Dan Wesson Arms
119 Kimper St
Norwich, NY 13815
(607) 336-1174
fax: (607) 336-2730
email: danwessonfirearms@citlink.net
web: http://www.dan-wesson.com
{Back in buisness, owner is Bob Serva}
[Manufacturer:Firearms:pistol,Gunsmith]
Currently they are doing repair work on Dan Wesson revolvers made by the previous incarnations of the company.
The Dan Wesson revolvers are being made by New York International, and before that as Dan Wesson Arms, and Wesson Arms Inc, and probably some other permutation of that company name. As could be guessed, the company has been reorganized several times and has gone through many different management and ownerships.
Dan Wesson, the great-grandson of D.B. Wesson co-founder of Smith & Wesson, was born in 1916. He worked in the family company from 1938 until 1963 when S & W was acquired by Bangor Punta. Having formed a tool and die company in 1948, he left S & W and changed the name of D. B. Wesson, Inc. to Dan Wesson Arms. The firearms of Dan Wesson Arms earned a reputation as a silhouette gun. But by 1983 Dan Wesson Arms was in trouble. The family had gotten out of the company and the popularity of silhouette shooting had declined. The quality of the firearms dropped according to many owners of Dan Wesson revolvers made during this time. At one point it looked as though the company would close down. But then Seth (the son of Dan Wesson) and Carol Wesson took control of the company renaming it Wesson Firearms Co. This version of the company soon floundered. After several years, New York International bought up the name and has restarted a company intending to produce the Dan Wesson design guns again.
The classic Dan Wesson revolvers are big heavy frame guns. The large bore frames (i.e. > 357 Magnum) are in the same strength class as the Ruger Blackhawk and the TC contender. Cylinder wall thickness on the 44 Magnum Dan Wesson is a few thousandths greater than on the equivalent Ruger Blackhawk. The Dan Wesson big bore revolvers are the guns that win in IMHSA Production Class (essentially a `stock' class, no custom guns, and there used to be a upper price limit), both because they are very accurate, and because they will stand up to many thousands of full power loads without shooting loose. Only since the repeal of the price ceiling in Production Class IMHSA have other more expensive brands gained a foothold in the winners circle.
There are several distinctive feature that separate the Dan Wesson revolver from the S&W and Rugers of the revolver world. The cylinder latch is not in the conventional left rear sideplate location, but rather is on the left side of the crane, just forward of the cylinder. It is pushed down to open the cylinder rather than forward or backward. Only the small frame guns have side plates, there are no sideplates on the big bore frame sizes. On the big bore frames, all parts are fitted and installed through the gap left when the trigger assemby is removed. This greatly increases the strength of the frame of the Dan Wesson pistol.
Due to their tensioned barrel system, these revolvers are capable of great accuracy. The tensioned barrel system consists of a cylindric barrel that screws into the frame, with a barrel shroud that is then fitted over the barrel. This shroud is attached to the muzzle end of the barrel by a thin nut that is inside threaded. The guns come packed with the special wrench needed to use this system, so if you buy a used gun, make sure you get the wrench as well. When the system is tightened up, the inner barrel is under tension, while the shroud is under compression. This tensioned barrel system also allows the cylinder gap to be adjusted. For those of you that shoot very high intensity cartridges, like the 357 Maximum, this shrouded barrel system allows the inexpensive (about $80) replacement of the barrel. Also, this barrel system allows you to change the barrel length to suit the circumstances, you can use the same gun with a 2" barrel for carry and a 12" barrel for hunting. There are also barrel assemblies available that have a built in compensator. At one time, the revolvers were offered with a vented barrel and shroud, in theory venting some of the propellant gases through holes in the inner barrel and two vents on the top of the shroud located about 3/4" back from the muzzle. This venting system was not very efficient, and more importantly, it tended to build up lead, copper, and general crud inside the shroud. This made removal of the barrel assembly difficult.
Barrel-shroud assemblies are available in 2,4,6,8,12,15". The compensated barrel assemblies run about 1" longer. In 1994, the Dan Wesson revolver became available in a conventional fixed barrel version, at slightly less cost. These fixed barrel guns were an attempt to compete with the big boys (S&W, Ruger, Tarus) for the vanilla gun buyer. These fixed barrel guns will not be reintroduced by the NYI company.
Since the Dan Wesson revolver uses a trigger transfer bar safety that is very similar if not identical to that used by the Rugers, you can expect to end up with a post-trigger job trigger on par with the post-trigger job trigger you would get on a Ruger. It will not be the 'glass-rod' clean break of the S&W revolvers, but it will suffice for all but the most critical.
The quality control on these revolvers has been off-and-on very bad. The new company is quite well aware that quality is the criteria that they will live or die by. As a consequence the price of the new production guns will be slightly higher, and the emphasis will be on the unique products (the Supermag calibers). A small company can't hope to compete with the likes of Ruger and Smith & Wesson, and will go bankrupt if they try.
One thing to keep in mind when considering the purchase of a large frame double action revolver: your choices are among the group of Smith and Wesson, Ruger, Tarus, Colt, and Dan Wesson for guns in the 'reasonable' price class. (yes, you can buy a Casull or a Korth, but if you can afford these guns, you probably aren't reading this FAQ for anything other than amusement) The Dan Wesson is probably in the same price class as the Taurus, but it's as strong as the Rugers, and as accurate if not more so than the S&W.
22LR Dan Wesson Revolver Accuracy issues Over the last fewe years I've asked about peoples experience with the Dan Wesson 22LR revolvers, prompted by a few bad experiences of mine with these guns. Please note that I have not had any experience with the new production guns from NYI, only the older companies products. As of July 20 1998, I'd received about 40 useful responses to my request for peoples experiences. About half the people reported average groups of greater than 1"@25 yards, the other half less than one inch at the same distance. Six people report groups less than 1/2" @ 25 yards, with half of those having custom barrels and one other having replaced his factory barrel with another factory barrel. Overall, more than a few people have replaced their barrels for reasons of excessive leading and/or inaccuracy. At this point I'm inclined to belive that I just ran across several Dan Wesson 22's that had poor quality control. If you have problems with your Dan Wesson 22, consider replacing the barrel with a high quality aftermarket one, or with a factory barrel . These used to cost about $40 from the factory, I have no idea what they are charging now.