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Dan Wesson Patriot Expert Review |
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Date: |
11.8.2002 |
| Type: |
Firearm |
| Manufacturer: |
Dan Wesson |
| Author: |
Stephen A. Camp |
| Part 1: First Impressions |
| Hello. I'd hoped that this would be a "range report,"
but just as I was finishing the Form 4473 at my gun dealer's,
the rains came and they've not stopped. Maybe tomorrow?
In the meantime, I decided to examine my new pistol closely
and give my impressions for whatever that might be worth to
those perhaps interested in one of these as they're not too
widely seen ... yet! From what I've seen, that might very
well be changing!
This pistol is the stainless steel Patriot Expert and caliber
is .45 ACP. It has sights obviously fashioned after Bomar's
excellent adjustable sight and the front sight, which dovetails
in the slide, is reminiscent of Benelli's B-76 9mm, kind of
a shark fin shape.
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| The barrel's smoothly crowned with no nicks or visible
mistakes. |
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| This picture shows the pistol's sights pretty clearly as
well as the polished slide and frame flats. The top and rear
of the slide, front grip strap, and trigger guard are matte
finished. The most obvious "difference" in this 1911
is obviously the external extractor. The front sight has one
white dot while the rear sight's black. |
| The pistol has a solid, polished stainless bushing
and a two-piece FLGR. The slide runs very smoothly despite
a very nice fit to the frame. I detect very little lateral
movement and no vertical movement. |
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| Here's how the slide fits the Patriot frame as viewed from
the front at the dust cover; it's well-centered. |
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| ...and from the rear... |
| The trigger is an aluminum part from McCormick and
the pistol arrived with one 8-round McCormick stainless "Power
Mag." The trigger had been set at the factory such that there
was a bare minimum of overtravel. The magazine release, stainless
and checkered, didn't appear to be either shorter or longer
than "normal." I was pleased that the magazine release
spring is good and firm.
Stocks are the checkered "diamond" pattern of cocobola
and they looked darned nice to me. I also noticed that the
stainless grip screws are slotted more thinly to work with
common gunsmithing screwdrivers and when tightened in place,
the slots on all four are vertical. Kind of a nice touch!
I also noticed that the leading edge to the slide stop is
nicely melted and sharp edges along the slide's muzzle area
are nicely broken.
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| The "marks" visible are not! They're fingerprints...mine! |
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| View of the external extractor. The slide serrations are
nicely cut and even as well. |
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| Another view of the external extractor doing what it does.
Again, the "marks" are my fingerprints. |
| The trigger pull on the pistol was very clean
and light; I'd estimate it at 4lbs or less and very little over-travel.
It should be a shooter.
As I don't care for ambi's, I was pleasantly surprised to
note a single-sided, extended thumb safety which engaged positively
in the "on" position, but required no undue effort
to wipe off. Operation is positive and not at all mushy.
I was also quite impressed with the fact that the rear of
the slide was NOT just machined away enough for the Bomar
type sight to sit. This won't help shooting, but it does offer
just a wee bit more protection to the rear sight assembly,
but MAINLY it looks good!
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| The stainless steel barrel is fit to the slide such
that it locks up dead bang solid; there is no movement. Up to
the last 1/2" or so toward the muzzle, the barrel measures
about 0.57"; the last half-inch or so, it measures 0.58."
I strongly suspect this gun will "shoot."
I'm further helped along in that belief when I see the "proof"
target enclosed with my pistol. In the picture below, I've
added three ball rounds for photographic purposes, but keep
in mind that the test target, fired at 50', consists of 5
shots.
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| The standard frame/barrel feed ramp's throated and polished
and is expected to feed smoothly. |
| So, here's another look at the pistol. I suspect
it'll shoot up a storm, but won't know of course, until I get
it to the range. I will do a range report as soon as possible. |
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