money---spent

wolfdad

wolfdad

Joined
Sep 20, 2010
Messages
855
Just picked this up a couple of hours ago. Yes....another 1911.....but a new toy so I had to share- very excited about this little gun. Very impressed with it Dan Wesson so far. It's not quite a Brown but it's close. Another 1911 that I looked at today that really impressed me was the Ruger SR1911, for around $800 it's a lot of gun.
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Dan Wesson Guardian. I have had a CCO for about a year, and it has been handgun perfection so far.

Like Busse knives, Dan Wesson 1911's are addictive. My Good experience with the CCO has led to a RZ45 Heritage and a Valor.
 
I was hoping for some feedback on Dan Wesson products, thanks Mike. Would love to see some pics of those beauties(Valor esp). The grip is a little smooth for me- I like my stuff kind of sharp and checkered up. I ordered some G10s and I'm thinking about getting the main spring housing checkered. Maybe that with Novak's ANSWER if I want to spend the money- that would really make the gun perfect to me.
 
I have a friend that has one. Bought it used at a smokin deal. Full sized model and it's a shooter. I'd really like one the 10mm's.
 
I have the same pistol! Love it. After lots of research I chose it versus several other models, including much more expensive pistols. It is a dream to shoot, very accurate and reliable. I wish I had pics...

Dave Severns is a well known gunsmith and did a very nice write up a couple of years ago including detailed stripping to examine parts and shooting with three different kinds of ammo, concluding the that Dan Wesson's are equal if not better than many pistols that cost as much or more money. A teaser quote... "...let’s start with an in-depth look into the Valor. From an overall perspective, this is a beautiful pistol. If I had to define it in colorful terms, I’d call it ’smooth and sexy’. It looks sleek and refined, like a Ferrari."

http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=255555

1911 forum is a great place to dig into these questions. Although I'd caution folks that they may not read what they WANT to read about their pistol's maker. Price is a good indicator of quality in many cases, but not always.

In another thread, Severns compares the older (2005) Dan Wesson to a newer (2010) model and found the newer pistol to be made of better, all forged parts but also have a higher degree of hand fitting.

Wesson is the real deal. I own or have owned Wilson, Baer, and Ed Brown. My next 1911 will likely be another Dan Wesson, they cannot be beat for the money.

EDIT TO ADD: One problem with the DW's... the checkmate manufactured magazines are NOT reliable. They feed fine on my pistol but will not ALWAYS hold the slide open on an empty mag. Use Wilson, Baer, Brown, or Tripp mags. I've found them all to be very high quality.


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Hmmm. These Dan Wessons are growing on me. Maybe after I move! ;)

That is one sweet 1911. Nice score!
 
Between the Ruger and Dan Wesson, you made the right choice.

Dan Wessons are amazing, the fit and finish, bang for the buck, they aren't cheap but they are pretty damn good quality.
 
Just shot it and yes I think I made a very good choice. Very impressive. I want another one.....in 9mm
 
10mm will have to be reserved for a Wilson Combat Hunter, all black, no front cocking serrations, sterile slide, big azz compensator, combat sights, no laser grips either-G10s. Serrate the top, countersunk slide stop, magwell, gold bead...................... double tap ammo. Until I can send this off to Novak, here is my answer......note: it is removable (can be done fast with a good sharp knife.) and this pic proves nothing....
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Very sweet, nice to see a DW getting some love, I picked up a VBOB last year ( bead blast finish) love that thing, got some sweet grips from The finer grain
 
Novak's "the answer" looks interesting, but MAN!!! Thats a lot of money. For $825 you can buy a lot of INFI or another fine firearm! I have grip safety issues too due to my high grip.

As an alternative, you could 'sensitize' the grip safety to ensure that it disengages a bit earlier. Many times this will eliminate the grip safety problems.

It is easily done... The key is not to remove too much metal. Below are some pics.

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Notice how the grip safety works. The tail blocks the trigger. By shortening that 'tail' the grip safety is 'sensitized', meaning that shortens the distance the grip safety must travel to disengage.

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See the flat portion marked "D". By reducing this flat, you will shorten the tail... sensitizing your grip safety. There is a fine line between sensitizing and disengaging. Remove a little at a time, reinstall and try it. Take one file stroke at a time.


Good luck!



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Just checked out the spec's on the Wilson Hunter ... and I like it :thumbup: 9 round magazine and double ported compensator on the 10mm version plus crimson trace grips for low light use such as inside a ship ( thinking about using one in Africa ) which would be useful in low light as the compensator is likely to give off a lot of flash ... hmmm ... if the compensator could be threaded so you could swap on a silencer then that would be an even better combo for inside use ... or inside a vehicle doing convoy work ...

Cheaper than a Morris custom 10mm by quite a bit ... but slightly smaller mag capacity ... probably cheaper than a Limcat as well ...

I also ended up browsing the Dan Wesson site too ... and spotted their Titan model ... which comes with a 5 inch barrel ... but if you asked them for a 6 inch barrel which was threaded to take a silencer that also would be an interesting option ... plus another 5 in the mag for a total of 14 ... now if they could do a threaded compensator akin to the one on the Havoc model but bored out to 10mm instead of 9mm ( .38 ) you would also have an interesting combo ... all for less than the Morris STI or Limcat STI 10mm's ...

The thing is with larger manufacturer's ... they don't often want to do custom work ... and getting a really good smith to do it ( Novak's for example ) involves a big old delay in getting the pistol ...

The easiest to alter would be the Wilson Hunter ... unless the mussle break is welded ... doing a screw cut alteration for a silencer/mussle break option would probably be pretty quick ... depending on their order book waiting period ... I have to say I like the way Wilson are doing models with mussle breaks for certain calibre's which are still compact and good for defensive use ... in a 10mm or a .38 super or 9mm "major" load these make perfect sense. Once you are over 1000 fps the mussle break really reduces "flip" for D/T's or rapid fire ...

Here is a good vid link which shows the benefit of shooting with a well designed mussle break ... the pistol is a Limcat ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqLiUTNJqC4

Many thanks for the tips here Wolfdad :thumbup: I am thinking about a 10mm ....
 
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Peter, Nighthawk makes a 10mm as well that you might want to look at. They will make a long slide 10mm if you want and they also have a model that is specifically made for a can.
 
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