Have a Dan Wesson 357 Magnum (715). Need a new frame, any leads?

J

jsnyder

Inactive
Hello Everyone,

My father has owned a Dan Wesson 357 Magnum since the mid 80s, and he's loved owning it. However 5-7 years ago the frame had cracked in multiple places, it is really beyond any repair, so we were looking to find some spare parts to see if we could rebuild it. After searching ebay, gun broker, and many other sites I was unable to find anyone selling a frame. I know this is most likely a long shot but we'd love to get the gun fixed and firing again as it really is a great pistol.

Does anyone have any leads as to where I could find a frame being sold for one of these? Again is a DW 357 Magnum, 715. If you're interested I can post some photos of it/the damage later tonight.

Thanks for any and all help!
 
Yea I dropped the DW service line an email, but they usually don't respond to those. I'll just call in monday and see if they can do anything for me
 
Finding any revolver frame is going to be a rare find. Realistically a new gun is probably the most likely outcome. You can find older 715's for around $500 if you look around.

Additionally the frame is the gun. You are not going to find a frame for sale on eBay. You are more likely to find a parts kit from old revolvers were the frame is destroyed and they are selling off everything else since everything but the frame can be sold without going through FFL's.
 
The same thing happened to my FiL. He wasn't able to find a frame for a reasonable price. I found a Dan Wesson with poor finish for around $300 to give him for Christmas so he could finally replace the cracked frame. The joke was on me. He bought himself a Ruger GP100 for Christmas!

Luckily my friend at the LGS was able to sell the Dan Wesson for me on consignment. All's well that ends well. Good luck to the OP.
 
Reddog, This was my mindset, possibly turning this gun into a decoration, and simply buying him another one would be the easiest way. But I figured I'd give it a shot to find an entire frame.


tallball, great story, glad it worked out for both of yall. thanks.

DW Fan, I was not aware you could use the 15-2 frames with the rest of a 715. I'll run this idea past my father as we did find a few of those frames for not too much money.

1stmar, Thanks for this. I will definitely give this guy a call and see what he has to say about it.
 
All small frame Dan Wessons are the same internally except for the rimfire (firing pin location and shorter cylinder). All barrels swap between the same caliber models. Later model barrel shrouds can be used on earlier "pork chop" models with an adapter from EWK Arms.
 
GunBroker usually has frames for sale, usually model 15s. But if you check pretty often for a few months you’ll see a 715 pop up.


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Brutus, I was only 10 at the time so all I remember was it misfired twice and it never had done that before. My father eventually chalked it up to hot rounds, he had purchased self filled ammo from a friend, who had been reliable before but I guess not this time, but nothing else makes sense as the gun was very well taken care of prior to the incident.
 
That's a shame.
Rule #1 never shoot other peoples handloads. Best of intensions can cause hard feelings and a loss of property.
I've had a lot of friends ask me to reload some rounds for them, especially in .44 and .357 Mag. Not for hot loads but my easy shooting target loads and on occasion I have complied but always with the understanding that @#$% happens and you use them at your own risk. I try real hard to discourage the requests but after all they are "Brutus's bullseye bullets". :D
 
I've owned 15's and 715's since about 1977, and a 44 since 2007, and I've fired thousands of pretty potent loads through them and the only damage was when I fired a round into the back of another that was stuck in the barrel from a squib in one of my past 15's. I had to pound the bulged barrel out of the shroud, but I was back shooting in 10 minutes. Other than that, a couple of springs breaking is the total things that went wrong in 41+ years. All my DW's were/are bought used. Must have been some insanely hot reloads in the OP's dad's gun.
 
Several cracks?? Odd that, A gun that was fired with ammo hot enough to devolpe several cracks, Me myuself and I would knot use any of the parts on anything, but that\s justd me
 
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