Posted: 10/10/2016 1:28:14 AM EDT
| Where is this gun in the hierarchy of 1911 desirability? How good is this gun compared to the others? Is it considered high-end, or middle of the road? |
| Buy it, best value for sure. I would almost put it up there with the Wilson's and Ed Browns. It's not quite as good as the Wilson's and Ed Brown's, but it's pretty damn close. And with the price tag of half as much, it's well worth it. Best production 1911 on the market for sure. Of course it's still a production 1911, not a semi-custom like the Ed Brown's and Wilson's. |
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Buy it, best value for sure. I would almost put it up there with the Wilson's and Ed Browns. It's not quite as good as the Wilson's and Ed Brown's, but it's pretty damn close. And with the price tag of half as much, it's well worth it. Best production 1911 on the market for sure. Of course it's still a production 1911, not a semi-custom like the Ed Brown's and Wilson's. Really it's that good? |
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Upper-middle of the road IMO. If I were to lump Colt and Springfield Armory together as far as quality/price, I would say Dan Wesson is above them but below the semi-customs like Les Baer, Ed Brown, Wilson, NHC, etc.
Dan Wesson makes a great 1911. ETA: Best production 1911 is a very good description as mentioned above. |
| Price wise, it's in the same range as STI single stacks and Baer(give or take $200). Feature wise, with the duty treat it is a great value. Baer builds sweet blued guns, STI builds more utitarian looking guns. Of the 3, I like Dan Wesson, tool steel internals plus duty treat for the win. STI recently changed over to tool steel internals and started using cerakote, that addressed most previous concerns with their guns in their price range. Another plus is the sights they use, I never liked plain night sights, which are pretty much like blacked out target sights during the day. Dan Wesson uses night sights with white outline around vials. A lot of STI and Baer come with just black sights . |
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The Valor gets almost as much hand fitting as guns that are in the semi-custom tier. DW is tricky because while the Valor compares well with semi-customs, it isn't clear what other DW models are built to the same level.
I think there should probably be a new tier of 1911s called "almost semi-custom." I would put the SA TRP, Valor, and STI guns here, with the Valor at the top of the list as far as quality. |
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I have a pile of semi-custom 1911s, most of which have had additional work by Alchemy, John Harrison, Jo Jo's and Greg Derr.
Dan Wesson has great parts, fantastic triggers and a good finish, but they don't fit shit.The grip and thumb safeties are not blended.The thumb safety and slide stop are not de-horned, and of the three in my safe, two had barrels miss-fit, both rode the link. Here is my reasonably well rounded opinion of how the major manufactures stack up, in descending order SACS Wilson Ed Brown Nighthawk Guncrafter Les Baer Dan Wesson |
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I have a pile of semi-custom 1911s, most of which have had additional work by Alchemy, John Harrison, Jo Jo's and Greg Derr. Dan Wesson has great parts, fantastic triggers and a good finish, but they don't fit shit.The grip and thumb safeties are not blended.The thumb safety and slide stop are not de-horned, and of the three in my safe, two had barrels miss-fit, both rode the link. Here is my reasonably well rounded opinion of how the major manufactures stack up, in descending order SACS Wilson Ed Brown Nighthawk Guncrafter Les Baer Dan Wesson If you have time, I would be interested in a little more detail as to why your rankings stack up like this. I have wanted a Wilson Tactical Elite for a while now, I just found a NIB Springfield Pro Operator on the shelf at a gun store (and bought it), and I have (and carry) a couple of Ed Browns. For some reason Nighthawk has never really interested me, if I were spending that much I'd just get a Wilson. |
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I have a pile of semi-custom 1911s, most of which have had additional work by Alchemy, John Harrison, Jo Jo's and Greg Derr. Dan Wesson has great parts, fantastic triggers and a good finish, but they don't fit shit.The grip and thumb safeties are not blended.The thumb safety and slide stop are not de-horned, and of the three in my safe, two had barrels miss-fit, both rode the link. Here is my reasonably well rounded opinion of how the major manufactures stack up, in descending order SACS Wilson Ed Brown Nighthawk Guncrafter Les Baer Dan Wesson Funny how opinions are just that. Mine is nearly opposite of yours. My ed brown had a grip safety so poorly fitted the sharp edges would cut you just holding the gun. A buddies ed brown was galling so badly that he was unable to get it to return to battery. Their cs is atrocious and I would never recommend them to anyone except for my mortal enemy. I'll grant you Wilson makes a great gun, and if you can afford it they are well worth it. I have two early nighthawks and would rate them the same as Wilson (makes sense as they were built by former Wilson gunsmiths). I'm very happy with the Baer I own, but wouldn't rate it above my valors. Both my valors show a high degree of attention to detail, very well blended and function flawlessly. |
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Not the first I've heard of Ed Brown's customer service being terrible. They essentially tell their customers to kick rocks if they have any problems with their products. I have heard the same, fortunately I have not needed it, their guns are solid and beautiful |
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I have a pile of semi-custom 1911s, most of which have had additional work by Alchemy, John Harrison, Jo Jo's and Greg Derr. Dan Wesson has great parts, fantastic triggers and a good finish, but they don't fit shit.The grip and thumb safeties are not blended.The thumb safety and slide stop are not de-horned, and of the three in my safe, two had barrels miss-fit, both rode the link. Here is my reasonably well rounded opinion of how the major manufactures stack up, in descending order SACS Wilson Ed Brown Nighthawk Guncrafter Les Baer Dan Wesson As someone else said. It's all opinion and i would say most people's opinions are based on some kind of experience. First hand or not. My list would also start with SACS but to sort the rest I'm familiar with it'd go: Wilson Les Baer Ed Brown Dan Wesson . . . . . Taurus Pt1911 Nighthawk Without derailing the thread I'll +1 what ever one else has said: Dan Wesson has great build quality and quality of parts. They also have good customer service from my experience. About the only thing they don't have compared to true custom shops is choice. Pick and choose some parts, or finishes? Nope, you get a catalog gun just like buying a Springfield Armory. But you get quite a bit better build quality. |
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I have owned a couple Dan Wesson CBOB's and for the money the fit and finish was nice but I shot about 10K rounds between the two of them, and had several parts breakages which DW took care of.
The Valors look to have an even higher build quality and I want one in 9mm. ETA: Les Baer makes a solid 5" 1911 and while the fit and finish isn't a Wilson, I would put the reliability near the top. |
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Nighthawk at the bottom? I have a personal sordid history with nighthawk. But it's from clear back in the 2010-2012 era. From what I've read on their sub-forum over on 1911forum there doesn't seem to be a lot of the behavior i became accustomed to from back then. My friend owns quite a few of their guns, runs them hard, and loves them. They screwed me personally, and several of my customers at the time bad enough that i wont buy anything they put their name on. Im derailing. Again, the Dan Wesson catalog is all top notch stuff. Hard pressed to beat it for the money. |
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VERY good gun, the Valor is a great deal and I've owned about 3 of them. I've shot a Wilson 1911 and it had nothing on the DW from my perspective. I'm sure there are differences but the DW is a very solid choice. I've got a custom DW ordered and should be here shortly. |
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I have a EB Special Forces and a DW Guardian. Both great pistols but I must admit my preference is the DW. In the case of the two very fine makers of 1911's I would say "high end" primarily pertains to price. I would say fit and finish and function are comparable.
Bang for the buck...DW . Middle of the road price with high-end performance. iI have handled and fired several other high end pistols mentioned in this thread, but since i don't own one I could not comment than to just say am not convinced that the spreads in price $1500 - $4000 are worth it. I am back in the market for a new 1911 myself and find myself gravitating towards the DW and price is not a factor. Best of luck and enjoy shopping for a new pistol ! |
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Where is this gun in the hierarchy of 1911 desirability? How good is this gun compared to the others? Is it considered high-end, or middle of the road? High End. It is semi custom. Definitely much higher quality and value than Kimber custom, Springfield/Colt, STI, others... I have had an Ed Brown and a Dan Wesson Valor. Sold the Ed Brown...Still have the Valor. Only thing that really beats it is Les Baer, Wilson, maybe Nighthawk, maybe Ed Brown. Browns are definitely more cosmetic, as far as value, functionality, feel, Valor is much better. Its also a great looking gun that can take wear from use and not look like shit. Buy it and don't turn back. You'll never sell it. You'll feel foolish if you spend $400 less on a Kimber, and you'll feel silly ever spending $2500 of a 1911 when you could get a Dan Wesson. IMO, With quality relative to price, DW cannot be beat. Period. |
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The Valor is the best production 1911 on the market period. I admit my thumb safety was not a perfect fit and took about 1 minute of my time to correct. Finest full size 1911 I own. I have a 9mm ECO that is just as nice. DW is semi custom. Not Production. But yes. |
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I have heard the same, fortunately I have not needed it, their guns are solid and beautiful Quoted:
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Not the first I've heard of Ed Brown's customer service being terrible. They essentially tell their customers to kick rocks if they have any problems with their products. I have heard the same, fortunately I have not needed it, their guns are solid and beautiful Had an Ed Brown and sold it. EB can blow a fat one. |
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New to 1911s.
Recently picked up a Valor, fit and finish is great. Very impressed. Gun is very accurate. Took it to a range to break in and almost immediately ran into a problem. Got multiple failures to feed and failures to go into battery. Ran different kinds of ammo as well, but problems persisted. Contacted their customer support, and next day received a form to fill out to ship it back to them. Will be sending it out on Monday. |