The 6.5 Creedmoor is starting to dominate the bolt rifle market. Once considered an obscure “remake” of the 260 Remington that would never catch on, every rifle manufacturer, mainstream or otherwise, builds a rifle in this caliber.
Factory ammunition availability rivals any other cartridge on the market supporting the hunter, competitor, tactical marksman and enthusiast. It was only a matter of time for the AR market to see the same movement.
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Built on .308-based AR receivers, the 6.5 Creedmoor offers less recoil, smooth operation, flat shooting, and increased accuracy. Custom ARs chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor are becoming far more prevalent, and Dark Storm Industries has built a nice one.
The Dark Storm Way
Located in Oakdale, N.Y., the owners grew tired of the lack of parts availability for the AR and started Dark Storm Industries. Catering to the AR market, Dark Storm builds and sell ARs in various calibers designed to meet local requirements as well as out of state dealers and buyers
Manufactured in New York using state of the art CNC Machining, the DS-15 line includes models chambered in 5.56, .300 BLK, and 22LR.
For pistol-caliber carbine fans, Dark Storm’s DS-9 offers several 9mm variants.
Moving to .308 and 6.5 Creedmoor the DS-10 has shooters covered. the Dark-Storm custom shop offers upgrades and accessories. The manufacturer also has an indoor range, full service retail store, gunsmithing, and Cerakoting.
Custom Shop DS-10
Attending the Athlon Outdoors Rendezvous in Gateway, Colo., Dark Storm Industries put together a Custom Shop DS-10 featuring a 24-inch match grade stainless steel 6.5 Creedmoor barrel with a 1:8 twist rate.
Using a Dark Storm billet receiver set, a 16.5 inch M-Lok compatible rail covered much of the barrel. Magpul’s PRS stock provided a solid connection to the shooter.
The Custom Shop DS-10 stood out with a screaming blue and orange Cerakote coating. Similar to that of a poison dart frog, it provided a sharp and fast look, perfect for a competition precision rifle. Savage Cerakote took care of the custom Cerakote job.
Turns out it shoots as cool as it looks!
Range Performance
In order to realize the rifles true potential, it was sent for testing on the home range.
With a Leupold Optics Mark 8 3.5-25X scope using a T3 reticle using a 35mm Spuhr ISMS mount, the rifle easily reached out to 1,300 yards. Federal Gold Medal Berger using 130 grain Berger Hybrid OTM bullets was used. Set up for long range precision, ZRODELTA’s latest Gen 2 Cowl Induction Brake was also added.
The combination proved insanely accurate with my best group at 100 yards in the .4-inch range. At 300 yards, it was only .68 inches.
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The Custom Shop DS-10 placed eight out of 10 shots on a silhouette at 1,300 yards in moderate winds. I confirmed the data using the Kestrel and Applied Ballistics. There is little doubt this is a tack-driving machine.
If you are in the market for a well-built, accurate and reliable AR, then make sure you take a close look at Dark Storm Industries.
For more information, please visit Dark-Storm.com.
