Dan Wesson 744. 6"

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Palladan44

Palladan44

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Just bought a 44 magnum by Dan Wesson.
Stainless, 6" barrel. Model 744, made in Monson. Has a very low serial number in the one thousands. Its in excellent shape, paid 775$ for it. Any experience with this gun??

The 6" barrel on the outside of the forcing cone is welded to the frame, so no interchanging barrels. Locks up tight and weld looks great/clean and looks to have been done by a compitent individual. Is welding in place of these barrels "a common thing".
 
I'm a long time Dan Wesson fan (30 years or so.) and that's the first time I've heard of welding the barrel to the frame. DW did make a few fixed barrel revolvers but they were small frame numbers, not 44s. I would presume they were not welded. Typical problem is some one grossly over tightened the barrel or maybe put Locktite on it.
 
I've never heard of that, either. Granted, barrel sets can be hard to find... so maybe one of the previous owners just gave up and zapped it into place.
 
How about a photo of the welding job? I can't imagine why anyone would want to eliminate the option of removing the barrel. It makes it so much easier to clean the forcing cone area and allows you to set the B/C gap to whatever suits you. Good luck with that DW 44 mag!
 
Great gun! It’s too bad it’s been altered in that way. It really is a neat feature to swap barrels and shrouds to match your intended use, you can completely change the flavor of the gun without having to buy a completely new one. The additional sets of barrels/shrouds aren’t very inexpensive anymore, but they can be found. Based on your description it sounds like yours can’t do that anymore. :(

As the guys said, welding these pieces together is practically unheard of. I’m wondering if the threads in the frame may have gotten cross threaded so the barrel either set crooked or not very well. Once the previous owner was able to line them up he welded it all in place? That’s about the only real justification I can think of for making such an odd alteration to the gun.

I think you’ll find the DW to be a stout and accurate revolver that’ll be a lot of fun to shoot. Show us how it shoots for you once you get a chance to get out and use it. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
Riomouse911 said:
As the guys said, welding these pieces together is practically unheard of. I’m wondering if the threads in the frame may have gotten cross threaded so the barrel either set crooked or not very well. Once the previous owner was able to line them up he welded it all in place? That’s about the only real justification I can think of for making such an odd alteration to the gun.
Click to expand...

I hadn't thought about that... but the threads on my DW .41 are so fine, you would have to really try to cross-thread it.... but I know Bubba is out there.

Is there a chance it's thread sealant or thread dope of some sort? I could almost see someone doing that...
 
Its finely welded with stainless steel.
Bead the size of a tic tac on either side of the barrel/breach face on inside of the frame.
 
Can you ask the owner why the shroud has been welded to the frame? It is extremely unusual and I haven't any idea what the benefit would be. The gun however is an excellent gun and Dan Wesson's are very accurate.
 
They're great shooters though enjoy it as a solid beater revolver that you can use and abuse with whatever type of ammo you want and put it away Road hard and wet they're great guns but this is not a collector's piece by any stretch of the imagination probably worth about 600 bucks
 
warnerwh said:
Can you ask the owner why the shroud has been welded to the frame? It is extremely unusual and I haven't any idea what the benefit would be. The gun however is an excellent gun and Dan Wesson's are very accurate.
Click to expand...
He didnt know why.
 
Riomouse911 said:
Great gun! It’s too bad it’s been altered in that way. It really is a neat feature to swap barrels and shrouds to match your intended use, you can completely change the flavor of the gun without having to buy a completely new one. The additional sets of barrels/shrouds aren’t very inexpensive anymore, but they can be found. Based on your description it sounds like yours can’t do that anymore. :(

As the guys said, welding these pieces together is practically unheard of. I’m wondering if the threads in the frame may have gotten cross threaded so the barrel either set crooked or not very well. Once the previous owner was able to line them up he welded it all in place? That’s about the only real justification I can think of for making such an odd alteration to the gun.

I think you’ll find the DW to be a stout and accurate revolver that’ll be a lot of fun to shoot. Show us how it shoots for you once you get a chance to get out and use it. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
Click to expand...
On the other hand, the OP may save a lot of cash in the long run and has his preferred barrel length. I started with a 15-2 V6" but thought it would be great to have a HV4" EWK barrel. Then I spotted an immaculate Monson, Mass frame and thought "hey, I've got an extra barrel". Another $500. Then a nice VH8" on eBay caught my eye. Now, I'm back to two guns and three barrels. It's a vicious cycle. I think Dan Wesson planned it that way
 
stonebuster said:
On the other hand, the OP may save a lot of cash in the long run and has his preferred barrel length. I started with a 15-2 V6" but thought it would be great to have a HV4" EWK barrel. Then I spotted an immaculate Monson, Mass frame and thought "hey, I've got an extra barrel". Another $500. Then a nice VH8" on eBay caught my eye. Now, I'm back to two guns and three barrels. It's a vicious cycle. I think Dan Wesson planned it that way
Click to expand...
At least this isnt possible for me, the 6" is on er to stay!!!
 
Charlie98 said:
I've never heard of that, either. Granted, barrel sets can be hard to find... so maybe one of the previous owners just gave up and zapped it into place.
Click to expand...
Maybe the threads in the frame were damaged/worn and the answer was making it a fixed barrel by welding.
 
stonebuster said:
On the other hand, the OP may save a lot of cash in the long run and has his preferred barrel length. I started with a 15-2 V6" but thought it would be great to have a HV4" EWK barrel. Then I spotted an immaculate Monson, Mass frame and thought "hey, I've got an extra barrel". Another $500. Then a nice VH8" on eBay caught my eye. Now, I'm back to two guns and three barrels. It's a vicious cycle. I think Dan Wesson planned it that way
Click to expand...
I have two frames and five barrels for the 15-2 and one frame and two barrels for the .22.

These things do seem to multiply like expensive rabbits...I completely understand your pain. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
744VH here. Just drug it out of "mothballs" to use as a launchpad for a cpl,new to me older Lyman Thompson moulds.

This year is Hogue's 50th anniversary,so snagged a set for the DW. Pretty close to mint condition.... it's been on a few Deer hunts and has done well killing one bruiser 8 pt 10 yds from a ground blind.

Have one homade holster that started life as a very non descript S&W 6"N frame piece. I did the boning thing and dyed it black(from brown). It's the "beater" holster.... looking for another BBQ holster now that the grips are so nice.

1st shot went high,next 5 were where they're sposed to be.

Screenshot_20201026-114019_Gallery.jpg
 
BWS said:
744VH here. Just drug it out of "mothballs" to use as a launchpad for a cpl,new to me older Lyman Thompson moulds.

This year is Hogue's 50th anniversary,so snagged a set for the DW. Pretty close to mint condition.... it's been on a few Deer hunts and has done well killing one bruiser 8 pt 10 yds from a ground blind.

Have one homade holster that started life as a very non descript S&W 6"N frame piece. I did the boning thing and dyed it black(from brown). It's the "beater" holster.... looking for another BBQ holster now that the grips are so nice.

1st shot went high,next 5 were where they're sposed to be.

View attachment 954455
Click to expand...
Gorgeous grips. That gun looks like it wants to go on a Safari!
 
I've got my 6" 741, but I really want a 4" barrel set. I've only been looking for about 6 years, and the only set I've seen come up went for more than I paid for the pistol.

Pictured with his pal, a Marlin 1894 in .41...

dfHAW5fl.jpg
 
Have shot one in 357 Magnum.
Very accurate & a pleasure to shoot.
If I bought a DA 44 Magnum my first choice would be a Dan Wesson & the only thing keeping me from buying one is the price.
I would definitely not weld a barrel to a Dan Wesson.
If there was a reason other than personal preference I would be very interested in knowing it.
 
Never underestimate the level of stupidity of people when it comes to guns, cars, and even electronics. I've seen some amazingly bad things done to all three of those things. I've had a couple of DW barrels loctited on the muzzle end, and one on both the frame side and the muzzle. The heat from shooting had already made the loctite on the frame side give up, but the nuts all needed to have a little heat from a torch to get them off. I don't understand why or how people had problems with the DW barrel set up. I've had over a dozen 15-2's over the last 43+ years without a single issue with the barrel nut loosening up.
 
I have a DW 744 that I used, with an 8” heavy barrel, for handgun silhouette. After I stopped that, it sat in the safe for years until I called DW, who by that time was owned by CZ-USA, and asked about a light 6” barrel and shroud. They had it. It now weighs 56 oz. I then noticed that the chamber throats were very tight. I reamed them to .431”. Now it is the most accurate .44 I have.

I have never heard of welding the barrel or shroud. When I was shooting handgun silhouette, I had to replace the barrel yearly. I secured it with red Loctite and it stayed in place.
 
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