By  the time I first got introduced to the Dan Wesson Revolver (1997) I was blessed to have been exposed and/or own quite a few different makes and types of double action revolvers. I had been collecting old PD trade-in six-shooters for several years and had shot the same during those years providing me with limited experience with quite a few handguns. The PD side of my collection included .38's and .357's from S&W, Colt, Ruger, and Taurus with most of these being blue steel, 4-inch barrels, fixed and adjustable sight models. Over the years I saw a few Dan Wessons on the gun shelves in my favorite gun stores but not very often. I shot "all" the representive sixguns, some being better in trigger-action and accuracy than others. The Colt Official Police stood at the top (for me) as far as quality with the S&W Model 1905 4th Change M&P being a close second. This is in relation to cop service revolvers as the Colt Python and the S&W Model 27 (old style) would have to reign tops in quality, beauty, reliability, accuracy and trigger-action. Some may disagree and have their own preference, but these are mine.

Having a good dose of the above for previous experience enter that second-hand Dan Wesson Model 11 in 1997. I had never shot or handled a Dan Wesson before let alone this 1-year only production model (1970) odd-looking Flash Gordon look-a-like sixgun. Corrugated barrel nut holding the barrel and shroud in place and a great big front sight on a fixed sight revolver. It really looked strange to me even after my purchase. The trigger-action was like none other I had ever experienced. The hammer-drop on single-action mode was a very "short" drop to the firing pin. Not only that but my initial pull, in dry fire, was to show a design "quirk" as the cylinder stop would release the cylinder into "free-spin" mode before the hammer was drew back enough to drop. This "quirk", I found out later, was unique only to the first year production Models (11, 12) and was corrected/changed in the subsequent following DW Models. The first time at the range with this Model 11 I had took an assorted number of .38's and .357 ammo to shoot. There were already a couple of my brother officers there and when they got a good look at my new-to-me Model 11 they took on something awful. At that moment I was already feeling funny about the "looks" too until I dropped that Dan into the pistol perch and put six-rounds of .38's down range single-action style. I've wrote in other posts the results. My eyes and theirs "BUGGED OUT LIKE A STOMPED ON TOAD FROG" at the grouping! Those funny looks didn't look so funny anymore and in one swift six-round fire I became a DW man big time. As time was to pass I found that accuracy factor common with the (4) other Dan Wessons I was to add to my modest collection. All of them, bar none, would qualify as tack drivers in every sense. The accuracy of the Dan Wesson won me over and those funny "looks" ain't funny no more. That thar Babe is a beaut to me cause when she sings its real purty!

After 26-years of shooting and collecting double-action revolvers my first exposure  to the Dan Wesson line was enough to win me over for keeps, I just wished I had started earlier! It stands at the top for precise target fire!

David

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