[dmwphoto]

Quote:       Originally Posted by torasperry

Gents, Found an Original Unfired .357 cal DW Pistol pac, Has all the stuff, 2" 4" 6" 8 " barrels, Buckle, Patch, Wooden exchange grip, Wrench, White front site replacement. Collector had it in his collection. What is the Pac worth these days. The Case has yellow lining, Think the Pac is about 20 years old. Would like to know what it's worth today, Any Guesses?

about 550.00. Never did gain high collector value. Still it would be fun to own. I would shoot it.

[LostUpNorth]

Quote:       Originally Posted by torasperry

Gents, Found an Original Unfired .357 cal DW Pistol pac, Has all the stuff, 2" 4" 6" 8 " barrels, Buckle, Patch, Wooden exchange grip, Wrench, White front site replacement. Collector had it in his collection. What is the Pac worth these days. The Case has yellow lining, Think the Pac is about 20 years old. Would like to know what it's worth today, Any Guesses?

If you're interested in selling, let me know. I'm looking for a .357 and a Dan Wesson would be nice to have.

[torasperry]

Owner told me today he wants $1000.00 for the Pistol Pac, Unfired 357.

[rm1ke]

I recently attended a medium gunshow and a Dan Wesson 15-2VH Pistol Pac caught my eye. It was in exceptional condition although it had been shot a little. I have on of these same pistol pacs and LOVE it!
I bought mine back in the late 70's/erly 80's (once you hit a certain age, time seems to be a blur) I bought it through ShotGun Times for $315.00, so I was curious to see what price they had on it there.
The price on it was $1200.00, and the guy wouldn't budge a nickle.
He said it didn't take up much room and doesn't eat anything so if he didn't get what he wanted for it he wouldn't sell it.
I was amazed that a $350 investment could jump to $1200, but I guess something is worth what someone else will pay for it.
I was so impressed with mine, that it will be in my possession until I die. The gun functions flawlessly and shoots as good or better than any of the three Pythions that I have fired many times (one in 4" and two in 6").I qualified "expert" with this gun right out of the box without ever touching the sights.
The trigger pull in both single and double action is also VERY smooth.
The pistol pac had 2", 4", 6", and 8" vent heavy ribbed barrels with two grips, both wood. (one target and one rounded, conceal type). It also had interchangeable red, yellow, and white front sight inserts, a combination wrench for the changing the barrel, sights, and grips, a DW patch, belt buckel, and feeler gauge for setting barrel to forcing cone clearance, and a yellow lined and fitted briefecase type carrtying case with keys.
I wouldn't trade this set up for anything else on the market that I don't already have.
It is one of the most reliable, accurate, and good looking guns I have ever handled, and I've both had and handled a few.
I have seen other versions of the Dan Wesson both just the guns and also in various pistol pac configurations, but not in a while, so I was glad to see thgis one at the show. Can't imagine why anyone that had one would sell it unless for the profit margin, but everyone has their own reson for doing things.
In my opinion you just can't go wrong with a Dan Wesson 15-2 VH pistol Pac.
The older models (with the grooved barrel nuts protruding out in front of the barrels) were pretty hideous looking and I have no experience with them as to th reliability and accuracey, but I'm sure sold on mine.
Oh, by the way, the pistol pac at the show sold for the asking price.

[DaTeacha]

That's good to hear. I picked up a newer model with the recessed barrel nut. It had two 4" barrels - one full lug, one half lug, and a 7 1/2" (?) half lug for $465. The barrels have solid ribs, red sights. The gun has what appears to be Hogue or Pachmayer grips but there is no name on them - are these stock?

As you said the trigger pull is very smooth. Gun is in excellent shape. Now I want more barrels, scope, etc.

It would appear I got a decent price on mine.

[Powderman]

Quote:      

As for the holding more ammo, if you can't take someone down with six shots (especialy with a .44mag. You wont need them all) YOU SHOULDN'T FIRE A WEAPON!

No thread jack intended....but there was a shooting in the State of Illinois some time ago, State Patrol v. armed felon. Mr. Felon took over thirty hits--most of those solid torso hits--and WAS STILL FIRING BACK. It took 12 gauge slugs to finally end the fight.

Remember the FBI shootout in Miami? Platt and Matix both sustained wounds that would have proven fatal eventually--but they both continued the fight. The final BG was finally neutralized with 5 rounds, administered at point blank range by Special Agent Mireles to the head.

And, how about rifles? Rifle ammunition should stop a BG, right? Talk to some of the Vietnam (or now, Iraq) Vets, who have seen enemy combatants take multiple hits of 5.56 and keep coming. There's one video circulating, showing an insurgent about to fire an RPG when he is hit with two five round bursts. The first burst was a groups of solid COM hits. The BG's reaction? To drop the RPG, and SIMPLY SIT DOWN IN THE STREET. The second burst hit and one round--the one that took him out of the fight--hit him in the head.

Finally, remember the combat encounters that occured when the Army and Marines were fighting the Philippine Moro warriors. Six solid hits with .38 revolvers usually got them mad enough to have them run forward to Cuisinart you with large bolo knives.

This helped to give birth to one of the finest fighting handguns to ever grace this planet: Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911.

In our training, we are taught to shoot until the threat stops.

Thus, if you shoot them six times and they're not down, it doesn't mean that you should not carry a gun--just that you haven't shot them ENOUGH.

[RookieShooter]

Good Point

[jrswanson1]

A head shot always works.

Back on topic, I lusted after these when I was in high school. No way I could afford them until a few years ago. I really need to finish up my rifle collection and get back into revolvers. I only have two now, need at least two more.

Jim

[DaTeacha]

So just suppose a guy wanted to do something silly like get all possible barrel lengths, rib patterns, lug sizes, etc. for his Dan Wesson. Suppose he also wanted a complete set of sight inserts and whatever else was available for these fine pieces of machinery.

How many barrels and so on are we talking about here?

[DWFan]

Barrel lengths of 2 1/2", 4", 6", 8", 10" and 15" were available.
Shroud configurations were vented rib with or without a full underlug, solid ribs with or without underlugs plus a "field pistol" shroud with a full underlug and no front sight designed for a scope only.
Front sights were available in ramp profiles with white, yellow and red inserts plus patridge profiles with and without a brass bead.
At least three different factory stocks were available; Pachmayrs and Hogues were available too.

If that isn't enough, I'm sure I didn't list everything for the small frame DW.

[DaTeacha]

I picked up a tool at the show that has 3 different allen wrenches in a T configuration and the barrel spanner at the base of the dropdown leg. Is that a DW made item, or aftermarket? I don't see any markings on it, but it's well made. I gave $15 for it, probably too much, but it will work better on the barrel nut than the spanner that came with the gun.

The guy I got it from said people who got serious about accuracy with them had the front end of the cylinder machined to closer tolerances to make the barrel/cylinder gap exactly the same for the whole cylinder. I've been shooting revolvers for a fair amount of time and have never heard of doing that. It would seem the same thing would hold true for all brands, not just DW. Have any here heard of that trick?

[DWFan]

Squaring the cylinder to the barrel is an old idea that's found new life due to the lax machining tolerances of the manufacturers. Basically you mill the cylinder to make up for the fact that the frame/crane is machined out of alignment.
I've never seen a Dan Wesson that needed it. In fact, most of the silhouetters I used to shoot with would tighten the barrel gap until the cylinder barely had clearance and wipe the face of the cylinder off between sessions to prevent any buildup from tying up the revolver.

[madcratebuilder]

Quote:      

I picked up a tool at the show that has 3 different allen wrenches in a T configuration and the barrel spanner at the base of the dropdown leg. Is that a DW made item, or aftermarket? I don't see any markings on it, but it's well made. I gave $15 for it, probably too much, but it will work better on the barrel nut than the spanner that came with the gun.

Is it plastic or metal? OEM is plastic, aftermarket are metal. You can get 25-30 bucks for it on evil-bay.

Quote:      

The guy I got it from said people who got serious about accuracy with them had the front end of the cylinder machined to closer tolerances to make the barrel/cylinder gap exactly the same for the whole cylinder. I've been shooting revolvers for a fair amount of time and have never heard of doing that. It would seem the same thing would hold true for all brands, not just DW. Have any here heard of that trick?

It would nave to be a cheaply made revolver to have such an uneven barrel gap. Even my Italian black powder revolvers are better than that.
One of the nice things about the DW is you can tighten up the gap and get the last few fps out of it.

[DaTeacha]

The body of the tool is red plastic. There are two yellow and one black plastic sleeves protecting the allen wrenches. Glad to hear it's probably DW original. It looks totally unused - no shiny areas on the metal at all.

[madcratebuilder]

Quote:       Originally Posted by DaTeacha

The body of the tool is red plastic. There are two yellow and one black plastic sleeves protecting the allen wrenches. Glad to hear it's probably DW original. It looks totally unused - no shiny areas on the metal at all.

That sounds like a OEM barrel tool. right down to the yellow caps, red tool is for small frame. Blue is for large frames. Be careful using it when you unscrew the barrel nut, they are known to break. I bought a steel one from a guy on evil bay that makes them. My first DW did not come with a tool. Guy at the gun shop said "just use a hammer and punch" That would work, but I don't like using hammers on guns.

[DaTeacha]

Maybe I'll just set it back and use the spanner wrench that came with the gun. Now, more questions - My gun is .357. I presume it's the small frame and a later model based on the barrel nut configuration. Do you have any information regarding model designations and serial numbers? It would be nice to know exactly which one I have. I'm guessing it's a 15-2, but I have not a clue as to what that means or where it fits in the grand scheme of things. The SN is in the 125XXX range.

[madcratebuilder]

This is the best resource I have found for DW.

http://www.danwessonforum.com/

You are correct, the .357mag is a small frame.
I'm not sure how DW ran the serial numbers. My 15-2 is 2488XX, your revolver is a earlier than mine

[DaTeacha]

Thanks for all your help with this. I finally got around to shooting it yesterday. I shot two six shot groups, mostly to see how the gun worked. Both groups were low and left, but I have adjusted the sights while cleaning the gun. The first one, from 20 yards, more or less, was small enough to cover all six with the palm of my hand. This was standing, two hand hold. The second, from 50 yards, was in the same general position with respect to the bull, but lower, lefter, and larger. It was also shot off the bench, but with my eyes and open sights that really didn't make much difference. I could barely pick out the 1" orange dot over the front sight at that range. I really want to scope that barrel.

[madcratebuilder]

Quote:      

The first one, from 20 yards, more or less, was small enough to cover all six with the palm of my hand. This was standing, two hand hold.

That's good shooting.
Did you find what model you have, a 15-2?

[Kaboom]

Worth equals what you are willing to pay..........