time to mod the dan wesson!

[Archer97]

I've had the gun for a few months and I like the gun a lot but like everyone, I need more POWER! And accuracy.

I started with literally the easiest mod in the world, a spring preload adjuster. The gun comes machined for it so its just a matter of finding a nut and bolt to drop in. Then I ground the hammer spring guide down so it wouldn't bottom out on the adjuster slide.

[Archer97]

Next was to give her a rifled barrel. I used the barrel from a 2100. I cut it to size and the only things I had to do to make it fit was grind the muzzle end down an drill the breech out for the 5/16 2100 barrel.

[Archer97]

The final mod (for now) was to grind out the hammer spring retainer so the hammer can get a full stroke on the valve. Then I polished and lubed all the engagement surfaces. Next post will be accuracy testing.

[Archer97]

To take the "me" element out of this I used my muzzle loader scope and a rest and shot at 20 feet. The first picture is before the mods using bbs. And the second picture is after the mods. The circled holes are pellets and the three others are bbs. I'll admit it's not the greatest but I have a few ideas in mind to shrink groups. But for now it shoots good enough that I may roll with it and see how accuracy goes as parts wear in.

[AmBraCol]

This is the first time I've heard of someone modding one of those.  Yep, I'm paying attention!

[fivestar45]

Nice!
So Far So Good...Don't stop now. If you do you'll only make it harder for me when I get into one.

[Archer97]

Did a little more work to the Dan this week, and I finally picked up a chrony!  so the first thing I did was epoxy the barrel into the breech. So I get the best sealing possible. And I het better accuracy because the barrel won't move in the breach. Then I took a dremel and cut a groove lengthwise in the end of the barrel. And epoxyed a small piece of metal in between the two outer Barrel halves where the barrel sits. The pin rides in the groove, stopping the barrel from spinning, increasing accuracy again.

Now for the chrony results! It was 25f outside when I did this and the gun had been sitting for about five minutes before I started shooting. The first ten shot string had and average of 277 with the pellets pushed in the end of the bullets and untuned. Then I started playing with the power adjuster and found out it did more harm than good. I removed it and I got an average of 334. Better but she still had more potential. So I experimented with dropping the pellets in the breach single shot style. And boom, getting an average of 360fps in 25 degrees. So for some reason the bullets slowed the pellets down. The whole time I was playing with tuning I was shooting for accuracy. And at ten yards I got a grouping of 2.5". Not bad for cheap crosman points and a bad 2100 barrel. I can't wait to shoot this beast in the heat of summer.

[crosman999]

 Nice work!! I love the Dan Wessons,good to see people are doing mods to them.                    Here is a 357 I did with a 15" barrel that gets 600+fps          

[Archer97]

Thats one serious 357! If you don't mind my questions.  What gun is the barrel you used from and what  kind of accuracy have you squeezed out of that thing?

[crosman999]

Thanks,the barrel is made by JimC.They use them for Drozed Blackbird machine guns.Its rifled and is close to a direct fit,had to use a drill press to bore out the plastic barrel a bit.The accuracy is 1"at 50yrds and the power increase was astonishing by adding that much length to it.I also epoxied a piece of aluminum to shim the hammer spring to give it a little more power.I gave this gun away in a contest I did a few months ago.I am thinking of doing another and making it into a carbine.They are fun pistols but the Dan Wesson is better quality obviously.I would like to make a .22 or a .25 as well

[Archer97]

1" at 50 is awesome. I have to work to get that out of my benji yet alone a pistol. I think .22 cal would be fun and simple to do..25 I feel like it would need to have some serious upgrades to push that Huge pellet. Like maybe a bulk co2 or hpa conversion along with valve mods but it would be a sweet build.

[crosman999]

Here are some more ideas. The top one has barrel housing made from a hockey stick.haha

[Archer97]

Ugh, all this talk about modding these guns is going to make me go out and buy another Dan Wesson to convert to .22. as if that were a bad thing LOL. That scoped 357 looks nice.

[crosman999]

Yeah they are fun guns indeed.I was thinking of building a .25 single shot with a 12" barrel and machining a top weaver rail to mount a scope to.I have taken a break from them since I got into the MK1 pistol.

[45Bravo]

I have 2 of the of the Dan Wesson's and have been thinking of modding one, and wondered about the use of pellets..

Currently I use the long barreled one for plinking, and when I hold ladies firearm classes, I use the short barreled one for a classroom training aid in familiarizing students with loading and unloading and handling  a revolver safely.

I am interested in seeing where this is going.

Any ideas why the pellets were less accurate when fired from the cases?

Skirt deforming in making the jump to the barrel?
Or the rubber of the shell deforming them while being held?

Ian

[Archer97]

I'm thinking the transition from the bullet to the barrel was deforming them and slowing them down
. The tips of the pellets also stick out a little bit so I'm thinking that when they rub the breech when the cylinder spins it deforms then more.

[crosman999]

To tell you the truth the Shell system not worthy! The problem with them is they are literately being rammed down the chamber when fired and don't get aligned properly in the shells,resulting in loss of power.If you could make "fixed" shells that you load from the rear and don't remove I'm thinking the pellets would be seated before they entered the barrel resulting is more power and better accuracy.??Any thoughts

[45Bravo]

For pellets it does duck, but for bbs it is great.

I lock thE shells in the speed loader, press them in a pellet tin filled with bbs, and it is loaded.
Then do the same with the other shells.

And when loading without the speed loader, just press the shell in the bbs, then load it in the cylinder, it is almost as fast as loading my real revolver..

I fired 2 co2 cartridges through mine today after work, (almost 300 rounds) all at a hanging coke can at 10 yards. Most were hits until the velocity started dropping after the co2 got low.
Then a quick change and back to shooting aGain.

My daughter was shooting witH me, she would load the speed loaders and bbs, while I shot 2 cylinders, then I would load for her while she shot, then trade back again. Constant shooting..

I think I am not going to mess up a good thing at this time..

[45Bravo]

To revive this, They are now selling a pellet version of the dan wesson.

Can you say refit kit??

[Archer97]

Looks like all they did differently is change the bullets and swap barrels so in theory the only thing id have to do to convert is to buy the new bullets.