Why are Used .357 Dan Wesson 15 so cheap?

[dougk]

I am looking at the Dan Wesson model 15 used.  Why are they so inexpensive?  I am finding them for $250.  And they are rated as great guns.  Is it the .357 round not being popular?  Is it that revolvers are not popular?  

Thanks,
Doug

[unspellable]

Inate conservitism on the part of gun bugs.  It don't look like a S&W or Colt.

Sort of like motorcycles.  A Harley Davidson has good resale value but almost any other motorcycle is better.  But try and tell that to a Harley man.

[RollTide]

Doug,
I have bought Mod. 15's for $150.  I still own them and they still shoot great.  I once had the chance to buy a DW 357 AND a DW 44 for $300 total, but I did not have $300 (I was a struggling college student at the time) Some of the reasons why used Dan Wesson guns are cheap is because the have had financial problems in the past and the company has gone into and out of business a couple times.   One reason the price has started to go up again is that Bob Serva bought the company and started making the same designs with the same great quality, if not even better.  Most recently they have just been purchased by the popular Czech company CZ.   Anyway, some think the company might not be around and that always reduced resale value.  As Unspellable said, the DW design is just so radically different from the norm, that many have a hard time accepting it, even though it is radically better.  That should begin to change as many companies, most notably S&W, have begun to incorporate DW features.  The new S&W X frames have a barrel and sleeve just like Dan Wesson and Dan Wesson was consulted in the design process for the new Smith.  However, S&W made the barrel change a proprietary factory process instaed of making it possible for interhcangeable barrels like Dan Wesson.

All I can say is, if I can get twice the gun for half the price, I am not complaining.

Roll Tide

[brownie_bellows]

a good share of the reason is that there is a widespread perception lingering that the DW quality is bad. In the early 80s there was a period where DW turned out some poorly machined stuff and this rep lingers.
 
I bought a pistol pack back then at a gun show and found that the cylinder chambers were machined so rough inside that cases wouldn't eject after firing hot loads. I tried to return gun and was told by seller and a number of shop owners that that was just normal for DW and I should have known better than to buy one. Also, in the early 80s I bought an 8" barrel new and found the surface where it mates to frame was so far out of tolerance that it would creep loose after a few rounds and had to be retightened continually. Needless to say, accuracy was bad. To the credit of the Seth Wesson era management, however, the factory took it back and machined it properly, reblued it (all for free) and it has been great since then.
 
All four of my DW are early, mid and late 70s production and, of course, are nice, as are models from 90s on. but the stigma still lingers, along with ignorance of what fine guns these are.

[IntrepidWizard]

i got one of the first ones with a 4' and a 6" barrels and they were all made with Piano wire ,I got rid of it in 3 months.

[brownie_bellows]

I have two 15-2 models and have added two model 12s (one with exterior nut and one with internal nut). Although the old model 12s are ugly, they still shoot and handle fine. Which models were made with piano wire...and what do you mean?

[unspellable]

Springs are sometimes made from piano wire.

[brownie_bellows]

I thought maybe he was going someplace like South American guns being made of steel from the German ship Graf Spee or something. Piano wire's good.