Dan Wesson Customer Service

[redcliff]

OBViously severns wants you to buy the DW. How else is he going to make a living? Those DW's severns was testing I guarentee you were not out of box models. They were heavily reworked you can be on that.

Did you read the review? One was an out of the box DW, and one was a Severns modified DW and was fully disclosed as such.

Having dealt in person with Dave Severns on several projects including a full custom build, a major refit, and a minor refit I have nothing but praise for Dave's integrity (or workmanship). My two larger projects were Colt's; he works on many different types of 1911's not just Dan Wesson's and certainly has no reason to embellish DW's virtues in order to make a living; his back-log of 1911 work was over a year last I checked.

[CAGLS]

OBViously severns wants you to buy the DW. How else is he going to make a living? Those DW's severns was testing I guarentee you were not out of box models. They were heavily reworked you can be on that.

One had an oversized barrel hand fitted, the other was out of the box. He doesn't exclusively sell Dan Wesson.

[bkm]

The Severns review was one of the reasons I went with Dan Wesson. I'm a lefty and wanted a railed 1911 with a solid finish- so the Specialist fit perfectly. I got a good deal on it and the Baer's I found would have cost me more and lacked what I wanted, so I don't doubt the decision.

Xrslug- that's what I wanted to hear, thank you. I know othrs have had great results with on-roster guns.

I wanted to see what their customer service had to say, so I'll probably call in a couple of days if I don't hear back. The set screw seemed like it wasn't tightening which is part of reason I wanted to talk to them. Thanks for the replies guys.

[nahpungnome]

CZ/DW warranty is 5 yrs, but I hear some companies service issues after the said warranty period. Is this true for CZ and DW also or are you pretty much paying for any issues after that?

[dk94044]

I had this happen to my CBOB, alcohol clean the fit area around dovetail and screw, red locktite sparingly, I just did eye sight alignment with the firing pin as center line, going 1000rds and no movement.
That Duty Coat is fantastic looking, the paint is molecular fused with the metal that you can light buff any scratches and retain the color.

[Malmon]

I also had difficulty getting a hold of somebody at Dan Wesson, left messages in their machine and sent emails. After about a week, Glenn Davis returned my call, took the pistol back and addressed all issues. I sent his email address to you thru PM.

There are 3 issues common to the Specialist: 1. Off-centered sights or in your case loose sights 2. Sharp edges on the thumb safety 3. magwell screw that keeps on coming loose.

[yokron]

DW has excellent customer service. They respond faster when you call vs. email.

My specialist had the loose magwell as well. I called and Glen mailed me a new shorter screw. The original one was too long and it would bottom out early. Haven't installed the new shorter screw, but Glen recommended loctiting it.

[penguinofsleep]

I can't comment on DW since I've never handled one, but I've noticed the prices skyrocketing. They're now in the LB Concept I/II range. Which would you get given that they're both in the same ballpark now?

comparing my experience with both, if this is the case, i'd have to say i'd still go with the DW, but ONLY b/c they balance, point, handle, etc better for me and i like the style, look, features, etc. basically everything subjective.

from a value, name, build quality, etc. and pretty much everything else from an objective standpoint, i'd go with the les baer w/o a second thought. not that DW makes a bad 1911 (as a matter of fact, i really want 1 right now more than any other 1911... including a few semi-customs), but a baer is "even better" on paper.

can't say about who has better service as i've never had to use baer service. DW service was good in the past for me, but imo their parts are a little over priced. email doesn't work well though, have to call. that and the bane (or big plus in some people's eyes) of their service is they are still a small shop in NY, not physically a part of the bigger CZ group/shop in KS or CZ custom. and we all know how smaller shops can be sporadic at times, even if their entire crew is really on top of stuff. that and a fire in 2012 pretty much disrupted all of their activities for a while, which may have caused the recent price increase (recoup costs) w/o necessarily offering the consumer more for the $.

[Whiterabbit]

give dan Wesson some slack. After the fire, they may need some time to get things back up and running smooth!

[CAGLS]

Just talked to Glen about a DW specialist duty finish msh/magwell that had a gap when the MSH retaining pin was installed through the magwell. The groove in the male key of the magwell isn't deep enough so it pushes the magwell down causing the gap. He agreed to modify it and send it out for refinishing the modified area. He is also sending me a prepaid shipping label to not en-cur a shipping charge for a defective product. Fyi the magwell is not made by DW so this will be a prototype for DW to send to the manufacturer to make the proper corrections on the production units. Great customer service! But the other day when I talked to Sheila in parts she was short with me and very grouchy, you can't win em all, lol.

[nahpungnome]

Don't email a company, call them.

Sights fall off. They're supposed to come on and off. Just put it back on, tighten the set screw. Take it to the range, sight it in, then set it with loc-tite.

So you're okay with sights coming off when you don't want them to from the factory?

If I paid ~$1500 hell, any price for a gun, I wouldn't expect the sights to just fall off and say okay, they're supposed to fall off.

[nahpungnome]

comparing my experience with both, if this is the case, i'd have to say i'd still go with the DW, but ONLY b/c they balance, point, handle, etc better for me and i like the style, look, features, etc. basically everything subjective.

from a value, name, build quality, etc. and pretty much everything else from an objective standpoint, i'd go with the les baer w/o a second thought. not that DW makes a bad 1911 (as a matter of fact, i really want 1 right now more than any other 1911... including a few semi-customs), but a baer is "even better" on paper.

can't say about who has better service as i've never had to use baer service. DW service was good in the past for me, but imo their parts are a little over priced. email doesn't work well though, have to call. that and the bane (or big plus in some people's eyes) of their service is they are still a small shop in NY, not physically a part of the bigger CZ group/shop in KS or CZ custom. and we all know how smaller shops can be sporadic at times, even if their entire crew is really on top of stuff. that and a fire in 2012 pretty much disrupted all of their activities for a while, which may have caused the recent price increase (recoup costs) w/o necessarily offering the consumer more for the $.

Well, the wifey said I can buy her a DW commander size 1911 when we hit a certain amount in our savings lol. DWs sure do look nice, but I'm wondering if the commander size is something we should skip or not. I don't see them at my range for rental so I don't have any experience with the shorter framed 1911s.

[nahpungnome]

It isn't much trouble to put them back on, just some loc-tite and elbow grease, both of which I own.

The problem with 1911s is that most of the end users today can't change a lightbulb, so if anything goes wrong with their 1911, which happens, they can't fix anything themself, then the person gets angry because CS didn't respond to their email in 24 hours.

That may be true for an older firearm.. but I would wholeheartedly expect a brand spanking new gun not to have this issue. I agree with the emailing though. When I had issues with my Sig I called in and it was handled promptly.