The story of my overgassed DD MK18 & DD CS

[Naphtali]

I called DD today and the warranty person said he was aware of this thread, as others had called, and they were all (at DD) wondering what we were talking about. Said they had always been willing to help customers however they possibly could, but there was no official effort to get all these barrels back for replacement. Did say he'd replace my 2 if I wanted.

I asked him without gas to face problems, would I be getting greater reliability / less recoil / other advantages to any non-trivial extent if I had them decrease the port size. His answer was no to everything - which could have been what he was told to say by corporate DD - as they just hadn't seen any systematic problems with the larger port size, over years of selling countless thousands. But they'd happily replace mine if it tickled my fancy. And no particular reason they're making them with smaller gas ports now.

Good customer service I guess, but I doubt I'm getting the full story from them...

[Naphtali]

We've never choked a port down for face gas. It's always to smooth the bolt speed for reliability.

Wouldn't a heavy enough buffer / spring accomplish the same thing?

[tom12.7]

That's not really always the better place to be in with an oversized base port

[tom12.7]

I called DD today and the warranty person said he was aware of this thread, as others had called, and they were all (at DD) wondering what we were talking about. Said they had always been willing to help customers however they possibly could, but there was no official effort to get all these barrels back for replacement. Did say he'd replace my 2 if I wanted.

I asked him without gas to face problems, would I be getting greater reliability / less recoil / other advantages to any non-trivial extent if I had them decrease the port size. His answer was no to everything - which could have been what he was told to say by corporate DD - as they just hadn't seen any systematic problems with the larger port size, over years of selling countless thousands. But they'd happily replace mine if it tickled my fancy. And no particular reason they're making them with smaller gas ports now.

Good customer service I guess, but I doubt I'm getting the full story from them...

He most likely wouldn't know to begin with.

[JulyAZ]

So what other benefits, if any, did you notice? And would you consider those benefits great enough to be worth the hassle / risk of swapping parts for a smaller port size in a gun where overgassing is not an issue?

The Recoil impulse is now manageable, it's super pleasant to shoot where before I hated it. I've shot slugs out of shotguns that were more pleasant than this over gassed MK18.

my brass is now deflecting to my 4 o'clock where before it was to my 1 o'clock.

Off the recoil management alone it was definitely worth it. Over gassing also wears the Gasport in the barrel itself will start erode from the inside out. A properly gassed gun will also provide longevity of the parts and the gun.

I played with all the buffer and spring combos you could imagine nothing helped this gun only the new barrel did, I have been waiting for Grant to get some of the Colt 10.3 inch barrels in so I can replace it but Daniel Defense finally agreed.

I'm sure if I shot cheap ammo it wouldn't have made a difference but I don't shoot wolf or Tula just M193, M855, and Black Hills 77.

SBRs are a different beast and if they don't shoot right they suck. I hated my MK18 before with the DD birdcage, and now it shoots softer than my BCM 11.5 with the BCM comp.

[Naphtali]

Just sent in one of my Mk 18s to get the 0.072" ported barrel. My question is, what is the reason / how important is it to have them install the replacement Mk 12 gas block? I have no knowledge of this and do not know whether they must do this, or whether I should insist they do.

[JulyAZ]

Just sent in one of my Mk 18s to get the 0.072" ported barrel. My question is, what is the reason / how important is it to have them install the replacement Mk 12 gas block? I have no knowledge of this and do not know whether they must do this, or whether I should insist they do.

Just me, but I wouldn't worry about it.

[Glass04]

I do not want to air any dirty laundry, but it seems that some of you guys are getting better customer service than I am. I have emailed DD several times and initially got a great response asking for my address to get the RMA info processed. Since my response to the customer service agent that caught my ticket, I have had zero feedback from DD. I have emailed and called the service dept contact repeatedly with no response. I understand that some of my correspondence fell over the week long shutdown for the 4th of July holiday for the company and feel I have given them ample time to respond and even re-sent the info requested to the 'general' service email address with the forwarded email from the DD rep.

At this point, I am asking for anyone's contact info at DD that you guys have successfully dealt with on the MK18 barrel replacement due to gas port sizing. Please PM with info. Much appreciated!!

I am not bashing DD, I understand they have a fine reputation for customer service - I realize my service request may have gotten lost in the shuffle. But after waiting for almost 2 months to start the RMA process I am looking to our community for a known contact that I can continue working with the vendor to come to an agreeable outcome.

Thanks All

[JulyAZ]

I do not want to air any dirty laundry, but it seems that some of you guys are getting better customer service than I am. I have emailed DD several times and initially got a great response asking for my address to get the RMA info processed. Since my response to the customer service agent that caught my ticket, I have had zero feedback from DD. I have emailed and called the service dept contact repeatedly with no response. I understand that some of my correspondence fell over the week long shutdown for the 4th of July holiday for the company and feel I have given them ample time to respond and even re-sent the info requested to the 'general' service email address with the forwarded email from the DD rep.

At this point, I am asking for anyone's contact info at DD that you guys have successfully dealt with on the MK18 barrel replacement due to gas port sizing. Please PM with info. Much appreciated!!

I am not bashing DD, I understand they have a fine reputation for customer service - I realize my service request may have gotten lost in the shuffle. But after waiting for almost 2 months to start the RMA process I am looking to our community for a known contact that I can continue working with the vendor to come to an agreeable outcome.

Thanks All

PM sent.

[Glass04]

Thanks JulyAZ, appreciate the PM.