Diamondback Sdr Stainless 38 Spl 357 Mag 2 Barrel 6 Rounds 3

About this product

The Diamondback SDR is a compact, 6-shot revolver machined from polished stainless steel, chambered for .357 Magnum with .38 Special +P also safe to fire from the same cylinder, and built with a 2-inch barrel for concealed carry. Diamondback's own SDR product page confirms this pricing directly for the polished stainless, 2-inch .357/.38 configuration.

Why buy a .357 Magnum revolver instead of a semi-auto for concealed carry?

A revolver like the SDR offers mechanical simplicity — no magazine to load, no slide to rack, and a design that isn't dependent on grip pressure or limp-wristing to cycle correctly — along with the flexibility to load lighter-recoiling .38 Special +P for practice or carry and switch to full-power .357 Magnum when more stopping power is the priority. That flexibility across two cartridges from a single cylinder is one of the main practical advantages a .357 revolver holds over a fixed-caliber semi-auto.

What's the size and trigger like on the SDR?

At 21.2 ounces unloaded with a 2-inch barrel, a 4.44-inch height, and a 6.53-inch overall length, the SDR is sized specifically for pocket or ankle carry, or as a deep-cover backup to a larger primary handgun. It's a SA/DA (single-action/double-action) design with a trigger pull between roughly 9 and 11.5 pounds in double-action mode, and it uses a Hogue rubber grip along with fixed fiber-optic sights — an orange front post and a low-profile green rear notch — for fast sight acquisition in a defensive-use scenario.

Does the 6-round cylinder or revolver design affect a California purchase?

Revolvers don't use a detachable box magazine, so California's 10-round detachable-magazine cap doesn't apply the way it does to a semi-auto pistol. Revolvers are also generally treated differently than semi-automatic pistols under California's handgun-sale framework. That said, requirements and exemptions can be specific and can change, so confirm current California requirements for this exact model with your FFL before ordering rather than assuming any revolver qualifies automatically.

How does delivery and transfer work?

As a firearm, the SDR ships to a licensed FFL dealer for pickup, not to your home address, where you'll complete a background check and the standard transfer paperwork.

Diamondback entered the revolver market more recently than legacy revolver manufacturers, and the SDR was built specifically to compete in the compact, concealed-carry .357 Magnum segment where options have narrowed somewhat in recent years as several manufacturers have deprioritized small-frame magnum revolvers in favor of semi-autos. The glass-bead and polished stainless finish options Diamondback offers on the SDR line resist corrosion well, which matters for a gun likely to spend time against skin or clothing in a pocket or ankle holster where moisture exposure is more of a concern than on a belt-carried pistol.

Buyers new to .357 Magnum revolvers should expect meaningfully more felt recoil from full-power magnum loads in a gun this light than from a comparable semi-auto pistol, which is exactly why the dual-caliber capability to load milder .38 Special +P for practice sessions is a genuinely practical feature rather than a marketing footnote — it lets an owner build trigger and sight-alignment skill without the fatigue of full-power magnum recoil on every single round fired.

Small-frame magnum revolvers like the SDR occupy a specific niche as a deep-carry or backup gun rather than a primary duty or competition sidearm, and the segment has narrowed somewhat as several established revolver makers have scaled back small-frame offerings in recent years. Diamondback's entry into that space with a modern manufacturing approach — CNC-machined stainless construction rather than older forging and hand-fitting methods — has helped keep pricing more accessible than some legacy competitors while still delivering the durability stainless steel is known for. Fixed fiber-optic sights, rather than adjustable target sights, are the right tradeoff for a defensive-carry revolver like this, prioritizing fast target acquisition at close range over the fine adjustability a target shooter would want.