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Dan Wesson Revolvers. Any Good?

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Dans are some of the strongest revolvers ever made.
Scarry accurate.

Downside - funky D/A trigger & almost zip resale value.

If you like Ruger triggers, you'll love the Dan. If you buy a Dan for the long run, resale is a nonissue. I'm a die hard Smith trigger kinda guy and I never warmed up to the trigger on my Dan .22. My shooting bud Jim, who's a Ruger kinda guy took to the trigger like a duck takes to water. I shopped my Dan around for 6 months w/out getting any takers, and finally decided to just give it to Jim since he appreciated it so much.
 
Uncanny accuracy.
Also, to re-iterate what Hal said, the triggers are indeed funky.
If you want to do a trigger job on it, make sure that the smith knows what he's doing.
Also, I know it's cool, but try to resist taking the barrel off to clean it.
The B/C gap is kinda picky and is hard to get 'just right'.
 
Concerning trigger jobs it should be noted that there are what I consider two distinct eras of production.

What I call the first "era" would be the period from 1968 to around 1995. The company started out in Monson Massachusetts and was there from the beginning to around 1990 and then mover to Palmer Mass. If the gun in question is from either city it is in the first era of original production materials. These use a sintered iron lockwork which is durable unless the surface hardening is worn or polished through. Smiths of the period that did action jobs on DW's learned to nickel plate the action for durability after polishing.

BTW guns made in Palmer Mass tend to be more problematical and are thus less desirable than the Monson guns. I can only assume the tooling was worn out by then. Sometime in 1995 or 6 DW folded for a third time.

The company assets were then bought by the current owner and moved to Norwich NY. Their story is that they found the revolver tooling and machinery to be totally worn out and they then invested in new CNC machinery. Their first revolver was produced in late 1997. The new "era" guns have steel lockworks instead of the old sintered iron stuff and can be polished in the traditional fashion, if needed. FWIW the new parts are exactly like the old ones except for the material and they can be retrofitted into the older guns. The current DW will service and 'smith on the the older guns, for a fee of course. They have no records of previous to 1996 production as all that was sent to the ATF prior to their purchase of the company
 
I have an old model 15 from Monson. It came with 3 barrels (2.5, 4, 6") and original plastic suitcase (that smells like cigarettes) for $199 plus tax.

It does have a trigger that is different from a Smith, but I think mine has a good trigger. In double action it is short and kind of snappy. Single action it is as good as my K-22 or 27-2.

Grips are easy to interchange too. They mount on a stud and screw in from the bottom. I don't think I will sell mine anytime soon. It has a few dings and wear on the finish, but shoots like crazy.
 
Good shooters.

357 max is a heap fun cartridge to shoot but be aware you will experience flame cutting of the top-strap. It's not as pronounced as the Ruger's but you will still see it over time.
 
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I picked up grips for my 722 and md-15 off of ebay from a nice guy over there. There were like $15/grip as I remember. Even the DW factory recommends them. (call them and ask....)
 
i've got a 740, it's a heavy bastid, but i was rather dissapointed with the play in the cylinder....

a brand new gun should lock up tighter than that i would think....

either way it shoots great, i like the trigger more than my smiths in DA... haven't been able to load up any maxi yet cause i can't find any powder:fire: hopefully some of the local wal marts will have some 296 or 110 in store tommorow.....

probally use it for whitetail this year... if i ever find any powder....

BTW midaway has remington brass and that 180 gr. rem sjhp looks like a winner.... im also gonna load up some 158gr. xtp's maybe even get silly and load up some 110gr....
 
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