Dan Wesson 9MM Specialist Issue

[Tango]

I purchased a NIB Dan Wesson Specialist 1911 in 9MM recently. I have about 10 years experience on a 45ACP Kimber. Upon receipt, I broke it down, cleaned and lubricated it. It has now been to 2 seperate range sessions with 350 total rounds put through it. LEO Speer Gold Dot 124GR +P ammo. The gun fails to return to battery once or twice every 10 rounds. Gun ran flawlessly for 50 rounds when shot one handed.

I thought my left thumb was potentially engaging the slide stop to cause these issues. I shot with two hands and my thumb moved and it still had the RTB issue. All the slide needs is a little tap and it seats the next round. No double feeds or from my perspective, feed ramp issues.

Outside of "call Dan Wesson", does anyone have any thoughts? Again, gun has 350 rounds. 300 with issues, 50 shot one handed without any problems.

[OlongJohnson]

Could be your ammo. See if it plunks into the barrel or is a little sticky. Might need to run it across a crimp die. The Lee $28 press is plenty good for that if you decide to fix it.

I had a case of Geco that had failures to feed. About half of it hadn't been crimped properly after seating the bullet. Put all the cases that failed the gage through a crimp die and it ran 100 percent.

[Artemas2]

I literally just confirmed an order for one do not do this to me!

As noted above I don't have personal experience yet, but according to my online internet gossip research the manual supposedly says that is to be expected for the first 500 rounds and you should only use FP-10 oil or something.

Have you tried any other ammo? The +p might be too much for it at this point.


(mostly posting to keep track of this thread)

[TC215]

Move up to a 12 pound recoil spring and see if it fixes it. Your gun has a 10 pound spring in it now, which is on the light side.

Also, make sure your thumb isn’t contacting the slide and slowing it down.

[TheNewbie]

Move up to a 12 pound recoil spring and see if it fixes it. Your gun has a 10 pound spring in it now, which is on the light side.

Also, make sure your thumb isn’t contacting the slide and slowing it down.

Is thumb contact with the slide an issues in .45 1911s?


This issue is why the Glock 42 does not work for me very well.

[Kmr54]

I purchased a NIB Dan Wesson Specialist 1911 in 9MM recently. I have about 10 years experience on a 45ACP Kimber. Upon receipt, I broke it down, cleaned and lubricated it. It has now been to 2 seperate range sessions with 350 total rounds put through it. LEO Speer Gold Dot 124GR +P ammo. The gun fails to return to battery once or twice every 10 rounds. Gun ran flawlessly for 50 rounds when shot one handed.

I thought my left thumb was potentially engaging the slide stop to cause these issues. I shot with two hands and my thumb moved and it still had the RTB issue. All the slide needs is a little tap and it seats the next round. No double feeds or from my perspective, feed ramp issues.

Outside of "call Dan Wesson", does anyone have any thoughts? Again, gun has 350 rounds. 300 with issues, 50 shot one handed without any problems.

More lubrication, DW recommends FP-10 every 50 rounds during break in.

[TC215]

Is thumb contact with the slide an issues in .45 1911s?


This issue is why the Glock 42 does not work for me very well.

Not as big of a deal with the .45’s as the 9mm’s.

The only time I’ve induced a failure with my thumbs when shooting a .45 was because I was wearing gloves.

[Tango]

Is thumb contact with the slide an issues in .45 1911s?


This issue is why the Glock 42 does not work for me very well.

Thumb and slide safety has not been an issue on the 45. The Specialist's slide stop is much larger though which "could" be where the issue is coming from. As stated, when I shot it strong hand only for 50 rounds straight, it was flawless. Overall the gun is a tack driver. Having this issue is not acceptable.

G96 lubrication is being used.

[TC215]

Thumb and slide safety has not been an issue on the 45. The Specialist's slide stop is much larger though which "could" be where the issue is coming from. As stated, when I shot it strong hand only for 50 rounds straight, it was flawless. Overall the gun is a tack driver. Having this issue is not acceptable.

Usually the larger slide stops on the DW’s causes failure to lock back on an empty magazine when folks aren’t used to it. I’ve never heard of it causing failure to return to battery.

I believe a 12lb spring will take care of the issue.

[breakingtime91]

I run a 15 lb in my Wilson combat 9mm. I think you need to dial in 9mms a little more with recoil spring weight. 12lb has already been mentioned, should give your slide more authority going back into batter.