been enjoying my HTI with the 50BMG more and more. A young friend of mine came out on a few occasions and was so impressed he decided to purchase a HTI 50BMG himself.

I knew of an elderly collector/shooter that was parting with several exotic toys ...amongst them was an HTI "Covert" ...it had a professionally shortened hand guard and a custom 20" carbon barrel.

My young friend fell in love with it and purchased it on the spot!!

So ...here we are...pics...HTI 50BMG "Covert" :)
 

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Has anyone had their desert tech in sandy or muddy conditions? I would think that with the wide open raceways, the bolt would gum up far quicker than a conventional action.

You'd think but I've had this thing in pretty awful conditions and it just doesn't go down. One instance that stands out in my mind is a time I had it in a rack on the front of an ATV going down a dusty mountain road behind a pickup truck with the action open with a chamber flag (at a match) for about 1.5 miles. Didn't think about it until I got back to camp. You could wipe a pretty significant amount of sludge out of the action with your finger (dirt and lube combo). The gun never had an issue.

The system has flaws but action reliability is not one of them.

Gratuitous pic just because.

Edit: @wooferocau that HTI is dope. I had thought to myself doing something like that, while maybe not the most pleasant to shoot, would be the epitome of a man-packable anti-material system. Any idea what it weighs as pictured?

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How light can you get one of these DTA’s? Thinking for a hunting rifle with either a carbon barrel or thin 3b type contour and 20” barrel.
 
We've been down this road a number of times over the years. It's very difficult to get it down to a weight most hunters consider ideal and generally the only thing you can do is go with as light a scope as possible and then a thin or carbon-wrapped short barrel. It's just a heavy-ish platform to begin with.
 
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@Baron85 It's so modular its hard to give a hard and fast number but a person who was really dedicated to getting the weight down might could get it to 9 lbs (thats full setup, not just rifle). Not super light but certainly possible. I hunt with mine and pack it in the ruck regularly and its not awful. Not great either, though
 
If weight is your primary concern, look elsewhere. If modularity, size, accuracy, and ergonomics are among your primary concerns, then it's a good choice.
 
I had a gen 1 dta years ago and really liked it but sold it looking for greener pastures. I would like to get it to around 10#s. I have other lighter rifles but if I could get a dta scoped and suppressed around 10#s would be fun to add back into the rotation.
 
I've been wanting to pull the trigger on the same short 5-25x specifically so I could put non-poor thermal goodness on a Covert.
 
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I've been wanting to pull the trigger on the same short 5-25x specifically so I could put non-poor thermal goodness on a Covert.
I think the nx8 2.5-20 just might fit with the Xii

Gonna try it. 2.5-20 my favorite clip on scope. Better glass and 2.5x is 10x better for close shots and backing out to find the next target