Aw look. It’s a gun. Isn’t it cute! With a three-inch barrel, the new 11-ounce Diamondback Firearms DB9 is roughly the same size as a wallet. It’s also so thin it has to run around in the shower to get wet (.80″). And yet the DB9 holds six-plus-one rounds of nine millimeter goodness. The five-pound double-action only trigger is a surprise: crisp and clean and nowhere near as long as War and Peace. The zero-energy striker strike me as a good idea, too. As to whether or not broadsides of barns are in any danger from this mouse gun or whether or not the recoil makes the DB9 as pleasant to shoot as Old Yeller (in a different sort of way), I Â dunno . . .
As Center Mass marketing maven Travis Noteboom told me, who gives a shit? (paraphrasing) If you’re in a life-or-death situation, you won’t feel a thing. Nor, hopefully, will the bad guy. But that depends on actually shooting the bad guy with enough accuracy or let’s-face-it luck to damage him enough to thwart his evil intentions. Which has something to do with the DB9’s recoil and muzzle flip. Which are likely to be considerable And best tamed by practice. Which you won’t want to do if there’s too much recoil.
Oh dear. I’m not very good at this mouse gun stuff, am I? Suffice it to say, despite making its guns in the business-friendly Sunshine State, Diamondback doesn’t have the kind of money SHOT show exhibitors pay for a range on Media Day. We’ve hit them up for a T&E (Testing and Evaluation) model. And if Diamondback sells a few thousand DB9’s, and somehow manages to placate Aston Martin’s lawyers without shelling out huge quantities of cash, they might have a little target practice next year. It’s five bills sans laser, six with.
I volunteer to compare it against the Kel-Tec PF9; I’ve got some comfy shooting gloves and I don’t mind pain for a good cause. If you can wrangle a T&E Kahr PM9, we’ll corner the market on mouse gun reviews! And nasty purple bruises on the webs of our shooting hands…
I’d like to see a comparo between all of the affordable “pocket” 9’s.
– Diamondback DB9
– Kahr PM9
– Keltec PF9
– Ruger LC9
– Taurus 709
I still volunteer.
since when was the Kahr PM9 affordable? it’s like over six hundred bucks!!
DB9 is gun is junk
You don’t hear many complaints about a Glock 17, but one of the biggest strongest officers on the force was complaining that his Glock was jamming at the range.
Turns out he was weak wristing the handgun.
Suggestion: get a gun that you have good results with. You do not want to have that question of “is it going to jam?” on your mind when the time comes to use it.
I am comfortable with my DB 9.
So I’m going to get a mouse gun for certain carry situations (or I just wouldn’t carry)….would you wait for this or do as I planned to do – get a S&W .380 at the gun show this coming weekend?
Wait.
Don’t forget to check out the Rohrbaugh R9. They have been doing it best (although $) for a few years now…
The bad thing about the Rohrbaugh is the fact they cost a grand or more.
I didn’t notice this until now, but the gun has a “Warning: Laser Radiation” sticker on it. It’s a gun with f___ing *bullets* coming out of the muzzle, and their insurer or risk-management lawyer makes them put a warning about being injured by a beam of *light*?
What a country!
Look at the muzzle and you’ll see a sticker that says “this side toward enemy.”
Those stickers are actually supplied by Crimson Trace because they have to supply them by law. To travel on an airplane, checked of course, these stickers have to be on the gun. Dont ask me why…
All Class III lasers require the sticker to be on/near them by law.
I’ll wait until the Diamondback 9 has been out for a year or so, to get the bugs out. I favor my PT 709 Taurus. It’s got the Glock-like trigger and easy recoil, I can shoot this accurately all day.
I have the BD380 and love it. Carry it everyday as my back up as well as off duty. If the DB9 performs as well as the the 380 they might have a good weapon on their hands. I do like the idea of a 119gr chunck of brass flying at the bad guy better than one that’s only 94gr. But it doesn’t matter anyway if you place the shot right…
Sorry, when the trigger broke on my DB380 on the 9th round at the range, all my confidence in their firearms went out the window… and the DB 380 was sold as soon as it got back from the factory for repairs. Lets see a year and nothing but glowing reports on this weapon before I even consider putting money down for it, or leaving my PM9 at home.
If you already have a PM9, then why would you want to even consider a cheaper mouse gun anyway?
If keltec chopped off 3/4 inch of barrel and reduced the length of grip on thier PF9 by reducing capacity from 7 to 6 rounds, they would corner the market on pocket nines.
Got a DB9 Yesterday and blew 390 Rounds through it with no problem. Pumped another 200 through it today. PMC, Corbon, Atlanta Arms, Blazer, Fioci. It did not like Federal Hydro-shock.
What part of the world are you in ? Been waiting for a while for one myself. How much cash did it set you back ?
Just got this gun tonight and already noticed it doesn’t like the Federal Hydroshocks. Put 6 in the mag and pulled slide back and the first one is getting stuck on the bottom of the feed ramp every time. Have to finesse the bottom of the magazine w/some pressure to get it to load. After this it seems fine. Will see how it performs at the range…… crossing fingers.
Had a Kahr PM 9 went to the range twice,first time was fine after 70rds,second time jammed 3times ,called kahr direct told me nothing was wrong with the gun told me to put more rds through it. SOLD !!!
This isn’t 1897. They could have at least have an optional 20 round magazine magazine for this gun. Think like the flush-fitting 20 round mag what Meggar makes for the Taurus PT917.
Nonetheless, it will intersting to see what this pistol evolves into. I love the name, but I prefer a polished gem to a gem in the rough.
I bought a DB380 and have shot about 600 rounds with several problems. HOWEVER, they are all my fault. I believe that from a .380 speed and the heaviest FMJ is the best choice for penetration especially up north in the winter with lots of clothing on the target. So I have been experimenting with my own loads to see what works best. So far as long as I load relatively hot (3.2 Win 231 behind a 95grn rnfmj) all the problems dissappear. I will ultimately carry a rn, fmj factory load if I can find one. Most of the self-defense loads are hp which I don’t think are the best choice unless you’re in Florida with nothing between you and the bad guy but a T-shirt.
Check out Buffalo Bore .380 ammo.I think they offer just the right loads for you. Expensive,but definitely worth the price.Good luck.
PS. On my last post. I’m heading out today to buy a DB9 which I have been waiting several months for. If it is as good as the DB380 I’ll be a happy camper. The 9mm will be my winter gun since it’s so big and heavy and I’ll keep the DB380 for T-shirt weather.
Be really careful with this weapon. My new, out of the box, DB9 had a fail to properly feed or eject about every other mag. After two boxes of 2 different MFG’s the top lifted off the frame. I talked to Diamondback who acted like it was my fault. As I checked out other blog’s I see that this has happened to others. The factory would not honor the warranty and they made me pay for the repairs or they would just send it back so I could use it as a paper weight.
It is now supposed to be fixed but I have no confidence that it won’t blow up in my face.
I have been looking at the db9 as a pocket carry gun after reading the comments I’am not sure I one. I’ll stick with my Taurus 709 1,500 rounds and no problrms
My DB-9 had a short chamber and wouldn’t function with any ammo
except Winchester “Silvertips”. A new barrel with the correct depth
chamber solved the problem and it now runs fine with any commercial
ammo I feed it! They, (Diamondback Arms) evidentally do not test fire
their weapons. Pretty poor quality control on a firearm you may have to
bet your life on I’d say!
I bought one of your DB9 9mm pistols for my wife last week from a gun dealer in Idaho Falls ID, I went too shoot it first time today Sunday 2/5 /2012 first round jammed and live cartridge stuck in the chamber. I am really disappointed and I am glad I was not in a life and death situation, I should have bought a Glock. Dealer will eat It. I hope no law enforcement and military personnel are compromised in any way with your junk firearm.
Matthew A. Fjelsted 20yrs Marine Corps retired.
Bought a DB9 at a gunshow last month. Took it to the range and it failed to feed about every other round no matter what ammo I used. Sent it back to factory. Got it back today with a note saying they fired 24 rounds of Blazer Brass through it with zero failures and they replaced the “trigger axis”. About the only ammo I don’t currently have is Blazer Brass, will take it tomorrow and see if it works with the other ammo they recommend. (it didn’t before). If it only works with one brand of ammo, it isn’t worth having. It only came with one magazine, so I suppose that could be the problem, although they said there was nothing wrong. It was dirty enough when I got it back so apparently they did fire it.
This is very common with the DB9.
I initially fired over 200 rounds through my DB9 with a jamb about every other shot. Even polishing the slide did not help. A gun shop employee told me cycling the slide several hundred times would cure this problem.
My DB9 has not jambed since.
Also, failure to hold the gun very firmly will lead to jambs.
This gun is great when this problem is cured.
Bought the DB9 at a gun show about 3 weeks ago for concealed carry. Fired 50 rounds no jams, misfires or any problems. I let a couple of fellow officers fire the BD9 at the range. It failed to feed with two of them. But, when I fired it again there was no problem. As a firearms instructor, I thought they were “weak wristing” the gun. It does have a strong recoil and you need to keep your wrist locked.
I bought the db9 on a whim..liked the compact size and did not have great expectations. I expected no more from it than a close, fire in the general direction and hope for the outcome. Well, with some range time and a mix of cheap ammo, it has performed without flaw. Not as smooth as my Glock 26 or 19, but a lot nicer trigger than my Ruger LCp. Yes, it kicks; yes, it seems loud. Sure fits easily in a pocket, though. I like it better than my Seecamp .32 and the db kicks no worse than my Berreta .32. Actually, for walk around carry my wife and I have shifted to a Taurus pt22 for me and a Taurus .380 for her. The 9mms, 38 special and others have become bed stand and vehicle options. The .22s get lead on the target, are extremely compact and have proved first shot reliable. we shoot them all, but have come to like the user friendly carry of the compact small stuff with decent triggers. Present day ammo has evolved to allow smaller firearms to serve better in self defense scenarios. We like the big stuff, but are both small folks for whom larger frames and calibers negate our concealed carry options. Bottom line; the db9 has proved a nice niche gun and we see it as a keeper.
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