Yup. There are some companies offering government, medium, lighter weight/profile barrels out there, but they specifically mark them "HBAR", which magically makes them compliant with MD law. It's a ridiculous law, but at least there's still options for those in that state.

I've actually been told by multiple MD gunsmiths that their barrel suppliers won't mark lightweight barrels as "HB" because they regard that as too much of a stretch of credibility. But yeah, medium-weight profiles that have been either marked "HB" or are just advertised as "heavy" are GTG.

And yeah, I do remind myself that as much as I hate this state, at least it's not CA or NY or IL. But I still find it frustrating that I can't get a new factory URG and just slap it on an existing lower, the way that I could when I lived in VA. Instead, I pretty much have to buy the parts individually and assemble the upper myself (or have my gunsmith do it).

I recently purchased a DD4RISIII CA legal version. It does not have ambi mag release and bolt catch. Is the lack of both ambi feature due to CA compliant? I wrote an email to them. No response yet.
Could dd mistakenly put a DDM4 lower with Risiii upper and ship it as dd4risiii?

I also broke the bolt catch due to my dry fire without upper mistake. I am still a bit surprised that bolt catch broken this easy. Is DD bolt catch MIM?



Last, my DD4 serial number begin with DDM4, shouldn't it begin with DD4？

Even if it is mim parts doesn't mean mim is of lesser quality. They put mim parts in jet and aircraft engines as well as other critical parts in other industries.

Not sure if 1 post person but I also got the lesser quality bolt catch from DD that's missing the bottom half of the bolt catch. I think they're going the el cheapo route with this and trying to see how much their customers won't notice. The fact you haven't heard anything and I haven't heard anything tell me that they're trying to sweep this under the rug. I can see from your photo that the lower half of yours is missing the beefier bottom paddle that's on every promo image of both the ambi and non-ambi lowers. Thinking of selling my DD ambi lower knowing that they probably went to a very cheap route to make it. The lower is very different in appearance from the promo one and it's much beefier in the promo one compared to the actual one.

Mine starts with DD401..... so not sure if yours some sort of CA compliant serial though.

Anyway, the bolt catch broke due to my mistake since this is my first AR15.  
However, if the lower is indeed wrong, how would it pass the QA?
Here is a picture.
https://postimg.cc/N2LCPVNt

It is still brand new. I didn't notice this at the dealer since I am not familiar with ambi feature. After I broke the bolt catch, I search online video and only then I found out DD4 lower should have both ambi mag release and bolt batch unlike DDM4?

Maybe someone at the gun shop did something shady and swapped out the lower because they wanted it or maybe it's a ca compliant thing. I'd call dd instead of waiting on an email.

As far as I understand CA had a roster of approved guns. It’s possible that the DDM4 lower is approved but not their newer DD4 lowers. I agree you should call to find out more on what they ship to CA.

There's a couple lightweight profile barrels out there that are marked HBAR. Black River Tactical will also mark one of their "optimum" profile barrels as an "HBAR" if you request it. That's a great option, as they are very nice barrels. I moved out of MD a few years ago and couldn't be happier with that decision.

@dalle0001

Is this what your bolt catch looks like? If so, what's wrong with that? It's an upgrade compared to a standard mil-spec bolt catch.

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Yes! Look at how beefy that is! You could really toggle that thing all day with your left index finger. The one I got has just a small knob on it that lifts it 75%. The top switch is the beefy one shown in the promo but the bottom leverage is just a standard looking knob. It's not just mine too as I'm noticing it on videos and reviews that seem to change for reasons they don't want to answer. The right side one is fine though. I wish I would have caught that before I bought it as it would have impacted my choice on buying it. It's hard to catch until you start using it and seeing that it's not fully engaged when you use your left index finger to toggle the bolt.

The problem is though the smaller knob would have been fine if they didn't have this huge raised surface that seems to restrict it from being fully pressed. That's why I believe the upgraded beefier one would be better because it's slightly more raised above the higher base which would let you toggle the catch.

Does it work? Kinda.... I actually managed to run outdoors with it Saturday afternoon and I would run around and do little malfunction drills where I would lock the bolt back with my left index finger and found the rifle would slip the bolt sometimes unless I really dig my finger into it. This is with gloves on. Without gloves, it works sort of fine but had it slip the bolt once unless I really put emphasis with my left finger to push into the center groove more. I'm thinking of giving DD this week to answer on why they switched the bolt catch out and really going to sell it off after this week end since it's really bothersome to me.

@dalle0001

So this is what you have? I can clearly see why that would be difficult to use because of the raised boss around the bolt catch that extends lower than it does on a standard lower. I would try calling DD and asking them to send you the upgraded/updated bolt catch. They sent me a RIS II barrel nut and hardware pack for free without even being asked to, so my experience with their customer service was excellent.

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If you're consistently using your left index finger to lock the bolt back, then I'm assuming you're left handed? Or are you just practicing weak side manipulations? Can you use the right side (ambi) bolt catch?

Or maybe just replace the original DD bolt catch with something like this one from Forward Controls Design. It's not only longer/larger than a standard bolt catch, but it also protrudes outward, which would fix your problem. It would be a 60 second swap and much easier than selling the entire rifle, which would more than likely end up in a net loss greater than what it would cost to simply purchase the upgraded bolt catch.

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Thanks. You’re actually the first person who seemed to understand the issue. I did think of swapping bolt catches but it’s a special cut to make room for the right side catch. I’m ambi myself and can shoot left or right handed equally.

Hopefully DD themselves can answer but haven’t heard anything yet on it. I’m guessing they rushed this out the door as the manual itself shows a blown up diagram that includes the beefy left side paddle. Not sure what happened but hopefully we can get an explanation and more lefty users who can give feedbacks.

I'm sure DD will get it sorted for you. Lots of great feedback regarding their service, just have to be patient!

Yeah I gave it some serious thoughts but today I put up my last remaining spare lower. I now only have my DD ambi lower and an upper with a spare barrel and parts. I've been downsizing for the past several years and I think the DD lower is exactly what I want. Hoping they could make it perfect for me to keep for life.

Update, I called DD and they confirmed DD4 lower with ambi mag release and bolt catch feature can't be made CA compliant. So all DD4RISIII rifle to california market will have DDM4 lower.

That's good to hear! That makes sense as I looked up the roster and see it has the DDM4 listed. Funny you can slap any upper on it though.

Did you get a new bolt catch or are you going to install a new one yourself?

I don't know if I would say that's good to hear. I believe the ambi lower is what he wanted (and was expecting), but not what he received due to the unconstitutional laws in his home state of CA.

Yes, I did.

There is a new problem. I found out that I can't install the DD maglock device which is a thin piece of metal with the new none DD bolt batch.
This maglock device was installed with DD's bolt catch together in the bolt catch slot.
With a none DD standard bolt catch, there is simply no space left for this.


My original plan is to go ARMaglock/Hogue PIN+Kingpin solution anyway. So next step is to install the kingpin.
Unforuntely, being milspec, the castle nut on DD is staked...
Since I  don't have beef castle nut wrench, I basically have to drill and destroy the thing to get it unlocked.

CA is awful. 🫤

11.5-inch upper from Thoroughbred Armament.

Does anyone feel that the new 14.5 middy is noticeably softer than the RISII 14.5?

I suppose if I absolutely had to say it would be slightly softer, but it's not a huge amount and really all that noticeable.

Haven't shot an RIII yet, but I do own a DD M4A1 (RIS II version) and a BCM with a mid-length gas system and a gas block journal that is almost the same size as that of my M4A1. I actually don't really mind shooting the M4A1 with the carbine-length gas system - the recoil difference doesn't bother me much compared to the BCM. I also like that my M4A1 is more reliable and not as finicky about ammo as my BCM.

I guess I'm old-school, but I personally really feel that carbine-length gas systems are still a better choice for combat and SHTF-type AR builds, compared to mid-length gas systems, which are better for highly-tuned competition ARs. (Even though I acknowledge that the line between combat and competition shooting has become pretty blurry in the past 10 years.)

Appreciate it, thanks.