Desert Tech Booth SHOT Show 2014

As many of you know it was announced earlier this month that Desert Tech turned down a rather large contract that would have supplied rifles to Pakistan, instead of compromising their beliefs they stood firm and did not take the money. If you didn't like what Desert Tech was doing before you should really like them now, I know this move made me like them even more.

With that said, I was excited when I received the email that they would be debuting the MDR (Micro Dynamic Rifle) during SHOT Show. With the success of the Tavor it was only a matter of time before more companies dove into the bull pup market, and with the MDR Desert Tech came out swinging.

While the MDR's that they had at the show were prototypes and the actual rifles will not release until 2015, you got a very good idea of just how balanced the MDR will be. Since it is fully ambidextrous, and the controls are the "same" as the M-4/AR-15 platform it felt very natural to shoulder the rifle and manipulate the controls.

One of the other great things about the MDR was the fact that it will be adaptable to multiple different calibers by switching out the barrel, bolt, and mag well. The current plan is to release it as a .308 and 5.56 at first and then offer options such as 7.62x39, .300BLK, and 6.8 SPC, and as I said before the greatest part about that is they will only require changing out parts and not the complete rifle.

Overall I am extremely excited to see the finished product of the MDR, and hopefully get my hands on one at some point. As much as I enjoyed shooting the Tavor I did not like how the controls were all rearward and took some thinking to manipulate them correctly. Having the controls setup the way they are on the MDR would only require training yourself to bring the magazine to the rear to load it.