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Problem with Dan Wesson .357 Revolver

MigGunslinger

Red Skull Member
Joined
May 21, 2020
Member Number
909
Messages
572
Loc
Sacramento
Went to the woods with some friends and family the other day and we had a pretty alarming issue with a Dan Wesson .357, don't know the model but I'd say it has a 4" barrel, blued, nice wood grip. I think Hickok45 did a video on an almost identical one.

One of the shooters on the line got hit with what we thought was a ricochet fragment which actually drew blood on the shoulder but nothing too bad. 4 people shot other guns at the same time so we could not narrow it down to the revolver. The second time the same guy (who owns the gun) got tagged again on the forehead, again blood but nothing serious. Both times the person hit was behind and to the side of the shooter, right and left side at what should be a safe distance from someone shooting a .357. The shooter in all cases was untouched. We recovered a fragment from the owners forehead which was lead and whatever the bullet jacket is made of, Copper?

Of course we brought it off the line and started looking at everything. The gun was dirty but operating smoothly, the cylinder stop looked fine, the notches in the cylinder had a bit of wear but who knows? the cylinder had a little perceptible wiggle but I don't know if there is a spec on that.

Ammunition was Blazer Brass JHP which was bought for this trip, we obviously did not just load up another type and try it out.

What should we do with this thing? I have built a couple 80% ARs and a weld build AK so of course everybody looks at me. My first inclination is that the cylinder is somehow mistimed or there is excessive gap between cylinder and barrel. Is there anything we can check at home like barrel clearance with feeler gauges or something, or should it go straight to a qualified gunsmith? Clean it up and throw some different ammo in it and test fire it looking like and EOD guy? What Would Irate Do?
 
Sounds like the timing is off. CZ owns Dan Wesson now, but I don't think they will do anything with the old ones.

I have had old timers say that you can hold up a paper bag or something similar to catch any shavings off of the forcing cone.

The Dan Wessons rotate the cylinder opposite of a Smith and Wesson, not that that should make a difference. The hand is probably worn.
 
Ive got a 3 inch Dan Wesson that I've never shot. Was given tome and just never got around to using it. Way overbuilt and heavy. There is a Dan Wesson fans facebook page that may give you some insight or at least get you in contact with someone that is familiar with them. My guess is the crane is bent, I had a 686 smith that shaved lead. Had a smith look at it and he was able to straighten it out. He removed the cylinder and used an alignment tool and a chunk of spot lead as a hammer. He told me its usually caused by people playing Hollywood and flipping the cylinder out loaded, and flipping it back in. Either that or the gun was dropped with the cylinder out
 
Sounds like the revolver is "spitting lead."
You can check the cylinder/barrel alignment with an unsharpened pencil or bit of dowel. Unload the revolver (obviously) & poke the rod down the bore & feel for misalignment. You'll want to do this with all six chambers.
You can also visually check for chunks of lead around the forcing cone.
I would probably take it to a 'smith, myself.
 
Thanks for the advice guys, I will try a couple of suggestions and see what happens. I agree it should go to a smith but we will see if that is an option. Either way nobody is pulling the trigger on it until we know what the problem is. Shame, cause it's a really nice gun.
 
i 3rd or 4th its spitting lead.

dan wessons are really nice. i dont forsee it being to hard or expensive to put it back in time.

RUGER
 
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Ive got a 3 inch Dan Wesson that I've never shot. Was given tome and just never got around to using it. Way overbuilt and heavy. There is a Dan Wesson fans facebook page that may give you some insight or at least get you in contact with someone that is familiar with them. My guess is the crane is bent, I had a 686 smith that shaved lead. Had a smith look at it and he was able to straighten it out. He removed the cylinder and used an alignment tool and a chunk of spot lead as a hammer. He told me its usually caused by people playing Hollywood and flipping the cylinder out loaded, and flipping it back in. Either that or the gun was dropped with the cylinder out


This, or some idiot pulling the "spin the cylinder and wrist flick it back in" Hollywood crap.

However it may not be the crane, it could be the cylinder stop slightly bent. Again caused by morons spinning the cylinder and slamming it in under rotation.
 
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