[wditto]

anyone know who makes the DB 380?

[Red Cent]

http://www.diamondbackairboats.com/home.htm

http://diamondbackfirearms.com/

Notice the logos. :)

[PapaG]

In all honesty I cannot recommend them right now but my experience is limited to the two that we ordered and sold to customers. One went back one time to the factory and the other twice. Both were traded back in and we still have one. Customers told us it was feeding issues in both cases. Both customers said problems were fixed but they just didn't want to trust them after the initial problems. We've been honest with our potential customers and will probably eat the one.

[kokapelli]

After two trips back I also got rid of mine.

[franco45]

Likewise, traded mine for an LCP.

[TennJed]

What is their connection to Kel Tec? I know they are both in Coca Florida and I seem to recall reading somewhere that the gentleman who started Kel Tec left them and started up Diamondback.

I can;t find anything though to confirm this on an internet search. Maybe I dreamed it

[FMF Doc]

I am by no means and expert, but I do own and CARRY a DB380. I picked mine up at my LGS for a steal ($199). I put 7 boxes of cheap WWB through it that first day. My goal was to either break it, or break it in. I had also read a lot, and mostly negative, stuff about it, but at the time, $199 was something that I could afford to gamble on. I am very impressed by it with one exception.
First off, to be fair, the good. It is small, light, comfortable to shoot, highly accurate, and all around shows fine fit and finish. In many ways it is very "glock-esque" but with a better grip angle. Unlike just about every other .380 ACP, or 9mm Kurtz as I like to call it, it has functional sights. In fact other than my old Sig 232 it has the best sights I have ever seen on a .380. The trigger is not bad. A little heavy but loosens up and is smooth. Maybe not S&W revolver smooth but as good as or better than just about any other striker fired pistol I have shot. Fit and finish we remarkable for a pistol of this size and price, and that aside were sufficient by my standards. It was surprisingly soft shooting, more pleasant that J frame size revolvers with .38 SPL.
Now for the bad: RELIABILITY. I took it back out to shoot the next day and brought some various types of JHP. Specifically I had Horaday Critical Defense, Win. PDX, Federal HST and some more WWB. I shot each type of JHP both separate and mixed with WWB, and had numerous FTF issues. Each type seemed to produce a different failure. The Honaday would nose up and jam in a vertical position in the chamber. I found this odd as many have said that this is the only reliable JHP in other .380s like the LCP and P3AT. Many of these jams were so bad that I could not eject the mag of rack the slide and needed a vice to clear the jam. The HST would stove-pipe mid-magazine and beyond on all 3 of my mags. It always started on round 4 or 5. The Win had a propensity for double feeding rounds 3-6. The WWB, however, did not have any failures in over 500 rounds.
So in conclusion, I carry WWB in my DB380. It works for me and I trust it. I am not too concerned about over penetration with an FMJ in this caliber and being a flat-nose reduces this concern even more. The DB380 is so small I put it in a $10 Uncle Mikes pocket holster, throw it in my back pocket and forget it is there. It looks like a wallet and nobody can notice. I know that JHPs are supposed to be the best for self-defense, but I cannot find one that works. The WWB works and lets me have a gun on me whenever I see fit. I am not admitting that I violate carry laws, but with this gun, I could, and doubt I would ever be caught. If you can swing it, at the prices I have seen them for, you owe it to you self to give it a try.
Finally, a couple more odds and ends. There is no relation between Diamondback and Kel-Tec, FL is just a very business friendly state full of small business owners. I know this because I wrote the CEO and got a hand sign response back. Also, yes, it is a subsidiary company of the same Diamondback that makes the airboats. Lastly, there have been some growing pains as with any new company. However, they have been constantly improving the design and fixing the flaws in the DB line and have even branched out and are making a 9mm version now.

Good Luck and God Bless.
Doc