So - history on the engraved cylinder. I'll apologize in advance, since I'll probably tell more than anyone really wants to know, but here goes:

About 3 1/2 years back I went to a local gun show. As usual, not much Dan Wesson stuff. All our northeastern members seem to have kept most of the good stuff up there. There was a S&W collector type with a booth and I asked him if he had any DW items. He said no, but at home he had some DW parts that an acquaintance had asked him to sell. That got my interest, so I eventually arranged to meet him at his "gun cave" to see what he had. I nearly choked when he brought them out. In an old cardboard box, wrapped in tissue paper, were cylinders, shrouds, cranes, hammers, triggers, all stainless apparently for a model 715 and clearly never installed on a frame. The shrouds (VH6) and cylinders were all engraved with the same pattern. His acquaintance got them from his granddaddy, now deceased, and had no idea what they were or where they came from. No way was I going to pass them up, so we called the owner who was out on his Shrimp boat hard at work and we made a deal.  I took them home. What I really wanted to do was hoard them all like gold, but I finally decided to share with DWF members.

First I kept a shroud, cylinder, crane with latch and ejector rod and sold a similar set along with a trigger and a hammer to my brother who had just bought his first (and so far only) DW, a 715. I had just begun my first DW project - a high polishing of my, only at the time, 715; so I decided to add the engraved parts to the project. The cranes all had the engravers mark struck into the portion of the crane hinge that shows when it is installed on the frame. The engraver was Ken Hurst of North Carolina. I found his number on the wonderful internet and called him. He is quite elderly but happy to talk about his work. He did not specifically remember the parts, but he did have a good sized operation and engraved thousands of guns.

Here is a link to the forum post where I offered the rest of the parts to members:

     https://www.danwessonforum.com/forum/for-sale/unique-engraved-715-parts/

Here's a photo of those parts:

If you look close you will see that the triggers had the over travel screw installed in them. This is a good indication that they were made very early in the production of stainless DWs. In fact I have never seen another stainless trigger with the over travel screw attached. The engraving is deep and flawless and in my opinion, just enough not to be overwhelming. The cylinder in the pinto project is all I have left except for one crane & latch.

Here's a photo of my first project with the engraved parts:

The grip was made by LB from a piece of faux ivory and the emblems are sterling silver that I was lucky enough to get from another forum member who had a few sets made a couple years back. I love my polished 715 but will not do another one myself - way too many hours.Much better to pay a professional.

Now I'm tired of writing/typing so I'll stop, but I will answer questions.

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