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I am sad to say that my long term review of the DB9 has been cut short. Yesterday evening I had the chance to get the DB9 back to the range. I added a Houge Handall Jr. to the DB9 increase my grip on the small pistol, and it worked great! I was able to shoot 1 and 2 handed with no issues. However, about 75 rounds into my range session it started having failures to feed and then the gun just stopped feeding completely; I couldn't even hand cycle a round into the chamber. At this point I field stripped the DB9 and my problem became apparent. The recoil assembly had failed and the frame of the gun was eating itself apart, small chunks of plastic fell out of the frame when the slide was removed. All I had was my cell phone, so you will have to excuse the poor quality of the pictures. You can click on the pictures for an enlarged view.   I am very disappointed that this little pistol didn't work out! A 9mm in that size is the perfect BUG (Back Up Gun). Sadly, the 9mm may just be too much for that small of a package.
On the bright side Bill's Gun Shop & Range, where I purchased the DB9, went above and beyond to take care of me. Bills's has a very clear policy that new firearms are warrantied by the manufacturer, not Bill's. They will be happy to help with shipping the gun back to the manufacturer, but there are no returns on new firearms. I emailed Joe at Bill's, he is either the Owner or Manager, and explained what had happened with the pistol. Joe was very understanding and assured me that he would take care of the situation, he asked that I let him know when I would be in and he or his sales team lead would see what they could do for me. I made it clear that I respected their policy and was not demanding a refund or exchange. I emailed Joe to ask if he would be in during a break I had between meetings; he responded that he would be gone but the sales team lead John would be fully briefed and handle the situation. I fully expected to walk in, have John tell me about their return policy and have the gun shipped back to Diamondback. (Upon its return I would have sold it.) John asked me to show him what had happened, and I pointed out the recoil spring and frame damage. John shook his head and asked me what firearm I would rather have, I was shocked and told him I would have to look around for a few minutes. After wandering the store I finally decided to get a Ruger LCR. John handled my paperwork, figured up the difference in price and shook my hand. Now that is customer service! I made sure to tell John to remove the extra magazine I had just paid $30 for and sell it, I no longer had a need for it. Keep an eye on the blog for a range report on the LCR. |