Diamondback Sidekick new

[hornetguy]

.Since I already had a Single Six and a Wrangler, I decided to try out one of the Diamondback Sidekicks... I read lots of reviews, most of them pretty positive, so... I picked it up yesterday. I plan to shoot it some this weekend, and will post good/bad/indifferent results...

I really like the concept... 9 shot, DA/SA, looks like a standard SA revolver... reminiscent of the old Double 9 revolvers. It comes with a .22 mag cylinder that is easily swappable.
It seems to be well made, overall. The fit is good, and the action is smooth, in SA mode. The cylinder lock-up could be a little better, as there is a slight bit of back and forth rotational play when cocked. The SA trigger pull is very nice...almost zero creep, and light. The DA trigger pull on mine is pretty bad, very heavy, with a couple of hang-up spots. I plan to see how it acts at the range before I try to smooth it out (if possible).

The cerakote finish is not as nice as it could be... there are a few places with "orange peel" appearance. Also, the cylinder pin strikes the groove in the frame solidly enough to chip the finish off. I have decided to not try to push the cylinder closed without pulling the rod out slightly to allow it to close gently.

I found out that Ruger grips fit it as well as the factory ones.

I also found out that, even though the revolver is made to be completely safe for dry firing, with notches milled out of the chamber edges where the firing pin strikes, there is a warning label that states that dry-firing the gun will void the warranty. ????

Anyway, here are some pics of it, and I will follow with a range report... all of this for a price out the door under $300. Jury is still out at this point... I'm ready to see how it shoots.

 

[Whalercohasset]

Interesting, I haven't seen any in stores yet but I'm a addict for any and all .22 revolvers.

 

[jimbo]

Looking forward to a range report. Thanks

 

[zackmars]

Interesting. Any easy way to take a picture of the lockwork?

 

[TipBledsoe]

From what little I now about it, it seems to be far better than a Heritage. I'm looking forward to the range report.

 

[hornetguy]

Interesting. Any easy way to take a picture of the lockwork?

I haven't researched how they come apart... I saw in one video that a guy says that the one screw through the hammer holds it all together...
I'll see what I can find out, because I want to smooth this one's double action up, if possible. Single action is great.

 

[jimbo]

I heard changing the cylinders was kinda tricky. Please let us know what you think

 

[Eastexasrick]

Interesting wheel gun. Fills the niche left by H&R sidekick, but better, with the included Mag cylinder. The frame is Zamak 5, which is unique. I read 4 reviews, and all were quite positive. Well shoot, there goes another three hundred bucks.

 

[hornetguy]

I heard changing the cylinders was kinda tricky. Please let us know what you think

No, it is not difficult in the least. Use a slender punch, push in the plunger and ease the cylinder out as you pull the punch back out of the way. The plunger is spring loaded, so simply ease the punch back out, and there is no problem.
To put the other cylinder in, push the plunger back in, and slide the tab of the crane in until it bumps your punch... ease the punch back until the tab slides into place. It takes longer to describe it than it does to do it... . it takes about 15-20 seconds.

Interesting wheel gun. Fills the niche left by H&R sidekick, but better, with the included Mag cylinder. The frame is Zamak 5, which is unique. I read 4 reviews, and all were quite positive. Well shoot, there goes another three hundred bucks.
View attachment 403067

I have seen a couple of reviews that indicate the magnum cylinder chambers are tight, or rough, and after firing a cylinder full, it's difficult to extract the cases, requiring hammering pretty hard on the rod with your hand.... I imagine that polishing them out would help, I don't plan to shoot a lot of magnums in mine, so I'm not all that concerned about it, but you should know it, and look at the videos before you decide.

 

[hornetguy]

Follow up.... not so good.
The DA pull was worse than I thought, so I called and talked to them.... they suggested I shoot about 100 rounds through it to see if it loosened up any.
I took it to the range and shot the first cylinder at 10 yards, standing. I managed about a 6" group... not encouraging.
Even worse, when I opened it to reload, the ejector moved out about a quarter inch, and locked up. I tried tapping it against the counter, no go, it wouldn't budge. I thought it was stuck cases, but they were "out" far enough to grab with a fingernail, and I pulled them all out with no effort.
I had a brass hammer with me, and managed to tap it back down into place. I twisted, pulled, pushed, and finally got it to break free and move.
Shot another 6 shots, bigger group with some vertical stringing. Locked up again when trying to eject. Played around with rotating the rod and noticed it wasn't back fully seated from when I pulled it back to open the cylinder. Something inside the rod mechanism was hanging it up from fully seating after opening the cylinder. I could rotate it around and get it to seat, and it would eject just fine.
Anyway, fired another cylinder full, resting my arms on the counter in front of me. Dead solid hold, squeeze the trigger, no jerking at all.
The group was much larger, with what appears to be 3 or 4 keyholes.... at 10 yards.

I called DBack today, and they told me to go on their website and fill out the repair form and send it back. That's my plan. I just got a lemon, apparently. We'll see, once they evaluate it and respond.

First target....

Ejector star locked up....

Second group, vertical spreading, still standing, offhand

last group, resting, solid hold, no flinching, possible keyholes... that's all 9 rounds showing. I circled the possible keyholes in red....

Just for a comparison, this is the way I normally group at 10 yards.... this is my Wrangler, standing at 10 yards... I'm fairly sure it wasn't shooter error...

 

[Whistler]

I hope they can sort it out for you. I've had one for about a year, hundreds of rounds through it without a problem. I agree the WMR cases swell pretty tight in the cylinder but less of an issue over time. The cylinder latch could stand a bit more clearance on the .22lr cylinder.
Mostly I find it pretty serviceable for a $300 revolver with two cylinders. Can't recall shooting any paper just dueling tree, cans and snakes. I'll have to check and get back with grouping.
I don't see any issues with the ceracoat, sounds like they should send you a replacement.

Dug out the box, there is no sticker on mine regarding dry fire. In fact page 8 of the manual says

 

[hornetguy]

I'm glad you got a good one. From what I've seen online, mine is certainly an anomaly...

I also found it odd that they would warn against dry firing... I think mine had 3 labels attached... one on the plastic bag the gun was in, one even in the manual, probably where your manual said it was ok.. and one other, somewhere.

Another issue with mine is that the manual says to not pull out on the ejector rod to close the cylinder, to simply push it closed by hand. It is impossible to do that with mine. The end of the rod sticks out far enough to strike the edge of the scallop in the frame. I physically could not force it to close that way.... I pushed on it harder than I thought I should, to see if the rod would spring back and allow it to close.... no joy. I have to pull back on the ejector rod to close mine.

I agree, they are a bargain, when they work properly. I hope to find out soon. I have high hopes that the next one will be a winner. (I'm assuming they will replace this one)

 

[hornetguy]

Update... they sent a return label, and i returned it just before leaving on vacation just over a week ago. I got word that they determined mine needed to be replaced. They will send it to my ffl when it is produced, and will re-imburse my transfer fee for the new gun.
So far, excellent customer service....

 

[hornetguy]

UPDATE..... I just got an email stating that they had shipped my replacement Sidekick.
It should be here, possibly tomorrow.
I'll post reviews after I get to play with it and shoot it....

 

[hornetguy]

I got the replacement Sidekick in, and finally got to shoot it. It's definitely better than the first one, accuracy-wise. Single action is nice.... not "great" but certainly serviceable. Double action is still pretty stiff. To get any kind of "smooth" shot, I had to make a quick "snatch" kind of pull. I couldn't get it to function well at all, trying to do a slow double action pull. This might smooth out with use... remains to be seen.
Accuracy is ok... not as good as my Wrangler or Single Six....
Here are a couple of targets, standing at 7 yards....
I don't know if I'll keep it around... I have the Rugers to keep me occupied, so, this one might get moved on down the road..... time will tell....

 

[robertc1024]

Thanks for the update.