Who has experienced the NEW Dan Wesson 715? (CZ)

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Sevens

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I have owned two different Monson built Dan Wesson revolvers and I just really wanted to love them and I tried but I couldn't. Obviously the whole "idea" of them with the two-piece removable barrel was extremely cool and both of them totally lived up to their reputation for being extremely accurate.

The problem was that I am simply a double action shooter and neither was a great candidate for smooth, enjoyable DA shooting. Neither has any of the other handful of older Dan Wesson revolvers that I have shot or handled.

So what about these new, re-born ones from CZ? CZ has cultivated a fantastic reputation with good reason, their CZ pistols and DW 1911's and even their rifles all get fantastic reviews and few complaints. These new revolvers look very much like the old classic ones and the pure optimist in me just wants to believe they are marketing a GREATLY improved double action while also maintaining everything else the classic Dan Wesson revolver always brought.

I see many of them offered on Gunbroker but have still never seen one at a shop or show.

Has anyone had their hands on them? Especially someone quite familiar with the classic Monson and Palmer Dan Wesson revolvers?
 
My only experience handling two of them at two different stores was that they were beautiful, had very very nice double action triggers.

But each was really, really heavy to me with the 6-inch barrels. The barrels are non-vented to cut weight and the square underlugs, if I recall them correctly, didn't do much for me.

The frames seem to be L-frame sized but the cylinders were more like K-frame. I was told speed loaders for them would be K-frame, not L-frame.

I wondered with the very smooth and light DA triggers if they'd be reliable in fast DA shooting.

All in all, I'd rather have one of the newer or older L-frame Smiths and while somewhat rough around the edges, I'd still prefer a Ruger as well.

The $1,000 price tags didn't grab me either although one was "used" and the price was around $900. Used meant a guy bought it, never shot it and then turned it back to the dealer who I think really wanted to get rid of it.
 
I've had one for more than a year. I shoot it about twice a month maybe a little more than that. I own Ruger's and Smiths as well (gp100's, sp101's, 627's, 686's). The Dan Wesson 715 is my favorite revolver that I own. It is the most accurate of all my revolvers and it has the best double action and single action trigger. The trigger is lighter out of the box than a Ruger and about on par (in pull weight) with a Smith. But it is smoother than both and the length of pull is much shorter than both a Ruger and a Smith. It can be lightened substantially with some Wolf Springs if you desire. Check out Dan Wesson forum.com for instructions on how to do that.
I had a custom holster made and mounted on a double alpha belt. And I train with it to shoot it in revolver production in NRA action pistol matches. The 6 inch barrel is very heavy and means that 38 special has almost no recoil. 357 mag feels like 38 special out of it. The heavy barrel makes for great stability shooting from a rest or shooting with a properly strong grip in action shooting. A less experienced shooter might find the heavy barrel a little unwieldy.
Build quality and attention to detail and finish is unmatched. This is what High end S&W guns in the 70s and 80s used to be. In my opinion it's worth the price. But then again I put it to a lot more use than the average shooter might do.
 
A friend of mine bought one of the "blem" 715's that were out there before they were really launched, and it was fine. My 30+ year old 715 looks a little better, , and it's custom sights are better than the stock ones that DW uses, but that's no big deal, IMHO. I would say trigger smoothness is better on my gun in SA and DA, probably just because it has a couple of thousand rounds through it, but it's not a huge difference. Sorry, if you didn't like the old one, you probably won't like the new one any better, as the innards are still the same. Personally, I liked the DA pull a lot better than the garbage Taurus 83 I had as my first gun, and still better than the DA pull on the S&W 19 I was thinking about buying to replace the Taurus. The 19 had only been shot about a dozen times, so I'm sure it would have been better with some use. The only thing keeping me from really even thinking about buying a new 715 is the price. My 715 only cost me $269+15+20 for the gun, in almost mint condition, the box and paperwork, THREE grips, the wrench, and a bag of small parts in 2006.
 
Okay, it's been about a year since I opened this discussion and the discussion didn't take off.

A handful of months ago I actually spotted one of these in a gun store (we're talking NEW production, CZ-made here)

I have to say that I was actually very impressed and slightly disappointed at the same time. As my disappointment was the lesser emotion, I'll cover it first: the double-action trigger stroke was basically exactly what I had beem expecting or rather, it was I'd hoped I wouldn't find, it pretty much felt exactly like a Monson-made DW, and I didn't care for it.

Now the other impression...
WOW, this revolver just oozes quality. The cylinder feel when opened and closed, the timing, the LOCK UP, I was more than impressed. I'm a long time S&W guy and in my opinion, S&W makes nothing these days that even approaches the craftsmanship that CZ has put in to this one. And though I haven't handled many older DW's and only owned a pair of them, this revolver compared to the older ones makes the older ones feel like an Airsoft gun.

I could absolutely see me picking one of these up if I found a nicely used one with a USED gun kind of price. But I think I'll have to fondle the next one I see also, because it isn't often that anything produced today captures my attention. This revolver is exquisite!
 
The DA pull has always been different the the Dan Wessons. I understand your comments.

I love my old Monson 44 MAG. No other 44 like it.

To each their own.
 
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I recently installed a Wolff spring set and the trigger improved immensely. I used the lightest springs and it ignites the hardest primers (those that my lightened Ruger and S&Ws will not). The spring set was $14.
 
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