Thoughts on the Dan Wesson revolver?

G

guitar1580

New member
I'm fairly new on the FL, and I just realized that I rarely see many threads or comments on the Dan Wesson. My DW .357 mag just happened to be what I took a liking to when I was looking for my first revolver, back in the mid 80's, and it has been my workhorse & primary HD gun ever since.

It came with a 4" & 8" barrel, and I love the interchangeable barrel feature, and when I bought it, I heard that they are extra accurate in competition shooting, due to the stability of the removeable barrel as it is anchored with the sleeve and end nut. Any thoughts or confirmation to that?

I don't see alot of DW lovers bragging about them. How does the DW compare / differ from S&W? Please share any info, comments, experiences, pics.

My mag seems to be very accurate, especially with the 8 inch barrel. I know that I love my DW, but wonder why they seem to be in the shadows. Any other DW lovers? Please feel free to show them off.

Josh P
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Welcome aboard.
Sorry, I can't comment as I only have one Dan Wesson and it's too darn ugly to get me to shoot it.
One thing is for sure, I've never read anything but great revues on how accurate the Dan Wesson Revolvers are though.

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Jeff (GUNKWAZY)
 
dan wesson, nice as a s/w stong as a ruger easiest to clean, there are dan wesson group on yahoo, section on greybeard forum, on the cz forum etc. i wish i never sold my 15-2 revolver pack.
 
Mine ain't as purdy as Jeff's, ( I hear he even engraves his toothbrushes LOL) but I will never sell my pistol pack. Took me too long to find a complete 4 barrel set that didn't look like it was bounced around in the floor of a pickup.

Gotta get a shoulder rig so I can carry it with the snubbie barrel though.:o

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Hey Josh, welcome to TFL. As you have noticed there is not of DW action here. You might want to check out The Dan Wesson Forum. Lots of great guys there with lots of information about DWs!

I love my Dan Wesson's and here's a few pictures:

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The photo above is of my 7414-VH8 (414 SuperMag)

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From left to right: Model 7414-VH8 (SuperMag), Model 741-V5 (Large Frame), Model 715-V4 (Small Frame) and Model 738P (aka Lil' Dan).
 
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I know that I love my DW, but wonder why they seem to be in the shadows.
Click to expand...

Assuming the question isn't intended to be 100% rhetorical I believe I can offer some plausible conjecture.

First, they are no longer in the double action business. The last remnants have been swept from CZ-USA's site thus making Dan Wesson another supplier of 1911 pattern handguns.

During the time they were active they didn't produce as many double actions as one other notable manufacturer that has given up on double actions: Colt. Numbers alone along with brand recognition will ensure that DW threads will always lag behind Colt threads.

Revolver folks tend to be traditionalists. As such a good deal of internet forum bandwidth on double action revolvers will be expended on grousing about S&W's execution of current product. Naturally, Dan Wesson and Colt get none of that as they have no current product to whine about. The general online consensus is that a 2009 Detective Special or 2010 Dan Wesson wouldn't be 90% MIM or festooned with combination locks and biometric scanners but, much like fantasy sports, it's all speculation as the product itself doesn't exist.

Dan Wesson DAs generally got very good reviews and, as this thread will illustrate, few owning one will sell it. This, combined with the static supply pool, will inevitably result in a decline of the DW owner base which will be reflected in their online presence.

Despite good reviews and the observation that it could do things the model 29 couldn't there are reports of variable quality based on DW's financial condition at various points in time and its point of origin. Many DW fans can quote chapter and verse on Monson vs. Palmer vs. Norwich vs. Timbuktu or whatever and display preferences for one over the others. This further conspires to limit the DW DA community size as one can't simply buy one in a normal fashion:

You can buy local and inspect carefully but they don't seem to turn up in any locale I'm in.

One can buy over the internet but this is mildly daunting for those of us that haven't compiled crib notes on which pedigree is the most likely to be golden.

Or, one can wait for someone to die and snatch one from an estate sale. Sounds morbid but it seems to be my best option - that's where the ones that people that won't sell will eventually sell. The best guarantor of a well executed DW is an owner that won't part with it.
 
Possibly one of the best designed revolvers of all time.

Plus they are very accurate thanks to their quality barrels.

It's a shame they don't make them anymore.
 
Batf didn't care for them, mine was stolen in a burglary, then used in a murder.Each barrel had different ballistics. Mine was purchased with one 4" barrel and when finally recovered in a swamp had the ser# filed off and the barrel missing.They still tracked me down, though I had moved from Texas to Vegas. It was nine years after the fact, and I had the incident# in my wallet. Whew!The murder took place in Indiana and the gun was recovered in Michigan.
 
Good timing on this thread. I just picked up this model 15-2 (357 mag) at the Tucson gun show yesterday. Mint with box, manual and tools for $375!!
Dan Wessons are great guns but because they are a relatively obscure brand they are great bargains too.

Jim
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Guitar1580, you owe it to yourself to follow JBaldwin's link to the DW Forum!

Lashlarue, that's a wild story! That's a bummer that it happened to your DW, but of course, that same thing could (and does) happen to most any gun name out there.

As Jart stated, in general there is a certain type of person who is attracted to the Dan Wesson revolvers...and of course, the same can be said of many other brands.;) I am one of those folks who find DW's truly interesting, admire the design & uniqueness.
I've have been slowly growing my collection. Here's an incomplete group shot.

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Here's a few pics of some of my unique DW's. These first two are the ones that started it all...1970 2-digit sequentially numbered Model 12's. Pretty much a face only a crazy owner could love. LOL!! These are each part of an early Pistol Pac, seen in the above pic.

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Here's a pair of SuperMags. One is .357 & the other .375...

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This is a pair of Model 715-2 & 15-2 .357 Fixed Barrel guns that were made for a limited time at the Palmer plant.

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Here's a much more common DW, a .44 Mag wearing a 10" vented shroud.

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I've owned two Dan Wesson 22's over the years. The first was back in the 80's and I eventually sold/traded it off thinking "I can always get another one." Then the company folded. So much for that idea.

Then this one turned up at my favorite dealer. I can't prove it, but I honestly think it's the same one I used to have. It turned up at a shop about ten miles from the place I traded the first one to years ago. There are a couple of scratches on the grips and a spot on the blue that look familure. No matter. I did get another one.

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It's a good shooter.
 
It would be hard to add much more, but the DW's are built like tanks, accurate as all get out and just plain fun to shoot.

I love my 357 Supermag for the way it clears the benches back with hot loads. My MD15 is another good one to just blast away with. Finally I clean up with a 722 for plinking and fun.

I know folks don't like the looks, but I like the accuracy, trigger and reliability of the guns. Also they are much easier to clean then a Smith or Colt. Just pull the barrel and dunk the rest in the ultrasonic. Works great.
 
Guitar1580, You must follow to the DWF that J Baldwin suggested for a following of DW enthusiasts. They are IMHO the best DA revolver ever built and unfortunately as Jart mentioned there are many reasons they do not get much public recognition or mention. The most likely way to obtain any more revolvers is on the major gun auctions and on the rare occasion a local trade in. My model 41 in factory nickel with custom Grips:

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I'd have to agree that these are the best revolvers ever made. The design is superior imo to any of the mainstream brands. I wouldn't consider a different brand of double action revolver.
 
Several now have mentioned that the DW is the best designed revolver ever. I do love mine too, but I don't know alot about how it compares to other brands.

Could someone please elaborate on how the DW is different / better than comparable revolvers?

Oh, and I did check out the DW forum, looks great, I will be joining.:)
JP
 
Last year a friend of mine who is a horse-trader by nature, and frequently buys and sells guns, bought a .357 Magnum. And I mean the full set. I forget what he paid for them, but suffice it to say he waaay underpaid. It must be nice to have a brother who owns a pawn shop.

Unfortunately, he very quickly had the need for cash and so was forced to sell it. Of course I did not have the money for it myself. I never even got the chance to shoot it. Drat. I was so close to shooting the revolver I had lusted after for so long.

I think maybe there is so little chatter about the Dan Wesson revolvers because those of us that are biding our time until we can get our hands on one are keeping our mouths shut about our desires so the prices don't skyrocket out of control. Since those who already own them are more likely to want to buy another one than sell one that they have, they probably have the same goal.

I realize that this sounds like a crackpot theory, but that's only because it is.
 
Here is a decent article to read. http://www.notpurfect.com/main/dwrev.htm

I skimmed it but didn't see mention of the cylinder lock which is superior to the others. The latch is on the front where it's most needed and it's locked in the back as well. These guns lock up tight. I mean like it's welded together. The accuracy has proven these revolvers to maybe be the most accurate double action revolvers ever.
I believe there are other articles from gun magazines over at the dan wesson forum. The beauty of these guns is that most people have no idea how good they are and prices are less than a used Smith or Ruger. You can buy 2 model 15-2s for what one Smith 686 would cost. The 686 is a good gun but there's a pretty strong argument that it is not as good as the comparable Dan Wesson. At least all else being equal I would buy the Dan Wesson.
 
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