Daniel Defense Delta 5

A New Direction

The Delta 5 is the first bolt action produced by uber black-rifle builder Daniel Defense and was formally introduced to a select group of gun writers last December at a secret location in Georgia. The group included many of the top word-slingers in the business and — by some monumental miscalculation — Your Humble Servant was also invited. Of course, I didn’t argue and took my scribbling seat with all the other semi-luminaries.

On a sunny but cool morning precisely at 8, CEO Marty Daniel stood up in a lakeside cabin, sunlight illuminating him so perfectly I was sure a special-effects crew was stationed outside, and hoisted the Delta 5 for the bunch of us. To say everyone was shocked would be hyperbole, but there were audible noises and tongue clucks rippling through the room like a gust of wind through a wheat field.

Searching for some literary device to frame a story about this entirely new product line, I later asked Marty if this was a “left turn” from their place as one of the best AR-platform builders in the world. He didn’t miss a beat.

“It’s not so much a left turn, it’s just a continuation,” he said, drawing attention to one of the singular features of this most unusual gun. “The engineers have done a really good job of taking the modularity of an AR we know so well, and building it into a bolt-action rifle. The Delta is a math symbol that means ‘the difference’ so that’s why we named it ‘Delta 5’ — it’s so different from anything on the market.”

Whoa! Did he say “modularity” and “bolt-action rifle” in the same sentence?

We all know one thing to be true: Precision bolt-action rifles must either be built by a specialized gunsmith using parts from widely disparate manufacturers, or be purchased from semi-custom builders at a price equivalent to two semesters at a state university. In either case, switching out parts on the assembled gun — shooters being unrepentant tinkerers — means a trip back to the gunsmith.

But with the Delta 5, things have changed — Significantly.