Dan Wesson Model 14 357 Magnum Snub

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Ben_hutcherson

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I've always been intrigued by Dan Wessons, although they are a bit sparse around here and most of the ones I've run across have been(in my judgement) terribly overpriced.

I visited a pawn shop the other day, and found the below gun in the case. I was offered a price drop before the gun was even in my hands, although decided to think it over a bit.

My interest got the better of me, and I went back today to look the gun over again. I dickered a little more, and got the price down to $290 out the door. As we were doing the paperwork, the salesman mentioned that they were trying to get rid of their A-Zoom snap caps, so threw in a set for no extra charge.

This gun isn't going to win any beauty contests, but I'm anxious to get it out to the range and try it out. Plus, I feel good about it at the price I paid for it.
 

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Thanks.

By the way, the cylinder is recessed on this one, like all proper Magnum handguns should be :) . I didn't realize that Dan Wesson did that.
 
Here is a pic of my DW " snubbie"...:D

357-1_zps17a15f36.jpg
 
I picked up a 6" model 15-2 earlier this summer and it's a distinctly accurate handgun. Had it out shooting yesterday and put all 6 in the first cylinder full into the 10 ring of a 6 inch Shoot-N-C at 20 yards from a rest. Let's not discuss what happened after that, shooting 357 Magnums with a handgun seems to induce the "yips" in my trigger stroke after 20 or 30 rounds.
 
One of my concerns about buying one in nickel was the fact that I never see nickel barrels. Blue barrels are not common, but at least seem to be available.

Then I remembered that the gun is already ugly as sin, so if I want to put a 6" or 8" or whatever length barrel on it, if all I can find is blue it's not going to hurt the appearance any :)

I've always said that I wouldn't buy a 357 snub, but broke my own rule on this particular one. The price was part of the consideration, as was the possibility of having a longer barrel if I wanted. Of course, there's not a really pressing desire to find other barrels either, as I have 357s in 4", 6" and 8 3/8".
 
Yeah the nickel ones are harder to find, On the upside you will see more of them in the older models like yours. If you get a longer barrel, no matter what kind, you will be amazed at how accurate these guns can be. My first revolver was a .44 magnum 8" barrel IHMSA gun. It shot better than some of my rifles at 100 yards.
 
As I mentioned, I was very pleasantly surprised to find the below feature in this gun
 

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markyboy57 said:
The Lil Dan is quite rare and easily worth double (or more) what Ben_hutcherson paid for his.
Click to expand...

You have me interested...the shop where I bought this one had another snub nose Dan Wesson in 38 special with a sticker price of $280(and I suspect a real price actually a lot lower, given that the one I bought was marked $330).

I didn't even bother to look at it...did DW make any 38 special(only) guns in a frame size other than the compact one you're describing?
 
While we're at it, I recently picked up some 168gr Keith bullets from a local caster. And, yes, these are "real" Keith bullets with three equal width driving bands, a square lube groove, and a 70% diameter meplat.

I've been really excited about loading these, but most folks indicate that they need to be crimped forward of the front driving band in order to be chambered in an N frame cylinder. My only 357s up to this point(aside from my rifle) have been N frames and Colt I frames. The Colt cylinder is the same length(or maybe even a tad shorter than) an N frame.

I held the Dan Wesson up next to my model 27 a little bit earlier, and it appears as though the cylinder is about a 1/10" longer or so. I hope that it will be long enough to allow me to shoot the Keith bullets crimped into the crimp groove.
 
wbraswell said:
DW made the regular .357 framed guns in .38 spl. I think the majority of them went to the Mexican market.
Click to expand...

I don't know where they went, but yes, models 8 and 9 I believe. You see them occasionally. They are the "small" frame, the same frame the 357 is built on, by no means small. As for the Keith bullets I can' t say. I don't reload lead at this time, just JHP.

I will have to measure the cylinder length on one of my Dan's. I think std oal for the 357 is around 1.590 ".

My S&W cylinders measure 1.625". My Dan is 1.575 chamber length. It is .010" longer than the smith overall at 1.635", but the recess for the rim takes away .060". So it is actually shorter than my smith cylinder. ( K frame).
 
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It looks like I need to adjust the gap on mine a bit, as the cylinder bound up after the gun got warm.

Fortunately, wrenches and shims are cheap online, and I think that's something that I need to find have on hand anyway.

I called around to the shops in town to see if anyone had one lying around. I made an educated guess as to what shop(if any) would likely have one, and wasn't disappointed. Unfortunately, the shop owner seems to have a very inflated idea of what something like that is worth, as he told me over the phone that it would be $100 for the wrench only.

Considering that I can a wrench only for $25 and a wrench+shim for about $40 online, I think I'll pass! I want to support my local shops, but that only goes so far.
 
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