I find the Dan Wesson vs. S&W to be the same as Ruger vs. S&W or Colt vs. S&W or whatever else. There are ups and downs across the brands. The Dan Wesson guns had some neat features to them. The early guns were in my humble opinion some guns that only a mother could love. They made them more eye friendly at some point. QC ran away at some point and I hear on a routine that the guns from Monson were some of the better ones. So would I say they were/are better? No. Would I say they were different? Yes.