FREERANGETIME!
Member
After I ranted and raved about what a P.O.S. the DB .380 I had was, there are some of you who may wonder how it is I came to be in possession of a DB9, so, to start at the start.... The dealer I sold my DB .380 to, the new one, after the original one had been to the factory twice to get them to replace it the 3rd time it was ready to go back, wanted a pistol I had, he offered a DB9 in trade, told me he had ordered half a dozen and put 100 rounds through one without failure before he put the others in the display case, asked me if I was interested, well, I was, I had handled them at other shops, liked the gun and thought if they were offering a 9mm they must have gotten thier act together and learned how to make guns that actually worked, he told me besides the one he was carrying, he only had one left, I told him if he had so much confidence in them, the one I wanted was the one he function tested, not a NIB one, so we traded.
1st trip to the range, I tried to run every type of 9mm I could think of with the exception of +P which the manual advises against, if I remember correctly it will void the warranty (no +P in a defensive pistol?), in 80 rounds the gun had every kind of malfunction you can imagine, FTF, FTE, stovepipes, FTD, it even had a misfeed so bad it stovepiped a live round, first time I ever saw that, I was shooting with fellow clubmember who has been shooting competetivly longer than I have been alive and he told me he has never seen that either, at that point we agreed, it wasnt the ammo, it wasnt the shooters, it was the gun, we also agreed that on the rare occasion when the gun did go bang it was hitting about 4 inches low and about 4 inches left at 10 yards.
So what could have caused all the problems? Upon disassembly we saw that the recoil spring had come unwound, apparently got snagged on and hung up on the coupling part of the dual recoil spring, (another perceived upgrade), then started to double back on itself, then apparently got hung up and elongated yet again, then double (quadruple?) back on itself again, as my fellow shooter remarked, it looked like a slinky that had been given to a kid hell bent on destroying it, he also said it was remarkable the gun functioned at all in that condition, I agree with both assessments.
So what did I do? I called my buddy and told him what happened and suggested a trade back, having bought my other DB from me and knowing the hell I went through with those people and knowing I did not want to deal with them again and there was no way I was ever going to trust my life to a DB, he offered to buy it back for full value, which I gladly accepted. On a side note here, this is exactly why I preach the value of doing business with and building a relationship with your LGS owner/manager, they care about you and what your opinion of them is (for the most part) think I would have gotten my money back from Academy Outdoor Sports? Think they would give a crap if I tell every body I know they sell junk? Hell no!
In closing all I got to say is the DB are great looking guns, but I personally had REALLY bad experiences with both the .380 and the 9mm, I have heard the .380s work great now, but I have not heard it very much, they must be doing something right to release a 9mm, and I dont think Crimson Trace would design, produce, advertise and market a (very expensive) laser for a gun no one is buying, but I also heard that DB pretty much crank em out and let the paying customers do the R&D for them so they can tweak them to where they will actually work. Caveat Emptor!
1st trip to the range, I tried to run every type of 9mm I could think of with the exception of +P which the manual advises against, if I remember correctly it will void the warranty (no +P in a defensive pistol?), in 80 rounds the gun had every kind of malfunction you can imagine, FTF, FTE, stovepipes, FTD, it even had a misfeed so bad it stovepiped a live round, first time I ever saw that, I was shooting with fellow clubmember who has been shooting competetivly longer than I have been alive and he told me he has never seen that either, at that point we agreed, it wasnt the ammo, it wasnt the shooters, it was the gun, we also agreed that on the rare occasion when the gun did go bang it was hitting about 4 inches low and about 4 inches left at 10 yards.
So what could have caused all the problems? Upon disassembly we saw that the recoil spring had come unwound, apparently got snagged on and hung up on the coupling part of the dual recoil spring, (another perceived upgrade), then started to double back on itself, then apparently got hung up and elongated yet again, then double (quadruple?) back on itself again, as my fellow shooter remarked, it looked like a slinky that had been given to a kid hell bent on destroying it, he also said it was remarkable the gun functioned at all in that condition, I agree with both assessments.
So what did I do? I called my buddy and told him what happened and suggested a trade back, having bought my other DB from me and knowing the hell I went through with those people and knowing I did not want to deal with them again and there was no way I was ever going to trust my life to a DB, he offered to buy it back for full value, which I gladly accepted. On a side note here, this is exactly why I preach the value of doing business with and building a relationship with your LGS owner/manager, they care about you and what your opinion of them is (for the most part) think I would have gotten my money back from Academy Outdoor Sports? Think they would give a crap if I tell every body I know they sell junk? Hell no!
In closing all I got to say is the DB are great looking guns, but I personally had REALLY bad experiences with both the .380 and the 9mm, I have heard the .380s work great now, but I have not heard it very much, they must be doing something right to release a 9mm, and I dont think Crimson Trace would design, produce, advertise and market a (very expensive) laser for a gun no one is buying, but I also heard that DB pretty much crank em out and let the paying customers do the R&D for them so they can tweak them to where they will actually work. Caveat Emptor!
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