A couple of years ago, DD released the Delta 5 and it was more or less what the Cross is out of the gate—hunting focused and “general” in use. But since the Delta 5 came out, I and many others wondered when they’d release a more target-focused and target-friendly version. Well here it is. The Delta 5 Pro has the same three-lug action tucked into a new heavy-duty chassis and it has precision rifle competition written all over it.
The chassis is mondo beefy with good adjustability in the comb and length of pull departments. It also features a forend with a full length RRS Standard/Arca rail built into it. It looks like they got some help from Area 419 since the badging appears on the forend and the rifle comes with one of their brakes, giving it high scores in the recoil control department.
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The Daniel Defense wanted to shoot great groups early, and we’d shoot five rounds with a random flier somewhere in the mix. It wasn’t always round number five that was off— it varied. We knew what it wanted to do, but we found that the barrel nut had worked its way loose after all testing concluded. As a comparison, we had a second unit on hand briefly that shot 0.5-MOA from jump. No doubt it’s capable.
The Timney Elite Hunter trigger was excellent and broke cleanly. Although set a bit heavy, it still managed to surprise us if we weren’t paying attention. For whatever reason, it just seems like the Timney Triggers in the group gave better “breaking” feedback than the Trigger Tech versions. That’s just a side note.
Where we all complained on the DD was the action. While it’s light and can be fast, it binds a lot. It’s hard to get a read on why, though. “Super stiff, have to utilize my entire shooting arm to engage,” noted our newest bolt gunner. It might need more break-in, but as soon as you’re feeling invincible with the Delta 5 Pro, an unwarranted bobble erases any perceived momentary greatness. I’d like to shoot one that has a few thousand rounds on it.
Now, the DD is priced at $2,500 and that is a serious bargain on a rifle that we think will last you a long time and break in and do great things for you. If you learn to run the action right, it’s ready to compete locally right out of the gate.
