Aaronhome27
Sharpshooter
After Budsgunshop messed up my order and basically sent me the wrong DB380 I ended up with a Parkerized??? DB380 today. I had actually ordered an EXO version but that is another story. I previously owned a ZAxxxx early model DB380 early on and actually was very pleased with it with ZERO failures in 500 rounds I put through it. I really regretted selling it and decided it was time to get another to replace it.
Upon fist inspection I was highly disappointed with the finish on these little guns now. My origional DB380 has a melonite type finish that was very similar to a glock finish and hard to damage. This one is parkarized??? When did they change this?? Not only is it parkarized but very poorly done to say the least. Pictures to follow. I called Diamondback and asked why my new gun looked so poor. They told me that it was parkarized and that is how they looked now. I couldnt help myself but to let them know just how poor of a job they did.
Next I told them the barrel and rifling was black and looked horrible. They told me sometimes a little parkarized material might get in there but with some scrubbing and shooting it should come out but either way it would not hurt the accuracy. the photos below are of the bore after 10 minutes nonstop with a brass brush trying to remove the black mess.
With all that out of the way I have to be honest, the internal parts look excellent. I was going to do a fluff and buff but there really are no machine marks anywhere to clean up. The feed ramp is about as good as you can get. Very smooth and mirror like. The trigger feels superb for what it is although the reset could be a bit less distance. I really have no doubt that this gun will run given I use good quality ammo that Diamondback recommends. I will be sure to update when I get it to the range.
I did send Diamondback an email with pictures to share with them how I felt when I opened the box and saw the firearm. This gun may run without a hiccup but there really is no excuse for such a poor finish job. There are plenty of other choices out there to choose from and to send a new firearm out that looks like this will just continue to dig the hole Diamondback has been trying to get out of. We will see how Diamondback responds and I will sure to share.
Even the lettering on the NEW night sights was rubbed off !!!
These pictures Really do not show just how bad this gun looks. And yes it feels every bit as rough as it looks. And YES, those shiny spots that can be seen over the entire gun are bare or scuffed spots through the parkerized finish!
UPDATE
I spent about 3 hours (tinkered while catching up on some NCIS on the DVR) last night with a brass brush and some CLP. Polished the whole gun including the barrel and MOST of the rough look went away. I was able to get the barrel to look very good. The bore took some fast brass bore brush work but after the barrel got warm from the friction of the brush and non stop scrubbing it came clean. It now has a mirror finish that you would expect from a new gun. Basically did the same thing with the slide as well and it smoothed out quite a bit. Not quite what a new gun should be but nearly acceptable minus the rubs on the front night sight. This should have all been done at the factory for the price you pay for the gun IMO. Gun now looks pretty good but not great.
I had fired off an email to Diamondback with the same photos I posted here as well as some others not included in this thread. I got a reply today that it was normal and that it will look better as it gets broken in but I could basically do the brass brush job as I mentioned earlier and it would speed up the process. I completely disagree but I guess that is one mans opinion. I thought I had bought a finished pistol when I bought it. He also mentioned that the front sight looked like it was scuffed while in a holster. The bad thing is that this gun had never been holstered and came from teh factory like that. Basically Diamondback's stand on it was that the firearm was normal and after break in it will look better. Not too impressed.
Now on to the good stuff. I did spend some time working the slide with approx. 500 slide racks and a handful of dryfires or so last night to try to break it in. Stopped by the store and picked up a 50 rd box of Remington UMC 95 gr FMJ today. I also had a handful of various ammo I had laying around, Federal Lawman JHP, Federal FMJ, and a few who knows what. In all I had about 70 or so rounds to function test with. I was in a hurry when I got to our little back yard rance so I grabbed a box with something on it to shoot at. I set the box at our 10 yard line to give it a go. The first few shots were a bit wild as they were my first shots ever with this gun. After I settled down I started taking aimed shots at a decent pace. Empty a mag, let cool then empty another. I am pleased to say there was not a single hiccup in these first 70 rounds. This little gun follows suit with my other DB380 I had in that it is SUPER ACCURATE with everything I shoved down its throat!!! I was hitting a bit high maybe 3/4" but this was at 30 ft out of a mouse gun.
With all this said I think it is still a great gun just dont get the Parkerized finish unless you want to actually finish the gun yourself. I can attest to the fact that the melonite finish I had on my previous DB380 was outstanding. I think they really need to just dump the whole parkerized idea. Other than the finish issue I think this gun is still an amazing little gun for what it is. Hopefully they do have all of the bugs worked out from earlier versions. This is my second DB380 and so far (minus the finish issue) I am still very impressed. When I get the little buggar cleaned up from the range trip I will post a few pictures of how I got the finish to turn out.
There are 60 of the 70 rounds that I fired in the pics below. Off hand 30 feet. The POA was the little 1" Cookie center
Upon fist inspection I was highly disappointed with the finish on these little guns now. My origional DB380 has a melonite type finish that was very similar to a glock finish and hard to damage. This one is parkarized??? When did they change this?? Not only is it parkarized but very poorly done to say the least. Pictures to follow. I called Diamondback and asked why my new gun looked so poor. They told me that it was parkarized and that is how they looked now. I couldnt help myself but to let them know just how poor of a job they did.
Next I told them the barrel and rifling was black and looked horrible. They told me sometimes a little parkarized material might get in there but with some scrubbing and shooting it should come out but either way it would not hurt the accuracy. the photos below are of the bore after 10 minutes nonstop with a brass brush trying to remove the black mess.
With all that out of the way I have to be honest, the internal parts look excellent. I was going to do a fluff and buff but there really are no machine marks anywhere to clean up. The feed ramp is about as good as you can get. Very smooth and mirror like. The trigger feels superb for what it is although the reset could be a bit less distance. I really have no doubt that this gun will run given I use good quality ammo that Diamondback recommends. I will be sure to update when I get it to the range.
I did send Diamondback an email with pictures to share with them how I felt when I opened the box and saw the firearm. This gun may run without a hiccup but there really is no excuse for such a poor finish job. There are plenty of other choices out there to choose from and to send a new firearm out that looks like this will just continue to dig the hole Diamondback has been trying to get out of. We will see how Diamondback responds and I will sure to share.
Even the lettering on the NEW night sights was rubbed off !!!
These pictures Really do not show just how bad this gun looks. And yes it feels every bit as rough as it looks. And YES, those shiny spots that can be seen over the entire gun are bare or scuffed spots through the parkerized finish!
UPDATE
I spent about 3 hours (tinkered while catching up on some NCIS on the DVR) last night with a brass brush and some CLP. Polished the whole gun including the barrel and MOST of the rough look went away. I was able to get the barrel to look very good. The bore took some fast brass bore brush work but after the barrel got warm from the friction of the brush and non stop scrubbing it came clean. It now has a mirror finish that you would expect from a new gun. Basically did the same thing with the slide as well and it smoothed out quite a bit. Not quite what a new gun should be but nearly acceptable minus the rubs on the front night sight. This should have all been done at the factory for the price you pay for the gun IMO. Gun now looks pretty good but not great.
I had fired off an email to Diamondback with the same photos I posted here as well as some others not included in this thread. I got a reply today that it was normal and that it will look better as it gets broken in but I could basically do the brass brush job as I mentioned earlier and it would speed up the process. I completely disagree but I guess that is one mans opinion. I thought I had bought a finished pistol when I bought it. He also mentioned that the front sight looked like it was scuffed while in a holster. The bad thing is that this gun had never been holstered and came from teh factory like that. Basically Diamondback's stand on it was that the firearm was normal and after break in it will look better. Not too impressed.
Now on to the good stuff. I did spend some time working the slide with approx. 500 slide racks and a handful of dryfires or so last night to try to break it in. Stopped by the store and picked up a 50 rd box of Remington UMC 95 gr FMJ today. I also had a handful of various ammo I had laying around, Federal Lawman JHP, Federal FMJ, and a few who knows what. In all I had about 70 or so rounds to function test with. I was in a hurry when I got to our little back yard rance so I grabbed a box with something on it to shoot at. I set the box at our 10 yard line to give it a go. The first few shots were a bit wild as they were my first shots ever with this gun. After I settled down I started taking aimed shots at a decent pace. Empty a mag, let cool then empty another. I am pleased to say there was not a single hiccup in these first 70 rounds. This little gun follows suit with my other DB380 I had in that it is SUPER ACCURATE with everything I shoved down its throat!!! I was hitting a bit high maybe 3/4" but this was at 30 ft out of a mouse gun.
With all this said I think it is still a great gun just dont get the Parkerized finish unless you want to actually finish the gun yourself. I can attest to the fact that the melonite finish I had on my previous DB380 was outstanding. I think they really need to just dump the whole parkerized idea. Other than the finish issue I think this gun is still an amazing little gun for what it is. Hopefully they do have all of the bugs worked out from earlier versions. This is my second DB380 and so far (minus the finish issue) I am still very impressed. When I get the little buggar cleaned up from the range trip I will post a few pictures of how I got the finish to turn out.
There are 60 of the 70 rounds that I fired in the pics below. Off hand 30 feet. The POA was the little 1" Cookie center
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