Dan Wesson Monson 15-2

The one thing I can say is that I have never seen a forum that had a lot of bad things to say about Dan Wesson revolvers. That is rare. S&W takes plenty of heat, the Simthites fire back at the Ruger acolytes, and someone jumps up and bemoans Colt's fragile clockworks.

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I had plenty of things to gripe about a DW 715 I had, I'm convinced it was placed on this earth to locate me to payback for something I did bad in another life. I sold it, and I didn't let one bad apple spoil the barrel (heh). I took a chance on a model 15 and I couldn't be more pleased.

There's a DW .44 mag in my near future too.

rswartsell said:

P.S. I have never seen stainless and nickel DW before, pretty!

BTW- the underlug on my barrel is full lenghth like some of the others pictured here, Walkalong's is partial, when did that change?

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The underlug never changed, there was a selection of 4 different styles, the VH (Vent Heavy) is my favorite

I have one more stainless that I have in long term project status, I'm giving it a high polish

Steve CT is correct. There were originally four barrel shroud configuration options:

Standard (solid rib, underlug just past the ejection rod)

Vented (vented rib, lug as above)

Heavy (solid rib, full underlug)

Vented Heavy (vented rib, full underlug)

I purchased my first one in 6" with the Vented shroud, as it was primarily intended for open carry while working on a small cattle ranch in SW Missouri and finding ready-made holsters for full-lugged revolvers was a lot more difficult than now, being pretty much limited to those intended for the Colt Pythons.

While a bit heavier than a 4" model, I knew that I could shoot with a 6" barrel a good deal more accurately especially out at 50 yds. and over. Coyotes and other varmints were a constant problem, and I could collect a $15 bounty from the State for each pair of coyote ears I turned in.

One of the major reasons I chose the Dan Wesson then was that I could only afford to own a very few, purpose-driven firearms. The ability to easily and relatively cheaply modify my sidearm for different task sets by simply getting another barrel and/or shroud was a huge "plus", as it required only a fraction of what it would cost to buy a seperate revolver for each. I've never regretted my choice, as it has worked out to be just as practical as I'd hoped it would.

It has been stated that the DW is stronger than the S&W, Colt, or GP100 (arguably).

This one was purchased in the 70s, also a Monson.
EWK will make you almost any barrel.

http://www.ewkarms.com



Bought s hammer and bobbed it.




I don't think the DW competes with a tuned Smith but this one has a 8# very smooth DA. And those who have fired a DW, the DA travel is much shorter than any DA revolver I own or have fired.

I've owned both a S&W M28 with the N-frame and a Ruger GP100. Personally, I think that in terms of sheer strength either of those would be more likely to hold up better under extended hard use with very heavy loads than your average M15-2.

The trade-off for that, IMO, is that both are quite significantly larger and heavier. The GP100 is, again just MO, perhaps the most "overbuilt for the caliber" .357 revolver out there. Both are very nice guns, but not anywhere near as comfortable to carry hanging on your trouser belt over a long day's work as the DW.

bikermutt You will love shooting a 44 mag version just as much as your 15 but there is one thing wrong. Darn heavy pistols. They even make a ruger srh feel light ha. I with one with a plum colored frame amd blue shroud. Better trigger than the 15 series too.

Red cent Have you changed the hammer spring to the lighter wolf spring. It should drop a good pound off the pull weight with no down side. I have had one on e mine for some years.

mainmech48 I would not bet on the others being better or stronger, well the mdel 28 ,maybe. But then there were never as accurate as a whole. When young I went through a phase loading 170gr and 180gr loads at 1400 and 1380fps. Not easy on a hand gun. 36 years later it is still tight enough to keep a 1 to 2 ths gap and still shoot 3 to 4" 100 yard groups with a red dot. Don't think I ever shot any amount of 38sp ether. I may not have shot 50,000 rounds but it has had a rougher than normal life. I allways had a 4" barrel and only put on a couple years ago.

As I said, hardluk1, just MO. I'll stand by my comment on the GP100 though; I've never seen another production DA .357 with as much extra "beef"in the frame, cylinder and major lockwork parts as they have.

When I first started reloading for my DW, .38 spl. cases were much, much cheaper and much easier to get than .357s, so I used them for most of my reloads until I wore them out and built up a good supply of .357 brass. My most used "serious business" load then was a Lyman 358429 cast SWC (173 -175 gr. with the cheap salvaged wheelweights-based alloys I had to use) over 12.8 gr. 2400 or 5.3 gr. of Unique.

Switched to the 158 gr. (my alloy) Lyman 358156 and gas checks when I could afford to because they gave me better accuracy and a lot less lead fouling with heavy loads in .38 Spl. cases and full-power .357 loads. FWIW, I used both for plinking/pest control loads in my Marlin 336 .35 Remington, too. The gas checked 358156 proved to be much more consistently accurate in its Microgroove barrel and left almost no lead fouling to deal with compared to the plain-based Keith bullets.

Yes the rugers were build heavier . Just never sure that made them a stand out for being stronger or better but they were are still are very good revolvers. I would own one before a SW for sure. I had a buddy that was about as follish as i was with how much we shot and he did kill has pistol. Think it was a early around 1980 or 81 model 586. He had to send it back to sw and it was replaced. Did not take that many rounds to screw it up. Thats when I reduced my loads.

Never shot any softer lead 357 gas checked bullets but like you the harder cast were not an issue. I was loading only 2400 back in my foolish days and loads were between 15.5 gr and 16.3 gr with the 170gr speer ans 180gr hard cast bullets for a max. Fast for sure and primers look good ,cases extracted well but I am probably lucky to not have blowed up something, like me. Finally found those bullets killed just as effectively and more accurately at 1150 to 1250fps. Way easier on the hand too.

RED CENT The cyclinder in your DW bead blaster SS or a treatment to the orginal cylinder. Cool looking with that 3"?? barrel.

Original cylinder bead blasted. It is a 3". The Wolf spring gave me inconsistent ignition. I am using a "double spring" setup. There is a soft spring and a strong spring. The DA stacks a litlle but no more than factory. With light loads, recoil is almost nonexistent. Using 125s at about 1000fps, you can keep the front sight on an 8" plate shooting as fast as you are able.

Thanks for the reply red cent. Guess in 8 or so years with the wolff spring I never had a light strick. I did do just a bit of slicking to hammer parts but nothing serious, can't do much with those parts. Radius'd all edges. Don't know if that helped enought to keep reliable hammer strike or not.

I've never owned a center fired Dan Wesson but have owned a couple of 22's, both Monson guns. They were great guns, but I sold/traded both of them for one reason or another.

Yesterday, at the LGS, there was nothing really interesting on the rack until I spotted a Dan Wesson on the counter. It turned out to be a near perfect, 4" 22. It looked almost unfired. I looked hard trying to find a reason to not buy it. It didn't work. I hemed and hawed. I turned it over and over. I couldn't find ANYTHING wrong with it. It even had the Allen Wrenches and go-no go gauge with it. I need another 22 like I need another hole in my head. I've owned two of these things and sold them. That should tell me something you'd think. It did. It told me I like them.

And MAN it looks good with the 4" barrel.

I've got it on "hold" for a few days while I think about it.

I'm doomed. It will come home with me.

About 10-12 years ago I picked up a used Monson model 15 in very nice condition for the princely sum of $150. It had a 2 1/2" barrel and came with the original wood grip and a Pachmayr rubber grip which I prefer.

I later bought a barrel wrench and a 4" barrel for it which it now wears most of the time.

I have absolutely no complaints about this gun. While the trigger is not quite as smooth and crisp as my S&W 686+, it is close and is very shootable and just as accurate.

I bought a Dan Wesson 6" full frame 22cal many years ago. The fit and finish are second to none. It still has the wood grips from Wesson. Accuracy? you bet total tack driver. Best $200 I ever spent. When I brought it to the range some of my buddies wondered why a .22? not a .357? well I said just shoot it and see. The Wesson out shot just about everything in accuracy. Great firearm, enjoy it I am looking for more. Very underated firearm in terms of quality, finish and dependability.

DW revolvers are habit forming.