My son, Colt, and my Dan Wesson .357.  Once referred to as a "Buck Rogers Raygun" by a gun writer in the 1970's, whose name escapes me now. I was, at first, taken back by the profile but later would overcome that and actually start liking it's appearance, exposed barrel nut and all. The first trip to the range was an eye-opening experience in more ways than one. The trigger-action was different and took some getting use to. Shooting this Model 11 from a pistol-perch, using .38 Match, was absolutely unbelievable! Shooting on my own home-made targets, cranked back to the 25-yard line, deep into the pistol perch, would produce a 3-shot cloverleaf in the softball size black dot on my target. My eyes bulged out like a "stomped on toad-frog" when I cranked that target back close enough to see the closely grouped holes. Being an old lawman who was still trying to hang onto his service revolver instead of the S&W .45 Pistol, I instantly recognized the implications of the extreme accuracy-factor this Model 11 was capable. In Nov. 1997, when I purchased this first Dan Wesson for myself, I was but 45, and all the hydraulics were on-line and running smooth. My hands were steady and eyes pretty sharp and had recently been promoted to sergeant. I had already been shooting competivly for several years and was still able to shoot high enough to keep on carrying my revolver (Colt Official Police .38). My scores and seniority provided the path to continued revolver carry and NOT a self-loading DAO pistol! The next qualification would find me shooting two guns, my beloved Colt and this Model 11. Oh, did I get the hee-haw from the boys when they laid eyes on my Model 11! I used the original combat finger-groove grips, seen in the photos, and proceeded to shoot the highest qualification score ever for myself and for that day, the whole department. Since the previous years purchase date I had ample time to practice and get ready. Securing and identifying my Model 11's favorite load for cloverleaf shooting and using that load on qualification day, my only concession to the new cop world semi-auto pistol that was coming on strong. Later still I would start researching the history of the Dan Wesson and would find scant info until this forum got developed by the fine men here and info started flowing. Evidence of NYPD connection would surface and to my dismay/surprise/ could not find/locate anyone who knew anything about the NYPD Dan Wesson Model 11. The first indication of the NYPD background was a small sentence in a Massad Ayoob 1989 article on NYPD six-guns. He wrote that a small number of these Model 11's got out at NYPD to rookie cops on gun day at the academy. I would later contact two retired NYPD cops who came on in the early 1970's that remembered seeing the Model 11 laid out on the table on gun day. One of the two actually had a partner, for a short while, who had selected the .38 Model 11 as his service revolver and would brag loud and long about its accuracy. The retired cop stated that no one listened to him but diff state that he had high scores on qualification day. Well, I'm still beating the bushes for the NYPD Model 11 and its story/history/specifics/features provided by the Dan Wesson Company to get it accepted by the world's largest police department as one of three .38's a new cop could select from in 1971/72/73 times. Thank you my friends and I hope you enjoy the pictures.

David

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