While at the Sniper Country facility in far northern Utah, I had the chance to shoot – but more importantly, shoot photos of – the Desert Tech Hard Target Interdiction rifle, or DTA HTI. It’s a bullpup precision rifle which can be swapped between four cartridges – .50 BMG, .416 Barrett, .408 CheyTac, and .375 CheyTac. We were shooting .50 BMG. What follows is not a review, but a brief description of the rifle, along with some observations and photos. If you’d like to see high speed video.
The HTI has a sizeable muzzle brake, but with a relatively light weight of 20lbs, recoil was pretty stout. It wasn’t incredibly painful, but it was sharp enough to encourage making every shot count and avoiding unnecessary shooting.
To that end, it appeared to be phenomenally accurate. I only shot it to 1000 yards, but as an example of how luck and a good rifle came together on our second day of shooting, my very first shot on an E-type silhouette at 1000 was a center mass hit. The more skilled shooters, such as my friend Jim from Deliberate Dynamics who was a sniper in 1st Force, were making back to back to back hits at 1000 and beyond.
I mentioned earlier that it was a bullpup design, and that definitely reduced the overall length of the firearm (45 3/8″ for the BMG, compared to 57″ OAL for a McMillan TAC-50 with the same 29″ length barrel). However, it also brought the bolt much closer to the shooter’s shoulder, and that made single loading cartridges, as I was doing, a good bit more awkward than it would have been otherwise. This is a tradeoff that the end user would have to decide upon – is that reduced length worth the slight reduction in ease of manipulation?
I’d like to thank Desert Tech for the use of their facility, rifle, and ammunition. All in all, it was a pretty fun – and impressive – time.
Looks like you had quite a blast.
Great review. Couldn’t help noticing that grin on your face. I really like your straight forward no nonsense reviews. Thanks.
So this rifle had an above-average trigger, for a bullpup, correct?.
Yeah, once you got used to it, you would like it a lot, I think.
Is that a thread protector protecting threads for a suppressor?
That pic is, indeed, frickin’ awesome.
Thanks, here’s the hi res for anyone who wanted it.
The bullpup bolt issue is just a matter of training, it is not a big deal at all once you get used it, but hand position is key to keep from getting in the way of the brass being ejected. The target we were shooting at once we got it zeroed (and after moving past the target at grand) was at 1800 yards and I was able to score with a 2nd, 3rd and 4th round impact on a Echo target. Basically, one wind/elevation adjustment and the rifle was crushing steel at over a mile!
There are 2 safeties they use, this is the lower profile version that was made by request to lower the chance of it being disengaged accidentally from rubbing on gear, etc.
The size, accuracy, and ability to change calibers is what makes it special. I just wish I could keep it…..
Thanks again DTA/ Sniper Country!
Yes, that is a thread protector for their upcoming suppressor.
Yes, the trigger is astoundingly better than older bullpup designs.
It’s also so light you can shoulder it standing.