Diamondback DB9FS Fullsize 9mm

**Brian Ahearn** · November 3rd, 2014, 04:38 PM

Well I have been on the quest for a striker fired pistol that I liked out of the box and still have not found it. I have owned almost all of them Glocks . M&P's , even the Canik TP9 ,Hk and Walther. I still build custom Tiberwolf Glocks because that frame and some trigger mods gives me a pistol that I am happy with. I did not care for the Hk VP9 .but out of the box it's tied with the Walther for best overall in my opinion. M&P has a very ergonomic frame but I still don't like them even with the Apex trigger system. I have a Sig P320 comimg to toy with, but a couple of weeks ago I paid $289.00 for a DiamondBack Fullsize 9mm and figured what the heck get a 4 pack of mags from Diamondback for another $75.00. Out of the box I really liked the frame fit and fell. I have had sitting here for three weeks and finally got out shoot it this morning. Overall accuracy was very good out to 20 yards ,I did not have time to shoot 25 yards yet. I focused on head shots at 10 and twenty yards. Function - I had three failures to eject out of 125 rounds fired this morning. I believe the issue lies with the mags , I also had some failures to fully chamber rounds and feed properly. The mags are supposed to hold 15 rounds. They are extremely tight and I could only get 15 rounds in one of them and that was the only mag out of the five that functioned right. I believe I can correct all my mag issues with some minor alterations. The trigger was decent ,but stiff so when I got back from the range I modified the sear then polished it and came up with a better sear spring and now I have a nice 6 lb clean breaking trigger. I modified one mag as well so that I can resume testing later this week. Most of the reviews on this pistol have been favorable and not suggesting that there are issues. The main issue appears to be the mag manufacturer Act mag not one of my personal favorites . Overall I really liked the fit to my hand and the accuracy ,I will put another 300 rounds through it and then pass final judgement. If I can work out the kinks easily then I have a decent value. If you are someone buying one of these because you are on a limited budget my advise would be to get an EAA poly gun or a Canik or Tristar. Next I will try the SIG and then a Strike One from Arsenal when they are available.

**Armor Snail** · November 3rd, 2014, 09:17 PM

Did you get to shoot a Steyr yet Brian.

Where are your usual fantastic pictures too? I heard about the full size DB9. Just haven't seen it yet except for a standard stock photo laying on its side.

**Brian Ahearn** · November 4th, 2014, 09:22 AM

Yes I have shot the Steyr thought it was a decent pistol. I have not had time to take any photos of the diamondback yet. Another thing that I really liked about it was the rather large cocking serrations on the slide. However if I can't solve the crappy mags this won't be a firearm that I would consider keeping around for anything. I plan on shooting it tomorrow with the one good mag and the one that I modified. I am expecting that my groups will tighten up as well with the sear and sear spring mods. Fit and feel of this pistol for me is way better than glock or M&P's ,but that really does not matter if functioning is not 100%.

**Brian Ahearn** · November 5th, 2014, 10:25 AM

Since the first range session I modified one mag , now I have two that hold 15 rounds and both are functioning well. I also voided the pistol's warranty by modifying the sear and replacing the sear spring with a lighter spring ,that took some time digging through my spring pile to come up with something that I thought would work, but it gave me a lighter and smoother pull which resulted in better accuracy. l had three failures to feed today all with one brand of Privi Partisan 9 mm ball ammo which has a fatter more rounded bullet. This pistol prefers a tapered 9 mm bullet and so far has fed hollow points with out any issues. I had zero failures to eject today so that issue has been corrected. I will modify the other three mags and frog lube the slide and metal surfaces on the frame and go run it again on Sunday with out the Privi Partisan ammo and see if I can have a zero malfunction day. The improved trigger gave me some outstanding head shot groups today at 7 and ten yards till the rear sight slid right off the slide while I was shooting. Since I did not take tools with me and I did not wish to cut my shooting session short I continued on with out the rear sight in place. Shooting wise today's session went pretty well so I have a better overall opinion of the handgun. It is getting better as it breaks in ,we will see how it goes Sunday.

**NathanB** · November 5th, 2014, 11:00 AM

I dunno brian I was slightly interested in one til I read this.
sight fell off under normal use
mags need modified
etc. its enough for me to say no to

**Brian Ahearn** · November 5th, 2014, 12:58 PM

I can totally agree with you, a lot of the firearms reviewers out there get free guns to evaluate and often I feel that many of their reviews are not forth coming coming about issues . When I get something to test out it is on my dime and I will tell you like it is. I read a lot of positive reviews from popular folks in the industry on this pistol and I find it hard to believe that no else experienced any issues. With that said I did not contact the company to send it in because I believed that they were easily fixed and I did not want to bother to ship it back to them. The mags are act mags and I am no stranger to these mags having issues. A better mag from the start would really improve this firearm. Second I did not want to send it back because my original intention was to tinker with it and with minimal work I have greatly improved the trigger. The sight was just loose , a little loctite will solve that one , but I am going to swap some glock sights on this any ways for experimentation purposes. After the second shooting session I am happier about how it functions. Could this just be a lemon maybe ,but firearms that are not right from the factory just seem to be the norm these days. Last Friday I received in a new 686 stainless S&W revolver for a customer function fine but it was covered in rust. Last I will say this so far this pistol is no Remington R51 ,but I think the factory could spend some more time on QC. I report some more on this pistol next Monday.