My Friend's Dan Wesson

[Zeke Menuar]

A close friend of mine sent his Dan Wesson 357 to repaired. He was not pleased.

Here is a copy of his letter back to Dan Wesson/CZ and pics

Greetings,

You recently repaired my Dan Wesson 357 Magnum revolver.

I received it back today and I am very disappointed with the quality of the work. It was sent to you to be re-blued and have the cylinder reamed.

I am sending photos of the areas that I think are below the quality of a Wesson Firearm. I would like you to look at them and give me your opinion for correcting these problems.

Photo #1 - When I paid to have the gun re-blued, I expected to have the entire gun re-blued, not just the barrel and cylinder. My gun now has a barrel and cylinder that are a solid black, while the frame still has that beautiful Wesson glossy blue.

Photo #2 - The top of my barrel used to have a textured diamond pattern that matched the rest of the gun. The barrel I got back has a plain matt finish that doesn't even match the rest of the gun.

Photo #3 - The area around the caliber stamp at the back lower right end of the barrel was not blued and/or polished properly. It has a tarnished look. There are also scratches that run lengthwise on the barrel that are into the new blueing. My barrel did not have deep scratches when I sent it in.

Photo #4 - The back end of the left side of the barrel also has deep scratches that run along the barrel.

Photo #5 - The bottom of the front end of the barrel is not blued well or polished smooth.

Photo #6 - There is a raised line 1/4" from the end of the barrel on the right side that looks like structural damage. My barrel did not have this. There are also a lot of scratches on this side of the barrel.

I would like to know if I received the same barrel back that I sent in. Could they have been switched by mistake? The possible partial rupture line in photo #6 really bothers me.

If I would not have cared a lot about this weapon, I would have sent it to a local gunsmith. Instead I sent it to you because I thought you would take good care of it. At this point I am very disappointed and extremely suspicious.

Sincerely,













Comments? I saw the gun a couple of years ago. Just needed a bluing job. Looks worse now since DW "Fixed it"

Any pointers on how to get DW to fix it right?

Thanks
ZM

 

[Sharps Shooter]

Good luck! I could tell you a real horror story about my experiance with a Dan Wesson .357 and the companies repair service, but I don't wish to hijack this thread nor do I wish to post a hate message. I'll never own another Dan Wesson anything though.

 

[HSMITH]

Was his gun rusted at some point? The shroud in the pics was rusted pretty heavily at some point in it's life.

 

[unspellable]

Quality assurance and repair work

This doesn't sound good. But the problem I have with some one saying they'll never trust Dan Wesson (Or what ever make you want to name.) again is that this is only one sample. Any maker you can name has committed a few screw ups. You need a large sample to see how they do on the average before you can compare one maker to another.

I have a large collection. I can show you screw ups from several makers. I get tired of hearing everybody say they'll pass on a Taurus or what ever and buy a S&W or Ruger where they are assured of quality.

I for one am tired of the screw ups I get from S&W. Note screw "ups", plural. I can show you several S&W's, three Colts, a Browning, two Rugers, etc., that should never have been allowed to leave the factory just from my own collection. And that's after I have dumped the really bad ones.

As for factory or repair center work, I have a warantee butcher job on a Colt. I'm waiting for the bad news on a S&W.

 

[Zeke Menuar]

There is pitting in places. That is not the issue. I showed him how to stop the surface rust and cold blue until he could get it to a proper gunsmith. I wasn't aware he sent it to DW until it was too late.

ZM

 

[Majic]

With all that pitting why didn't your buddy just buy a new shroud? Also I have never seen a Model 15 or any other DW that had the topstrap and barrel rib checkered. Every one I have seen have been matte.
What exactly did he ask the factory to do to the revolver?

 

[Standing Wolf]

It seems Checkmate Custom in Florida has some competition for the Worst Bluing Award. Such a distinction!

 

[Zeke Menuar]

With all that pitting why didn't your buddy just buy a new shroud? Also I have never seen a Model 15 or any other DW that had the topstrap and barrel rib checkered. Every one I have seen have been matte.

Don't know. I'll ask him or better yet, get him to join and answer himself.

I certainly wouldn't send one of my guns to a company that has been bought and sold as many times as DW. He may not have known of DW's history.

ZM

UPDATE: Got this from him tonight

"I got a call from DW this morning. They have issued a pick-up call to FedEx. They will be picking the gun up tomorrow and returning it to the factory to look at my complaints.
We will see what they do to fix it."

I guess we'll see what happens

 

[Fatelvis]

Zeke, any word on your pistol yet?

 

[SRFL]

Oh my....I'd be really really PO'd if this had happened to me with any one of my three DW's (2 x Model 15's and a 10mm 1911).