How long has CZ owned the Dan Wesson name?

[taylorkh]

A neighbor of mine has a Dan Wesson 1911 which he purchased used a few years back. The story was that a veteran had found it in the sand in Iraq and brought it back. They should have left it in the desert    He had brought it to my range a couple of years ago and I recall it had an issue with the magazine not dropping free and some other issues which I do not recall.  Yesterday we went to work on it.

The lower is of Colt series 80 style with the firing pin block mechanism although the series 80 parts were replaced with a spacer.  The slide is a traditional design - no firing pin block. Both are marked Dan Wesson.  Among the problems we identified were a defective slide stop which the magazine follower would override; a totally hosed disconnector - .050" shorter than a normal one, the slide hangs up on it when pulled all the way back and it makes the slide very hard to move; the hammer follows the slide sometimes (sometimes); the trigger pull is sometimes light and somtimes almost impossible etc.

Replacing the slide stop fixed the mag issue. Replacing the disconnector resulted in a totally non-functional pistol. The new disconnector, being longer, locks up the slide hard when it is fully retracted. I would send it back to Iraq and ask for it to be reburied but my friend spent some coin on it and will probably spend some more good money after bad. That said, what I am wondering...

How can we tell if CZ made this POS under the Dan Wesson name? I suspect that some intermediate company might have been responsible for its production between when the original DW went out of business and CZ assumed the brand name. I have a CZ75 Compact and it seems very well made.  Current Dan Wesson 1911s seem to bring premium prices. I hope CZ did not build the boat anchor in question.

TIA,

Ken

p.s. There was a model name on the thing but darned if I can recall what it was.

[Raven45]

According to Wikipedia, CZ acquired Dan Wesson early in 2005

[taylorkh]

Thanks Raven45.  I have also come across that date in my research this morning. It seems that the "Dan Wesson" company was acquired by CZ, not the Dan Wesson name being manufactured by some intermediary. That said...

The pistol in question is marked Pointman PM2 on the frame and PM Minor on the slide.  The serial number is LOW in the MRxxxxx range. The upper and lower would not appear to be correct for one another as the frame has the series 80 style firing pin block cutouts and a spacer plate in stead of the firing pin linkage.  The slide is a series 70 style - no firing pin block. Now we have to figure out how to make it work (or how to get it sent back to the desert for burial 

Ken

[SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM]

Sounds like some kitchen table engineers have been at work on the gun already. If it's a mismatched upper and lower then you may well need a competent 1911 smith to get it functioning correctly.
The slide hanging up on the disconnect could be as simple as an overly tight center leaf on the 3 finger spring. Knowing how to properly tune all 3 fingers of that spring is key to proper function among other things. Pics would be helpful.

[taylorkh]

Thanks  SI VIS PACEM PARRABELLUM,

We have it resolved, well mostly.  The "pistol" seems to be a collection of out of spec, mis-matched parts.  We replaced the too short disconnector and the sear which had some grinding on the lower legs. We then tried several hammers.  The issue with the hammer following the slide forward was solved. However, the hammer would not drop. To save time while doing this we did not fully assemble the pistol. Simply replaced the slide and held it in place while testing the hammer/trigger. We found by accident that the hammer would drop if the slide was slightly FORWARD of the normal battery position. Bingo!

Examining the slide from a Colt Series 80 which we were using for comparison I observed that the front end of the disconnector slot had been ground after the finish was applied. (By the factory, not me.) I also recalled seeing a tool for scraping this slot - don't recall where.

I located a diamond rotary bit of suitable dimensions and, mindful of the out of battery safety check, the front of the slot was extended a tiny bit. That did the trick. 100 rounds fired successfully.  The remaining issues are the need to replace the slide stop which does not reliably hold open after the last round and to lap the slide/frame fit which is ROUGH.

Ken