About a week ago, a buddy sent me a text about something he had just bought. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have one, and as luck would have it, the DPMS SBR Full Auto was on sale at the time. So I ordered one, online, and had it sent directly to my house, in California. No background check, no questions asked.
As many of you may have figured out by now, no, this is not an AR-15. This is in fact “just” a BB gun.* It is a licensed product sold under the DPMS name that is manufactured by Crosman, a well known name in the world of air guns. It fires standard .177 caliber BBs and is powered by two CO2 cartridges. While it is marketed as full auto, it is in fact select-fire.
(* CAUTION: While only a BB gun, it is in fact extremely realistic in appearance. DO NOT hand this to your kid and let them run amok in a residential neighborhood. Realize most people will not have a clue this is not an actual firearm and may call the cops if they see you walking around with it.)
The DPMS SBR is full scale in terms of both size and weight, if you compare it to a light weight AR. All of the controls are exactly the same as a standard AR-15. The safety operates exactly the same, with the added bonus of the third “fun” position. The bolt catch, charging handle and mag release are all right where they should be, and do exactly what they should do. The grip is even removable and compatible with real AR-15 grips so you can swap it out if you have another grip you like better.
This thing is ridiculously stupid fun!
The magazine both feeds and powers the gun. There is a cover on the side of the mag that once removed reveals two CO2 canisters inside. The BBs are held in the front side of the magazine and have a spring loaded follower that pushes them up as the rifle merrily chews through them. Every time you fire, whether in full or semi-auto, the bolt cycles just like a real gun, albeit with significantly less force and zero muzzle rise.
Knowing the CO2 powered both the bolt’s action and the firing of the BBs in advance, I feared this thing was going to go through CO2 cartridges like a cop through donuts. I can happily report that is not the case. Thus far I have fired at least 250 rounds (10 mags worth) through this thing and I am still on my first two CO2 cartridges.
In that 250 rounds worth of big stupid grin making fun, I have only encountered one malfunction, and it was nothing horrendous. The bolt failed to lock open one time on an empty mag. In fact, that malfunction was caught on camera and is in the video attached to this article.
So, let’s talk about the gun itself. I already mentioned the size, weight and that the controls are all exactly like an AR. The gun itself, while made of mostly plastic, is very solidly constructed. The barrel, bolt, charging handle, trigger components and the safety are all metal. The stock is collapsible and has 6 positions. It feels very solid and there is almost no discernible wiggle when it is locked into any of the six positions. The angled fore grip comes standard and while not Magpul quality, it is definitely serviceable.
The only weak spot as far as build quality goes is the sights. While functional, they are plastic and junk. Luckily, they are removeable and mounted on a standard Picatinny type rail that runs the full length on the top of the gun. The rail is near enough to mil-spec that anything designed for a mil-spec rail works just fine, which means in terms of sighting options, the options are practically limitless.
In my case, I had an Aimpoint PRO sitting on a shelf so it found its way onto this little DPMS. I also had a spare grip that I had replaced years ago on an AR. While it is not my favorite grip, hence the reason it was replaced, I like it far better than the standard A2 style grip that came on the gun from the factory. It installs just like the grip on a real AR, except rather than just the one spring for the safety, there are two. The second spring holds the detent for the takedown pin, much like the setup on a DPMS pattern .308 AR.
And that leaves us with the trigger. The trigger looks identical to any standard mil-spec AR trigger, but it feels nothing like one. The pull is really heavy, spongy, and the break is garbage. The reset is long and there are a couple of noticeable clicks along the way. The operation of the trigger is garbage, when comparing it to an actual AR. But this is not a real AR. This is a BB gun. My life will never depend on this gun, so I can deal with a crappy trigger.
Did I mention this thing is ridiculously stupid fun? Back on the range, the concerns about that trigger melt away very quickly. Just rotate that safety all the way forward and let the smile making commence. Even when firing in semi-auto, you can still manage to make accurate shots despite the ugly trigger, so long as you are within reasonable distances. Remember, this is a BB gun, not an AR.
The smile per dollar figure on the DPMS SBR is hard to quantify. That said, it produces idiot-looking ear to ear grins for very little money. It has a relatively low entry price, and feeding it is far cheaper than even feeding a .22LR. When I bought the DPMS SBR from Amazon, it was on sale and as a Prime member on Amazon, I got free 2-day shipping. While it is no longer on sale, the price is still low when you consider the amount of smiles this thing produces.
If you like shooting, if you like AR’s, if you like smiling like you did when you were a kid, I HIGHLY recommend picking one of these up! And in case I have not said this yet, this thing is insanely fun!
If you like the content you see here, visit our home page for more articles, and remember to sign up for our newsletter.
