I'm on my sixth Model 15-2, I sold the previous ones because I needed money, and I shot thousands of full loads through one of them, probably close to 5000, and the only thing was a tiny little top strap flame cut that I used stainless steel foil to prevent after a certain point, and the forcing cone on the original barrel became very smooth. The gun was amazingly accurate, and at that time, I could shoot pretty well. I never saw a cracked DW frame, but I bulged a barrel once after I had a couple of rounds that sounded "off", and I didn't check it. I bought a new barrel for $25, and was back shooting in 10 minutes. I saw a bent crane once, I don't know how they did that. The frame was fine, and I sold the owner a crane from the box of parts told about below.
I have had two really great deals on .357 DW's, one was a box of used and new parts that I bought from a guy who had closed his shop. I paid $50 for it, and I put together an entire 4" VH gun while sitting in Burger King's parking lot, and I kept one of the other shroud and barrel sets, and sold the other 3 with carry wear on them for over $350 total. There were sets of all the small parts, sight blades, etc, and I sold most of those too, but kept two sets of almost everything that would possibly break, and I got another $300 for all that stuff. I sold the parts gun a couple years ago for over $300. It shot great, the frame had a few scratches on it, and I had to loctite the cylinder stop, big deal. About $1000 for a $50 investment is hard to beat!
My other great deal was on a 715, 6" VH. Hardly fired, one scratch on the barrel shroud, and just about perfect otherwise, two factory grips, and one custom grip, a holster, a soft rug case, the box, manual, wrench, and an extra barrel nut. All for $269! I couldn't believe nobody bid on it for days but me! I kept wondering,"What am I missing on this? Why isn't it being bid on?", but I wasn't missing anything. I was at work when the auction ended, and the last 15 minutes were really stressful, as I expected a flurry at the end, but there was a single bid for $264 and I had already maxed my bid at $350, so I outbid him instantly. When it came to my FFL, he said, "How much did you say you paid for this thing?", and when I told him, $289, with shipping, he shook his head, and said, "Wow, that's crazy, it looks like it was shot once and put away!". I took it home and stripped it down and the transfer bar just had the very beginnings of a shiny spot on it, so it hadn't been even dry fired much at all. I put a hundred .38's and .357's through it, and it shot great! The transfer bar's shiny spot doubled in size by the time I put the second half dozen rounds through it, so it hadn't been shot much at all.
I did well on my 44 too, I got it for $405, and again, I kept thinking, "What am I missing?", since nobody bid on it but me and one other guy, and he stopped a day before it was over. It, like my 715 was barely fired, and the only "flaw" was the plum frame. Big deal, I actually kind of like it. I had to buy a wrench for it, but it came in an aftermarket aluminum case, and there was a bolt, and an extra SS barrel nut under the foam. The barrel nut on the gun hadn't been taken off before, and I had to soak it with break free for an hour and it finally let go. The insides were loaded with that wierd white "lube" that turns to something like chalk when it ages, but other than that, it was just about perfect.
