I have a friend named Bax.
He's a former Jarhead, opinionated, somewhat self-aggrandizing, but
smart. He keeps me honest. Around me, it just seems the subject of
AR-15 rifles just swirl like radioactive fallout in a breeze. This
dust is of my own making, as I nuked the AR-15 platform in one of my
articles. While it is true that I do hate the AR-15 for many
reasons, I also love it for many others. There are strong points in
its favor and I have some AR-15's for those reasons.
In the middle of yet another
AR-15 discussion on WeTheArmed.com, the subject of Charles Daly came
up. I dismissed Charles Daly off hand because of previous
experiences with CD products that left me disappointed. I generally
operate on the Fool Me Once principle, so I had no interest in
exploring another CD product.
Bax however, was insistent
and somehow got Charles Daly involved. Mr. Kassnar himself,
President of Charles Daly stepped up and offered a CD rifle for
defense. To clarify, Charles Daly's Defense division, CDD has the AR
line, and it was a CDD rifle that was send to me. A straight forward
M-4 clone, no frills.
On the CDD web page, it's the second one from the top.
The Specs. Item No.:
CCDM4E16. 5.56mm Nato, 16” Barrel, 1x7 ROT, MSRP $1309.00USD. Flat
top, with removable carry handle. Fixed front sight. 6 position
collapsible stock. Chrome lined 4150 barrel, M-4 feed ramps, M-4
fore end.
When the rifle came, I was
expecting it to be at the Bushmaster/Armalite level, meaning
typically Milspec and rough. But I was pleased to see that it was
much better than that. I am a critic by nature, and if there is
something to criticize, I am inclined to do that. I was batter up at
the plate ready to swing and knock this rifle over Bax's head. I
felt deflated. It looked good. It felt good. It didn't have any
“cheap gun” rattles. It didn't have a grind in the action like
cheaper AR rifles do.
In fact, it looked just like
a Rock River. I had a Rock River on hand in the exact same set up,
so I compared them side to side. It was like I was looking at twins.
However the Charles Daly had an advantage. The gas key on the
bolt carrier is staked securely while the Rock River was not.
This is an important detail for a heavy duty use gun. Other
than that, they were virtually identical.
Well, not quite. The CD gun was better looking. The exterior finish
was cleaner, blacker, and smoother. It honestly looked better. Felt
better to.
I had to shoot it. We had
got in some new optical gunsights. One is called the ISM-V from
Insight Technologies. It had to be tested out too, so this looked
like a good match up. I mounted the optic, gave it a quick bore
sight and hit the range.
Because most of the interest
in this gun was from online sources, I wanted to break away from
normal article tradition, and take some video to post on YouTube.
The first time out with the
CDD, I noticed the only real complaint that I could find. The
trigger was typical MilSpec. This means it was a touch heavy in the
second stage with a little creep and a little grit. Not bad, just
completely average. No better and no worse than any other trigger
for this type of rifle at this price range. We didn't have much
time, but Marcus, a co-worker and I blasted through a couple mag
fulls. The gun shot quite well and was easy to hit with... typical
of the AR type. Nothing out of the ordinary and we experienced no
jams. And this was just right out of the box. Box to Range. No
cleaning or lube.
ROUND COUNT: 150.
To do this right and to give
this gun a fair shake, I had to give it a cleaning and while doing
so, examine the internal parts. The internals looked as good as the
externals. No shortcuts, no hidden problems or skeletons. Just good
quality parts that were built right.
I cleaned the weapon using a
new CLP product branded by Smith & Wesson, made sure every part was
properly lubed, and reassembled it. This was the only cleaning I did
on the gun until the completion of the evaluation. However I did
lube it along the way, using Tetra Gun Oil on the bolt and bolt
carrier. That was it.
ROUND COUNT: 560.
Not wanting to review the
optic and focus just on the gun, all subsequent shooting was done
with the gun's carry handle attached and just used the iron sights.
However it must be said that this ISM-V is a great choice for a
combat red dot type sight. It co-witnessed with the front sight
perfectly and allowed you to use the optic as a ghost ring sight for
fast close range shooting.
Extending the shooting range
further and you can use the optic as advertised. The accuracy was
exceptional. Very consistent. As was the ejection. Unlike most AR-s,
the CDD spit out all the brass in about a 4 foot area. Better than
the typical 8 foot area of most AR builds.
ROUND COUNT: 880... no video.
One of the things I am interested in
when it comes to weapon, is can they actually be applied to work.
I have to tell you... yes. Since I don't have a supply of
Iraqi Insurgents to deal with, I have to find an alternative.
We do have coyotes out here and I was able to test the CDD rifle on
a couple of them. From the back of the truck into firing
position, the CDD performed well. From spotting 3 coyotes, I
was able to put 2 of them down cleanly and quickly.
I did have one failure with
the rifle, and I'm going to take that on the chin and admit it was
Operator Error. I didn't have the magazine seated properly, so when
the weapon fired the first round, the magazine fell so it couldn't
feed the next one. That was my fault, and not the weapon's. That
being said, the functioning of the gun has been flawless. Again,
this is something I was not expecting and was even hoping it would
be otherwise.
When I benched the rifle, it
was a very cold day. Not quite warm enough to keep me from shivering
slightly. But it was still accurate enough to shoot under an inch.
Open sights on a frosty, foggy day when I couldn't even see the
target clearly through the fog – I'll take that accuracy happily. I
bet on a warm clear day, that group could have been shrunk by half.
ROUND COUNT: 1000
I'm giving this rifle a 9
out of 10. It loses points for the trigger, but everything else was
solid.
