Range time with new p-7

[xkimberman]

Just finished cleaning my new DW P-7. Out of 250 rds this gun had 1 ftf the first round out of the magazine and 2 rds ftf the last round. All jams were with the same factory mag. Tried wilson 7 rd mags and 7 rd metal form (round follower) with out a single problem. Gun groups great. While the shop owner was glad to see this gun go I am glad I got it. The factory mags are the old flat follower style. I am thinking about putting the wilson spring and follower (round 7 rd) in the factory mags. Have any one out there tried this. I own other brands of 1911,s and I don,t see them as better than the DW gun. Several are alot worse. I am now thinking about the bob tail commander DW.

[Big-Louie's-Arsenal]

Good to hear this report about your DW. Is it a PM7 or a P-7? Not being a smart *** or anything , just wanted to know because there is alot of diffrent DW out there. If its a PM7 sweet, I cant wait to go try my PM7 out at the range too!!! What ammo did you use?

[xkimberman]

1 box Winchester ST
1box Fedral 165 gr PD
The rest of my shooting was various brands of factory ball.
I now have a Bobtail 45 acp And a PM-7 10mm to try. The DW products are not very popular in my area. The fit & finish and trigger are outstanding on all the DW's I have. My shooting buddies consider these guns to be off brands want to be's.

[Old Horse Thief]

That is not unusual, XKimberman. Much of America, indeed the very great majority of Americans, respond to slick paper advertising like lemming to a flute. I have been on 1911 models since 1945; mostly Colts. I caught the American "Cost-A-Plenty" 1911 fever once and gradually came to understand that the bullets reach the target ignorant of the name on the slide of the pistol from which the were propelled. The issue is how good is the pistol ... not the advertising executive. The Dan Wesson 1911 pistol is splendid; those prior to the CZ take over are particularly fine and the unmodified PM-1 out of the box will shoot with any other out of the box 1911 pistol I have ever shot, seen or heard of from a reliable source. Recently I posted that I would sell my PM-7 for nine bills because I could replace its effective quality for that kind of money (a CZ); but I will not sell my PM-1 for two thousand since I cannot buy the quality of it for that price. The test is not if your buddy with his Brown, Baer or Good-God-A-Mighty can out shoot your DW. The test is which pistol delivers the bullets to the target with greater accuracy from an immobile machine rest; not, I hasten to add, a Ransom Rest. The Ransom itself relies on springs and, therefore, detracts from the potential of the gun being tested and, indeed, introduces inconsistence shot to shot to shot. Any shooter worth his salt can make the same (or better?) group shooting off a bag of shot than can be made by a Ransom with the same pistol/ammo. There is a wonderful truism old out in The Trans-Pecos: "Never bet the contents of your game bag against an old fart shooting an old gun". Another truism which I have come to embrace is this: "If you like your Baer don't bet it against and old fart shooting a new Dan Wesson PM-1".

[xkimberman]

I was so impressed with my PM-7 I 45acp that I added a PM-7 10mm & a 45acp Bobtail to my collection. The 45acp Bobtail is flawless and the 10mm has no FTF or FTE issues but the followers on both Metalform mags are running past the slide stop on the last round. DW is sending 2 more mags for me to try. At the very worst the slide stop will have to be replaced. What slide stop do you use in a 10mm, a 45acp or a 38super? My shooting buddies still think I have lost it buying the DW's. I think they are great guns and I wish I had discovered them earlier.

[Old Horse Thief]

I'm old and crazy ... which is my excuse for often mistaking guns which look like 1911's but are chambered other than .45 ACP for 1911's :-). I've owned a pile of them through the years - each .45 ACP. If there is a weak link in the DW 1911 it is the magazine. But just about every dyed-in-the-wool 1911 guy thinks the magazine he uses is the best. If you'll toss the DW 1911 magazine back in the box and buy a good one the problem will go away...if you like fixing things yourself replace the magazine spring with a 10X ... that'll solve the same problem ... or if you just love fiddling around with things til you've got'um busted or fixed tweak the DW magazine lip; that'll fix it too. Leave your buddies alone ... confusing weak, closed minds with the truth will only further distance them from it.

[CharlieinKansas]

Hey guys, I am so close to buying a DW bobtail I can'y stand it BUT!!!, I need to know if the CZ DW's are as good as Patrick Sweeny says they are in his second book on the 1911. How do the CZ DW's shoot? Are the frame to slide fits tight? How is the barrel hood, does it stay in place when you push down on it? Help me out guys, I've got the DW fever bad, and I do'nt want to make the jump without some good info, thanks.

[D.Hitchcock]

charlie, my pointman 7 has a slide to frame mating as tight as any $2000 custom gun I've seen. the CZ distributed guns are as fine a 1911 as can be had IMO. I've had kimbers, springfields, colts, you name it. nothing I have owned will outshoot, or shoots as slick as my Dan Wesson. CZ has a long reputation for fine combat firearms, and the addition of Dan Wesson has kicked them up another notch. you don't see much advertising for DW, but you don't see much for Ferrari either. personally I am not going to buy a Ford Explorer just because every other commercial is about one.

[CharlieinKansas]

Thanks D.H. for the reply, I have an older KIMBER CUSTOM II that shoots great. I was about to spend bucks on another in a PRO CDP but have been discouraged by all the reading of buyers remorse, and found this could be due to stepped up production on Kimbers part. I was just about set on a S.A. instead, but started reading about the new DW commanders and what is offered by CZ for the same price as the others. Almost sounds too good to be true.

I would like to here from any whom have a commander bobtail and how it performs.