CDD-15 D-M4
I received my Charles Daly D-M4 on Monday evening during a rain storm. I drove fast for the entire trip there. My FFL had gotten it in earlier and I had to call him to check on it because Michael Kassnar had told me it should have been there already. I had called and asked if he had received anything from Charles Daly and he said, “I think I do... are you Tig...” I said yeah that’s me. Anyway I arrived safely, signed that beautiful form that we all love fill out and checked to see if everything was in the box was there and it was. Inside was an M4 flat top with carrying handle, a mag and what looked like some brochures. I drove home at an equal or greater speed to get a look at what I was going to be testing.
I got home and immediately went to the “gun room” and removed the carbine from it’s hardshell foam lined case. Inside was a different flat top M4 than I was used to. The finish was a deep black but not Teflon like some nor spray paint looking black like some others. The finish is similar to an HK semigloss that’s just a hair less glossy. For black rifle lovers this is a very nice black that you will love. Now it was time to see how well it was made and do a detail by detail check.
While admiring the black I began looking it over. The first thing I checked was the front sight base and the “F” was easily recognizable. I moved back to the carrying handle to be sure the sights I’ll be using would be sturdy and it was. The carrying handle is a standard A3 with the 6/3 minus one M4 rear sight. I looked towards the front and noticed that the heat shields in the handguard were black as well. I then looked over stock wondering if it used a commercial buffer tube or a mil-spec version. To check I used the Vltor stock from another AR but it wouldn’t fit. That was the first negative I found but it’s not a real negative as many stock manufacturers now make their stocks in both commercial and mil-spec versions should you decide to change stocks.
I decided it was time to field strip it and see how well the internals were made so I pushed the take down pin and was surprised at the fit. The pin was snug but didn’t need to be pushed out with extreme effort or a punch. Which is just about perfect for field use.
After having opened it up I removed the bolt carrier group and charging handle. The charging handle was the same beautifully evil black. I then removed the bolt carrier group I checked the gas key screws for staking. Many AR’s and M4's come with no staking or a cosmetic staking. The staking on the D-M4 was deep and actually extended into the gas key screws preventing walk out during extended fire.. The bolt carrier was lubed but not pouring out on my hands, just a nice coat to ship the carbine off the dealer. The bolt carrier itself is a chrome lined and parkerized. It also shrouds the firing pin which increases the life of the firing pin. Despite being parkerized it was quite smooth unlike some I’ve seen from other manufacturers. I reached for my pocket knife to remove the firing pin retaining pin when I noticed that it was a nice dark black. The pin wasn’t bent like some and came out easily by hand once clear of the recess where the head of the pin rests when assembled for use. Next I slid the firing pin out and found it was a normal AR-style firing pin, one of the few “standard” pieces in or on the carbine. Next came the cam and yet again it was a beautiful deep black unlike any I’d seen before.
Next came the bolt removal and inspection. I removed the bolt and some lube came out of the extractor area, not too much, but enough to fire it immediately after pulling it from the factory case. With the bolt removed it was easy to verify that the bolt carrier was chrome lined just as the bolt is. The last logical step is to check the extractor. The extractor pin was snug and wouldn’t walkout during hard use of the D-M4. I was able to remove the pin with a small punch to inspect the spring and insert. The spring is the extra power spring with the black insert. Also it came with the O-ring from the factory. The heavy spring and O-ring are what make the extractor snug, so you have two nice features that enhance each other. So the extractor and its constituent parts will make for a carbine with no extraction or ejection problems.
The last thing I had to check was the barrel. The chamber and bore have a nice chrome lining and I’m a chrome or go home guy so that impressed me. As for the barrel itself it’s the same beautiful, evil deep black. On top of the barrel just forward of the front sight base are the markings; “5.56 Nato 1-9 CHROME”. It’s topped of with a USGI M16A2 birdcage flash suppressor.
Pictures and my shooting impressions will follow soon. Magpul was kind enough to send some of their new twenty round Pmags so they will be tested along with the carbine.
At this point of my review I’m comfortable in saying that if I were to buy a carbine in this price range today, I would buy Charles Daly’s D-M4 over any other brand.
TS
This post has been edited by TigerStripe: May 10th 2008 2:18 PM
May 10th 2008 2:18 PM
