After my experiences with the Staccato in the other thread, I sold it as quickly as I could, and picked up a Dan Wesson DWX Compact. I've been wanting one since they announced back in 2019, and the compact started showing up in June. I do have a full-size on order that is getting "the works" done at Cajun Gun Works, but this one I wanted to spend some time with before I do anything to it.
For me, combine the DW Pointman-9 and the CZ-75, and you are combining the best features of two of my all-time favorite production guns. For me, who has a fair amount of custom 1911's, and a few 2011's, this combo tends to blur the line between production and custom. Personally, for me, the thin grips, and beavertail really suit my high grip, and what I love is no grip safety. Typically on my comp guns I'd pin the grip safety to disable it, but I'd rather just not have something that I'm not using.
I had to go digging back, but I shoot this better than any of the comparable Wilson's that I had run in the past, smaller 2011's, it just feels right in my hand. Being fair, I probably had 150k rounds thru a couple of CZ-Shadow's when I was competing, so its instantly familiar, and that's probably the biggest reason this one feels like it belongs in my hand, and I was instantly comfortable with it. After about 300 rounds, I started to ramp up splits and transitions, and was running .15-.18, but my transitions were slow, in the .4 range. The issue for me are the sights. I really hate the rear battlehook u-shaped sight. I've never been a fan, and would really prefer a square rear sight, and probably a front fiber optic, with some room. For a defensive gun, just square off the rear sight. Also, I know they had this design in 2019, but no idea why they didn't take the time to design the slide with an optic plate. To put one on, gotta mill the slide. I'm not entirely against the idea, but not having the optic plate is definitely a mistake. (My 2 cents at least)
While I absolutely could carry this, and probably will at some time when there are some more holster offerings available, I'll continue for now with my little Canik MC9. Cheaper than the comparable 2011 models, and the Wilson offerings, but still substantially more expensive than polymer options. Somehow I think that the compact should be priced cheaper than the full-size, because there aren't enough fanboys (like me) who will go out and buy this one. The other advantage is the magazines run $25 to $30 for the CZ 75 Compact's that it uses. Hell of a lot less that I was paying for 2011 mag's.
Some decisions on sights, plus considering letting CGW do their trigger work on this guy, but honestly? This trigger is great out of the box, not sure $300 is worth it to make it "stupid good", especially for something I'm considering as a carry gun. It's got easy accuracy, yes, better than pretty much every polymer gun I've run, and I think it'll compare at least with some of the custom's, at a fraction of the price (still way too much money.) About 800 rounds total thru it, it's ran flawlessly so far, zero failure to feed or extract.
I can see this rapidly becoming an absolute all-time favorite for me. Definitely has me excited for the Cajunized full-size that's going to be on the way fairly soon.
I hate saying it, but for me, just for me, this gun delivered on the four year delay, and it's everything that Staccato claims that they are, but this just does it better. Again, my two cents, I can see why people like the Staccato, but this one just fits...perfectly.
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Oh and if ATF or a .gov agency ever reads it, this is was just my thoughts about it before that horrible boating accident that ended with all of my firearms at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. My new standard disclaimer! 😂
For me, combine the DW Pointman-9 and the CZ-75, and you are combining the best features of two of my all-time favorite production guns. For me, who has a fair amount of custom 1911's, and a few 2011's, this combo tends to blur the line between production and custom. Personally, for me, the thin grips, and beavertail really suit my high grip, and what I love is no grip safety. Typically on my comp guns I'd pin the grip safety to disable it, but I'd rather just not have something that I'm not using.
I had to go digging back, but I shoot this better than any of the comparable Wilson's that I had run in the past, smaller 2011's, it just feels right in my hand. Being fair, I probably had 150k rounds thru a couple of CZ-Shadow's when I was competing, so its instantly familiar, and that's probably the biggest reason this one feels like it belongs in my hand, and I was instantly comfortable with it. After about 300 rounds, I started to ramp up splits and transitions, and was running .15-.18, but my transitions were slow, in the .4 range. The issue for me are the sights. I really hate the rear battlehook u-shaped sight. I've never been a fan, and would really prefer a square rear sight, and probably a front fiber optic, with some room. For a defensive gun, just square off the rear sight. Also, I know they had this design in 2019, but no idea why they didn't take the time to design the slide with an optic plate. To put one on, gotta mill the slide. I'm not entirely against the idea, but not having the optic plate is definitely a mistake. (My 2 cents at least)
While I absolutely could carry this, and probably will at some time when there are some more holster offerings available, I'll continue for now with my little Canik MC9. Cheaper than the comparable 2011 models, and the Wilson offerings, but still substantially more expensive than polymer options. Somehow I think that the compact should be priced cheaper than the full-size, because there aren't enough fanboys (like me) who will go out and buy this one. The other advantage is the magazines run $25 to $30 for the CZ 75 Compact's that it uses. Hell of a lot less that I was paying for 2011 mag's.
Some decisions on sights, plus considering letting CGW do their trigger work on this guy, but honestly? This trigger is great out of the box, not sure $300 is worth it to make it "stupid good", especially for something I'm considering as a carry gun. It's got easy accuracy, yes, better than pretty much every polymer gun I've run, and I think it'll compare at least with some of the custom's, at a fraction of the price (still way too much money.) About 800 rounds total thru it, it's ran flawlessly so far, zero failure to feed or extract.
I can see this rapidly becoming an absolute all-time favorite for me. Definitely has me excited for the Cajunized full-size that's going to be on the way fairly soon.
I hate saying it, but for me, just for me, this gun delivered on the four year delay, and it's everything that Staccato claims that they are, but this just does it better. Again, my two cents, I can see why people like the Staccato, but this one just fits...perfectly.
Oh and if ATF or a .gov agency ever reads it, this is was just my thoughts about it before that horrible boating accident that ended with all of my firearms at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. My new standard disclaimer! 😂
