With the Glock 43X/48 news starting off the season of pre-SHOT leaks, Daniel Defense is next on the list. The Daniel Defense Delta 5 bolt action is prominently displayed when you open the SHOT Show app, but there's no real information on the rifle quite yet, so prepare to speculate a bit.

Screenshot of the SHOT Show 2019 app

What We Know From The Photo:

We know that the rifle is going to be threaded 5/8″ x 24– how else are they going to attach that DD Wave can to the rifle? The Daniel Defense Delta 5 also has M-LOK slots in a few places, notably on the end of the forend and along the bottom of the buttstock.

Obviously, the rifle has an adjustable cheekpiece with a large thumbscrew reminiscent of the one used by Greyboe on the Ridgeback stock. While I suspect that it is held in place with some type of clamp bar hardware, there is no way to know right now.

Daniel Defense has set the rifle up to use AICS pattern magazines. In the video posted below you can see that it has what appears to be a PMAG stuffed into it. The rifle appears to have a 5 round AICS pattern mag in the magwell for the hunting themed photo.

There is what appears to be a barrel nut on the shank of the barrel, but without knowing more I just don't feel comfortable saying anything beyond it is there.

There isn't too much more that we can safely extrapolate from the single photo and the short clips in the below video, time to speculate some.

My Best Guesses:

Based on the recoil in the video below, I suspect that the rifle will be launched in 6.5 Creedmoor. I expect a .308 Winchester version to be announced alongside the 6.5mm model. With Daniel Defense's commitment to professional users, it wouldn't make sense for them to not offer the rifle in .308 Win, especially when they already offer a .308 Win AR pattern rifle.

Another clue that they will likely offer it in .308 Win as well as 6.5 CM is the two barrel lengths depicted in the video. It appears that the rifle in the above photo will be a 20-inch barrel if we use the 2.835-inch length of the two M-LOK slots as a ruler. If I had to wager a guess, I would say that rifle is chambered in .308 Win given the barrel length. Also in the video, DD does show the jersey-wearing shooter carrying what appears to be a rifle with a 24-inch barrel suggesting that a 6-6.5mm, competition flavored version will be offered at launch in that barrel length also.

I also suspect the rifle to be a two lug action design based on the angle of the bolt handle when the DD team shooter picks it up from the tank trap in the video. The angle of the bolt handle would be a bit less extreme with a three-lug.

More Teases:

Daniel Defense did release a video on their YouTube channel called “Hit” on December 13th that does a great job of teasing the rifle without revealing too much. It seems that DD has hit all the segments that love bolt guns from professionals all the way down to the family range day.

Expect to see more about the Daniel Defense Delta 5 when it is officially announced. Also, keep an eye on the Daniel Defense website for more information.