lsudave
Member
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2007
- Messages
- 1,042
This is my latest acquisition, picked it up last week. It had been on my radar for awhile, so when I ran across a solid deal (well below the $300 threshold), I decided to add it to the flock.
A brief note about my pistols- I'm a fan of duty pistols, especially the various fullsize metal-frame DA/SA variety. I think the 80's-90's is generally about the pinnacle for interesting duty handguns, as the tech and research had reached a point basically comparable to now, but most countries hadn't reached a point where they were making polymer frames or everyone was using the same design. Thus, you saw lots of different pistols out there, made of good materials, each with unique features.
Now, to this one- the DP51. It's the civilian version of the South Korean K5. Not really sure of my particular pistol's background, but it has both the B-West stampings on the right side of the slide (I think B-West was the US importer for the period mine was manufactured), and Century marks on the frame (which leads me to believe this gun was "reimported" by Century, probably from Israel or somewhere like that).
Looking at online reviews, there's not a lot out there. Early reviews seem to be snobbish and condescending, and make snarky remarks about Daewoo cars and electronics etc. Most of these are done by people who didn't know Daewoo produced firearms at all. Some of these reviews are countered by people who posted about the quality of the Daewoo rifles (which apparently are VERY good), and the fact that these pistols are issued to the ROK military, which shares a border with a very hostile neighbor to the North, and the expectation that any equipment they use would be of high quality due to that fact. Most of the more informed reviews list the scarcity of parts to be a legit negative, as the gun initially wasn't imported very long. This last negative seems to be currently addressed by the ongoing import/manufacture of the Lionheart brand, which is a Daewoo base that Lionheart has "tweaked" (new hammer, grips, sights, different grip serrations machined into the slide, cerakote finish applied by Lionheart). As I understand, Lionheart parts are 100% interchangeable with original DP51 parts, except for the sights, which require a different cut machined into the slide.
So, my DP51- interesting pistol which came in the usual "cheap gun" condition... some finish wear, appears to have been shot a lot and rarely (if ever) cleaned. Slide has some scratches, and had what the seller called "light pitting", which I cleaned away, and based on the color, actually appeared to be petrified glue from tape or a sticker. Matte blue slide with a modest amount of wear on the sharp edges, and other than the scratches, in VG condition, except for some heavy wear to the very front beneath the muzzle (holster wear I guess). It has "normal" slide serrations, similar to a HP. Frame- anodized aluminum in a greenish brown color, heavy wear at the front of the dust cover (further convincing me of holster wear); a ding where the hammer could hit the beavertail, some edge wear. Barrel came almost black, it was so dirty, cleaned up to show almost pristine. Grips- plastic, some scuffing, I polished them a bit with some headlight polish, and that seemed to clean them up. Came with 1 magazine, it was dirty as heck, I took it apart and wiped the grunge out, now smooth and functions as it should.
Once cleaned up-
Oldball series of design features that seem to borrow from various other pistols, but mesh well.
Most prominent resemblance is to S&W 59 series, especially to the lefthand side. Roughly the same size, and the gun will take S&W mags. The grip has a metal backstrap, so more similar to the 1st and 2nd Gen S&W's, not the 3rd Gen with the plastic wraparound grips. Slide and barrel resemble to the point that you could mistake them for each other, except for the point that the S&W has a slide safety/decocker, and the Daewoo has a frame safety. Disassembly is very much the same for both guns.
Righthand side displays an external trigger bar very similar to the Beretta 92 series. Safety is ambidextrous, disengages the trigger only, does not decock, and does not interfere with any hammer or slide movement. Does block the firing pin. Safety is a little weird, in that the pivot point is to the front (not the rear like a 1911, HP or CZ); requires a slightly different pressure point, and as such I find it a bit more uncomfortable to flick the safety ON with my thumb, but quite easy to flick it OFF.
Nice ergonomics, it has a full and rounded backstrap that feels heavier than my alloy 3rd Gen S&W (a 915), despite the fact that the grip is shorter. The mags hold 13 rds, and a S&W mag that fits flush in the 915 will stick out about 1/4 inch in the Daewoo.
Most unique feature has to be the Triple Action (or Fast Action, or Double Action +) hammer. Complex to explain, simple to operate. Basically- once the hammer is cocked, you push the hammer forward manually, and the trigger resets to a DA length of pull. NOT DA weight, it's quite light, and when you first apply pressure it flicks the hammer back to SA. So the trigger has 2 stages- flick back to SA, then continue and pull to fire in SA.
Shooting- I find the trigger to be pretty comfortable. In SA for me, there is a sliight click as the hammer sets (this is at the distance where, in the Double Action + mode, the hammer flicks back to SA), and then is crisp and light. Coming from the Double Action + setting, I don't get this extra click, so it has to be related to the complex trigger/hammer setup. Double Action, feels like a regular DA comparable to my Beretta or Sig. Trigger reset- not as short as my S&W, maybe more like my Beretta or CZ, very definite click reset, about 1/8" reset.
I shot a box of 50 rds, Yavex 115 gr FMJ (this is NATO spec, pretty hot). No failures or hiccups of any kind. Less felt recoil or muzzle flip than my S&W 915. Capable of mechanical accuracy, as I did put a couple right on the "X"... but I wasn't trying for that, rather I tried to see if there was anything functionally off. Sight picture was good, it has bright white 3 dot sights, they showed up easily. Did seem to shoot to point of aim at 10 yds. Eject/extraction was good, threw the brass firmly up and to the right, about even with me (I shot indoors in a bay, some of the brass was bouncing back off my head after hitting bay wall). My son and I shot, and we both agreed- accuracy was on par with my Sig P226, and both the DA and SA trigger pulls resemble the Sig.
Regarding the DA+: 1st and foremost, when we flicked the hammer forward, it didn't shoot (yes, I worried that the hammer falling might cause that). So that was safe. I do read that Lionheart states to apply the safety first, but that just seems to be for liability.
In shooting with the DA+: if you pull smoothly and slowly, you get a distinct stage where the hammer does fall back to SA. That's easy to replicate, without firing, as it happens early in the pull.
If you apply firm pressure with the intent to shoot (like if you were shooting DA), then the trigger is long, but light, and you don't really notice the stage. It's really not perceptively different than the SA pull, other than the length of the pull.
Edit- as I typed this, the Fedex truck arrived with my package from Numrich. Among other things I bought, I found that they had the original DP 51 magazines (13 rd capacity, made by Daewoo) on sale for $14.95, so I bought a few extra.
These do appear basically identical, with the following exceptions to my original:
on the base of my first one, it just says 9mm. On these new ones, it says DP519MMPARA. The springs on these are stronger; the original mag would just drop free when I hit the mag release, these jump out.
Can't go wrong with new OEM mags at that price!
A brief note about my pistols- I'm a fan of duty pistols, especially the various fullsize metal-frame DA/SA variety. I think the 80's-90's is generally about the pinnacle for interesting duty handguns, as the tech and research had reached a point basically comparable to now, but most countries hadn't reached a point where they were making polymer frames or everyone was using the same design. Thus, you saw lots of different pistols out there, made of good materials, each with unique features.
Now, to this one- the DP51. It's the civilian version of the South Korean K5. Not really sure of my particular pistol's background, but it has both the B-West stampings on the right side of the slide (I think B-West was the US importer for the period mine was manufactured), and Century marks on the frame (which leads me to believe this gun was "reimported" by Century, probably from Israel or somewhere like that).
Looking at online reviews, there's not a lot out there. Early reviews seem to be snobbish and condescending, and make snarky remarks about Daewoo cars and electronics etc. Most of these are done by people who didn't know Daewoo produced firearms at all. Some of these reviews are countered by people who posted about the quality of the Daewoo rifles (which apparently are VERY good), and the fact that these pistols are issued to the ROK military, which shares a border with a very hostile neighbor to the North, and the expectation that any equipment they use would be of high quality due to that fact. Most of the more informed reviews list the scarcity of parts to be a legit negative, as the gun initially wasn't imported very long. This last negative seems to be currently addressed by the ongoing import/manufacture of the Lionheart brand, which is a Daewoo base that Lionheart has "tweaked" (new hammer, grips, sights, different grip serrations machined into the slide, cerakote finish applied by Lionheart). As I understand, Lionheart parts are 100% interchangeable with original DP51 parts, except for the sights, which require a different cut machined into the slide.
So, my DP51- interesting pistol which came in the usual "cheap gun" condition... some finish wear, appears to have been shot a lot and rarely (if ever) cleaned. Slide has some scratches, and had what the seller called "light pitting", which I cleaned away, and based on the color, actually appeared to be petrified glue from tape or a sticker. Matte blue slide with a modest amount of wear on the sharp edges, and other than the scratches, in VG condition, except for some heavy wear to the very front beneath the muzzle (holster wear I guess). It has "normal" slide serrations, similar to a HP. Frame- anodized aluminum in a greenish brown color, heavy wear at the front of the dust cover (further convincing me of holster wear); a ding where the hammer could hit the beavertail, some edge wear. Barrel came almost black, it was so dirty, cleaned up to show almost pristine. Grips- plastic, some scuffing, I polished them a bit with some headlight polish, and that seemed to clean them up. Came with 1 magazine, it was dirty as heck, I took it apart and wiped the grunge out, now smooth and functions as it should.
Once cleaned up-
Oldball series of design features that seem to borrow from various other pistols, but mesh well.
Most prominent resemblance is to S&W 59 series, especially to the lefthand side. Roughly the same size, and the gun will take S&W mags. The grip has a metal backstrap, so more similar to the 1st and 2nd Gen S&W's, not the 3rd Gen with the plastic wraparound grips. Slide and barrel resemble to the point that you could mistake them for each other, except for the point that the S&W has a slide safety/decocker, and the Daewoo has a frame safety. Disassembly is very much the same for both guns.
Righthand side displays an external trigger bar very similar to the Beretta 92 series. Safety is ambidextrous, disengages the trigger only, does not decock, and does not interfere with any hammer or slide movement. Does block the firing pin. Safety is a little weird, in that the pivot point is to the front (not the rear like a 1911, HP or CZ); requires a slightly different pressure point, and as such I find it a bit more uncomfortable to flick the safety ON with my thumb, but quite easy to flick it OFF.
Nice ergonomics, it has a full and rounded backstrap that feels heavier than my alloy 3rd Gen S&W (a 915), despite the fact that the grip is shorter. The mags hold 13 rds, and a S&W mag that fits flush in the 915 will stick out about 1/4 inch in the Daewoo.
Most unique feature has to be the Triple Action (or Fast Action, or Double Action +) hammer. Complex to explain, simple to operate. Basically- once the hammer is cocked, you push the hammer forward manually, and the trigger resets to a DA length of pull. NOT DA weight, it's quite light, and when you first apply pressure it flicks the hammer back to SA. So the trigger has 2 stages- flick back to SA, then continue and pull to fire in SA.
Shooting- I find the trigger to be pretty comfortable. In SA for me, there is a sliight click as the hammer sets (this is at the distance where, in the Double Action + mode, the hammer flicks back to SA), and then is crisp and light. Coming from the Double Action + setting, I don't get this extra click, so it has to be related to the complex trigger/hammer setup. Double Action, feels like a regular DA comparable to my Beretta or Sig. Trigger reset- not as short as my S&W, maybe more like my Beretta or CZ, very definite click reset, about 1/8" reset.
I shot a box of 50 rds, Yavex 115 gr FMJ (this is NATO spec, pretty hot). No failures or hiccups of any kind. Less felt recoil or muzzle flip than my S&W 915. Capable of mechanical accuracy, as I did put a couple right on the "X"... but I wasn't trying for that, rather I tried to see if there was anything functionally off. Sight picture was good, it has bright white 3 dot sights, they showed up easily. Did seem to shoot to point of aim at 10 yds. Eject/extraction was good, threw the brass firmly up and to the right, about even with me (I shot indoors in a bay, some of the brass was bouncing back off my head after hitting bay wall). My son and I shot, and we both agreed- accuracy was on par with my Sig P226, and both the DA and SA trigger pulls resemble the Sig.
Regarding the DA+: 1st and foremost, when we flicked the hammer forward, it didn't shoot (yes, I worried that the hammer falling might cause that). So that was safe. I do read that Lionheart states to apply the safety first, but that just seems to be for liability.
In shooting with the DA+: if you pull smoothly and slowly, you get a distinct stage where the hammer does fall back to SA. That's easy to replicate, without firing, as it happens early in the pull.
If you apply firm pressure with the intent to shoot (like if you were shooting DA), then the trigger is long, but light, and you don't really notice the stage. It's really not perceptively different than the SA pull, other than the length of the pull.
Edit- as I typed this, the Fedex truck arrived with my package from Numrich. Among other things I bought, I found that they had the original DP 51 magazines (13 rd capacity, made by Daewoo) on sale for $14.95, so I bought a few extra.
These do appear basically identical, with the following exceptions to my original:
on the base of my first one, it just says 9mm. On these new ones, it says DP519MMPARA. The springs on these are stronger; the original mag would just drop free when I hit the mag release, these jump out.
Can't go wrong with new OEM mags at that price!
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