Anybody out there own one of these. I would like to buy a revolver, and I was thinking of the new .500 S&W. Then I found the Dan Wesson website. My main reason of interest is the versatility of being able to switch barrels, and you can fire .44 Special, .44 Mag, and .445 Supermag all from the same gun. If anyone has any information on this or any of the Dan Wesson calibers, I'd appreciate your input.

Trailblazer

I don't have the D/W .445, but I do have two T/C Contender barrels chambered for it, a 10" and a 16-1/2". I like the cartridge, both for it's performance and for it's versatility.

I use it with full power loads myself, and lend the 16" carbine rig to my buddy's kids for use with the lighter .44 mag loads for deer.

There has been no load that comes even close to hitting the same place when you talk about switching between the specials, the mags and the supermags - the zero will probably have to be moved substantially when switching if it's anything like mine.

Loading the supermag is easy, but I had best results with the heaviest bullets, or Sierra FPJ's, due to the high velocity. Regular .44 mag bullets under 250 grains usually fall apart upon impact at the higher velocity.

I did have one weird problem in reloading the .445SM. The cases were purchased brand new. I ran them through the sizer, expander and cleaned them, too clean, as it turned out. The very clean new cases, brought into contact under pressure with very clean new bullets caused a "bonding" between the interior case neck and the bullet jacket. As if they had been soldered. Rounds that shot fine when freshly loaded showed high pressures months later when the bonding process had progressed. Breaking down the unfired ammo, some cases tore and peeled back, stuck that solidly to the bullet.It can happen with any caliber, but the lack of factory ammo leads to use of brand new brass for the first loading, which is the only time this occurs.

I've got a DW .44. It's an old one from the days when DWs were made well. They've been in and out of bankruptcy and the quality has gone up and down over the years, depending on who has owned them.

Mine does quite well; it's an 8" heavy shroud and it's done 2 MOA. Trigger's pretty good and I've put thousands of heavy loads through it without a problem.

About 10 years ago I bought a new barrel tube for it (a ported one, as my shroud was ported but the barrel was not and I wanted to see if it would make any difference--it did not). The new ported barrel was awful--the barrel tube had a series of small holes drilled in it to line up with the ports (the ports are in shroud). These holes were so poorly drilled that they looked punched--heavy burrs inside the bore would actually shave bullet jacket and pack the ports full of shavings. If I didn't pull the barrel shroud off after every two cylinders, the shavings would pack tightly and I'd have to beat the shoud off with a hammer. After about 100 rounds the burrs smoothed out, but to this day it shaves bullets so I don't use it much. All this said, with the unported barrel I do not have a problem.

I thought of getting a .445 when they came out. After studying it for awhile I decided not to because the advantages were so slight, with considerably larger powder charges. In fact, depending on the bullet, I can do as well with a .44. There is one advantage, though. The long frame window and removable barrel make conversion to custom cartridges fairly easy. You could convert it to a large 5 shot, like a linebaugh or something.

I've got a .500, too. It's probably about the same weight as the DW .44 with the heavy 8" shroud. But it has much more performance ability and even better accuracy. Given the price of new ammo, you have to reload if you want to shoot it much, but since I cast and reload it's not much more than .44. You can reduce the loads to reasonable levels, using bullets as light as 260 grains or so, that perform about like a .44 special. More importantly, you can load it up to more than double any .44 handload. In fact, I've loaded 650 grain bullets to velocities matching my heavy 300 grain .44 mag loads. I know a guy that's used bullets as heavy as 725 grains and they are going as fast as a factory .44 mag. And, if you are pretty comfortable shooting big bores you won't have any trouble shooting these heavy loads. The recoil is more but the gun is ergonomic and balanced--completely manageable and comfortable to shoot (I've done 150 heavy loads in a session without even getting fatigued. The 450 grain bullets can generate the most energy and have the most recoil, but they are still very shootable).

My suggestion? I love my DW--it was my first big bore and it's always performed for me. But given the variable status of DWs business and quality, especially when compared to the performance capabilities of the .500, I'd go with the .500.

Glad to hear they are back. They've got a proven design that is quite practical--hope they can keep it up.

One thing I must say--the quality of my gun is great, and they stood behind the extra barrel I bought when I had a problem with it. They sent me a replacement unported one at no charge, and they did not care that I kept the ported one (although I'm sure they would have liked to take it out of circulation, just to prevent any future problems.) They reminded me of T/C--good basic design, great customer support, but occasional quality problems. If they have overcome the quality problem, I would not hesitate to buy another.

I've had one since before the days it was "cool" to have one of the Supermags. Even had to make brass from 303 British at one point. Never did much shooting .44 mags because of being able to load at various power levels for the revolver. I've shot several mid 30s in silhouettes. My revolver is capable of 2" groups at 200m, so any misses are my fault. It does like the 300 grain bullets and these work very well for hunting purposes. I have not handles a newly made model. Been through all the hassles of the bankruptcies of the past, and after several trips back and forth from the factory and many ugly letters have it at a point it will shoot.

Mostly run "middle of the road" loads, which are the fairly close firewalling a .44mag. These loads will take a ram down fast enough my spotter has had trouble telling where impact occurred.

Overall, it's a good caliber and I have for the most part enjoyed using it.

I owned one years ago. It was the biggest piece of s _ _ _ I've ever owned and they should have been ashamed to produce it; let alone put it on the market. When the shroud was first taken off mine I couldn't believe what I saw. The barrel looked like a piece of plumbers pipe. And when I unscrewed the barrel from the frame it wobbled like you do after a long pull of moon shine. The FFL dealer tried to talk me out of buying it but I wouldn't listen. Had to have the BIGGEST, BADDEST kid on the block for a griz back up gun. He was right when he said they (Dan Wesson) either went out of business or were about to and for a good reason. Now if they have improved (in a real big way) the .445 well..... if you feel that's what you want. But there are other calibers that realistically are better. S&W 500 with out a doubt. If you can afford the ammo and initial cost of the guns. Everyone wants one and thus shot the $750.00 original cost to around $950.00 I think the old .44 Magnum is hard to beat though for being able to get back on the target and moderate stopping power. Just my 2 cents worth. Good shooting! Mike

I bought a new Dan Wesson 44mag about 15 years ago and I send it back to the factory with a list of all of the problems. It was fixed under warranty at no cost to me. My friends and I have several Dan Wesson�s all of the old manufacture and have no problems with them. The .445 Supermag is on my list of got to have guns.

Swede44mag

Trailblazer,

Aside from the obvious convenience of being able to change barrel lengths at will, have you considered a .454 Cassull, perhaps a Ruger Super Red Hawk? The reason I ask is that I have two of them -- one in .480 and one a .454 and both are extremely accurate. The .480 is a sweet round, but the .454 gives you the option of firing .45 LCs through it. Just thought I'd throw that out there in case you hadn't considered the Cassull as an option.

Whitworth

Trailblazer, Wow you got a lot of old information here. Well unless you are interested in an old Dan Wesson I can't help you. I have the New Dan Wesson and they are awesome. Yes the company has been up and down but they are up and staying around. I will put there product up to any other on the market.



The OLD ones were not the accurate and well built ones, its the new ones that are well built and scary accurate. I will put mine up against any handgun anyones wants to go up against it with. We will put them in a ransom rest and shoot at 50-100-150-200 yards and see who is laughing at the end. No way the 500 S&W will be more accurate not even close. I mean not in the same atmosphere. Unless the 500 can put or make one ragged hole at 50 yards all the time. I have not shot a lot at 100 yards and further do to my ability but the gun can. so far my best group is a one ragged hole at 35 yards. I am still trying to become a more proficient handgunner but as I stretch the distances I get shakey and mess up. But I am getting better and bought a Dillon xl 650 to load a lot and become a better shooter.



My Dan Wesson is incredibly strong and has taken abuse and is still ticking. It is a beautiful piece but heavy which doesn't bother me, I have a Burris 2x7 on top and love the outfit. As soon as I have the funds I will be adding the 357 supermag and the 414 supermag. I guess that I am biased towards the 445 supermag and Dan Wesson but I do feel it is justified. If you are making assumptions from the older company please refrain because you cannot compare the two. The new ones so far out class the old ones as its not even fair. The new company through out all the old machineing equipment and bought all new cnc stuff.



I am still in the load development stages but these are very real possibilities with the 445 supermag



180 gr @ 2000 fps



200 gr @ 1900 fps



225 gr @ 1850



240 gr @ 1800



300Gr @ 1600+



So if these are interesting to you as they were to me I made the plunge. I love them to me Dan Wesson rules. Yes I am biased but I feel the NEW company has deserved my faith in them.



Anymore questions I will be glad to answer anything I can for you. I just finished up loading some more sO I need to do some testing soon.



Brian