I sort of want a Dan Wesson 715...

CZ-USA is in the process of re-releasing the Dan Wesson 715. http://www.cz-usa.com/products/view/dw715/

Good used 715s can be found on GunBroker.com if you are dilligent, and they also show up at gun shows and local gun stores. The blued 15-2 is much easier to find. Expect to pay around $400-500 for a decent used stainless 715, but because the Dan Wesson had interchangable barrels, you'll find a wide range of prices depending on how many accessories are included.

A great source of Dan Wesson info is the Dan Wesson fourm: http://www.danwessonforum.com/forum

Not that hard to find, priced under $550.00 and worth every penny!

I'll chime in and say that I want one a whole lot more than 'sorta'.

The idea of being able to change the barrels at home to suit different purposes has always appealed to me. Go from a snubbie to... whatever you call that thing that Nicholson's Joker used to shoot down Batman's plane.

My only issue with that currently is that some of these barrels (if you're ordering from CZ-USA instead of combing the used market, of course) go for almost as much as a brand new Ruger SP-101. Those figures make it a little harder to justify... but boy do I still want one...

RX, bite the bullet pun intended and look for a Dan pistol pak...usually comes with 4 or 5 barrels plus a couple different grips and the wrench for barrel change outs all in a nice hard case. You can find them at various auction sites for under $1200.00 or so.

Welcome to the Dark Side. The love of DWs is an addiction to which there is no cure.

20+ years ago I bought my 15-2V8 LNIB for $225. Extremely accurate, easy to shoot well because of the excellent trigger.

Of course one I got the gun itself, it was time to accessorize. Pachmyr Gripper grips was the first. Then I got a brand new 4" VH barrel/shroud to make it easier to carry... Then I got a smokin deal on a used 715 6" VH barrel/shroud. Yeah, a stainless barrel/shroud on a blue gun looks strange, but it shoots great! About the same balance as the longer 8" vent-rib non-underlugged shroud. IIRC, you could get a 10, 12 and 15" barrel at one time!

I own a DW with two interchangeable barrels. Mine has the 8'' and the 2'' barrel. It's in very good condition, but since it was a hand-me-down from my dad, I have no idea what model it is. I know it has the ventilated sight rib (correct term here?), adjustable windage sights, and the red sight insert, but honestly, I don't have much other info on it than that. I actually have been thinking about selling it for a while, since I'm almost exclusively an auto-loader guy. Give me a couple hours till I get home, and I'll post up some pics. I would love to get some help I.D.-ing it. I took it to my lgs, and they offered my $150 for it, and I told them (in more polite terms) that if they thought they'd get it for that, they were loco.

The idea of being able to change the barrels at home to suit different purposes has always appealed to me. Go from a snubbie to... whatever you call that thing that Nicholson's Joker used to shoot down Batman's plane.

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LOL, quote of the day.

Ok guys, fingers crossed, but I'm gonna try and post up the pics. Here goes... The first pic is an up close shot of the left side of the revolver. You can see the condition of the finish rather well... Obviously not 100%, but still very good. Note the slightly odd location of the cylinder release latch. Picture two shows all of the accessories that came with the revolver, including the barrel wrench, etc. Picture three shows the current setup that I have the Dan Wesson in right now, with the 8'' "Dirty Harry" barrel attached. The final picture shows an up close view of the 2'' barrel. If anybody can help me ID the model and approximate value of this one, I'd be much obliged. Thanks!

Dan

You have a model 15-2VH. I just bought one used, last month for $400. Came with 6 and 8" barrels, barrel tool, but no gauge. I bought one on-line, which also included the allen wrenches.

You have a 'keeper".

Looks like a 15-2V to me. The 8" barrel shroud is what is known as a Vent Heavy, or 8VH for short. The short one is a solid rib, and not a heavy underlug since it has the scallop cut at the front instead of being squared off like a Heavy shroud (all of the longer standard barrels start the scallop at about the 1-3/4" mark and continue to the muzzle end with a standard profile), so the proper terminology would be a 2" standard.

All DWs have the cylinder latch in front of the cylinder. That's one of it's design features so the crane has three lock-up points - the end of the ejector rod, the main latch on the crane, and the cylinder axle pin that locates at the rear of the frame opening. I'm not sure my terminology is correct, but you get the idea...

If you were to go to the Dan Wesson Forum linked in post #2, you'll see that there are lots of variations of Dan Wesson revolvers and accessories throughout the company history.

Thanks, guys! I really appreciate it!

I've seen the pistol packs. I don't think I'd use anything but the 4" or 6" barrels. Wouldn't be any harm if I found one with the gun AND the pistol pack, but if it only came with the one barrel (either 4" or 6") I probably wouldn't work too hard to find any of the others.

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Well, that depends on what you want to do with it. In many States, the barrel must be at least 6" for hunting. You could always have a scope or red dot mounted to a long barrel for hunting, the 'normal' barrel for target shooting, and a shorter barrel for CCW... FWIW, the 8" Vent barrel weighs and balances about the same as a 6" VH, and it is nice to have that extra 2" of sight radius when using iron sights like I do when hunting...

I love my dan wesson. I have a 715. It has a 2,4,6, and 10 ich barrel. It is insanity. At 25 ft i can hit a quarter

left to right:715>15-2>15-2 Nickle, all in 4VH

http://www.danwessonforum.com/forum

Nice! So y'all would agree with me (politely) telling my LGS owner to shove off when he offered me 150 for my Dan Wesson?

I have a 715 that I'm really trying to like. The gun is a good gun but it sure seems to need a lot of care and feeding. I'm still trying to decide if I'll keep it or not.

Having owned one back in the day when you could by a new one, I have to throw a little rain on this parade.

Changing barrels is more complicated than it seems. If you swap a barrel you have to shoot a few cylinders through it and check the tightness of the barrel nut and the gap before you can trust it. Even after that it seemed like it took a few boxes to settle in and get in a groove. Once I got it there I was loathe to swap the barrel out. Then you get to re-sight it in. It's not like you go out hunting with the 8" and then go home swap it for the 2" and head out for Luby's. Swapping barrels is a significant procedure.

No way these are up to the quality of a like-vintage Smith & Wesson. But they seem to sell for pretty close to Smith prices these days. A bit less yes but the Smith of that vintage is usually a better value.

On the good side, once you mount a barrel and shoot it in they are deadly accurate. The 8" Heavy I had shot every bit as good as my Python.

dcarch - yeah, I'd say you shouldn't take such a lowball offer for your dad's heirloom revolver.

Unless you need the cash, you probably shouldn't sell it at all.

HDCamel said:

That's fine. I want one more because they're unique (as far as revolvers go). It would be mostly a dedicated range gun. Since I'd be at the range anyway, settling a barrel in by shooting it seems like as good a use of my time and ammo as anything else.

I understand that S&Ws are probably "better" but I generally find them dull and uninteresting.

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I carefully adjust my cylinder-barrel gap each time I head to the range, still, after shooting 100 or so mixed rounds of .38 and .357 the narrowest gap cylinder bore starts hanging on the crud ostensibly left by the .38 special ammo. It's been recommended to bring some sort of wipe to clean the cylinder face and remove the crud to avoid the problem, I haven't been able to try that yet. The result is the trigger pull becoming progressively more inconsistent, throwing off my aim and turning a pleasurable, productive shoot into a teeth-grinding harrumph.

The gun also requires more cleaning of the cylinder bores if I shoot .38 special, otherwise forget about ejecting .357 magnum casings with the rod.

Not one of my other guns display any of these characteristics, not even my Tauri. As others have said it is a very accurate handgun but in reality, it's no more accurate than my Taurus 608, for me anyway.

So I guess I'd call the specimen I have "fiddly"; which can be a positive element when shooting, for someone who likes to fiddle with things.

The jury's still out for me.