Stainless Target Loaded 45ACP - 0 failures
Stainless Target Loaded 9mm - maybe 2 failures other than a bad mag
Blued Loaded - 2 failures in the first 100 rounds
Lightly Loaded Parkerized - 0 failures
MilSpec 45ACP #1 - maybe 4 failures ever
MilSpec 45ACP #2 - 0 failures with me shooting
MilSpec 45ACP #3 - ??? Haven't shot it yet
MilSpec 38 Super - 0 failures
This is my personal experience with my personally owned guns. Take it for what it's worth... Not much in the scheme of things but certainly more than someone talking about other people's guns.
And the bad magazine that came with my
second hand 9mm Springfield was replaced no questions asked in about 8 days.
More than one guy is having problems with his Dan Wesson as well. I own several Springfields and no Dan Wesson pistols (though my favorite revolver ever is a Dan Wesson 22). But I do plan on buying a Wesson Panther - the full size alloy frame gun. I've handled several Dan Wesson 1911s and was genuinely impressed by ever single one. Ver well fitted, decent triggers, pretty well finished. The one that I took apart (Patriot Expert Target?) looked pretty good inside too.
I've never paid over $385 for a 45ACP MilSpec and I think they are a very solid value at that price, esp the newest ones. But I think that if I didn't have any full-size 1911s, and the price difference was only $20, I'd probably get the Dan Wesson. I'd get it home and clean and lube it. Then I'd put 200 rounds through it and clean and lube it again and put another 200 rounds through it. And I woulnd't worry about failures for the first 500 rounds.
Good luck. Let us know what you decide. If you haven't stumbled across it already, you might want to check out
www.1911forum.com They have a dedicated seperate Dan Wesson forum over there. A lot of the talk is about the 10mm Razorback and the higher end Patriot line but there should be plenty of talk about the PointMan as well. And please ignore Bren over there... he... has issues.