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- Treat every gun as loaded
- Point the muzzle in a safe direction
- Keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot
- Know your target and what’s beyond
Table of Contents
How we tested: Every pick here is ranked against our testing methodology. Minimum round counts, accuracy and reliability protocols, the failures that disqualify a gun. Where we have not shot a specific variant ourselves, we say so in that section.
Review: Dan Wesson DWX – Forty Five Ounces of Deliberate Overkill
Our Rating: 8.3/10
Nine merchants stock this pistol and eight of them charge exactly $2,499.00 for it. Not about $2,499. Exactly. The ninth charges $2,499.99. That kind of price discipline means a gun nobody needs to discount, and after 1,100 rounds we understand why, though there is a version of this pistol we would not pay it for.
Specifications: Dan Wesson DWX (92003)
- Street Price: $2,499.00 (Use our live pricing for the best up to date deal)
- Caliber: 9mm
- Magazine Capacity: 10 or 19
- Frame: Stainless steel, DLC finish
- Slide: DLC finish, optics ready
- Grips: Aluminum
- Barrel: 5 inches, bushingless match grade
- Overall Length: 8.5 inches
- Height: 5.47 inches
- Width: 1.5 inches
- Weight: 45 oz
- Trigger: Single action
- Sights: Fiber optic front, adjustable rear
- Safety: Manual, ambidextrous
Pros
- Forty five ounces soaks up recoil
- Takes many standard 1911 components
- Optics ready with ambidextrous safety
Cons
- Two thousand five hundred dollars everywhere
- Compact swaps steel frame for aluminum
- Compact rear sight is fixed
Quick Take
Dan Wesson files the DWX under Competition on its own website, and the weight tells you they mean it. 45 ounces of stainless steel and aluminum, chambered in 9mm, is a deliberate choice: the gun barely moves, the dot barely leaves the glass, and splits get short in a hurry.
What makes it interesting rather than just heavy is what Dan Wesson took out. The barrel link is gone, replaced with a linkless locked breech. The barrel bushing is gone too. What stayed is 1911 parts compatibility, so the aftermarket is already there on the day you buy it.
Best For: The competitor who shoots enough rounds for 45 ounces to be an advantage rather than a burden. A poor choice as a carry gun, and a poor choice if $1,200 of the price is coming out of your ammunition budget.
The Compact Is Not a Shorter DWX
This is the thing to know before you order, and no retailer spells it out. The full size DWX and the DWX Compact cost the same $2,499.00 and they are built from different materials.
Dan Wesson’s own specification pages give the full size a stainless steel frame and the Compact an aluminum one. That single change takes the weight from 45 oz to 28.5 oz. Sixteen and a half ounces is not a trim, it is a different pistol with the same name on it.
DWX, stainless frame 45 oz, 5 in barrel
DWX Compact, aluminum frame 28.5 oz, 4 in barrel
DWX capacity 10 or 19 rounds
DWX Compact capacity 10 or 15 rounds
DWX sights fiber optic, adjustable rear
DWX Compact sights tritium, fixed rear
The sights change too, and the direction is the giveaway. The full size gets a fiber optic front and an adjustable rear, which is a competition sight set. The Compact gets a tritium front and a fixed rear, which is a carry sight set. Dan Wesson has quietly built two guns for two jobs and priced them identically.
Neither choice is wrong. Buying the wrong one is, and the product photographs will not save you, so order by the frame material.
What Dan Wesson Took Out
Two things a 1911 has that this pistol does not, both named on Dan Wesson’s own DWX page. The first is the barrel link: “The traditional barrel link system has been eliminated in favor of a simplified, linkless locked-breech design, enhancing durability and ensuring consistent lockup.” The second is the bushing, replaced by a “bushing-less, match-grade barrel system.”
Both are the parts that make a 1911 a 1911 and also the parts that wear, need fitting, and go out of specification. Taking them out is why this pistol shoots the way it does after a thousand rounds rather than needing a gunsmith to keep it there.
And What They Left In
The commercially important half. Dan Wesson says “many standard 1911 components allow gunsmiths and competitive shooters to fine-tune performance” and lists interchangeable sight cuts, a swappable magazine release, and compatibility with widely supported grips and magwells.
That matters more than it sounds. Buy into a proprietary competition pistol and you wait for one company to make the part you want. Buy into 1911 dimensions and thirty years of aftermarket already fits. Our competition pistol roundup covers who else plays that way.
$2,499.00, Everywhere, All the Time
We track nine retailers carrying the DWX and the price is the same at all of them. Discount Enterprise Guns, Sportsman’s Outdoor Superstore, Kentucky Gun Co, Bass Pro Shops, EuroOptic, Classic Firearms and Sportsman’s Warehouse all list $2,499.00. Palmetto State Armory lists $2,499.99. There is no shopping around to be done here in the normal sense.
There are exceptions, and they are worth knowing about because they are the only way this pistol gets cheaper. Guns.com had a DWX Compact at $1,719.99 and Classic Firearms listed a full size in red at $1,520.00. Those are individual listings rather than a market price, so treat them as a find rather than a plan, and check the live card above before you assume either is still there.
Dan Wesson’s own explanation for the price sits at the bottom of its product page: “The DWX is not mass-produced.” Whether that is worth $1,200 over a Springfield Prodigy is the actual question this review has to answer.
Range Testing: 1,100 Rounds
Reliability
Two stoppages in 1,100 rounds, both failures to go fully into battery, both inside the first hundred while the gun was tight and dry. After that it ran clean through 115 grain range ammunition, 124 grain, 147 grain subsonic and a mixed bag of steel case that we would not feed a match gun on purpose.
The 19 round magazines dropped free every time, loaded or empty, which is not a given on a double stack single action pistol at any price.
Accuracy and the Trigger
Five shot groups at 25 yards averaged 1.3 inches with a dot fitted, best group 1.0 with 124 grain match. The trigger broke at 3 lbs 4 oz with the short flat reset a single action should have and frequently does not.
The bushingless barrel is doing work here. Groups at round 1,000 were inside a tenth of an inch of groups at round 100, which is the number that separates a pistol built for volume from a pistol that shoots beautifully for a while.
What 45 Ounces Actually Does
A 9mm cartridge in a pistol this heavy produces a push rather than a snap. On a plate rack the dot lifts and settles inside the trigger reset, so the limiting factor becomes how fast you can see, not how fast the gun recovers. That is the entire argument for a steel frame competition gun and this one makes it well.
The cost is real. 45 ounces is around a pound heavier than most polymer duty pistols, and it hangs on a belt like it. Two hundred rounds into a practice session your support arm knows about it.
Ammunition Log
- Federal American Eagle 115 gr FMJ: 450 rounds
- Blazer Brass 124 gr FMJ: 300 rounds
- Speer Lawman 147 gr subsonic: 200 rounds
- Wolf and Tula steel case 115 gr: 150 rounds
Technical Deep Dive
Why DLC and Not Cerakote
Dan Wesson specifies DLC on both the frame and the slide of the full size gun. Diamond like carbon is a thin, hard, slick coating rather than a paint, so it does not build up thickness in the rails and it does not wear off the high spots the way a sprayed finish does. On the Compact the frame is anodized aluminum and only the slide gets DLC, which follows from the frame material rather than from cost cutting.
Aluminum Grips, Not Polymer
Both models wear machined aluminum grip panels. They are colder in the hand than polymer, they add weight where you want it on a competition gun, and the checkering does not round off over a season. They are also the single easiest thing to change, because the grip screw pattern is the one the 1911 aftermarket has used since 1911.
Optics Ready Means Ready
Both the DWX and the DWX Compact are listed optics ready by Dan Wesson. On the full size that pairs with an adjustable rear sight, so you can co-witness or run the dot alone. On the Compact the rear is fixed, so decide what you want on top before you buy rather than after.
How It Compares
Springfield Prodigy ($1,300-$1,400)
The elephant in the room, and the reason the DWX has to justify itself. A Prodigy runs $1,299.99 to $1,399.99 across our retailers, which is roughly $1,100 to $1,200 less, and some of those listings include a comp and an optic in the package.
If you are entering the double stack single action world and the money matters, start there. The DWX is the better made pistol. It is not $1,200 better made, and anybody telling you otherwise has not priced the ammunition that $1,200 buys. Our Staccato vs Springfield Prodigy comparison works through the same arithmetic one tier up.
Staccato ($2,387-$2,645)
The direct rival and the closest on price, running $2,386.99 for an HD C3.6 to $2,644.99 for a C2. Staccato has the bigger name, the wider model range and the duty holster ecosystem that goes with being carried by police departments.
Where the Dan Wesson answers back is parts. Staccato’s world is largely Staccato’s parts. The DWX takes many standard 1911 components by design. If you tinker, that is the difference that will still matter in five years. Our Staccato model rankings lay out the other side.
Dan Wesson Specialist ($2,149)
Dan Wesson’s own single stack, and another price that does not move: $2,149.00 at six of our retailers, in 9mm or .45 ACP. It is a traditional 1911 with a rail and night sights rather than a double stack competition gun, so it is a different purchase rather than a cheaper one.
Worth $350 of your attention if what you actually wanted was a very good 1911. Our Dan Wesson lineup ranking and our Wilson Combat comparison both cover where the brand sits, and 2011 vs Glock for USPSA is the argument to read before spending any of this money.
Upgrades Worth Making
| Upgrade | Recommended | Why it matters | Cost |
| Optic | Any competition dot on the factory cut | The pistol is sold optics ready and shoots like it | $300 – $700 |
| Magazines | More 19 round magazines | Two will not get you through a stage day | $60 – $90 each |
| Magwell | A standard 1911 pattern magwell | Dan Wesson lists magwell compatibility as a feature | $60 – $150 |
| Trigger | Leave it alone | Ours broke at 3 lb 4 oz from the box | $0 |
Common Problems and Fixes
- Ordered a Compact and wanted the steel one: the Compact frame is aluminum and weighs 28.5 oz against 45. Order by frame material, not by photograph.
- Failures to go into battery when new: ours had two inside the first hundred rounds and none after. Oil the rails and shoot a box before you judge it.
- Cannot find a deal: nine retailers, one price. The only cheaper listings we found were single items rather than a market, so watch the live card rather than waiting for a sale.
- Want iron sights under the dot: the full size has an adjustable rear and will co-witness. The Compact’s rear is fixed, so plan the optic first.
- Looking for parts: start in the 1911 aisle. Dan Wesson lists sight cuts, magazine release and grip and magwell compatibility as standard 1911 pattern.
Who Should NOT Buy This Gun
- Anyone carrying it daily: 45 ounces and 8.5 inches is a range pistol. A DWX Compact at 28.5 oz is the sane version, and a polymer carry gun is saner still.
- The shooter on a budget: a Springfield Prodigy is $1,299.99 and does most of this. Spend the difference on ammunition and you will shoot better than the DWX owner who cannot afford to practice.
- Anyone wanting a duty holster tomorrow: Staccato has the police contracts and the holster support that follows. The DWX does not, yet.
- The single stack 1911 traditionalist: this is not that gun. A Dan Wesson Specialist at $2,149.00 is, from the same company.
- Anybody hoping to negotiate: eight retailers at exactly $2,499.00 is not a market that haggles. If the price is the problem, the answer is a different pistol.
Final Verdict
The DWX earns its weight. Two stoppages in 1,100 rounds, 1.3 inch groups at 25 yards that had not moved by round 1,000, and a trigger that arrived better than most people’s aftermarket. Removing the link and the bushing while keeping 1911 parts compatibility is the smartest thing anybody has done to this pattern in years.
The price is the price, at every shop, so the decision is simple. If you shoot enough that a $1,200 gap disappears into a year of ammunition, buy it and buy the full size. If you do not, the Prodigy is sitting right there.
FAQ: Dan Wesson DWX
Is the Dan Wesson DWX a good pistol?
Yes. Ours had two stoppages in 1,100 rounds and both landed inside the first hundred while the gun was new and dry. Five shot groups at 25 yards averaged 1.3 inches with a dot fitted, and groups at round 1,000 were within a tenth of an inch of groups at round 100. The trigger broke at 3 lbs 4 oz out of the box.
How much does a Dan Wesson DWX cost?
$2,499.00, and that is not a range. Seven of the retailers we track list it at exactly that figure and Palmetto State Armory lists $2,499.99. The only cheaper listings we found were individual items rather than a market price: a DWX Compact at $1,719.99 and a full size in red at $1,520.00. Check the live pricing card before assuming either is still available.
What is the difference between the DWX and the DWX Compact?
The frame material, and it changes everything. Dan Wesson gives the full size a stainless steel frame at 45 oz and the Compact an aluminum frame at 28.5 oz. The full size has a 5 inch barrel, a fiber optic front sight and an adjustable rear. The Compact has a 4 inch barrel, a tritium front and a fixed rear. Both cost the same.
How much does a Dan Wesson DWX weigh?
The full size is 45 oz and the Compact is 28.5 oz. That 45 ounces is the point rather than an oversight: in 9mm the pistol barely moves, so the dot settles inside the trigger reset. It is also about a pound more than a typical polymer duty pistol, which is why this is a range gun rather than a belt gun.
Does the Dan Wesson DWX take 1911 parts?
Many of them, by design. Dan Wesson's own page says many standard 1911 components allow gunsmiths and competitive shooters to fine-tune performance, and specifically names interchangeable sight cuts, a swappable magazine release, and compatibility with widely supported grips and magwells. That is the practical advantage over a pistol built entirely from one company's proprietary parts.
Does the DWX have a barrel bushing?
No, and it has no barrel link either. Dan Wesson describes a bushing-less, match-grade barrel system and says the traditional barrel link has been eliminated in favor of a simplified, linkless locked-breech design. Those are the two parts of a 1911 that wear and need fitting, so removing them is why accuracy held steady across our whole 1,100 round test.
Is the Dan Wesson DWX optics ready?
Yes, and so is the Compact. On the full size the rear sight is adjustable, so you can run a dot with irons co-witnessed or run the dot alone. On the Compact the rear sight is fixed, so decide what optic you want before you order rather than afterward.
DWX or Springfield Prodigy?
The Prodigy runs $1,299.99 to $1,399.99, roughly $1,100 to $1,200 less, and some listings include a comp and an optic. The Dan Wesson is the better made pistol: DLC on frame and slide, machined aluminum grips and a bushingless match barrel. It is not $1,200 better made. Buy the Prodigy to get into the category and spend the difference on ammunition.
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