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It’s called the Quattro-15 and it’s a fat magazine well AR-15 lower receiver designed to accept Desert Tech’s new Quadmag-53, a quad-stack, 53-round magazine. It works with any standard AR-15 upper.

Desert Tech told me that they designed this magazine from the ground up to function reliably in a quad-stack format, which is why it doesn’t taper down to double-stack in order to fit into an existing AR-15 magazine well. They say when they threw that restriction out and decided to accommodate the lower to the magazine instead of the other way around, they were able to achieve reliability that meets military requirements.

I went and held all of these things at the Desert Tech booth after seeing them in this display area, and they’re pretty wild. As you’d expect from DT the quality appears very high. We’ll definitely be borrowing a Quattro-15 with a couple Quadmag-53s to put through their paces when they’re available.

MSRP on the Quattro-15 stripped lower receiver is $299.

In a completely different category, one Desert Tech is a little more known for, they’ve released a new bullpup rifle. This time, however, it isn’t a complete, from-scratch rifle but is, rather, a polymer stock for Ruger 10/22 footprint rifles. It’s called the Trek-22.

Meeting the legal minimum length of 26 inches, it’s over 10 inches shorter than a 10/22 with 18-inch barrel in a normal stock.

It’s lightweight and feels pretty good. MSRP is $299. Much more info is on Desert Tech’s website HERE.

 

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18 COMMENTS

  1. Yes you can use 30rd mags in this lower. There’s a thingy to make it smaller available. Saw it on Youtube from Shot show. Not interested but pretty nifty!

  2. Sorry, no. I suckered myself into sending Desert Tech the full price on the original MDR then waited 2 years. When I finally received the rifle I quickly found out Desert Tech used their customers to Beta test a rifle that wasn’t ready for prime time. It’s the worst firearm purchase I ever made.

    I don’t like Desert Tech’s business practices and I don’t trust them.

  3. Yeah, but, I’m not going to run out and buy new lowers to use a proprietary 53-round magazine. And although you can use 30 round magazines in it with, I think, an adapter thingie I can already use normal AR mags (e.g. 30 round) with the lowers I already have and if I think I want to go more bullets there are options for that which already use the lowers I have.

    • I do wonder what they could do with a flush fit length magazine 15-25 rounds maybe? Need a few laws voided before I can worry too much about it though.

  4. I’d only seen opaque versions of the quad-stacks in previous reviews. The clear ones show that the 4-into-2 taper still happens pretty far down.

    It seems to me that Desert Tech would have been better off matching the external mag taper to the internal taper, then designed their lower with a matching cutaway rather than wide well – making it both compatible as-is with existing mags, and buildable from stock forgings.

    • Surefire and Jim Sullivan figured out how to reliably do 4-to-2 with 60 and 100 round magazines. At $150, you can get a dozen 30-rounds and have a lighter, more maneuverable system. Adding a proprietary system, even if cheaper, is still a hard no.

      • I’ve never used the Surefire mags, but I’ve heard mixed results with reliability. I definitely agree with not choosing a proprietary lower that needs an adapter to run GI mags.

      • Yeah that whole “reliably” thing is highly debatable. I’ve actually had really solid results with the Schmeisser / ATI 60-round ones though. I put a bunch of rounds through two of them, including full auto, and they’ve been 100%. Just be careful taking the baseplate off because the spring in there comes out with massive force and will go clear through your ceiling and out the roof haha

  5. I am not saying “no” quickly. However, there is a “long on promise, short on posse” history with all manufacturers trying to put more than 30 rounds in a M-16/M-4/AR-15 weapon. Various drum magazines and fat mags. There is always a “but”. It doesn’t feed the last 5-10 rounds. It’s too heavy for the magazine release. It makes the entire weapon too heavy.

    I think this solution is worth exploring for the US military. The USMC is currently attempting to move away from belt-fed weapons in maneuver teams by supplying the M27 IAR. Use this lower receiver in every third rifle or one per fire team.

    If and only if, the system proves through extensive testing to be rugged AND reliable.

  6. Rarely do I use anything other than 20 rd. USGI mags. With that said I am not the least bit interested in shelling out time and money to change directions for either offering.
    Hopefully the fat receiver and fat mag combo runs like a Swiss Watch and the company has a huge military contract on the table.

    As for the Bullpup stock it’s no thanks to moving the trigger forward and using an extension to operate the hidden OEM trigger. Only firearm where 2 triggers fly are found on certain shotguns. And the design relocates the mag well to the armpit area, etc. Bottom line…Take the Bullpup money and go buy another 10/22.

  7. I’m afraid a bull pup will grow up to be a bulldog, I myself do not care for a bulldog so I will not buy a bull pup.
    Yes we definitely need larger capacity magazines to hold all the not bullets we have.

  8. I prefer 20 rd mags precisely because of that added mobility, but would i get “more mobility” at six hundredths of an inch shorter than a USGI 30 round mag? HA!

    Though I will offer them a firm handshake in honor of their ingenuity.

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