Diamondback DB15CCB Rifle Journal

[superbeau]

With all of my prior posts being said, the two things that I'm working on now are: camo and ammo.

On the camo front, I've used Mossy Oak's vinyl gun wraps on a couple shotguns in the past and I love this stuff! It takes some patience to get it on right, but once it's on it looks great, feels great, and holds up to the toughest conditions. I've taken this stuff off guns after two years of being on, and it pulls right off without leaving a single trace of glue or gunk. They make a vinyl kit for AR rifles and I'm going to pick one up - probably in Duck Blind pattern since I like that camo best for sitting on the ground - and see how it works. I'll keep you all posted on how it turns out!





*** UPDATE - 03/29/2017 ***
I finally made this purchase today. It was $46 with shipping directly from the Mossy Oak Graphics website, which is a little steep, but if it turns out as well as my other camo jobs using this product, it's worth it. I'll try to get it done sooner than later and will share photos of the final result.

*** UPDATE - 04/01/2017 ***
Well the camo job is now complete! It's a lot of work and almost like a jigsaw puzzle, only more difficult because the pieces don't all fit exactly right. The instructional video above was very helpful, especially the part about using a hair-drier to soften the material and help form it into place. I was super careful about not wasting any materials and was able to stretch the supply to my scope as well. The material is vinyl and it's a little slippery on the grip for my liking, so I put the camo gauze-wrap back on for some extra stickiness. I also had to cover my safe/fire markings so I added a small dot of red and white paint on both sides of the lower receiver, on top of the camo, in the appropriate spots for safety and fire positions. I actually think that looks kind of cool, even though I was disappointed to cover my earlier paint job [see reply #18]. My fingers are a bit raw and my X-Acto knife couldn't cut through butter... but it's done. Check out the photos I shared down on post #35 to see the final finals.

[superbeau]

After using my mounted flashlight on a couple of night-hunts for coyotes, I started thinking about how to focus the beam a bit more. It's super bright and works great, but there's a lot of "light wash" where it lights up the whole woods instead of a specific area. My first attempt in adding a sort of flashlight tube was measuring the diameter of the lens, which is roughly 1.8". Then I picked up a 1 1/2" Schedule-40 PVC coupler at my local hardware store, which has an inside diameter around 1.9". I added a couple pieces of velcro tape (soft side) on the inside of the coupler and pressed it over the end of the flashlight. It works ok testing in the garage, but I'll take it on my next hunt, to see if it accomplishes its intended purpose. Here's what it looks like so far... field results pending!



*** UPDATE - 03/08/2017 ***
The original coupling that I found was only maybe 2" from end to end, and it wasn't quite long enough to help focus the beam. Then I found another 1 1/2" coupling for $0.75 at Menards that was twice as long (~4"), so I painted it black - quick and dirty with some spray paint - and it worked like a charm. Here's the finished product; will report back after some additional field testing this weekend.

[superbeau]

I was getting tired of paying too much money for targets and decided to create my own, so I can print them any time I'm heading to the range. The first few are for printing on normal 8.5x11 paper, but if you have a bigger printer - maybe at the office - the last three are sized for 11x17 paper. The squares are 1" blocks and the circles are 1" increments as well. Here is a JPG of of an example of one of the targets, but download the PDF files to print in the best resolution.



Target - 8.5x11P - 1in Squares.pdf (6.19 kB - downloaded 408 times)
Target - 8.5x11P - 1in Squares & 1in Dot.pdf (6.38 kB - downloaded 409 times)
Target - 8.5x11P - 1in Squares & 1in Circles.pdf (6.58 kB - downloaded 398 times)
Target - 8.5x11P - 1in Squares & 1in Dot & 1in Circles.pdf (142.62 kB - downloaded 401 times)
Target - 11x17P - 1in Squares.pdf (6.47 kB - downloaded 402 times)
Target - 11x17P - 1in Squares & 1in Dot.pdf (6.68 kB - downloaded 405 times)
Target - 11x17P - 1in Squares & 1in Circles.pdf (6.95 kB - downloaded 391 times)
Target - 11x17P - 1in Squares & 1in Dot & 1in Circles.pdf (7.15 kB - downloaded 400 times)

Feel free to use and share!

[superbeau]

I was a little disappointed when I got my DB15CCB that the safety selector markings on the lower receiver were just rolled or stamped, with no color in the lettering. If you've had a dozen years of AR experience or never let rookies shoot with you, that might be fine, but neither is true for me. It can be hard to read the letters in a hurry, so I prefer the red and white colored letters to make things faster and easier, particularly in getting from "fire" to "safe". There a hundred videos on YouTube for filling in the roll marks with Testors model paint. I picked up a tiny bottle of white and red paint online for a couple bucks. Then I cleaned the surface with some rubbing alcohol so the paint would stick. After that, I used toothpicks to take a tiny bit of paint and apply it in each letter depression, being super careful not to overfill the marks. Even a toothpick is a little too thick for this task, so maybe a needle or safety-pin would work better. Either way, if you're careful in your application, once the paint dries, you're done. If you got a little sloppy, then you can use alcohol or nail-polish remover to clean off the excess paint on the receiver. Some videos suggest covering the whole area liberally and then cleaning up after, but the one area I had to clean up was a pain, so do your best to avoid that step if possible. This photo isn't my rifle, but it illustrates the outcome. You can get crazy filling in the other depressions, like logos and gun info, but I opted to just fill the "safe" and "fire" marks on mine. Costs about $5 and took me about 20 minutes in total, so pretty easy and cheap upgrade, since Diamondback stopped filling these at the factor (they did in earlier DB15 models I've seen).

[superbeau]

I've been saying since day-1 that the trigger is on my list of things to do for the DB15CCB - and I'm not the only one - but I was deploying cash towards some other upgrades first. I just didn't have the bandwidth to drop $200+ on a nice drop-in trigger system, but some folks on this forum pointed to a possible interim solution to reduce the trigger pull - JP Enterprises' Reduced Power Trigger Spring Kit. The JP website say that if you're already using JP parts in your trigger, these replacement trigger springs can get you down to 3.5# pull, but if not you can still get to 4.5#. I don't have a trigger scale, unfortunately, but based on some quick research it sounds like it's advertised as a 7.0# single-stage and actual results are in the 7.0# - 7.5# range. That's pretty high but not all that uncommon for factory triggers, especially on a budget gun. If I can spend $15-ish and knock that pull down by 30-40% with a 10-minute adjustment, then I'm definitely up for giving that a try.



***UPDATE - 02/28/2017***
I just ordered the kit for $11 + $7 shipping from Optics Planet, and will try to get it installed this coming weekend. I'll report back once it's in and we'll see if this truly is the "poor man's trigger job". I know a few others on here also suggested polishing and a few other tweaks to improve the trigger, but we'll start with the springs and see how that goes. More to come, soon!



***UPDATE - 03/05/2017***
I received my new springs and, as promised, it took about 10 minutes to switch out the hammer spring. I only changed that spring, as from what I read, that has the most impact and is the easiest to do. I had a little trouble getting the the hammer pin back through the receiver, but with some wiggling and a little pressure, it went. I tested the trigger a bunch of times to make sure I hadn't done anything stupid, and it worked flawlessly. Then I took the gun out to the range and I can't tell you how big of a difference it made The trigger is so much smoother and, while I don't have a trigger scale, it felt to me like a 40-50% reduction in pull weight. I didn't see any issues, as I was nervous about light primer strikes. Apparently this is more of an issue on foreign ammo, which I've read uses a harder primer. I need to go back in and grease the trigger surface a bit, but to me, this is a no-brainer upgrade for $15 on the DB15CCB.

***UPDATE - 03/14/2017***
After I installed the hammer spring from this kit, I ended up posting the remaining two spring in the kit on Ebay. They sold last night for $9 and I'm going to sell the stock hammer spring, also, maybe getting a couple bucks for that. So net-net, I got my new and improved hammer spring for about $5. Love the power of Ebay!

[superbeau]

I took my gun out to the range over the weekend and figured I would snag a new pic to share, in case you're curious how everything I've explained on this thread has turned out so far.

[superbeau]

I finally had a chance to pickup some different coyote ammo for a range test, to figure out which stuff had the best groupings in my DB15CCB. It was a little windy, but the results are all same gun / same shooter / same bench / etc.  I was also careful to wait for lulls in the breeze to minimize any affect on the bullets. Plus, I only shot out to 100 yards on this trip, so windage should be nominal. I'll have to test at 200-400 yards when it's a bit calmer out, but some preliminary results so far.

Here's the ammo that I took out:

• Federal V-Shok 223, 40 grains
• Remington AccuTip 223, 50 grains
• Winchester Varmint-X 223, 55 grains
• NormaUSA TAC-223 FMJ, 55 grains
• Federal Fusion 223 MSR, 62 grains
• Remington AccuTip 223, 55 grains
• Winchester SilverTip 223, 55 grains

I started at 50 yards and used the FMJs to add a little copper in the ol' barrel and warm 'er up for the real stuff. Here are the results - please forgive the crappy photos; I'll try to get something better to replace these later this week.

NormaUSA TAC-223 FMJ, 55 grains @ 50 yards

3 shots = 1.5" group

Federal V-Shok 223, 40 grains @ 50 yards

3 shots = 1.6" group

Remington AccuTip 223, 50 grains @ 50 yards

3 shots = 0.8" group

Winchester Varmint-X 223, 55 grains @ 50 yards

3 shots = 0.7" group

Federal Fusion 223 MSR, 62 grains @ 50 yards

3 shots = 1.9" group

Then I moved back to 100 yards and repeated the process. I did not use the FMJs at this range; those were just to foul the barrel a touch before the actual testing began.

Federal V-Shok 223, 40 grains @ 100 yards

3 shots = 2.2" group [wind might have blow that flier off track]

Remington AccuTip 223, 50 grains @ 100 yards

3 shots = 1.0" group

Winchester Varmint-X 223, 55 grains @ 100 yards

3 shots = 0.2" group

Federal Fusion 223 MSR, 62 grains @ 100 yards

3 shots = 3.3" group

After shooting these particular rounds, I think I'll be using the Winchester Varmint-X 223 ammo in 55 grains for coyotes The Remington AccuTip 50-grains performed really well, too, but they are a lot more expensive around here, so the Winchesters are my winning ticket, at least for now. I will test at 200, 300, and 400 on a calmer day, adjust my scope down a bit, and also see which ammo "matches" best with the Nikoplex system on my scope at those longer ranges. That said, I am super impressed with the DB15CCB's precision so far. And I should mention, not a single issue during this day of testing; every round from these manufacturers shot and cycled without any hiccups. More to come, as soon as this darn wind dies down!

*** UPDATE - 03/11/2017 ***
I was back out at the range today and added two new coyote rounds to the mix: Remington's AccuTip-V in 55 grains and Winchester's Ballistic SilverTip also in 55 grains. I also wanted to retry the two best loads from last time to make sure their success wasn't a fluke: Winchester's Varmint-X in 55 grains and Remington's AccuTip-V in 50 grains. I had previously zeroed the scope at 100 yards with the Winchester Varmint-X 55 grain ammo. Here are the results...

Winchester Ballistic SilverTip 223, 55 grains @ 100 yards

3 shots = 1.6" group
Velocity = 3002, 2986, 2956 FPS (rated 3240)
Price = $28 / 20

Winchester Varmint-X 223, 55 grains @ 100 yards

2 shots = 0.5" group
Velocity = 2846, 2950 FPS (rated 3240)
Price = $21 / 20

Remington AccuTip-V 223, 50 & 55 grains @ 100 yards

2 shots each = 0.3" group each (the pairs are vertical to each other)
Velocity, 50g = 3001, 2863, 3070 (rated 3410)
Price = $31 / 20

So in today's testing, the new entry - Winchester SilverTip - did not hold up to the competition. Once again, the ol' Winchester Varmint-X and Remington AccutTip (both weights) did very well. It's amazing how the 50 and 55 grain Remington's shot the same exact group but the 55 grain version was just a hair off center. It was also interesting to see that the velocities were all pretty close, at about 400 FPS slower than rated (thanks to my 16" barrel), although I will admit that the SilverTip results were more consistent than the others. You would think that would correlate to better groups on the paper, but that's not the case here. Anyways, for the money, the Varmint-X will remain my go to loads for coyote hunting. Tomorrow looks to be the best wind day here, so if I'm lucky, I'll be able to go out again and try at 200 and 300 yards. I'll post those results as soon as they're in.

*** UPDATE - 03/13/2017 ***
Another day at the range, this time with very low winds, so I was excited to get some long-range results. In the testing today, the 200-yard results were not surprising and their groups were representative of the 100-yard results seen before. Then I moved back to 300 yards and things got a little more interesting. Instead of posting a ton of targets, I've marked digital targets below showing the impacts. I was running a little low on some ammo, so I only shot two of each at this range, but I did have extra of both Winchesters, so there are extra holes there for good measure.



As you can see, the Varmint-X and Remington's continued to show good groupings. Note that one shot on target #2 caught a wind gust that came out of nowhere, but the vertical hits are about on the same plane. From an elevation standpoint, I would take any of targets 1, 2, and 3, which is again consistent with what I've seen previously from these loads. I was surprised at the 40-grain results on target #6, though, as those Federal V-Shok loads had been a bit erratic at closer ranges; maybe just luck on this one. This concludes my ammo testing for now, as those rounds aren't cheap! My lesson learned here is that, as you can see above, the Winchester Varmint-X (55gr) and Remington AccuTip-V (50gr & 55gr) seem to perform very well from my DB15CCB. I'll post a separate message with all the data I collected on the loads tested, in case that's helpful and hopefully saves others from spending as much money testing ammo as I did

*** UPDATE - 04/17/2017 ***
I found a new contender in the ammo battle - Federal's American Eagle AR223 Tipped Varmint. It's a 223 round in 50-grains with ballistic tip and boat-tail design. Lots of positive reviews online and an incredible price-point, but you can check out my results down in post #25 below.

[Chris]

That Winchester Varmint-X 223, 55 grain grouping is amazing.

[superbeau]

I have been considering a switch of the stock charging handle that came with my DB15CCB. The original seemed fine, but it felt like it took more effort than it should to operate. I learned that you can either replace the entire charging handle assembly ($30-100) or switch out just the latch ($5-25). We started another thread on this topic, which shows a few suggestions for replacement parts and assemblies. @SavsPaw suggested the BCM Mod4 Medium, which runs about $50 and looks pretty sweet.



While debating this modification, I had my rifle apart and it seemed like the track (sorry, probably not the correct term) where my charging handle rides was really dry and didn't have any grease. I applied some grease in the track and a little lube on the latch, and now it seems to work much more easily and a whole lot smoother. I'm not sure if Diamondback sends these out "dry" on purpose or not, but for now I'll take $0.25 worth of grease over a larger investment on a new charging handle until I'm convinced that I need one

*** UPDATE - 03/22/2017 ***
If you read our other post on this topic, you'll see that @SavsPaw made the replacement on his charging handle and he said it was the best upgrade he's made thus far. That definitely makes it more interesting!

[superbeau]

Now that I have my coyote ammo pretty well picked out (see above post), it's time to figure out which of the winning loads matches closest to the Nikoplex turrets setup on my Nikon 4-16x M223 scope. I collected a bunch of data over the last few range trips to try to turn "art" into "science" a bit, and here are those results:



For each ammo tested, you'll see some info on the projectile itself, mostly found online. Then in the velocities section, the blue numbers are averages of the results collected using a chronograph. The top line values in black came from Nikon's SpotOn software available for free online, showing "as advertised" muzzle and down-range velocities, energies, and points of impacts. The second line takes the measured velocities and then inputs them into SpotOn to correlate down-range velocities, energies, and points of impact. Next to the blue numbers you'll see the difference between advertised and actual velocities, as well as the standard deviation in my results, as a measure of consistency from each manufacturer. From there, in the "Path" section, the blue numbers were actual results and the black numbers are from SpotOn. These results are with my scope set to it's zero, which is the '100' mark on the top turret, so you can see the drop. I used the Varmint-X loads as the true zero, so some are consistently lower, but that could be corrected if a different load were ultimately selected. After 200 yards the impacts are off the paper, so they are marked "n/a". The next section is where I adjusted the Nikoplex setting on my scope to the actual distances. So at 100 yards it's set to '100', at 200 yards it's set to '200', and so on. So far I've completed testing for all loads out to and including 300 yards, as I shared in that earlier post. This is just looking at elevation, so windage was not penalized in these conditions.

The ammo was broken into three sections based on their group size at 100 yards: 1 MOA = green, 2 MOA = orange, 3+ MOA = red. So while the Varmint-X shot the best groupings at 100 and 200 yards, the Remignton loads were not too far behind in their performance. Then, when matching up with the Nikoplex settings, it appears that my best bet is to use the Remington AccuTip-V ammo in 50-grain (preferred) or 55-grain varieties. The Winchester ammo really dropped off at that range, which was disappointing, because it shot so well out to 200 yards. I was so surprised that I tested it again, but the results looked very similar the second time around. When thinking about it later, it does make sense, and I actually mentioned above in a previous post that I was expecting this since Nikon sets their Nikoplex up for ammo shooing 3240 FPS, but my 16" barrel was going to mean (and ultimately showed) slowed velocities and therefore lower points of impact.

Now that I've really narrowed my list down (and burned up the other stuff!), I can try again at 400-600 yards. I'm not saying that I would take a shot at a coyote with a 223 at that range, but it will be interesting to see how the Nikoplex does that far out. I'll post an update here once I get a super-calm day to give it a shot!

*** UPDATE - 03/14/2017 ***
After doing some more digging, it turns out that the Varmint-X (55gr) and AccuTip (55gr) are both flat base bullets, not boat tail as I had them marked in my spreadsheet. The AccuTip (50gr) is, in fact, a boat tail design; not sure why they did not do the same for the 55gr variety, but something to note in the bullet comparisons.

*** UPDATE - 03/16/2017 ***
I reached out to Remington's tech service group via their website and received notice back that, as I mentioned in my last post, their AccuTip-V 223 rounds are boat-tail for 50-grain and flat base for 55-grain. Apparently they're having issues where certain sellers are advertising the 55-grain versions as boat-tail, which is not true. They said their packaging reads correctly, though, so I guess I should have noticed that myself. Anyways, perhaps this is part of the reason the 50-grain is doing better at longer ranges? The boat-tail design shouldn't really matter within 200 yards - actually, flat base should be better at those ranges - but the boat-tail should make a difference at 300+ yards. Food for thought!



*** UPDATE - 04/17/2017 ***
I finally had a chance to try out the Federal American Eagle AR223 Tipped Varmint ammo I picked up a couple weeks back. Everything I've read suggests that this stuff is the cat's meow... shoots great, clean, accurate, etc etc. I picked up a few boxes when Federal had a rebate, but even without that it's only about $10-12 per box, which is cheap! Plus it's a 50-grain V-Max with a boat-tail, which is exactly what I was looking for to match my Nikoplex scope system, so I had to give it a shot.

Diamondback DB15CCB Rifle Journal

The bad news was that A) despite the weatherman promising me no winds, it was blowing about 10mph quartering from behind and right-to-left, and B) my trigger wasn't in great shape despite my best efforts shared in post #35 below. Regardless, the results are pretty darn good with sub-MOA accuracy and good groups out to 200 yards. The groups opened up a bit at 300 yards but any of them would have still resulted in a dead coyote. The good news is that the ammo matched nicely to my Nikoplex system, hitting right on at 100, an inch or two high at 200, and generally a shade high at 300. I don't think I'll move the zero as I like these impact points, which you can see below:



I blame my current trigger woes for the groups not having been tighter and the wind was definitely pushing my hits left out at 300 yards, but still not too bad for shooting "cheap ammo" out of a "budget AR" if you ask me I'll get back on a truly calm day to try again and hopefully I'll have the trigger situated by then. I want to try 400 yards next time as well, to see if the Nikoplex holds at that range with this ammo. In the meantime, I'm going to put this rig to the test over the upcoming weekend against some coy-dogs. I'll report back if I have any... data.

*** UPDATE - 08/25/2017 ***
I finally had a nice evening to shoot at 400 yards with my finished setup. I had no winds and a stable rest and turned my Nikoplex setting to 400. With three shots fired I had the first hit center L/R but about 4" high, the second was perfect up/down but 4" left, and the third was low/left about 5". I was shooting the American Eagle Tipped Varmint 50-grain boat-tails, which has become my ammo of choice for this gun. It seems that this rifle/ammo match does excellent out to 300 and is still pretty good at 400 yards. I would feel confident taking a shot at a coyote at 400 but probably no further, which is reasonable for a fairly light bullet in factory 223 loads. Most of my hunting shots are well within that marker anyways, so I'll call this good!

[superbeau]

I was able to complete my camo job today using the Mossy Oak skin noted back in post #15. It is tedious work and a few hours working carefully with an X-Acto knife, but the end results looks really good! I took the flashlight off for these shots, but other than that, I now consider this rifle 100% complete. I need to test one more type of ammo, and I'll have my final range reports coming up soon, but other than that I think she's all set





As you may (or may not) remember, I was trying to put together a cost-effective coyote and hog gun when I first started this tread a million posts ago. Now that I feel I'm there, here's a quick recap of the costs:

Rifle & Accessories
$510 - Diamondback DB15CCB;
$038 - WindFire Green Flashlight;
$013 - WindFire Red LED Bulb;
$009 - Offset Mount;
$020 - Shotgun Fiberoptic Bead;
$008 - Curved Trigger Guard;
$001 - Rubber O Ring;
$006 - Rail Ladder Covers (x2);
$020 - Single Point Sling;
$012 - Receiver End Plate with Sling Adapter;
$008 - Thread Protector;
$046 - Mossy Oak Camo Skin;
$001 - Flashlight Tube Extension;
$018 - JP Trigger Spring;
$010 - Sold extra JP Trigger Springs on Ebay;
$008 - Sold original A2 Flash-hider on Ebay;
$004 - Sold original Trigger Guard on Ebay;
$001 - Sold original Receiver End Plate on Ebay
$687

Optics
$450 - Nikon M223 4-16x Nikoplex;
$025 - TMS Scope Mount;
$000 - SunGuard KillFlash ARD;
$001 - Sold Nikon Scope Caps on Ebay
$474

Other
$030 - Rifle Case;
$025 - Magpul Magazine
$055

That brings us to a net total cost of $687 for the rifle and accessories plus $474 in optics and a grand total of $1,161 all-in with a nice scope included. I think that's pretty darn amazing for a gun that looks good, works great, and shoots very well. I'm confident in my ability to kill hogs (proven!) and I would take a shot at a coyote at least to 300 yards; maybe 400 yards with one more range trip and ammo test.

I couldn't be happier with my original purchase of this rifle and would vouch for the DB15CCB for anybody reading this who's considering picking one up. As Nike likes to say... Just Do It!

[Turtle2113]

Wow! I love this thread! Very well put together, informative, and detailed man. I'm also a first time AR owner, (have only owned my weapon for maybe over a month) went to my local gun store planning on buying the BushMaster Minimalist SD & while waiting for service saw my DB15EFDE on the rack and fell in love. I have however had some complications with it but feel it was mostly operator error, terrible ammo & inexperience (this is my first brand new weapon). I have to say I have learned a lot from this post & hope you continue with it as I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it tonight. Have you ran into any issues with your weapon? I.E. malfunctions, jams, double feeds, not firing, issues with cheap ammo such as tul? Thanks so much in advance!


P.S. If you have Facebook, I am in some great Ar groups that have been extremely helpful.
AR 15 SNOB FREE
Ar 15 Nation
AR 15 Safe Space

[superbeau]

Today I decided I would do a little work on my DB15CCB trigger. In post #19 you can read about my trigger spring replacement, which worked great, but I thought I might be able to get some added benefit from sear surface polishing and lubrication. I took the trigger apart and inspected the two sear surfaces. I had my Dremel tool ready to go, but I found surfaces that already looked very clean and were polished shiny and smooth. It looked good enough that I decided not to mess with it, while my mind played the saying, "If it ain't broke..."

Next, I thought I'd add a little lube to the sear surfaces to help make a smooth pull. I had some grease laying around that I figured would do the trick, so I applied a little on both surfaces and then reassembled the trigger into the lower received. I cycled the trigger a few times to spread the grease but noticed that the more I cycled the trigger the more it started to get "sticky" and uneven. I panicked and grabbed some WD40 hoping that would spray the grease off and restore order on the sear. It only made things worse...

After messing up - that's how we all learned, right? - I did the research online that I should have done before starting this endeavor. I found that a lot of folks like to use Ronsonol lighter fluid to clean and degrease their trigger assemblies on a regular basis. According to a few threads, the recommendation was to use a few drops of lighter fluid to degrease the sear surface as part of regular cleaning, and then hit it with a good dousing after heavy use or if dirt/dust gets into the assembly somehow.

Knowing that I had bad grease and WD40 in the trigger, I decided to pick up some Ronsonol fluid for $5 at Walgreens, and give it a good dousing. I used a toothpick to scrape away the excess grease, but you could see the lighter fluid doing its job right away. The lighter fluid evaporates pretty quick and everything looked dry after maybe ten minutes. I tried cycling the trigger again and couldn't believe how much better it was; back to original status. I never would have guessed that this trick could solve my problem, but I'm sure glad it did

In the end, I should have just left well enough alone. My lessons learned were that A) my DB15CCB didn't need any extra polishing on the sear surfaces, and B) my attempt to lubricate the sear surfaces failed and I had to hustle to back that out. The silver lining, if any, is that I found the lighter fluid trick and proved that it worked (for me), so from now on I'll use the lighter fluid as part of my cleaning regimen.

*** UPDATE - 04/17/2017 ***
I had my rifle at the range today. Sadly my trigger fix didn't last long and the trigger started to become really sticky and uneven again. Ugh... It was hurting accuracy big time and super frustrating. I need to get this sorted out ASAP.

*** UPDATE - 08/02/2017 ***
I'm back! Sorry about the hiatus, folks. After lots of reading and talking with experienced black-gun folks, I'm ready to take another stab at fixing my trigger issues. First, I just ordered a small tube of Flitz Metal Polish for $6 on Amazon. Apparently you use a q-tip and some polish and just rub the sear surfaces until you get them good and smooth.



Then you use the lighter fluid (see above) to clean away any residue from the polish. Once the surfaces are smooth and clean, then you apply a bit of Mobilgrease 28 to lube the contact areas; I found a pre-packed syringe of the stuff for $9 on Amazon. Both of these items should be delivered in the next two days, so I'll give it a shot and let you all know how it turns out.



*** UPDATE - 08/12/2017 ***
Well I received my Flitz the other day and set to work with a Q-tip (several of them) in polishing the sear surfaces of my trigger. I do think that it help a lot, and the finished surfaces are more mirror-like now than they were before. I was also able to remove the majority of the bad grease from before, so that's a good thing. I decided to not use the lighter fluid at the end and just used a paper towel to make sure I had all the polish off. After that I put a small dab of the Mobilgrease 28 on the sear surfaces and also a dab on the trigger springs. Once I put it all back together, it seems to be a lot smoother and more like how it was when I purchased the rifle... before I tried to get fancy and messed it up

[SavsPaw]

I have a feeling somebody is going to upgrade their trigger. Two stage? Hmmmm?

[Chris]

Dang, SuperB, I singed my eyebrows using the lighter fluid trick!