DSI DS-25 6.5 Creedmoor review: 7-pound 14.5-inch gas gun with cycling issues

Key points: DSI DS-25 6 5

• The DS-25 is a 14.5-inch, 7-pound 6.5 Creedmoor gas gun bought for about $3,000 — roughly $2,000 under the LMT equivalent and $3,000 under the Geissele MRGG, which is the whole argument for it.
• The first range trip was continuous failures to extract that cascaded into failures to chamber; the light manufacturer-recommended lubrication was not enough, and only drenching the rifle brought reliability up to something workable.
• Heat works against it: the gun warms fast, burns lubricant off, and needs re-lubing far more often than a rifle that is normally run dry and dirty.
• The suspected cause is an AR-15 sized bolt rather than the expected AR-10 bolt — the charging handle release sounds and feels underpowered, and malfunctions look like a carrier short on energy, so a stiffer spring or heavier bolt is the proposed fix.
• A suppressor helped measurably: better sound, ejection tightening toward 3 o'clock with less variability, softer recoil, and typically one or two malfunctions in the first magazine before a clean few hundred rounds.
• Accuracy ran about 1.1 MOA at best and 1.2 MOA on average with M1200 Mod C and Hornady ELD Match, against a 1 MOA milspec and sub-MOA groups from 20-inch barrels with the same ammunition — a light steel barrel that strings slightly when hot explains part of it.
• No buy recommendation at this price given the reliability record, but the rifle stays in the safe: pseudo-monolithic rail, fully ambidextrous controls, a 3.5-pound trigger, and a package light enough to carry one-handed up a mountain.

About this Gun Review video

DSI DS-25 6.5 Creedmoor review: the 14.5-inch, 7-pound gas gun DSI showed at SHOT Show, bought at about $3,000 as a cheaper answer to the roughly $5,000 LMT and $6,000 Geissele MRGG rifles — and it arrived with failures to extract from the first range trip onward. This is a long-term owner's report on what a soaking of lubricant fixed, what a suppressor fixed, how much the gun settled after roughly 500 rounds, where accuracy landed against the 1 MOA milspec, and why an AR-15 sized bolt in an AR-10 cartridge looks like the root of the problem. Ends on a verdict the reviewer will not fully give.

Transcript: DSI DS-25 6