View Full Version : Dan Wesson Pistol Report
Kinda new to the 1911 forum here, but not new to 1911's
I had earlier posted that I had examined a Dan Wesson 1911 and found it to be apparantly a high quality firearm.
I went and bought it today...
Ser#45MJ002xx, with the shell capture date of 3-21-02, this pistol
was originally sold 'new' on 5-01-02.
It's a Dan Wesson POINTMAN MAJOR in.45 ACP- it's got some nice laser etching on the gun- and the gun is Stainless Steel.
The sights suck. White dot on a post up front, dovetailed in- so it will be easy to change.White paint on the dot is covered up with a black magic marker now. The rear sight(sucks too) would NOT go low enough to allow me to get the whole round dot in the notch- so I had to shoot a 1/2 moon in the notch.
The rear sight really DOES suck- it's a Millett- you know the one with the "white wings of war" on the back and around the notch- those are gone now too- another casulty of the black Magic marker...
OK- Remington 230 gr hardball- this gun came with 2 mags- one nice pretty stainless one from Dan Wesson, with a blue slam pad on it.
8 rounds it holds. The other mag is a foreign pos that is made in Italy and says MEC_GAR on it- 7 rounder. Yep- it's the ONE that works(with FMJ). The pretty one jams everytime once it gets 2 rounds out of it.Forget about it feeding HP's.Forget about the Italian one Feeding HPs. Only the FMJ's thru the cheap mag.
Shooting the gun..trigger is consistent at 4#3ozs.
OK, so I load this thing up- 25yd NRA BE target- low and right- OK , one thing at a time- rear sight left, shoot again- waaaay left...
ok back some... it goes in the center... OK now, UP...shoot- up more, but now its LEFT... goto Right crank on rear sight, back in center of target- but now way high again...wth????
OH, I see, the rear sight's elevation screw doesn't have a strong enough spring under it to not let the screw move around when the substansial recoil takes over...arrrggggghhhhh
and the rear windage(Millett) back plate is loose...
This gun wasn't shot much if any in it's lifetime. the rounds that I'm putting thru it are breaking it in and breaking anything that isn't tied down(like the sights).
OK I screw the rear sight all the way down tight.Now it's still got that back plate wobble- that'll have to wait for the soldering iron once the sights get set.DUHHHH- I forgot- Millets are pot metal- no solder..."Honey, where's the super glue?"
So I got the rear tied down and both blacked out...
Let's see if she'll shoot a group...well not yet, because it want's to ftf all the time...(was still learning about that pesky Wesson mag)
I finally broke 2 good "called X" shots in a row- and they were within the "same hole"...but don't get excited, because I couldn't go for 3 because it ftf.
I've shot a ton of armory guns in my day- and they ALL functioned better than this one, and they all had serviceable fixed sights.
I used to really shoot alot of BE, and I had hopes my youngest son could take up this gun and go with it- WRONG.
You know what? this is nothing special- it's that way with most every 1911.
To salvage the day I grabbed my G-38 Glock, and ripped the center out of that BE@25yds, one handed, no FTF,FTF or sight flop...50 rounds- I felt like I HAD to get some shooting in...So now I'm gonna have to start in on the mags with pliers, and call Champion's Choice outside Nashville to start springing this POS.
I see there's a little picture of a cross above the "DW" insignia- Lemme tell you- you better know Jesus if you take this thing to a gunfight- 'cause you're probably gonna meet him when it jams up.
Not much of report some of you may say...well...didn't really get to shoot enough...you know all the target triggers, skeleton hammers, triggerovertravel stops, match bushings and barrels, flare and lowerd ejector ports, and jack claw ejectors ain't worth spit if the gun won't feed and the sights fall off.
Slvr Surfr
05-18-2006, 00:53
Originally posted by Rikki
I see there's a little picture of a cross above the "DW" insignia- Lemme tell you- you better know Jesus if you take this thing to a gunfight- 'cause you're probably gonna meet him when it jams up.
Not much of report some of you may say...well...didn't really get to shoot enough...you know all the target triggers, skeleton hammers, triggerovertravel stops, match bushings and barrels, flare and lowerd ejector ports, and jack claw ejectors ain't worth spit if the gun won't feed and the sights fall off.
ROFL !!!!!!:bigsmile: :bigsmile:
Thats one of the funniest range reports I think Ive ever read........BTW Sorry to hear of your pistol mishaps. Try a SA or a SW 1911. I think youll have much better luck !
SilverState
05-18-2006, 01:11
I have been hearing similar stories about the Dan Wesson 1911s, both in 45acp and 10mm. People can eventually get them to work, but they have to change some parts and jump through some other hoops.
I think I will pass.
aglocker1911
05-18-2006, 06:16
Never owned a DW and only know what I've read about them. But are we talking about a new pistol here or a used one? If it's new, my understanding is that DW (as CZ now) has pretty good customer service. If it's used, is it the gun, or was it "messed with" by the previous owner. Good luck.
Probably needs some rounds through it. What ever your problem Dan will take care of you. Mine shoots 2" all day long! They come very tight, so don't give up yet! Most 1911's are pretty finicky, till you get them running. Go to the Dan Wesson forum on www.1911forum.com. They will help you there!
Steve in PA
I'm gonna call this pistol "LAZARUS" because it was essentially DOA when I got it.
Here's where I started...I got this widget I made years ago to measure spring weights for .45's... dug it outa the chicken house and found out the spring in Lazarus is 20#'s.... ummmm that' seems a little high to me...
At this point I'm thinkin' the slide may not be cycling completely to the rear- and that may be causing the ftf trouble...I'm SURE the slide is coming back too quickly-with that 20#er slamming it shut...so I dug around, and COULDN'T find my "pistol spring pack"...so I called Brownells and ordered one- it will be here first of next week.
A "pistol spring pack" had about 6 springs in it- from 16# down to 10#.
What I do with it is- after deciding on a load-(this gun is going to shoot 185gr SWCHP from Starr Bullets on top of 3.6 gr of Bullseye)
I put the lightest sping in the pack in, and see that it cycles, then go up to the next one, and so on, till it DOESN'T cycle- then you can back off one spring, or tune the one by clipping a coil or two off.
Most of the wadcutter guns I've shot settle in somewhere around 12-13.5 #'s
I ORDER the correct spring- and don't use the one outa the pack!
The ones in the pack are perfectly serviceable- but if you got the pack you can be a hero when you get another gun or you buddy has trouble with his 1911.
The bottom end of the pistol seems pretty good...so I'm not making changes here yet.
The bbl/bushing is a fine fit.
So for now , I got the weekend to load up a boat load of ammo.
I'm not at all happy working with a stainless gun- stainless is hard to machine, and harder to polish...I want rails like glass- so this weekend when I'm not pumping the reloading press I will get some fine rubbing compuond out, dope the rails and work the slide by hand to get some of tool scars out and get it slicked up.
I'll post more later...but lemme add this...I think the boy has got some potential as a shooter, and I want him to have a stone cold reliable accurate 1911 to learn Bullseye with. I think that Bullseye is an excellent place to start a shooters career- to me it's the "freethrow" of shooting- learn to shoot Bullseye and you can move quickly to other disciplines. I shoot a Glock in BE, but a man needs to know how to shoot a 1911- so I'm gonna bring this one outa the grave for him to use.
OH, btw...ordered Bomar rears...one more problem gone!
I'll keep you posted on the progress if you wanna hear?
TIA
Sounds like you know much more than I concerning 1911's. Dan Wesson 1911's are a lot of pistol for the money in my book. I did lots of research before I purchased mine. I think the 1911 recoil spring of a standard pistol is 18#. Your method should work fine to insure proper functioning. I hope you're eventually satisfied with it. Mine is the most accurate semi gun that I own. They are also quite purdy! Good luck and hang with it, you won't be disappointed. Here is a pic of mine. Enjoy!
Steve
I'd like to know if your's feeds HPs...
and can you tell me what the mags look like?
I think this is a good launching pad of a gun-and perhaps all the
functional problems go away when I get it sprung right- I see your
pistol had fixed sights- the sights on the one I got were cheep junk- why in the world DW did that- he coulda put some Novaks in there for less than what these were.
Rikki,
This pistol feeds everything I've put thru it. I reload Hornady XTP's and they also feed fine. I honestly haven't had one FTF, FTRTB, FTE, no stovepipes, nothing! I bought Chip McCormick Shooting Star mags. Stainless Steel!
As far as the sights are concerned, it has the XS sight system, A shallow V with a large round dot for the front post. Its not the best target sight, but I wanted the pistol for concealed carry so I didn't want something to catch on my clothes. They keep me from having the smallest groups possible from a rest, but target aquisition and sight picture are very good! Who knows why a company makes poor judgments on which product to use. They have since changed to a more mainstream type of sight. Try and get a particular type of ammo that will feed then shoot the heck out of it. After 500 rounds or so alot of your problems will disappear I suspect. Also, when you shoot, Rob Leatham says he likes to see oil running out of the gun. I liberally oil the rails, barrel bushing, and the top of the barrel, and any mating surfaces. Patience will reward you with a very tight and accurate shooter! If not DW will take care of you!
Steve
i picked up a pointman 7 in ss,
its been 100% reliable,
its fed a constant diet of remington ball and golden sabers.
its very accurate,
i know its a ealier production pistol s/n 0000xxx.
i would not hesitate to get another.
I think XS makes a good sight set up.
I'm loading shells, waiting on parts.
I use a mixture of anti-sieze and synthetic motor oil-
add enough oil to make it a runny mixture for slide lube.
Lazarus has a troubled mysterious history-
Blacklabelglock
05-20-2006, 19:54
Love my Dan Wesson also. Looks and shoots great. At least no one is bashing them. They take alot of bashing on the net for some reason.
All four of my DW are nice pistols and have proved to be very reliable. One of them have the XS sights and my first time using them I was scratching my head. Once I figured the sights out, I could pick up the sight picture quicker that other sights.
Keep plugging away, I am sure with your knowledge of 1911's you'll have it running fine.
ILikeFtLbs
05-21-2006, 11:22
Standard recoil spring for a full size 1911 is 16 lbs.
The "disconnector" on this pistol was just terrible.
the hole in the frame is a bit "oval" and the thing was hanging up the slide as it cycled.
So...I tore Lazarus clear down...
the flat spring had a terribly sharp end on it, and was acting like a chistle on the disconnector angle- so I stoned the dc back smooth, then I took a stone to the end of the spring that rides on the dc, then I bent it just a weeeee bit- to relieve a bit of pressure.
I reassembled it and it's better...I'm not at all comfortable with the oval hole- a little bit of wobble is OK,and makes them work easier.The only real fix is to get it in a BIG milling machine and gently and slowly bore it oversize- and then get an insert in there to bring it back to spec...I think this one is getting close to the outside of the tolerances. I'm gonna shoot it like it is and see if I can detect any function problems before I really go after it.
(Did I tell any of you I think I'd been better off staying with a Glock?)
I got the rails slicked up- took some polishing compound and doped the rails and slide and gave it about 150-200 strokes, washed it off, looked at it then gave it 100 more.
Something good...I need to say something good about this gun-
The pin hole in the frame are wonderful! And these are really straight well drilled holes! and I'm not kidding! The pins are easily removed and all made to go in from the right side (non-safety) side of the gun.Not the normal hodge-podge of pins and out of alignment crooked holes.
If I can get the UPS truck here today or tomorrow... there's a Wed Morn Bullseye league-
I'm getting anxious to see if thing will fly.
Hope you get yours running well. I love my CCO. I did have to JBpaste the rails and handcycle it about 1000x to lapp them in, and I had to put in a 23# hammerspring. Factory spring was too light and would not consistently hit the primer hard enough to fire. This was apparently a way to lighten triggerpull in the early models (mine is early). I don't really notice much difference in the pull with the 23# spring in there, and now it goes boom when I pull the trigger--no problems, oh, and I love my XS sights!
Could you guys that got DW 1911's- of any flavor- please unload your gun- check and make sure it's unloaded- mag out- slide back- make SURE it's not loaded...
Lock the slide back and shine a lite up thru the bottom of the mag well..Look at the disconnector plunger from the top and see if you can see light around the disconnector in the hole it's in.
I can see light around mine- and can see that's it's "ovaled".
But the UPS truck came in today, and I got about a dozen rounds thru it- 185gr, 3.6 bullseye- I was in the 10 ring after 4 rounds and clicking the new BoMAr25yds offhand- using the 13# spring!
This thing may come back to life. the DW mag is still a no-feeder- the MecGar(?) runs flawlessly.
Recoil was VERY soft- think I could go UP a pound and it might get sweeter.
May be on the right track!
I bought my Pointman Major a couple of years ago and had trouble right off the bat with anything but 230 gr. fmj's..I called them and they said it was set up for competition with the 230's and if I wanted to shoot anything other than that send it back and they would re-throat and polish the feedramp which they did and now it works with 185, 200, and 230....they sent a Fed-Ex truck to my house for pick-up and sent it back to the house about 10 days later at no charge to me...great customer relations ...It is also my most accurate handgun besides my hunting handguns of course
Hink, I've got 4 DW 1911's, 3 10mm's and a 45. The 45 had a really tight match chamber and wouldn't feed HP's (fed ball like grass thru a goose), so I sent it back and 7 days later it was returned and worked perfectly. That was pre-CZ, so I have no idea of how DW is now.
The 10's were 100% right out of the box.
Had a DW 9mm 1911 that I just traded off 'cause I just didn't like it, but it worked right too.
Sounds like maybe someone jacked with it before you got it??
Let me know how it works out.
Steve- I got it runnin'....but I'm just NOT a 1911 guy.
I got it set up for 185gr Starr lead hp SW...and it is approaching 100% reliable...maybe a file on the extractor...
It's accurate as all get out...but it's just a target gun now.
I don't think this thing would ever ever feed JHP's.
I shot in the "Int'l" match they had out @ MCF&G 3-4 weeks ago- they shoot alot of different stuff in that match...I'm thinkin' I might want a Python for the CF part...maybe see you at the 1500 tonite if you're @ PSS????
vBulletin® v3.7.3, Copyright ©2000-2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
