**UPDATED - gun replaced**. My Dan Wesson 357 is toast.

greencobra said:
yep, you'll get a voucher towards $2.29 off any current product while the law firm reaps any real benefits.
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i agree 100%. I was just saying the threat to DW of multiple people bringing claims could sway them do the right thing and make Andrew go away - quietly.

$2.29 is actually pretty good from what I’ve seen lol.
 
to paraphrase the DW rep - 'this appears to be the new normal now that we are using a slightly inferior quality steel to increase our profitability'

it is pathetic that a gun that has performed for 30 years gets wrecked by a barrel that's a year old. I agree with the other poster, DW should be falling all over themselves to rectify this situation. That's how reputations are made or broken
 
andrew1220 said:
It’s a 30+ year old gun. Not one of their new 715’s so no warranty unfortunately. But seeing that it’s a barrel bought last year and hasn’t seen many rounds and he admitted via email that there’s some steel issues that’s utter bullshit if I have to be on the hook
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if he said it was ok and then it failed shortly after and you have that on record you have some ground to stand on.
i would stress your concern you had when you sent it to them and they returned it with with a good bill of health?
 
drgrant said:
The coonan curse followed you onto this gun
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You mean the Andrew curse followed him to another one of his guns. Just a sampling.

My Dan Wesson 357 is toast. Sucks.

Stiff bolt 1903A3

Sheered off my Dan Wesson scope base screws today

My first 1903A3 (Smith Corona)!

Coonan 1911 cracked slide??

I remember in another post saying to remind me never to buy a gun from him.

andrew1220 said:
Yeah I was wondering if I should get mad in my email but I'm probably better off staying neutral as you said.
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You have to save mad for later. If you start off with it you can't be nice after, it loses it's effect.

new guy said:
I’m guessing they’ll be reading this thread.
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They would be if it was my gun because I'd send them the link. I'd also tell them about the other forums I use.
 
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dhuze said:
You mean the Andrew curse followed him to another one of his guns. Just a sampling.

My Dan Wesson 357 is toast. Sucks.

Stiff bolt 1903A3

Sheered off my Dan Wesson scope base screws today

My first 1903A3 (Smith Corona)!

Coonan 1911 cracked slide??

I remember in another post saying to remind me never to buy a gun from him.



You have to save mad for later. If you start off with it you can't be nice after, it loses it's effect.



They would be if it was my gun because I'd send them the link. I'd also tell them about the other forums I use.
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Ouch! [rofl] [rofl]
 
G Port said:
to paraphrase the DW rep - 'this appears to be the new normal now that we are using a slightly inferior quality steel to increase our profitability'

it is pathetic that a gun that has performed for 30 years gets wrecked by a barrel that's a year old. I agree with the other poster, DW should be falling all over themselves to rectify this situation. That's how reputations are made or broken
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Yup. I just added up all of my invoices for DW parts and service over the years. Just shy of $2800! Not including my shipping costs. With that added I’m definitely at $3000. Probably chump change to some other DW owners but it shows I’m a loyal customer.
 
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mac1911 said:
if he said it was ok and then it failed shortly after and you have that on record you have some ground to stand on.
i would stress your concern you had when you sent it to them and they returned it with with a good bill of health?
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Agreed. I’m really hoping that email is worth a lot to my side. They have to realize how easily I can spread a screenshot of his email all over the internet.
 
I wouldn't worry too much. They know there are plenty of other companies you can become loyal to. I expect they will make an attempt to correct it. If its not good enough, let them know. They work for you to an extent. Good luck man. Sad end for that gun
 
Sorry for you loss. I hope it works out well. I don't think the reloads should be at issue if the cylinder is fine. I think, rather, that the premature erosion was a signal that the metallurgy was bad.

On a slightly brighter note, Smith told me in the middle of last week, only when prompted, that my 27-9 was fixed and awaiting shipment back to me. It took them all week just to log it in after receiving it, so I guess it will take them a week or so after they finished repairing it to ship it. If I'm lucky, I might get it back this week. Maybe. The broken hammer pivot pin has shaken my faith in the durability of the gun. I thought about selling it, but I decided instead to press the issue by shooting the sh*t out of it. :)
 
andrew1220 said:
I’m trying to figure out the best way to proceed if I should keep it via email so everything is documented or give them a call. And how to word my email as do not piss them off and make them not fix it. I think I should email Bob as well as the Dan Wesson president
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Email; definitely. Otherwise it's "you said..." .vs. "no I didn't, I said...".

Your email should be pretty simple:
1) I contacted DW earlier with my concerns, here's my earlier email and your response; put them right into this email, tab them over and italicize them so that they stand out as exhibits.
2) My barrel just split and wrecked my frame, after you telling me that it was okay to keep shooting it; here are the pictures.
3) I've been a customer of yours for x, and until now have been quite happy to use and recommend your products. I'm not very happy right now.
3) "I look forward to your response"
 
allen-1 said:
Email; definitely. Otherwise it's "you said..." .vs. "no I didn't, I said...".

Your email should be pretty simple:
1) I contacted DW earlier with my concerns, here's my earlier email and your response; put them right into this email, tab them over and italicize them so that they stand out as exhibits.
2) My barrel just split and wrecked my frame, after you telling me that it was okay to keep shooting it; here are the pictures.
3) I've been a customer of yours for x, and until now have been quite happy to use and recommend your products. I'm not very happy right now.
3) "I look forward to your response"
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Good point. Bob emailed me back saying he’ll be back in the shop on Tuesday and will contact me then. I have a sneaking suspicion he’s going to call me instead of emailing me but we’ll see.
 
andrew1220 said:
Good point. Bob emailed me back saying he’ll be back in the shop on Tuesday and will contact me then. I have a sneaking suspicion he’s going to call me instead of emailing me but we’ll see.
Click to expand...

So, send him the email, and as closing - "as per your previous email, I look forward to your response on Tuesday"
 
andrew1220 said:
Anyone know a machine shop where I can test the barrel for hardness??
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Call around. I believe a Brinell hardness tester is a fairly common tool for a machine shop to have.

I have also examined "Tim's" DW revolver and seen the throat erosion of his barrel first hand. I have never seen such bad flame-cutting on a barrel and his gun was fairly new. Definitely some hardness issues in that steel from my admittedly non-professional observations.

I had a Monson manufacture 15-2 4-barrel set "pistol-pack" that was beautiful but I hardly ever shot it so I sold it along. I have only sold off a few firearms in my time but that is one I definitely regret letting go.

I'm hoping that they will make things right for you. I suspect that they will.
 
Mesatchornug said:
MacDiarmid is near you. I'd be surprised if they can't help you out.
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Thanks. I just called them and they said they don’t offer that service apparently.

Now here’s a dumb question because I’m not a machinist or gunsmith but once I get the barrel tested for hardness how do I know what the proper hardness should be?
 
ipscdrl said:
Call around. I believe a Brinell hardness tester is a fairly common tool for a machine shop to have.

I have also examined "Tim's" DW revolver and seen the throat erosion of his barrel first hand. I have never seen such bad flame-cutting on a barrel and his gun was fairly new. Definitely some hardness issues in that steel from my admittedly non-professional observations.

I had a Monson manufacture 15-2 4-barrel set "pistol-pack" that was beautiful but I hardly ever shot it so I sold it along. I have only sold off a few firearms in my time but that is one I definitely regret letting go.

I'm hoping that they will make things right for you. I suspect that they will.
Click to expand...
I spoke with Tim on the phone last night and he had some helpful and interesting information
 
andrew1220 said:
Thanks. I just called them and they said they don’t offer that service apparently.

Now here’s a dumb question because I’m not a machinist or gunsmith but once I get the barrel tested for hardness how do I know what the proper hardness should be?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, there's the rub - hardness alone is not the whole problem.

You might have high surface hardness, but less through the meat of the part. This would be good for wear, but might not hold up against shear. At the opposite end, a fully through-hardened piece of steel might become too brittle for some uses, and shatter under load. The wiki article on heat treating is just that - but if you're bored, it can help you start to see some of the complexity.

If you want to just get a ballpark, this is the cheapest set of hardness files I could find on Amazon in a quick search. For 70 bucks you could scratch everything you own for the lulz. Maybe @warwickben or @Boris has a set, and can be convinced to test your barrel*? You could go so far as to test one of your other barrels at the same time just to compare. Note that this method only tells you about the surface of your part...


*dinner and a movie first?
 
I'm not sure I'm up-to-speed on the context here. Getting the barrel tested might be interesting, but is this just prep for what might end up being a difficult conversation, or have they already been given the first opportunity to own the problem (the catastrophic failure, not the erosion) and tried to weasel out of it? Weaseling out of the erosion issue on a gun that has a user-replaceable barrel seems a bit different from weaseling out a catastrophic failure. The best move for business is to replace the gun. I'd expect it to go the other way only if they were shutting down.
 
meh said:
The best move for business is to replace the gun.
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do they want to replace a frame made by the original dw company which the current cz owned dw had no part in creating? the barrel is another story. me, i would have spoken to dw first, maybe andrew did, and see what they'd do for me before i went public. we don't know exactly what happened and the court of public opinion has already spoken here. 149 posts ahead of me as i write this and some are screaming for a head already.
 

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