# Diamondback 380 need input



## rob883 (Oct 3, 2007)

Are these any good ? They sure look like it


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## CHUMM BUCKET (Jul 2, 2008)

*db 380*

friend of mine shot his for the first time today. he is very satisfied. maybe he will post his report tonight


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## GENTLE WOLF (Aug 19, 2009)

I've heard more bad than good. Personally I'll stay away from them.


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## scubapro (Nov 27, 2010)

My bride loves hers -- feels better in the hand than P3AT/LCP-clone.


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## FrankwT (Jul 25, 2010)

They are a nightmare...all you have to do is search the web and see how you can pick one up for $150, if it works, little customer service and wondering if they will stay in business:
http://flaguns.com/showthread.php?11876-Diamondback-380-problems-Company-not-truthful!


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## DreamWeaver21 (Oct 3, 2007)

I just got one. I read good and bad about them on the web before I got mine, but I liked the gun so figured I would give it a try. So far I have put 120 rounds through it. The 100 were Winchester FMJs. Out of those I had 0 failures. No failure to feeds, no failure to fires, and no jams. I even limp wristed the gun as loose as possible without there bing danger of it coming out of my hand and it cycled perfectly. I also tried chambering a round and then putting number 6 back in the clip (I read online this caused issues) and the gun worked fine.

I fired 20 speer gold dots through it and had 2 fail to feeds. Both times the first round fired but the second one didn't get into the chamber correctly and I had to rack the slide (ejecting an unfired bullet and loading a new one). I will not be buying any more speer gold dots for this gun. Next hollow point I am going to try is the Winchester personal protection.

A couple of things about the gun. Mine has the exo coating or whatever they call it so the slide is silver. I wouldn't get it again. It makes the slide slicker to grip and pull back. Also I found out messing with the gun at home before I shot it that you do not want to pussy foot around with the slide. Make sure it comes all the back and let it go without slowing the action down with your hand. The trigger pull is smooth but firm and shade longer than I like. I suppose that is because of it being double action. I'm pretty used to a Glock triger and this gun is firmer and longer in the trigger pull. I actually shot my Glock 19C after shooting this gun for a bit and when I went to take up the slack in the trigger on the Glock it shot before I anticipated it. 

I've heard that the Ruger LCP can be jumpy in your hand but this gun is not bad at all in my opinion. 120 rounds didn't bother my hand at all and I think the recoil is very managable. The gun has pretty good sights and I had no problems shooting a decent pattern at 6-7yds. I don't have any special weapons training and shot this from 20 feet or shooting controlled enough to not get reminded of the no rapid fire rule. This is my personal experience with the gun so far. I don't know what happened with the one flyer in the 7 ring.

I'm not sure if the low and left grouping is the gun or my shooting but it is certainly close enough to do what it was made to do.


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## chasin-tail (Oct 8, 2007)

GENTLE WOLF said:


> I've heard more bad than good. Personally I'll stay away from them.


 
Tell us more...I've havent heard one bad report??


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## GENTLE WOLF (Aug 19, 2009)

chasin-tail said:


> Tell us more...I've havent heard one bad report??


http://flaguns.com/showthread.php?11876-Diamondback-380-problems-Company-not-truthful
This is just a quick copy from this thread. If you Google the DB 380 you can read for a while. As far as personal experience, I know two different people who have traded them off because it wouldn't work for them. Apparently they were producing a good product for a while, then when the demand went up the quality went way down.


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## MikeG (Oct 5, 2007)

The bottom line is most people that complain about these are paying under 300.00 for a gun they expect to be a constant shooter. You get what you pay for. If you want a gun that will get someone off your ass in a pinch then its great. To be your everyday target gun ,I wouldnt use it for that. This is a good conceal carry weapon that you can just throw in your back pocket of your blue jeans , and it wont lug you rpants down. It is dependable enough to save your life for sure. For the money I think its a better made weapon than the keltec. I watched many of those .380's have problems..including mine. But even with it , If I had a round chambered it would get you away from my ass if you tried something. Go ahead try Diamondback , for the money it's cheap.


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## FrankwT (Jul 25, 2010)

Done Deal, better than a Kel Tec???LOL Some people prejudices show through too much and easily.

First they are a boat manufacturer, second the 380 is their only gun they have ever manufactured and Thirdly, they hired away an engineer from Kel Tc that maybe had caused one of their problems. Forth they have had many problems, returns and complaints, I don't want to use/trust that gun to save mine or my families life.

Now if you get a good one, or have sent it back to the factory 2-3 times and have it fixed, you might have an OK $150 gun, but reliable? who knows, depends on the particular gun. Have you run 200-300 rounds through it and trained with it to save you life and it worked every time, then by all means trust it..if not you might want to consider a Kel Tec or another well known and established manufacturer that does not rely on boat sales to keep them in business


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## Pinksnappertrapper (Dec 7, 2007)

Dont they make bikes also?


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## Splittine (Nov 24, 2007)

Pinksnappercatcher said:


> Dont they make bikes also?


Different Company, these guys split from KelTec.


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## FrankwT (Jul 25, 2010)

Yeah they are a boat not a bike company and hired 2 Kel Tec disgruntled employees, the guns and boats are built in the same building...They build a great boat, should have stuck to that.


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## Rook (Oct 25, 2007)

Have no first hand experience with the gun. But its not hard to find bad reports on the gun. It was enough to scare me away when looking to purchase a .380 pocket pistol. The bad reviews out number the good 3-1. I went with the LCP and have absolutrly no complaints.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

I wouldn't touch it, not after the horror stories I've read. Get an LCP and live happily ever after.


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## MikeG (Oct 5, 2007)

I would only use it as last resort to save my life. I depend on a Glock 27 if I want to fully trust a back up gun. I hate that you had a bad experience along with others, but again you get what you pay for...Ill still stand behind my comment that the Keltec 380 or 32 are junk...I like the rest of their guns. You just need to use what you trust. I dont trust those keltecs....Ill promise you if you get on me this diamondback will get you off.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

And that's fine if that's what you happen to have but why buy one when there are problems and there are much better guns out there for the price ?
When the DB came out most places were getting in the neighborhood of $330 - $350 for them. Academy had them on sale on Black Friday for $259. Twice in the last month, they've put them on sale for $229.
I'm sure it's not a customer appreciation sale. They are unloading them.


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## Pinksnappertrapper (Dec 7, 2007)

I would have a kel-tec over the lcp anyday. LCP IS THE ONE THAT HAD ALLLLL THE RECALLS ON THEM. KEL-TEC CAME OUT FIRST LCP COPIED THEIR DESIGN AND CHANGED A FEW COSMETIC THINGS. 

EXPLAIN HOW THE HELL THE LCP IS ANY "BETTER" OR DIFFERENT THAN THE KEL-TEC? THEY ARE THE SAME EXACT GUN.


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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

Ruger had some problems with the 370 prefix LCPs when they first came out. They fixed them. Glad you like your Keltec. I like my LCP.


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## pilotpop (Oct 1, 2007)

*Db 380*

I have had a student bring one out and fire it.. the only problem that I have seen is that this gun requires a solid platform to recoil against.. too many people have a tendancy to limp wrist, even unknowingly.. and if you are not shooting from a modified weaver stance, you will eventially have a feed problem.. i fired 12 rounds from the one on my range and had no problem with it, and after working with the student, they accomplished the same theng with no failures..


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## redneckboi (Oct 3, 2007)

*380 Diamondback*

I nearly bought one at Academy Sports a couple weeks ago. Looks great, handles good and the price was right. Looked just like a mini Glock. The only thing is, I couldn't get the clip to eject. I don't have the strongest hands in the world, but I have no trouble with the Ruger or Taurus. The salesman tried and after several tries he would have to pull the clip out. We tried 3 different guns and they all the same. I would up buying another Taurus.


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## FrankwT (Jul 25, 2010)

Maybe if you had tried to get the "magazine" out it would have worked, since the gun has no "clip", sorry am particular that way...lol


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## kenny senter (Mar 20, 2009)

I like mine just fine. Magazine was indeed a little tight at first. After a few hundred rounds its all good to go. Had a few malfunctions within the first 50-80 rnds, but that was all cheap Tula ammo just go get it worked in. Running some better quality ammo through it cleaned up any issues. Havent had any troubles since. It does like to be run wet. Quality seems much better than my kel-tec pf9 I owned. Much tighter tolerances (at least perceived), MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE (for what thats worth to ya, important to me), more reliable, etc etc. I had many many malfunctions out of my pf9, my buddy in the shooting lane next to me has one that runs like a top. Then again, some are complaining about the db380, I can not.

If you like it, get one. Try it. Give it a fair and thorough break-in. If it doesnt work for ya, let someone else give it a shot (pun)


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## Marine Scout (Nov 18, 2007)

I just found this video. watch what happens!!


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## FrankwT (Jul 25, 2010)

Latest Review:
http://www.gun-tests.com/issues/23_1/features/Pocket-Sized-ACP-Pistols5850-1.html


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