Whats the word on Del-Ton?

[mr.trooper]

Searching on some forums returns horror stories about how terrible they are. Searching on yet other forums brings up threads singing their praises.

im interested in ordering upper assemblies. Are Del-Ton uppers of decent quality? im not expecting top end or anything, just something functional.

 

[longdayjake]

I have had experience in ordering del-ton. They aren't a horrible rifle, but I have more recently ordered a kit from j&t distributors that was delivered much faster, and is better quality (by my standards). Also, don't be fooled by del-ton's prices. They charge $40 for shipping and even after they ship it you wait for a whole week for the carrier to get it to you. That said, Del-Ton is not a bad rifle, just not as cheap as you think when you look at their web pricing.

 

[railroader]

Where exactly are you finding these horror stories about del-ton. I researched before I ordered my mid length and pretty much all I was reading was very positive. People speak very highly about their product and customer service. If you are looking to build a nice basic ar you will be happy. My mid length runs great and looks fine. My buddy shot it and ordered the same rifle kit. His rifle runs just as good. I like my rifle so much I ordered a lightweight kit which I am currently waiting on. As for shipping charges I live clear out in california and each kit was $21 to ship. Mark

 

[Animal Mother]

I've never heard anything significantly bad about Del-Ton. I built an M-Forgery from one of their kits a little over a year ago, and while I haven't shot it a lot, their upper seems very nicely put together. Their web price was right on the money, unless you want to customize your order, which will cost more (of course). They shipped my order rapidly and at a fair price. One thing that did bug me is the following statement, on their website:

Ammunition Warning
Due to a number of comments and calls, we have come across feeding problems with certain ammunition. Shooting any of the following ammunition will VOID any warranty with Del-Ton, Inc;

-Wolf

-Norinco

-Any steel cased-cased ammunition

-Any lacquer-coated ammunition

-Any reloaded ammunition

I understand the disclaimer about reloaded ammo, but if your upper can't handle Wolf, then the problem is the receiver, not the ammo. Build it better. Bushmaster has no problems with a person using Wolf, granted, some people have more success than others. I can't think of another manufacturer who specifically prohibits Wolf.

 

[railroader]

My del-ton runs fine with wolf but I have heard of problems shooting it out of ars. From what I have read steel case ammo doesn't seal in the chamber as well as a brass case. This tends to leave more crap on the walls of the chamber. So you get the guy who never bothers to clean his rifle and he gets a brass case stuck after shooting a boat load wolf. He then wants del-ton to fix his rifle because it's broken. I have a kel-tec su16 and they say the same thing, no wolf. I shoot wolf out it too but I just keep the chamber clean and I have no problems. As for choking on wolf my stepson's 20" bushmaster would choke regularly on wolf and he kept it clean, go figure.

 

[Deer Hunter]

My Del-ton Mid-length has been 100% for about a thousand rounds. I cleaned it once when I got the upper in the mail.



It's the best AR for the money, in my opinion.

 

[RP88]

I apparently live like three hours away from their office. I got my midlength kit in like two days after placing the order. Shipping was 20 bucks. It feeds Wolf good enough, but jams are much more frequent. I think I've had one feed failure out of 300 PMC brass rounds, though, using both green and enhanced follower-equipped mags.

I also ordered mine in August.

 

[Hoppy590]

my delton upper runs great. havnt tried wolf yet, but my friends delton kit runs fine with it. he had a slight problem ( my mistake in installing the hammer spring) and we thought it was the firing pin. delton sent him a free replacement and demanded ( and if you ever talk to laura at delton. laura commands, you abide.) that he call them back if it didn't work.

they have been nothing but good to me and mine. and they will bend over backwards to do you right.

i understand the ammo warning because iv seen it from a number of mnf. its just them covering thier ass. so if you come up, having never cleaned your damn rifle, complaining about wolf. they can just say "we told you not to"

 

[Guns and more]

I understand the disclaimer about reloaded ammo, but if your upper can't handle Wolf, then the problem is the receiver, not the ammo. I can't think of another manufacturer who specifically prohibits Wolf.

CMMG says the same thing on their web site. I think they have a top notch AR.

 

[JWarren]

I've never heard anything bad about Del-ton, either. My research took me in their direction on my AR build, and I've been very happy with it for almost a year now.

BTW... a lot of manufacturers prohibit Wolf. My DPMS LR-308 did, so did my Del-ton. I've read several people mentioning other manufacturers.



-- John

 

[Deer Hunter]

(and if you ever talk to laura at delton. laura commands, you abide.)

Haha, you got that right! That's my cousin for you.

 

[GhostCat]

The only problem Del-Ton has is they are Swamped with Orders......I Ordered (2) AR Kits around thanksgiving and do not expect them 'til maybe March '09.
They are that Behind on Backorders and it's making some people MAD......I'm excersizing some patience and sitting back and waiting for shipment......
But I'm not MAD about it....

 

[railroader]

Del-ton feedback from ar15.com.
http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=7&f=109&t=302255

 

[mr.trooper]

huh, well thats good to know. I would like to pick up their 7.62x39 conversion kit sometime.

The same people that were dumping on Del-Ton were dumping on DPMS as well, so it was probably just a bunch of Colt snobs.

 

[Animal Mother]

It makes me feel better that Del-Ton isn't the only one prohibiting Wolf. I just had never heard of any other manufacturers doing it.

 

[The Foo]

I purchased their M4 16" upper assembly with Chrome barrel earlier in the summer last year. I've been completely please with their service and customer support. Mine runs like a champ.

DelTon is GTG

 

[db46]

I started getting scared for a minute there... Im wating for mine to come in now. I did a TON of research and found very few negative reviews abou Del-ton. First AR build on a budget

 

[DarkCharisma]

[quote="Animal Mother']
It makes me feel better that Del-Ton isn't the only one prohibiting Wolf. I just had never heard of any other manufacturers doing it.
[/quote]

I know both in a friends' RRA and my DPMS manual it says :

"<Manufacturer> recommends the use of only high quality, domestic made cartridges made by reputable manufacturers."

It then goes on to "highly discourage" the use of steel, reloaded, corrosive, or foreign ammunition.

I think it's more for liability then anything else, but I highly doubt you're going to see any decent AR-15 have serious issues with steel ammunition, tales of failure seem to be far/few between and in questionable circumstances, such as cycling brass directly after 100 rounds of steel, or similar.

 

[stalkingbear]

The problem with steel cased ammo is the lacquer coating on the cases to keep them from rusting. When you get real "happy" shooting your AR rapid fire (and who don't?), and the chamber becomes hot enough to melt that lacquer coating, it'll later return to solid state. That results in an buildup of lacquer in the chamber area. Need I explain more about the hazards or inconveniences of attempting to shoot a rifle with that buildup in chamber?

 

[DarkCharisma]

The problem with steel cased ammo is the lacquer coating on the cases to keep them from rusting. When you get real "happy" shooting your AR rapid fire (and who don't?), and the chamber becomes hot enough to melt that lacquer coating, it'll later return to solid state. That results in an buildup of lacquer in the chamber area. Need I explain more about the hazards or inconveniences of attempting to shoot a rifle with that buildup in chamber?

I've heard that before, I have also heard that it's not the lacquer, but the carbon buildup due to lack of casing expansion with steel, therefore causing flexible brass casings to 'weld' themselves to the chamber.

http://theboxotruth.com/docs/edu18.htm

Either way, I bought 200 rounds of Wolf that's probably lacquer coated, and I knew it--I'll shoot it off and see what happens, then report back.

 

[Heck]

My Del-ton midlength runs great. I have around 1,000 rounds through it and probably 300 of it was Wolf. I've never had an issue at all. Will buy from them again.

 

[laguna0seca]

Just yesterday i was flipping through a magazine waiting for a friend to finish shopping and they had an article featuring a del ton m4, mostly stock with different hand guard setup and optics and such. Having myself recently ordered a kit i read it. The review was very positive, citing a .75 inch group at 100 yds. BTW i ordered my kit with the YHM flip up front sight, and YHM light weight free float handguards and magpul ctr stock. I hope it works out. Not liking the wait though.