Dan Wesson Specialist in 10mm

[Sensei]

I have been impressed enough with my 9mm Specialist that I decided to continue my support for the metric system and get a 10mm version.





Fit and finish are similar to its 9mm sister - very, very good. There is the slightest play in the grip safety but the slide-frame fit is tight. Trigger is an excellent, crisp 4lb break. There are no sharp edges on this one.

I disassembled, cleaned, and lubed it before heading to the range. All I had was a box of Sig 180 grain FMG that is reported to push 1250 fps which makes it pretty much a full power 10mm load. The recoil was stout and consistent with what I’ve felt from the other hot 10mm loads. Unfortunately, reliability was not great out of the box. There were double feeds every 4/5th round using Wilson magazines and every 10th round using the factory magazines.

After another cleaning, I hit the range again with a box of Federal 180 grain AE which is more like typical 40SW pressure at 1050 fps. This time, I decided just to use the factory DW magazines. Reliability was better and recoil is noticeably lighter with this load. There were occasional FTF malfunctions where the slide would not completely return to battery. They occurred every 12-15 rounds. These would not clear with a simple tap or rack without first stripping the magazine as the next round was always displaced forward in the magazine and causing the slide to be locked-up. I got through the box and took the gun home for another cleaning (DW recommends cleaning after every 50 rounds during a 300-500 round break-in). I’ve got another 250 rounds of the AE and I’ll try the Wilson mags on my next range trip.

Dan Wesson says to expect feeding issues during the first 300-500 rounds as the gun breaks-in. I’m not too discouraged since the tempo of failures seems to be improving. The factory recoil spring is 22lbs, and I may try playing with different weights if I’m still having issues after a reasonable break-in.

Accuracy with the AE was excellent. The hot Sig ammo was noticeably less accurate.

[gtmtnbiker98]

My Razorback was a train wreck out of the box. I had to send it back and they swapped out the barrel link to a different size and of course, polished the throat a little more. The link swap cured the issue. My sample wouldn't chamber the top round on a full magazine from slide lock, either. As for Wilson 10mm magazines, in my experience, they are not as reliable as their 9mm/.45 ETM line. I only use Metalform and Colt magazines for my 10mm's, without issue. Keith at Dan Wesson recommends Metalform for the 10mm pistols.

[JAD]

I don’t feel like you’ll have to interact with Dw to get this pistol running — feels like it’s shaking out — but if you do I will be interested in your customer experience. My previous DW interaction has all been with Keith and has been very positive. We have another thread about the Colt/CZ M&A and I’m curious how it affects DW.

[GJM]

Do any DW 1911 pistols come optics ready?

[Dov]

I had a DW 1911 in 10mm years ago, it worked fine except it had a very tight chamber. To the point that not all factory ammo would chamber in it, ammo that ran fine in 10mm Glock was disaster in the DW I don't recall the details at this point don't think I kept notes.

Sold it to buddy that does lots of handloading, I do very little handloading, he kept it longer than I did but eventually sold it because of the tight chamber.

[Sensei]

I’m almost positive that the factory magazines are Metalform. Truth be told, there is a side of me that hopes the Wilson magazines fail and that I send them back for a refund. On a practical level, it would allow me to consolidate on a single brand - Metalform. On a corporate ethics level, I’m getting a bit tired of Wilson’s BS. The three mags that I purchased came from this advertisement for a “buy 3 get one free” sale: https://shopwilsoncombat.com/Buy-3-G...products/1540/. That link is STILL alive yet the sale has supposedly ended 3 weeks ago. Wilson really needs to get on their marketing and sales team (probably the same person).

[TC215]

Do any DW 1911 pistols come optics ready?

Not yet, but they do have the capability to mill for certain optics if you send your slide in.

[Sensei]

Yeah, it’s going back to Dan Wesson. I only got through about 5 rounds of AE with the Wilson magazines. The pistol would not chamber a round from slide lock with one of the mags. When shooting from the other two mags, the gun would have a catastrophic FTF where it was slightly out of battery after 2 rounds. No amount of reasonable force could be applied to retract the slide even after dropping the magazine to clear the malfunction. The slide was essentially locked up. The back of the side needed to be hit several times to send it completely home. Then, once seated, the slide still could not be retracted and the only way to clear the malfunction was to actually fire the live round in the chamber. Yeah, not good.

While this only occurred with the Wilson magazines, I have a hard time blaming an inability to retract the slide once a round is chambered on the mags. I didn’t try it with the DW mags since I was afraid that the gun may have an out of battery malfunction that couldn’t be cleared leaving me with a partially chambered hot round.

Oh well.

[gtmtnbiker98]

Yeah, it’s going back to Dan Wesson. I only got through about 5 rounds of AE with the Wilson magazines. The pistol would not chamber a round from slide lock with one of the mags. When shooting from the other two mags, the gun would have a catastrophic FTF where it was slightly out of battery after 2 rounds. No amount of reasonable force could be applied to retract the slide even after dropping the magazine to clear the malfunction. The slide was essentially locked up. The back of the side needed to be hit several times to send it completely home. Then, once seated, the slide still could not be retracted and the only way to clear the malfunction was to actually fire the live round in the chamber. Yeah, not good.

While this only occurred with the Wilson magazines, I have a hard time blaming an inability to retract the slide once a round is chambered on the mags. I didn’t try it with the DW mags since I was afraid that the gun may have an out of battery malfunction that couldn’t be cleared leaving me with a partially chambered hot round.

Oh well.

Exact same issue(s) I had with my Razorback. Expect a new barrel link and additional polishing of the barrel throat. Unfortunately, you won't benefit from Endre working on your pistol, since CZ USA has taken over DW service.

As an aside, I also have a Colt Delta Elite that required two trips back in order to get running. In typical Colt fashion, they never tell you what they do to fix things.

I've since ditched the Wilson 10mm magazines in favor of Metalform and Colt OEM. Since my two 10mm pistol repairs, I've had pretty good reliability using the aforementioned magazines.

[Frank500]

Mine runs perfectly with Wilson magazines. Accurate and a great trigger. Going to be my field pistol after I get a taller front sight and install it. Last summer, it took most of a magazine to kill a rockchuck running across a boulder
field because the damn thing shoots high. Was just below Lulu pass if ya want go look for the brass lol