Question about Dan & Wesson

[BIG DAZ UK]

Hi as some of you know I am from the UK and know little about modern working guns, so I have a silly question to ask of any of you, I put it here because I didn't know which area to put it in.
My step dad when he lived & worked in canada and the US used rave on about a handgun (possibly a revolver) called a Dan & Wesson that he used to own, there's nothing about them in my old gun books.
My question is was he talking drivel & if they do/did exist are they or were they part of Smith & Wesson.

Cheers Daz

 

[JcMack]

You can read some background on this link

Dan Wesson Firearms - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[BIG DAZ UK]

Cheers that clears that up, are they liked by S&W owners or frowned upon as I see no section on this forum about them.

 

[JcMack]

The company produced some nice guns. The guns produced in Monson are said to be the best.. I had a model 22 .22 cal that was a Monson gun. The interchangeable barrels was a nice feature. They have a following by shooters and collectors. They were never that popular and if memory serves me were priced above S&W's.

 

[diamonback68]

They have a following by shooters and collectors. They were never that popular and if memory serves me were priced above S&W's.

They were originally priced above Smiths, but now used ones don't bring anywhere near the same prices of Smiths. They seem to be hard sells at gunshows, at least around here.

 

[BIG DAZ UK]

The company produced some nice guns. The guns produced in Monson are said to be the best.. I had a model 22 .22 cal that was a Monson gun. The interchangeable barrels was a nice feature. They have a following by shooters and collectors. They were never that popular and if memory serves me were priced above S&W's.

I think my old mans was a .357 , sorry Robin got banned by our government along with everything else decent handguns being one of them lol

 

[JcMack]

sorry Robin got banned by our government along with everything else decent handguns being one of them lol

Too bad. I was hoping he could bring me some loot. Most of the DW's I see for sale (when I see one) are 4" .357's.

 

[old bear]

I had an early, 1970 - 1972, Dan Wesson. The concept was great; one frame with three quick change barrels and two different grip styles. Sadly the quality control was not there. For lack of anything better to do with it I carried it in the door pocket of my car, until it started to rust.
I finally loaned it to lady friend who needed protection from a “Crazy-stocker” Ex. It only took me about six weeks to determine her Ex was not the CRAZY one. I never bothered to try and get the D.W. back I figured it was not worth the pain to get it back.

 

[scooter123]

In many ways the Dan Wesson revolvers were the Ultimate revolver for accuracy competitions. Two features stand out in terms of striving for the most accurate revolver that could be made. One is the tensioned barrel, which I know first hand does work as my 620 S&W features a tensioned barrel. The second feature is the cylinder lock is at the yoke instead of the rear of the cylinder, so the locking point for the cylinder is as close to the forcing cone as possible.

Unfortunately, accuracy doesn't seem to be very critical to most revolver shooters and the company was always in a bit of a cash bind. As a result, there were periods when the quality was so poor that purchasers had to have a gunsmith re-fit the revolver before using it in competition. In spite of this there were shooters using these guns for Bullseye and Silhouette competitions that went through this due to the exceptional accuracy the Dan Wesson revolvers could deliver. As for it's potential accuracy, I've heard and seen reports that a properly set up Dan Wesson could shoot between 1/2 and 1 inch at 100 yards (or meters in GB).

PS; I've personally managed a 1/2 inch 3 shot cloverleaf at 50 yards with my 620, so I have no doubt of the potential accuracy of the Dan Wesson revolvers. I'll also agree that prices for the DW revolvers are currently below their real worth, however there weren't many made and I expect that may change in the future. Personally, if I happen to stumble on a Dan Wesson at any of my local shops I plan on snapping it up. I'll also note that CZ USA has re-introduced the Dan Wesson revolver in 357 Magnum but the current new production is beyond my budget.

 

[BIG DAZ UK]

I had an early, 1970 - 1972, Dan Wesson. The concept was great; one frame with three quick change barrels and two different grip styles. Sadly the quality control was not there. For lack of anything better to do with it I carried it in the door pocket of my car, until it started to rust.
I finally loaned it to lady friend who needed protection from a “Crazy-stocker” Ex. It only took me about six weeks to determine her Ex was not the CRAZY one. I never bothered to try and get the D.W. back I figured it was not worth the pain to get it back.

PMSL thats always the case.

 

[Bullzaye]

I own 4 Dan Wesson revolvers, 2 x .44 Magnums & 2 x .357 Magnums, each with 2 barrels. They are all Monson guns, and are beautifully built, and exceptionally accurate. I paid between $350-$450 for each...the main reason I bought the second example of each was because they just seemed too good of a deal to pass up.

I could see where the interchangeable barrels would be an advantage in any locale where owner's were restricted or taxed on the number of guns owned.

Tim

 

[mkk41]

I had a Dan Wesson Pistol Pac many years ago with the heavy vent-ribs barrel shrouds. It was kinda like having a Mr. Potato Head gun. Gun had an odd short-pull DA trigger action. Very accurate with the longer barrels. Sold it to a friend who still has it and took several deer with the 8in tube and a scope.

 

[Bicky Robby]

The first gun I ever bought was a Dan Wesson .357 (with barrels) in like 78 or 79. Paid $199 for it. Wish I still had it. From what I recall, it was a good shooter.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

As others have noted, Dan Wesson had some quality control problems after Dan Wesson died in 1978. Dan Wessons were quite popular with metallic silhouette shooters. I dealt with the company after it rose again from the dead in 1997, their service was SUPERB! They returned my calls, I got to speak to their head gunsmith, I got the opportunity to purchase a 5" barrel and shroud-they made up some from leftover parts. I have both the original Model 12 and the Model 15. There are some differences between the two, shrouds are NOT interchangeable but barrels ARE.
There is a Dan Wesson Forum http://www.danwessonforum.com

 

[Pilgrim]

DW made some nice guns. I have a K22 which is VERY accurate and this SuperMag in .357 max.

Ammo is hard to find but it will shoot the .38spl, .356mag and .357max.

I'd love to get some more DW's but prices are coming up quickly.

 

[Maximumbob54]

I always like the cylinder release on the yoke that the DW guns had. That seemed like it would be a pretty strong lock up.

 

[GearHead_1]

I have a couple of Dan Wesson revolver's. I can't add much to what has been said other than to say that Dan's concepts (cylinder release, tensioned barrel, flexibility) were pretty much on the mark but putting it into practice in the manufacturing stages kind of got the best of him. As was mentioned they went through a couple of years where quality control really came into question giving the company a black eye that has been hard to overcome. There new pistol, expensive as it may be, looks interesting to me. I can't say I wouldn't like to have one. One last and very subjective point, in my opinion they never did get the wood grip right when compared to a nice set of Target or Coke Smith's.

 

[mm6mm6]

Dan Wessons are alive and very, very well. They are owned by CZ-USA and all DW's are produced right here in the USA with American parts by Americans. Here is a link to their product line up, including their revolvers made today:

CZ-USA -> Dan Wesson products

Dan Wesson has made quite a name for themselves during the past 8 or so years with their outstanding 1911 pistols. There are those like me that believe DWs are the "best bang for your 1911 buck" available.

My Commander Classic Bobtail .45 is a very sweet shooting, accurate, and reliable gun. I love it!

 

[jrmcbroom]

I was a sporting department manager for a short time in the mid - 1970's and sold some of the first Dan Wesson's. As i remember, they were a popular gun for silhouette shooting for a while. Supposedly very accurate, but ugly as a mud fence.

 

[Shooting4life]

I love my Dan wesson's. I have 5 at this point. A 15-2 pistol pack, a dw22, and three supermags 357, 375 and 445. I love the supermag line. I think the quality control concerns are overstated. I have monson and Palmer guns and they are both fine. Needless to say and bad revolvers that were made have been sorted out over the last 30 years just like the older smith's, the bad ones have been sorted out over time.
I do think s&w have a nicer finish than the dw but I have found more accuracy in the Dan wesson.

 

[JcMack]

Not to go too far off topic (but I will?). About 10-12 years ago a major gun customiser offered a modification to make a K-L frame S&W .357 a "multi barrel" gun. You sent them your gun, they did a mod to the frame to accept their barrel shroud combo in several lengths. I was on the verge of having it done. The issue I had was the shrouds the offered were aluminum. I was not sure of the durability of the finish.