Update - just got the rifle back today (6/1/23), all issues resolved.
This is probably the best customer service/warranty experience I’ve had, will definitely be making future purchases from DD.

Just purchased a DD4 RIII on 5/11/2023, there’s scratches/scuffs to the lower receiver finish, metal sliver/poor machining on the upper near dust cover, some of the rail mounting bolt heads are buggered and the safety selector is best described as mush.
I’ve contacted DD and they want me to send the upper but I think I’m just going to see what my LGS can do for me.
I’ve had better fit and finish on ar’s at half the price I paid for this one.
I would like to hear others thoughts on this.

https://imageshack.com/i/poOMtYzFj
https://imageshack.com/i/pnLE9tsdjhttps://imageshack.com/i/poXNRzo6jhttps://imageshack.com/i/poFMm0Z2jhttps://imageshack.com/i/pnyJ7XcPjhttps://imageshack.com/i/pnFRdkZrp

I get it, but the first time you use it, you'll forget about it.

This isn't the first time DD had issues with fit and finish ...

Well you asked...

1. Hell of a first post, this should go well lol

2. You bought a combat/SD weapon and seem to have expected a museum piece. Adjust your expectations or never buy a gun again without inspecting it thoroughly before purchase. Lots of new guns, even expensive ones come with minor flaws like that. DD rifles are expensive because of the quality of the materials they use, the machining/manufacturing techniques they perform and the R&D they put into them (and to some extent, top notch marketing) not because they are pretty or have perfect blemish free finishes.

3. Anodizing is not a particularly tough finish against abrasion and if you plan to actually use that gun, you will have more of those "scratches and scuffs" in short order.

I get it, we all want our new guns to be "perfect" but the "issues" you pointed out are extremely trivial IMO

I’m having a hard time seeing any of the issues you’re talking about.

You should spend some time reading similar threads about brand new KAC rifles that aren’t perfect.

DD is a stand up company and if there’s a problem they’ll fix it.

I’d let Daniel Defense take care of it for you. I have never heard anything negative about their customer service.

This is my first DD but not my first gun in this price range, my IWI galil ace gen 2 and tavor X95 had flawless fit and finish, I expect wear and tear on my guns but I also expect it to be from me not the factory.

After messaging them again they apologized for requesting the upper only and will be taking the whole rifle.

I’m sure they will take care of you OP.

DD has great customer service.

On another note, where was this purchased?  Local gun store, direct from DD, or shipped from online seller?

Mine look worse that that after a single trip to range and a couple times in and out of the safe.

Local gun store.
I’ve been buying from them for years, also purchased several other guns from them the past few months with no issues.

I was just curious as the scuffs may not have been on the gun when it left DD.  If it was purchased directly from DD that’s another thing.

If these are end game things that ruined your purchase, surprised you didn’t catch them while looking at it in the store.

I didn’t look it over like I usually would (my fault), I stopped to pick it up after work just before the store was closing so I was in a bit of a rush.

Personally I’m not seeing anything I would worry about.

Here's a story that some of you can probably relate to...

When I was a kid growing up in the early/mid-1990s, I was really into action figures, particularly the ones made by Kenner (anyone remember the "Jurassic Park" figures, in particular) and TrendMasters (now defunct). One of the things that used to seriously irk my much younger self was that I would see TV commercials for those action figures, and they looked really cool, very detailed, and very well put-together. Then I would buy the action figure that I wanted, and I would always be disappointed in the quality compared to the TV commercials - often, the toy that I bought would have assembly issues, the paint would be applied sloppily, and sometimes the enclosed model sculpture looked almost nothing like what was on TV or even on the box photos (this was especially a problem with TrendMasters' "Godzilla" action figures). And this didn't just apply to action figures; it was the same way with fast food that I used to see on TV commercials (the commercial shows a juicy, perfectly-assembled hamburger that made me want to beg my parents to take me to the restaurant, but when I got to the restaurant, I'd always get a sloppy, squashed mess of a burger).

Where am I going with this? Simple: I learned many years ago that any product that you see in advertising is almost always photogenic compared to the one that you actually buy, because no company that mass-produces commodities can achieve QC standards that match what you see in their advertising. And the bigger the company and the more of its products that it manufactures/sells, the more true that this will be. Unfortunately, the gun industry is just like the fast-food industry and the action figure industry. When you see a firearm on a company's web site or its social media profiles, you're probably looking at a gun that was specially built for the advertising materials, with QC, cleaning, and polishing that is meant to make that firearm look perfect and blemish-free when captured on high-resolution cameras. Nowadays, there's also a good chance that the company's advertising folks used digital editing techniques to remove blemishes on the exterior.

So, ask yourself: Are your expectations reasonable? Personally, I don't buy any gun, even an NIB gun from the factory, expecting it to look as clean as it does in the company's Instagram posts or YouTube ads. I especially don't have this expectation for AR-15 manufacturers.