Dan Wesson 1911 worth the $

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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.
where do you find $300 rock rivers? i have owned dozens of 1911's and rock river have been some of the best
 

madokie

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I have a SA TRP that's has had some nice trigger work done on it and a custom from an unknown builder that did his rendition of a Pachmayer Special on a Caspian Frame and slide that is actually pretty well done. Also a standard SA Mil-Spec. I also have a STI Trojan 9mm that was worked over by Eddie Garcia himself.

So I'm fully aware how they shoot, but I still want an upper end 1911 from Wilson, Baer, Nighthawk, etc.
keep an eye on Everygunpart.com,, they have high end gun "parts kits" ..
 
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I bought a Pointman 9 in 2019, and it was hands down the worst gun I ever purchased. Plan was to use it for Steel Challenge. Nothing but stovepipes from the first shot. Slide and frame fitted too tightly and unfinished slide and frame rails so that the two parts bound up during barrel unlocking section of recoil. Recoil spring too heavy. Extractor tension poor. Firing pin stop bottom angle far too severe for a 9mm. Just a very badly put together but beautiful gun. I fixed it myself and now it’s amazing. Would never buy another.
 
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I bought a Pointman 9 in 2019, and it was hands down the worst gun I ever purchased. Plan was to use it for Steel Challenge. Nothing but stovepipes from the first shot. Slide and frame fitted too tightly and unfinished slide and frame rails so that the two parts bound up during barrel unlocking section of recoil. Recoil spring too heavy. Extractor tension poor. Firing pin stop bottom angle far too severe for a 9mm. Just a very badly put together but beautiful gun. I fixed it myself and now it’s amazing. Would never buy another.
sounds like limp wristing
 
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I bought a Pointman 9 in 2019, and it was hands down the worst gun I ever purchased. Plan was to use it for Steel Challenge. Nothing but stovepipes from the first shot. Slide and frame fitted too tightly and unfinished slide and frame rails so that the two parts bound up during barrel unlocking section of recoil. Recoil spring too heavy. Extractor tension poor. Firing pin stop bottom angle far too severe for a 9mm. Just a very badly put together but beautiful gun. I fixed it myself and now it’s amazing. Would never buy another.
Nothing more frustrating than buying a new gun and while it looks great … does not work as it should.

Which got me thinking … with the exception of my previously mentioned DW, three SIGs, a Browning Buckmark and a SW K-22, I have never had a new handgun that was “right” out of the box.

Started in the early 80’s, bought a Browning High Power that would feed 115gr. ball ammo. Late great Austin Behlert worked his magic on it and it may be better than “perfect” now. Last year, bought a new Ruger Mk4 and the cap on the threaded barrel will not come off. Minor issue but still, not expected.
 
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The most important and least talked about issue regarding guns in general is the unbelievably bad quality that plagued the industry for decades. Can’t imagine how long it was that the common sense thing to do after buying a new 1911 was to immediately get it fixed by an independent gunsmith. 30-40 years? Almost every post on the socials from custom pistol smiths shows a vintage Colt being turned into a work of art and the interim work being described as a total nightmare in terms of bad manufacturing quality and tolerancing.
 

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