Diamondback Firearms, founded in 2009, initially made handguns only. But, recently the company entered the rifle business, and the result is the DB15, an AR-15-style, direct gas impingement carbine offered in two chamberings, 5.56mm and .300 Blackout. Intrepid Guns & Weapons correspondent Doug Larson got his hands on the former version, and over the course of a range day put it through its paces.

Out of the box (or, more specifically, the hard polymer, foam-lined carrying case in which it’s shipped), the Diamondback DB15 “sports a T-marked Picatinny rail on its A3 flattop receiver, which is machined from forged 7075-T6 aluminum and is nicely anodized.” The receiver is mated to a one-piece, black anodized aluminum handguard along the top of which runs a full-length Picatinny rail, “making it possible to mount optics or accessories like a laser—for those agencies that use them—or a front sight.” As Larson notes, the rifle’s 16-inch, M4-profile barrel “is manufactured from 4140 chrome-moly steel and has a 1-in-9-inch twist rate.

“It works well,” Larson writes. He’d know: At the range he fired the DB15 from a bench to 100 yards, testing the rifle with three types of ammo. He also ran the rifle, EOTech XPS3 in place, through a bevy of tactical drills, bringing the gun to bear rapidly on targets close and far. Just how “well” did the DB15 do? To find out, pick up the January 2014 issue of Guns & Weapons for Law Enforcement, available on newsstands and digitally October 8, 2013. To subscribe, go to /guns-weapons-for-law-enforcement/.