Diamondback DB9-the best pocket 9mm?

[snooperman]

Mach1V Shooter, you did such a good job on the DB9 in your critique , I would get one if they were reliable. I have read in the past they are a hit and miss. Perhaps they have improved them and have worked out the "bugs". What is your take on this? Snoop

 

[2wheels]

Nothing else matters unless it's reliable, and with DBs reputation I'd be putting a lot more rounds through that gun before I trusted it.

 

[burk]

Nothing else matters unless it's reliable, and with DBs reputation I'd be putting a lot more rounds through that gun before I trusted it.

When those guns first came out I could not find a good report for them on line. At my local Gander where I work part time, out of the first five we sold we had five come back for service. Most of them couldn't get thru 3 magazines of FMJ without multiple failures. One of them came back three times. I could not recommend them in for SD with those kinds of issues.

 

[MachIVshooter]

Mach1V Shooter, you did such a good job on the DB9 in your critique , I would get one if they were reliable. I have read in the past they are a hit and miss. Perhaps they have improved them and have worked out the "bugs". What is your take on this? Snoop

I intend to give it a thorough ringing this weekend, so we'll see. I'm encouraged by the first out-of-the-box mag with budget ammo being flawless, but my minimum litmus test requires another 193 shots without a hiccup. One bobble, the counter starts over.

I'll be running mostly WWB and Federal bulk pack, but will put a couple mags of 135 gr. Hornady Critical Duty through it as well. Thinking I'll wear gloves, too; I don't find the recoil particularly harsh, but that might change after 50 or 100 rounds in a sitting.

As for the improvements, this definitely seems to be a second generation gun, not just altered aesthetics on the slide; the extractor has also been changed. Beyond that, I really need an older model to compare for other alterations. The trigger design looks about the same as the photos gb6491 posted, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a change in metallurgy or process to improve it. If my trigger breaks like that, I'll machine my own from 4140 annealed chromoly or D-2 tool steel I have on hand. It's not a complex piece.

 

[C0untZer0]

COuntzerO, I have just the gun you are looking for. My Kahr P380 is rated for Buffalo Bore +P 95 gr HP ammo that I use. It is LCP size and will give you 12" penetration with .53" expansion through 4 layers of Denim and ballistic gel. Look at the results from "mousegunaddict.com". Yes, it is a lowly 380 that you do not like, but the results are there.

This is just my opinion on this but I'll put it out there.

In the late 80s and early 90s the FBI was driving bullet design and development for the 9mm and 40 S&W, and we saw tremendous improvements in bullet designs and terminal performance. IMO though, the ammo manufacturers didn't put nearly as much research or development effort in the 380 ACP. They did however, slap their name brands on the 380 cartridges, which gave the impression that 380 rounds like PDX and Golden Saber were going to perform as well as their big caliber cousins. What we saw though is that many of these name-brand cartridges don't do any better than any of the other 380 loadings out there, and don't do that well in general.

Now we've seen a boom in the 380 ACP pocket pistol market with many owners who are intelligent shooters with good knowledge of terminal ballistics now looking for 380 cartridges that perform well out of the 3" barrels.

I think that is creating a market for someone to create bullet designs and loadings that penetrate 4 layers of denim and penetrate to around 13" of gel with some (controlled) expansion, out of 3" barrels.

I think we will see improved 380 ACP performance in the future. We're already seeing interesting designs like the Lehigh Xtreme Penetrator.

But when I bought my R9, all of the tests that I could turn up showed 380 JHPs only penetrating from 9 to 11 inches or 380 FMJs zipping through 18 inch blocks of gelatin.

I might pick up a Kahr 380 someday, it is very tempting.

 

[snooperman]

I like the research effort by Lehigh with their new Xtreme penetrator in 380. Their new 105 gr 9mm that was used in the video by mousegunaddict.com with its expansion of .79" is good news for light weight pocket 9mm guns. Even though the penetration was only 11" from the DB9 and Glock 26 , it has my interests. Hopefully this will cause others to follow them into developing better ammo for conceal carry pocket guns.

 

[jrdolall]

Assuming that reliability is THE factor then Diambondback has a long row to hoe for sure.

I have an older model DB9 that has been perfect and I often carry it. I also have a DB380, PF9, P3AT, Bodyguard, LCP and a couple of other "pocket guns". The major factor for ME carrying in the pocket in a nylon holster is weight. I can deal with a tiny bit longer or thicker but a few extra ounces makes a huge difference to me. Having a light 9mm works better for me than the 380 because I "feel" better with the 9mm. Even the PF9 is a bit heavy for me in the pocket.

 

[marv]

I can't understand why anyone wants to shoot hot ammo in itty bitty lightweight guns. It may be macho now but later on when ol' Art comes to visit you'll ask yourself "why the he#$ did I do that?"

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

I can't understand why anyone wants to shoot hot ammo in itty bitty lightweight guns. It may be macho now but later on when ol' Art comes to visit you'll ask yourself "why the he#$ did I do that?"

I think some folks just "feel" recoil in a different way. Marv. I shot the Diamondback guns last year in .380 and 9mm and I passed on them. Unreliable with anything including fmj/round nose and kicked me like a Mule. Others I was shooting with didn't mind the recoil (they also couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in rapid fire....) and liked the small pocket rocket size.

My LGS has since stopped selling them but there are a few used ones hanging around as most who bought them locally have since traded up. Nice looking guns in a convenient size but they just are not reliable.

VooDoo

 

[C0untZer0]

Diamondback added a third pin to the gun which is supposed to make the gun sturdier and less prone to breakage.