1911 horse trading

[OlongJohnson]

I have a CZ 1911-A1 sitting in the safe. https://cz-usa.com/product/cz-1911-a1/ Picked it up because it was said to be the best made of the current "A1"-style guns; it was made by Dan Wesson. Seemed like a good idea at the time to put one away. Haven't gotten motivated to shoot it, haven't wiped off the factory anti-rust oil. It's truly NIB.

Thinking about trying to sell it and put the money toward a 9mm Valor Commander in stainless, as there are still a few of those around for good prices. So far, thinking about the couple of S&W 3953s I have has kept me from buying a 9mm Commander of any flavor. But the S&Ws have 11+ lb DA triggers, vs. a DW 1911 trigger, so they aren't totally equivalent.

1. I don't need it.
2. Buy ammo. I'm almost embarrassed to admit how many rounds of 9mm I have on hand. I should shoot a lot more.
3. Still can't get it out of my head.

[JonInWA]

Keep it; it'll be a classic; same quality as a Colt Series 70 Repro with a slightly more WWII retro look.

Best, Jon

[jeep45238]

Sell it. My valor had to make a return trip home for extraction issues, and they addressed it fabulously. They essentially sent it through the custom shop for action work and dehorning, fitted a lower profile slide stop per my request for the cost of the part, etc.

I thought it was really, really nice before - it's nice enough that I'm now seriously looking at dropping the coin on a custom build.

[OlongJohnson]

FWIW, I've been told by Keith@DW that you're better off buying a standard gun and then sending it back for the customization. My understanding is that they have to charge full MSRP for the base gun before the customization starts, and the customization pricing is the same either way. Having managed "custom assembly line" manufacturing in a past life, I can speculate that there may be elements of tracking the production of "your" gun that reduce efficiency in the plant, versus just running a production lot of a standard SKU. Paperwork per serial number may be a lot less.

Plus, if you do the recommended break-in (or half of it) before sending it back, you get the initial burnish of the rails before Duty Treat is applied, for example, and they can verify how action parts are starting to wear in before tuning anything. Also, the opportunity to report any issues that need fixing.

[TC215]

FWIW, I've been told by Keith@DW that you're better off buying a standard gun and then sending it back for the customization. My understanding is that they have to charge full MSRP for the base gun before the customization starts, and the customization pricing is the same either way. Having managed "custom assembly line" manufacturing in a past life, I can speculate that there may be elements of tracking the production of "your" gun that reduce efficiency in the plant, versus just running a production lot of a standard SKU. Paperwork per serial number may be a lot less.

Plus, if you do the recommended break-in (or half of it) before sending it back, you get the initial burnish of the rails before Duty Treat is applied, for example, and they can verify how action parts are starting to wear in before tuning anything. Also, the opportunity to report any issues that need fixing.

It just depends on what you want done.

I’ve had them build me 3 customs, and have sent a couple “off the shelf” guns back for custom work. The custom guns are not built by the same smiths as the production guns (Keith built one of my guns himself) and definitely seem to be a notch above the production guns.

[JAH 3rd]

I purchased my first Dan Wesson, an A2 parkerized, a couple of months ago. The trigger is outstanding! A clean let off with no sight disruption. The is absolutely nothing I would have done to the trigger. I don't know how the lawyers let it out the building.

[OlongJohnson]

Local range has a full-size steel Springer in 9mm. I rented it tonight, hoping I would just go, "meh" and move on. Was having a little trouble with black target sights over a black B8 in the dim light of the indoor range. Put up one of Tom's orange-center B-8s and slowed it down a bit. The bullets just kept going through the same hole right under the little x. Weird. Maybe the cheat codes were activated, but it's been a long time since I've slowed it down and shot SA like that ('cause I've been a DAO dork the past few months). Will be taking a couple other guns and shooting orange center targets in SA and DAO to see if I've just gotten better.

[HCM]

I have a CZ 1911-A1 sitting in the safe. https://cz-usa.com/product/cz-1911-a1/ Picked it up because it was said to be the best made of the current "A1"-style guns; it was made by Dan Wesson. Seemed like a good idea at the time to put one away. Haven't gotten motivated to shoot it, haven't wiped off the factory anti-rust oil. It's truly NIB.

Thinking about trying to sell it and put the money toward a 9mm Valor Commander in stainless, as there are still a few of those around for good prices. So far, thinking about the couple of S&W 3953s I have has kept me from buying a 9mm Commander of any flavor. But the S&Ws have 11+ lb DA triggers, vs. a DW 1911 trigger, so they aren't totally equivalent.

1. I don't need it.
2. Buy ammo. I'm almost embarrassed to admit how many rounds of 9mm I have on hand. I should shoot a lot more.
3. Still can't get it out of my head.

I love my DW Valor 45 enough that I want another in 9mm - truly the best value in 1911s right now.

A Valor you will actually shoot > a 45 safe queen and some S&W 3rd gens that are no longer factory supported, making them collectibles as far as PF type shooting volume goes.

Based on your self described Smaug’s hoard of 9mm it sounds like you don’t really shoot or reload .45 so transitioning from a 45 cal 1911 to a 9mm 1911 seems like a no brainer.

I just did a similar consolidation sale, selling a few optics and a project gun I have a duplicate of to fund a Kahles 1-6, an optic Ive wanted to try for a few years.

I had a 3954 as an off duty gun for several years when my Agency issued a DAO duty gun. It was ok but the factory grip was a little to small, thin and slick for good control and the hogue rubber grip made it the size and thickness of a G19. In that size range I have found the SIG P239 MUCH easier to shoot. in .40 with the DAK trigger it shoots like a P229. The 9mm is a pleasure to shoot.

[OlongJohnson]

Took the GP100 to the range today to see if I could duplicate the 1911 target with it. Started out OK, but then sumdood two lanes over (indoors) started shooting a .44 Magnum. Of course, today, I forgot my plugs in the truck and had only -30db muffs. I kinda rushed through the rest of the box of ammo and got the heck out of there. Will have to go back. Might cheat it up and take a box of XTPs.

[358156hp]

Local range has a full-size steel Springer in 9mm. I rented it tonight, hoping I would just go, "meh" and move on. Was having a little trouble with black target sights over a black B8 in the dim light of the indoor range. Put up one of Tom's orange-center B-8s and slowed it down a bit. The bullets just kept going through the same hole right under the little x. Weird. Maybe the cheat codes were activated, but it's been a long time since I've slowed it down and shot SA like that ('cause I've been a DAO dork the past few months). Will be taking a couple other guns and shooting orange center targets in SA and DAO to see if I've just gotten better.

Also try blue targets. Orange targets sometimes cause me issues in bright light. I understand that I need to be able to shoot well regardless of target color, Perfect practice make perfect, and the skill set you acquire is the real goal.