Dan Wesson 1911 worth the $

[JD8]

1911's are expensive guns if you want one that runs really well. People with their bargain basement Kimbers will tell you how great they are until they bring them to a class and try to run them hard like a gun you would bet your life on to fight with and they quickly realize how poorly made they are.

I don't have an opinion on the Dan Wesson's, my comment is more general in that if you want a very accurate, very reliable gun for little money it's something like the HK VP9. If you want to play the 1911 or 2011 game you need to pony up $2,000+ and some of that might need to go to a very competent gunsmith to finish hand fitting. Now here come the guys that say their $300 Rock River 1911 is the best gun ever made as they go shoot slow fire 25 rounds from a bench rest and forget it still had 2 stoppages.

An interesting fact about why WWI and II mass-produced 1911's were reliable is that all the ammo for them was made to the EXACT same specification. It's easier not to have feed ramp stoppages when the angle and curvature of the round never ever varies. It's a luxury the military has most of us don't unless we are cognizant of what works in our guns and buy a lot of it.

The only place I still see this is in the less than 1% of guys that understand revolver sights are often regulated to a specific load meaning a certain round will hit dead on their sights. Also, ALL semi-auto shotguns are relatively unreliable if you mix rounds and loads but if you find a round that works and run only that in the gun it will run pretty flawlessly.

 

[JD8]

Dan Wesson's are finished better than Les Baers. Better coating, better sights. Unless you get into the SRP guns or HC. Les is a bit dated.

Typically, Les Baer fits his barrels better than DW but that's getting really picky.

Les Baers don't typically come up for $1500-1700 and are tough to find. Funny thing was, I just tried to sell a TRS on this board for some time for $1700 and I had all sorts of trouble, so I pulled it. Oh well, it's meant to stay with me lol.

I have 2 DWs though, and am extremely impressed for the money.

 

[Blue Heeler]

1911’s are a lot like blow jobs. All are good … some are just better than others.

 

[Veritas]

Which part and describe in detail where I'm wrong because I know what I said would only not make sense to people with little to no training or experience with firearms.

If anyone is serious about learning something this talk by Ken Hackathron goes over the part I was discussing about the .45 round. You can add "ogive" to your vocabulary after.

 

[Veritas]

I don’t understand what you’re saying, please explain further, thanks.

So revolvers for a long time back in the day could be ordered with the sights regulated to be point of aim point of impact for specific loads. Most people don't shoot well enough to know why this matters but when you are shooting bulls at 25 or 50 yards it does.

The new "Ultimate Carry" J Frame Lipsey's is putting out for Smith and Wesson has gone back to this with sights made for a specific modern load/round offering.

As you can imagine a 110 grain .357 magnum round and a much heavier wadcutter in .38 Special out of the same gun would not hit in the same place at a given distance.

Again if you took 99% of people out at 5 yards and had them shoot a 1" paster they would miss either because of poor shooting skills but just as likely they literally don't know where their sights are regulated. Will the round hit behind the front sight in line with the dot or on top of the sight like a lillipop? Some guns even changed at distance. For example Gen 3 Glocks had an issue with shooting high at 25 yards because of how much and how early the barrel would tilt up so it was not uncommon to use a 6 o'clock hold at that distance to hit center. The Gen 5's seem to be better and more mechanically accurate overall.

 

[surjimmy]

1911's are expensive guns if you want one that runs really well. People with their bargain basement Kimbers will tell you how great they are until they bring them to a class and try to run them hard like a gun you would bet your life on to fight with and they quickly realize how poorly made they are.

I don't have an opinion on the Dan Wesson's, my comment is more general in that if you want a very accurate, very reliable gun for little money it's something like the HK VP9. If you want to play the 1911 or 2011 game you need to pony up $2,000+ and some of that might need to go to a very competent gunsmith to finish hand fitting. Now here come the guys that say their $300 Rock River 1911 is the best gun ever made as they go shoot slow fire 25 rounds from a bench rest and forget it still had 2 stoppages.

An interesting fact about why WWI and II mass-produced 1911's were reliable is that all the ammo for them was made to the EXACT same specification. It's easier not to have feed ramp stoppages when the angle and curvature of the round never ever varies. It's a luxury the military has most of us don't unless we are cognizant of what works in our guns and buy a lot of it.

The only place I still see this is in the less than 1% of guys that understand revolver sights are often regulated to a specific load meaning a certain round will hit dead on their sights. Also, ALL semi-auto shotguns are relatively unreliable if you mix rounds and loads but if you find a round that works and run only that in the gun it will run pretty flawlessly.

I do not agree with you about having to spend two thousand dollars to get a good shooting 1911. I bought a Rock Island for the simple reason is I wanted a gun but I wouldn't mind scratching up, taking out to the woods and I didn't want to take my Les Baer and my other customs. The Rock Island mag was junk, but after I put a Wilson mag in it, I could not get it to malfunction and I tried. I'm not saying it was as accurate as my higher end 1911's, but I would have had no problem carrying it as an EDC.
I'm not saying a RI is anywhere near is as nice, but I don't feel you have to spend 2 grand to get one that is reliable. The guns and ammo they're putting out today will outshoot 95% of the people shooting them.

 

[JamesB]

Save some money and buy a Bul Armory .. I’ve had a Springfield emissary.. Colt series 70. Currently have a Tisas .. hands down my Bul is an amazing 1911 for 800$ nice crisp trigger break and reset. Has a bull barrel(I’m a fan of bull barrels) slide feels like it’s on ball bearings. And super accurate. You might wanna take a look at them..

 

[bullseyeblack]

There is a wilson CQB on here now unfired for 2000, I am trying to get the money before someone else gets it

 

[Big50]

There is a wilson CQB on here now unfired for 2000, I am trying to get the money before someone else gets it

It's KZ not a CQB.

 

[bullseyeblack]

It's KZ not a CQB.

No it's a CQB with a fluted bull barrel