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There were two themes this year at SHOT Show: bullpups and 3D printing. With the insane success of the TAVOR, bullpup configuration rifles are popping up all over, and Desert Tech is no exception. We’ve reviewed their DTA SRS rifle last year and loved it, so I have no doubt that this will be just as good. But the models we saw at the show weren’t complete — they were just 3D printed pre-production mockups. Which brings me to theme #2: 3D printing. Every new gun, from the new BAR to the SIX12 is made (at least partially) out of 3D printed parts. I’ll go into that a little more in depth later, but it looks like 3D printing is the next big thing for the gun industry. Oh, and the MDT is pretty sweet too.

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25 COMMENTS

  1. The MDR 5.56MM will MSRP closer to IWI’s Tavor. However, its 7.62MM iteration will be closer to $2,500. At least it’ll take SR-25 mags, though. Speaking of mags, I wonder if they’ll get on board and chose MagPul’s new 6.8 PMag as the feedin’ box for a (possible) future 6.8MM SPC conversion kit.

    • That is easily the most desirable rifle I’ve seen in a while if they’re bringing it to .308 with SR 25 mags. Pie a corner with that cannon and you’ll need to mop splatter of whatever you hit off of yourself but that’s the only time I would say red dot on a .308 and mean it.

  2. Do you mean the mockups are “made out of 3D printed parts”? Almost all modern firearms design takes advantage of 3D printing in its process (hell every future physical product does), but no one to my knowledge is using 3D printing as a production method. You’re just going to confuse people (even further).

    And its not really “the next big thing” just because 3D printing is just now getting layman attention. Its been a thing for a while now.

    It was called rapid prototyping before “the next big thing” journalism discovered the term 3D printing.

  4. 9mm carbine version that takes Glock mags plz?

    It’d be nice if SOMEBODY made enough of them that they’d actually be in f–king stock when I went shopping :/

    • Why can’t we have proprietary mags that look like they belong with the rifle, rather than pistol mags that look like a bad afterthought?

    • You have enough options that take glock mags! Ease someone make a 9mm carbine that takes m&p mags! Just one! I’ll buy it, I swear!

  5. This is currently my goal for my ideal home defense/possible concealed-carry rifle, if it actually comes to market. I like how they’re trying to make this less of a straight firearm, and more of a platform in the same way the AR-15 has become. Do they have the 5 calibers posted yet?

  6. I can seem them now in the next Weinstein brothers flick. Single point slings for underarm carry, long black trench coats, leather of course. We’ll call it “Welcome Back,Neo.” Maybe it will star Colion Noir, and his opening line will be, “Let me whip this out.”

  7. I just can’t get on board with the bullpups…

    How long is the average AR (16 inch barrel) with the stock collapsed, 32 inches, give or take?

    The bullpups scream niche, more than than practicality, especially with the price bump that comes along with them.

    • Try to get around the corners in your home without sticking the muzzle around the corner with your standard length AR. The inches make a difference and leave more room for movement without betrayal of your weapons presence.

      • I’ve cleared rooms with an AR, it’s not impossible to make corners.

        And, at some point the muzzle of any gun is going to enter the room, or make a corner before you do, that’s just the physics of an object being in front of you while you and the object are moving forward.

        I think the issues the bullpups solves are over exaggerated, just my opinion.

    • Quite a long time ago when Her Majesty paid be to be one of her least useful soldiers, I did a few runs through urban training areas in the UK. During my time, the unit switched from the L1A1 (imperial semi-auto FN-FAL) to the L85A1 (much maligned bullpup). Both firing blank rounds in training (so ‘stopping power’ and recoil were moot), both about nine pounds’ weight, but the L85 was a lot shorter for the same barrel length.

      Leaving other issues about the L85 aside (very bad start indeed, became a good rifle, now excellent) it was much, much easier to quickly fight through a building with the shorter weapon. A few complained that they couldn’t switch shoulders to fire from right-side-concealed, but our instructor (Falklands and NI veteran) pointed out that most domestic construction was only concealment, not cover, against rifle fire at short range.

      I’d definitely look at either a bullpup or a short barreled rifle like a 12″ AR for indoor work. (I’d also think about a suppressor, too, you can still see the troughs in my audiogram from those years…)

      If the rifle’s a general-purpose tool that you expect to include indoor use with, *really* think about bullpup: the long barrel in a short package helps a lot at longer ranges, both for accuracy and apparenty for effectiveness. (Shooting against the clock at 300 yards, I could hit a Figure 11 target with L1A1 about 50-60% of the time; with the L85A1, I was hitting the same target at 400 yards almost every time, both using irons only). More to it than “bullpups accurate”, but they do have a lot of advantages.

      Out of interest, has anyone offered a bullpup kit for the AR platform? Seems sensible given its huge popularity and the range of mods and accessories available for it. Or is there some underlying reason why it’s not possible?

      • I see the advantages of bullpups for the exact purpose you’re stating, urban environments where you need to quickly clear room after room and building after building.

        However, I’m not in the military anymore and I’m not a cop, I know the lay out of my home, I know the corners, blind spots and entrances, all I need to do it clear my rooms and my building. And, I don’t have back up, nor do I have an endless budget to buy weapons, the bullpups are OK, just not within my budget, or need.

        The AR is about as small as it can be, some are smaller than others, but there is a limit. The buffer spring and tube goes in the stock and the gas system goes up the barrel, it wouldn’t be a conversion kit, it would be a new gun kit.

  8. Is that the ejection port just above and behind the pistol grip? It sort of looks like it’s designed to eject brass forward (like the KelTec RFB) in order to make it lefty-friendly, but in that position it really looks like hot brass would be in danger of hitting your trigger hand (for righties) or your off-hand forearm (for lefties). It’s an interesting rifle, but I’ll wait to see video of it in action before making any further judgements.

  9. How did you forget to mention it shoots 5.56 and 308 from the same rifle?

    Price premium for the 308 is to be expected… Even though the 5.56 version has a magwell insert…

    Kinda shocked Desert Tech wouldn’t have a 6.5 Grendel conversion planned.

    • I would definitely like to see one of these in 6.5 Grendel. That said, it’s quite likely that there will be a .260 Remington version as that would only require a new barrel to convert the .308, and .260 is a 6.5 Grendel on steroids.

    • I was thinking the same thing. Why not just cancel the 6.8 SPC and replace it with the 6.5 Grendel, especially since they already have .300 BLK that (with supersonic loads) will do the same thing the 6.8 does.

  10. It’s guns like this that help me appreciate the P-90 even more for home defense.
    Short, ambidextrous, not overly penetrating, 50 round mag that rides on top. Bottom eject.
    Yup.

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