Best Bullpup Out There? Desert Tech MDR-X 6.5 Creedmoor Review 

I recently purchased the new Desert Tech MDRX 308 and have had nothing but problems. The manufacturer is slow to respond doesn’t fully address the scope of failures this rifle has presented and is clearly only interested in selling crap. Out of the box this rifle will not shoot 308 ammo consistently. My riffle ejected the magazine after the first round was fired. The manufacturer suggests that I should bend the magazine catch to fix the problem. They also indicate they will send me a new catch but I have been waiting 3 weeks now and nothing. The first batch of ammo I put thru it was 308 150 grain solid tip hunting/target round. The riffle would only lightly dimple the primer on every other round and then jam in the bolt carrier while trying to eject an unspent round. It would end up with two rounds jammed in the chamber. I moved to a higher end 7.62 bulk mill spec ammo and the riffle would cycle the ammo on the Advanced gas block setting as long as the forward eject panel was removed allowing the casings to fly out of the side. The 7.62 casing often jam in the forward eject panel or miss it and get jammed between the bolt carrier and forward eject panel. After about 800 rounds the rifle will cycle 7.62 ammo on one setting towards Suppressed and 308 ammo on Normal. The forward eject panel still does not cooperate with the 7.62 casing. The riffle really does not like Easter European 7.62 ammo as they tend to get stuck in the chamber and if the gas is turned up too high the rifle will rip the rims off. And for whatever reason the rifle does not like soft tip 308 ammo, usually lightly dimpling every other round and causing a double round in the chamber jam. Out of the box the trigger would stick. After each round fired you might have to wait a couple seconds listening for the reset click or tap on the side to get it to reset. Upon internal inspection it appears the trigger rod is stamped out of metal and the process creates burrs on the back side of the trigger rod that rub on the plastic lower housing. In addition, removing the rear trigger assembly reveals the latch that catches the trigger hammer is cutting a groove in the notch it is supposed to catch. I have recently replaced the rear trigger assembly but have yet to test it. One of the four screws on the right hand side above the pistol grip fell out and was lost during the first day shooting. On the second day of shooting the casing ejection port dust cover began falling apart. The hinge pin works its way out, the clasp does not hold the door closed and the spring does not hold it open any longer. Desert Techs response: “send it in and we will fix it”. That’s all well and good as an idea but I still have not received the parts promised me from three weeks ago. Something at the rear of the rifle appears to be deforming as the rear push pin requires additional effort to reinstall as the rifle wears in. As it is now you have to have a buddy compress two of the tree components while you apply pressure to the third and insert the pin. In summary Desert Techs marketing script couldn’t be further from the truth. This is the least reliable weapon I have ever owned. I wouldn’t lug this thing hunting and certainly wouldn’t trust my life to it. It is an extremely overpriced range talking piece and that is it. Furthermore, you will likely not find many negative review as the manufacturer spends more time and effort on PR than they do manufacturing. My ip address was blocked from viewing and contributing to their blog because I am not a satisfied customer. Update! After my last series of posts I received communication from Jeff Wood of coldboremiracle.com/ (coldboremirakle@gmail.com). Jeff let me know that he is Desert Techs go to repair man and that he could fix it. I sent the rifle back to the manufacturer and they sent it off to Jeff for repairs. It took about a month and when I received it, the contents where in a new hard plastic case that also include a repair statement from Desert Tech. The statement indicates that a few parts were repaired or replaced and that the 25-round magazine I sent them was incompatible with the rifle as it holds too many rounds. Apparently, you may only use a 20 round or few magazines with this rifle and despite what all the advertisements say the 10-round magazine is the only one that shoots consistently. The statement also indicates that Desert Tech was able to accomplish his diagnosis of “good to go” after firing 20 rounds of 308 and 20 rounds of 7.62 x51... I’m Curious how he was able to diagnose the 25-round magazine and 20 round magazine after only firing 40 rounds but I’m no mathematician. They must have had a bad experience there not telling anyone about. The freshly returned rifle appeared cleaned and well lubricated. Nothing was done about the factory trigger that appears prematurely warn. The Jard trigger works flawlessly once adjusted. The forward ejection panel that was giving the 7.62 x51 rounds so much trouble appears new and the dust cover flap is now working properly. The magazine catch latch was replace with one that does not appear to have the same poor casting as the original and did not need to be manipulated to work. On the first trip out shooting after the rifle was returned to me it initially gave me no issues using 10 round magazines shooting 308 or 7.62 x51 cold. As I switch to the 20-round magazine, the gun is already heated up a bit and still on the Normal gas block setting, the 308 rounds start to jam towards the end of the clip (round 16-18). The old cartridge is ejected fine, but the new cartridge is only halfway in the chamber when the action slams closed on it. I adjusted the gas block one setting towards Advanced and I get the same jam. On the final Advanced setting of the gas block the 308 jam is reduced to every other clip. Switching back to 7.62 x51 20-round magazine I set the gas block to Normal and while still hot the 3rd round fired has the rim ripped off the cartridge and left in the chamber. After removing the spent cartridge and cleaning the chamber I call it a day. The next day I go out and buy the exact same ammo Jeff used to test the rifle. The first two 10-round magazines of 308 go smoothly and then the first 20-round magazine of 308 jams like before on round 17. The second 20-round magazine and the 16th round does not discharge but instead gets stuck in the chamber with the action locked on behind it. So stuck I could not safely dislodge it or tear it down at the range. When I get home and tear it down, I discover the unspent round is the shape of a banana. I’m now getting ready to ship it back to the manufacturer again. I did not get to test the new 7.62 x51 rounds. In short, this is a $2,500.00 rifle that fails at performing its primary task and the failure of which is somehow out done by its manufacturer who expects you to put over 1000 round thru a faulty weapon in order to make it a slightly less unreliable and do it 10 rounds at a time with multiple months long pauses in-between where the rifle must be sent back to the manufacturer for “repair”... 2nd Update! As if this couldn’t get any worse, I received communication from Jeff that my riffle never made it to him, he was out of town on a hunt. Desert Tech had someone else perform the warranty work who was out of the loop on the issues I have been communicating. They obviously did not read the two page right-up I sent with the riffle. Furthermore after taking over a week to respond to me this is the response I received from Glen Fullmer: Good afternoon Scott, Please find the warranty claim form attached. If you will complete it and get it back to me, I’ll generate another RMA. Please note that if we can’t identify a defect in the rifle or duplicate the issues you’re reporting, we will charge for testing and evaluation ($50), ammunition used, and any shipping/repackaging costs. Thank you. Glen Fullmer Warranty Manager Desert Tech 801-975-7272 Ext. 148 g.fullmer@deserttech.com I feel that if anyone should be charging for testing it’s going to be me. So in summary Desert tech is continuing to take the approach of blaming the operator instead of the manufacturer. The continue to negligently push a defective and dangerous product on it’s consumers.

The biggest issue I have with this gun is, weather to get it in Tan, or Black?

BTW, your thumbnail has an MDR in it, not an MDRX.

Pretty nifty, Sir!

Having never shot a bull pup before I think I'd go for the IWI Tavor personally. Maybe that's just because I've always wanted an IWI though 😁 Bull pups have always sparked my interest, I'd love to have one of these bad boys. Too bad it's not financially feasible for me right now. Good video brother!

I have the X95 in 5.56. These can be had now on the used market for between 1k -1.4k. I got mine for 1.2k a couple years ago. This year I got the Tavor 7 and it is just as sweet to shoot as the X95. You can convert the X95 to 9mm, or 300 BO, and fully left or right handed operationi. If you can, get the X-95 in 9mm, and when you can afford a conversion kit get the 300 BO conversion and your all set. Enjoy

I hear it's made in America. We need more American companies making great things. I've heard kel tec is USA made as well but, that they have some issues.

Reminds me of the Kel-Tec RDB that I just recently purchased with the exception of where the spent casings are expelled . I know I was surprised at how soft a shooter it was & it's lighter than my AR-15 as well . The Bullpup design in itself is pretty cool, you can have a longer barrel with an over all shorter package & not loose bullet velocity because of it.

Got to say... The mdrx seems like a nifty gun. With all those calibers it's insane. Can it fire .300 black out or 450 bushmaster?

WTF is ambidex-tree-ous?

Perhaps I missed it but what is the barrel lenght of those calibur conversions ?

Think it's worth getting? Torn right now between this and a TAVOR sar7 in 308

Did you guys see the harmonics?

I pick mine up Friday 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳👋👋

i would love to see you have the 6.5 ceedmoor barrel shortened to 12.5" with a suppressor my understanding is a short barrel 308 can easily work at 600 yards for hunting etc and the 6.5 creedmoor should do even better

Have you seen the MDR SE (side ejection)? It has the ability to look at the chamber from the side but you do lose the cool front ejection system. I’ve also heard the malfunctioning front ejection is quite common when the bolt isn’t brought to full extension with force. Leads to a lot of jams

Wow that is NOT barrel harmonics - those are microscopic. That is an incorrectly supported barrel. Perhaps their barrel quick release system needs a little more work.... We have sold only 4 of these in our shop - 3 in 6.5CM and one in 308 . 50% have been returned for issues right out of the box. the other 2 seemed to work fine for the buyers. That is not a great track record, and we have stopped ordering these until they get a little more experience under their belts. The 2 customers who had defective guns, did not have a smooth time with customer service, getting them to admit to the issue and have them return them for repair. None have received them back yet after *only* 45 days one one, 62 on the other. If IWI made the Tavor 7 into the shape form and features of the X95, and offered it in 6.5cm you would have perfection. Except for the trigger. But it IS a bullpup.

I'd go for 5.56 just because it is compact and the caliber doesn't have a lot of recoil.

These guys are so feminine and sassy and arguing with them self about petty stuff. Please just review the gun

BTW, there's only one i in ambidextrous

The SCAR the bolt cycles on every shot and can cause problems.

This guys so funny review this gun it should be Gays, Guns, and Peace ✌️

Wait you will sometimes find that one person who pretends to know about guns and then says something like.... Where is the bolt or mag release on a revolver... Showing they know nothing and making everyone laugh.

Thats MILD as it pushes u back loool

CYTO... 🤣🤣🤣