Rangineering with Daniel Defense

Article by Joe Marler and Daniel McLeroy

About the author

Joe Marler and Daniel McLeroy: DD MILE team, the military and law enforcement division of Daniel Defense.

The Operator: Free Newsletter Subscription

It it is free! • No Spam!

Our newsletter includes: free downloads of new magazine issues, updates, new articles, relevant information! Max 1 Email per week! No Spam!

The Article

Joe Marler: We’re shooters. Plain and simple. Just like you, we like to train, attend classes, and compete in shooting events.

What makes it a little different for us is that it directly relates to our job and the products we manufacture.

Actively participating in shooting sports and training courses, helps us better understand what our customers demand from our products.

The DD MILE team is the military and law enforcement division of Daniel Defense. It is fairly common for a product line to be born at the request of a Mil/LE End User.

Our ability to respond and produce a product that exceeds the customers’ expectations cannot be accomplished without the involvement of the entire team… including our customers.

The only way we can check all of the boxes is by listening to our customers, going beyond arbitrary design benchmarks, and immersing ourselves into a variety of real world applications and scenarios.

The only way to understand the capabilities of a new product line is to put it through the gauntlet myself

As the LE Sales Manager at Daniel Defense, I work with a lot of agencies and special teams on a variety of different projects.

This can be as simple as setting an agency up with a standard DD model firearm or as complex as designing, engineering, and manufacturing a product from scratch that conforms to the customers’ requirements.

It’s important that I understand the left and right lateral limits of a firearms capabilities in order to make an informed recommendation so that our customer is 100% satisfied with their selection.

At the end of the day, the Daniel Defense MILE Team is committed to providing superior customer service throughout the entire product adoption process including end user product training, and lifetime product maintenance.

Throughout my career, I’ve had a lot of great opportunities to train with some of the best instructors, attend some amazing classes, and compete in quite a few challenging competitions.

These experiences have served me out tremendously in understanding both what our customers demand and what our products are capable of delivering.

When the opportunity arose to attend the Precision Rifle Course with Elevated Shooting at GTI, I couldn’t pass it up.

And naturally, I had to bring my coworker and friend, Daniel McLeroy, who’s the Product Design Director for our DELTA 5 bolt action rifles.

Once we had decided to attend this class, Daniel and I began to prep our rifles and our gear.

The rifle I chose to run was a stock DELTA 5 chambered in .308 with our DD WAVE direct thread suppressor.

I simply wanted to shoot a platform similar to what my customers are shooting.

The only way to understand the capabilities of a new product line is to put it through the gauntlet myself.

Daniel, on the other hand, chose to shoot a prototype rifle that you’ll have to read about later this year.

While the future will reveal these rifles similarities, both are built around our company’s corporate values: Freedom. Passion. Precision.

Training evolutions allow us to push our equipment beyond typical testing criteria

Daniel McLeroy: As important as is it to look forward to new products, it is critical to evaluate our current designs.

We are continually assessing what we’ve done right, and what improvements we can make on newer models.

Directly comparing our current DELTA 5 with a rifle in the prototype stage, allowed both Joe and I to critically evaluate features we had modified on the current platform and new enhancements designed for the prototype.

These changes might be small or go unnoticed while just plinking on a range, but trust me, these end up making a world of difference when you are pushing your gear to the edge of its limitations.

Training evolutions allow us to push our equipment beyond typical testing criteria and flat range work.

More times than not, we find ourselves in adverse shooting conditions.

Whether it is an unconventional firing position, degradation of gear working together, or simply the time allowed to engage a target, these situations give us an opportunity to professionally engineer new product enhancements.

This approach produces a more ergonomic and ambidextrous shooting experience.

Precision rifle barrels and a smooth action are in our DNA.

Incorporating top quality features has kept us true to our word

With our extensive testing, I went into the training with a reliable cycling action, a known half-minute barrel, and a system that had been through tough endurance and temperature testing.

What we were looking to identify at the GTI Course were the miniscule details that we could improve upon from our initial design.

Things as simple as the location of a QD attachment point or the ergonomics of a stock can have a huge impact on the shooters experience.

Staying focused on that experience is our top priority.

With our companies roots in delivering products that exceed our customer’s high expectations, we’re committed to the task.

Listening, staying honest, and incorporating top quality features has kept us true to our word, and we are only just getting started.

Something is always brewing in Black Creek, GA and we can’t wait to show you what’s next.

The Operator: Free Newsletter Subscription

It it is free! • No Spam!

Our newsletter includes: free downloads of new magazine issues, updates, new articles, relevant information! Max 1 Email per week! No Spam!

Photos by Joe Marler and Dave Young