BOUGHT my #1 the Dan Wesson CBob

[TriggerMan]

I recently started another thread, about the ten guns I'd like to look at closer and possibly buy. The #1 gun on my list was the Dan Wesson Classic Commander with a bobbed grip, aka the DW CBOB. It was mentioned as desirable by a couple of other members.

These have been out of production for close to a year. I have been wanting one since I learned of them and saw a few pictures. Our Moderator, Bawana has one, and that alone is reason enough to get one. Imitation being the most sincere form of flattery. :o

The story starts with me half jokingly creating a WTB ad in our Marketplace. To my surprise, I was soon contacted by an occasion lurker on KahrTalk. The seller had perfect feedback on GunBroker with 211 transactions. He is a active member on the 1911 Forum. After trading a few emails and reviewing pictures he took, I accepted the price he offered me. I think it was fair and possibly reflected some minor cosmetic issues I need to attend to.

The gun isn't stock. It has a stainless Ed Brown bushing to replace the black factory one. The MSH was replaced with an Ed Brown so that there is checkering on both frt and rear straps. The stock trigger was replaced with a solid Ed Brown. The mags are 2 Chip McCormick 8 rnders.

I mailed my USPS MO earlier today, but decided to share his pictures before I receive the gun.

The first picture is one captured on the web. My apologies to the 'author' for not giving credit. All the others share a b&w camo background and were taken recently by the seller. The cosmetic issues are a small scratch from the take down lever and some discoloration on the hammer. I welcome any ideas as to fixing these DIY. A second post was needed to add more than 5 pics.

[TriggerMan]

Here they are....

[Bawanna]

Very nice, gonna be a tough few days waiting to hold it. JohnH has a 10mm Cbob, I think Tucson has one in 45 also. I actually fell in love when I first joined kahrtalk. One of my first cyber wives had one MX5fan. Saw hers and I had to have one.

Hammer ain't that bad but you could probably just polish it or refinish it if you want it black.

[Bill K]

Magic Marker should take care of the hammer... :D

That is one good looking piece.

[TucsonMTB]

Very nice, gonna be a tough few days waiting to hold it. JohnH has a 10mm Cbob, I think Tucson has one in 45 also. I actually fell in love when I first joined kahrtalk. One of my first cyber wives had one MX5fan. Saw hers and I had to have one.

Hammer ain't that bad but you could probably just polish it or refinish it if you want it black.
Yep! The hammer is steel, not stainless, so a bit of carefully applied Birchwood Cassey Super Blue (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21mIxgFGq-L._SL500_AA300_.jpg) (use a lightly dampened Q-Tip) will touch it up nicely.

Scratches on the flats are easy to remove with fine crocus cloth or wet-or-dry sand paper. If you first test on an area under the grips to learn how to match the existing finish, you should have good luck.

The scratch in the round area near the trigger can be mostly hidden by tapping with the end of a dowel with a disk of coarse sandpaper attached to simulate the original bead blasting.

According to the serial number, my CBOB was built in 2006. It was acquired, used, by me a little more than a year later and originally had marks similar to yours. But, not any more after doing what I just described. That said, the stainless is soft enough that you will install your own marks in other places eventually, unless you are more careful or graceful than I am. Actually, "more graceful" would not be hard. I am a klutz. :o

Welcome to the CBOB club! :)

http://home.mindspring.com/%7Ejustsomeguy/DWgrips.jpg
Old picture. Not loaded. Yeah, I know the safety should be on anyway.

[TriggerMan]

Yep! The hammer is steel, not stainless, so a bit of carefully applied Birchwood Cassey Super Blue (http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21mIxgFGq-L._SL500_AA300_.jpg) (use a lightly dampened Q-Tip) will touch it up nicely.

Scratches on the flats are easy to remove with fine crocus cloth or wet-or-dry sand paper. If you first test on an area under the grips to learn how to match the existing finish, you should have good luck.

The scratch in the round area near the trigger can be mostly hidden by tapping with the end of a dowel with a disk of coarse sandpaper attached to simulate the original bead blasting.

According to the serial number, my CBOB was built in 2006. It was acquired, used, by me a little more than a year later and originally had marks similar to yours. But, not any more after doing what I just described. That said, the stainless is soft enough that you will install your own marks in other places eventually, unless you are more careful or graceful than I am. Actually, "more graceful" would not be hard. I am a klutz. :o

Welcome to the CBOB club! :)

http://home.mindspring.com/%7Ejustsomeguy/DWgrips.jpg
Old picture. Not loaded. Yeah, I know the safety should be on anyway.Yours is exactly the type of input I was hoping for re the cosmetics. Thanks a million. Oh, this one was built Spring of 2007 but has only 800 rounds through her.

[TriggerMan]

The Commander Classic Bobtail is a 4.25” series 70 style, commander sized 1911 featuring a stainless steel frame and forged stainless steel slide. Like all Dan Wesson 1911s, Commander models incorporate top quality parts from the best names... in the industry.

· Round top slide with fixed 3 dot tritium night sights
· Forged, one piece match grade barrel and bushing.
· Ed Brown Bobtail mainspring housing (upgraded)
· 20 LPI checkered front strap
· Hand polished flat surfaces with contrasting bead blasted rounds
· Beveled magwell
· All sharp edges dehorned by hand
· Lowered and flared ejection port
· Ed Brown memory groove grip safety
· Ed Brown slide stop
· Tactical, extended thumb safety
· Commander style match hammer
· Match grade sear
· Aluminum trigger with stainless bow (upgraded)
· Extended serrated magazine catch
· Wolff springs used exclusively
· Diamond checkered coco-bolo grips (two sets, one black rubber)
· Tuned, machined, internal extractor
· Test fired for reliability (800 rounds by first owner)
· 34 ounces unloaded

[TucsonMTB]

Yours is exactly the type of input I was hoping for re the cosmetics. Thanks a million. Oh, this one was built Spring of 2007 but has only 800 rounds through her.
My pleasure! Nice find! Mine is sporting a stainless Ed Brown bushing as well. I like stainless. :)

[TriggerMan]

My pleasure! Nice find! Mine is sporting a stainless Ed Brown bushing as well. I like stainless. :)Keeping in mind that this gun, and most, are more accurate than I can hope to be, do you see any issue with the fact the original bushing was replaced for a steel Ed Brown one?

Does your CBOB favor any particular HP ammo? Any ammo, either FMJ or SD, to avoid?

Thanks again. My excitement is building. I thought the search could be several months. Guess I got lucky for once.

[Bawanna]

Only thing I can see different between the 2006 (mines 2006 also) and the 2007 is the grip safety bump. Yours is a little more pronounced like the Ed Brown which I like very much.

[TucsonMTB]

Keeping in mind that this gun, and most, are more accurate than I can hope to be, do you see any issue with the fact the original bushing was replaced for a steel Ed Brown one?

Does your CBOB favor any particular HP ammo? Any ammo, either FMJ or SD, to avoid?

Thanks again. My excitement is building. I thought the search could be several months. Guess I got lucky for once.
You did indeed get lucky. Congratulations! They have gotten harder to find and more expensive with new releases from Dan Wesson at much higher prices.

If you are new to 1911s you may enjoy reading about fitting a bushing. Generally, the clearances between the barrel and the inside of the bushing are about one thousandth of an inch. The clearance between the bushing and the slide (with no relative movement) is generally "as tight as practical", meaning you can still get it apart for cleaning. Those clearances are the most important to the accuracy of the pistol.

My factory bushing, which I retained, was fitted nearly that tightly. My Ed Brown bushing meets the specifications exactly and was fitted by removing metal only from the bushing itself, so I could go back to the original, if needed.

Before and after the bushing was replaced, this pistol has always impressed whoever shoots it by being wonderfully accurate. Yours will almost certainly be remarkably accurate too and a great source of pride.

Dan Wesson 1911 triggers are usually very nice too. Mine is no exception and brings a smile to my face as well as most people with any 1911 shooting experience. I'll bet yours will too.

Mine has never met a round it did not like. I only shoot brass cased ammo. I have a lot of relatively inexpensive S&B ball (230 grain) purchased a while ago. It is both accurate and reliable. Same with Speer Lawman with both 230 grain and 185 grain FMJ bullets.

Most of the time I carry Federal Classic 185 grain JHP. They are reliable and maybe a touch more accurate than the S&B stuff. They were also cheap several years ago and my wife likes the lower recoil, which is why I have so many stashed in the ammo pile.

My experience with Federal 230 grain +P JHP has been good. I just had to try a half case. It has a little more recoil, but is generally fun to shoot. I don't bother to carry it, even though it is reliable.

Other than steel cased ammo, which is not good for any quality firearm, the sky is the limit for mine. About 90% or the time, mine will even feed a once fired, empty case loaded in the middle of the magazine for failure drills, so it may not be typical.

The only troublesome area for me was extractor tension. Initially, mine was too high and I was getting bopped in the head by one or two spent cartridges a session. Backing off on the extractor tension (by bending) solved that issue quickly.

Dan Wesson Classic Bobtails are great guns. You will probably enjoy reading about them on the 1911 forums. The forum with Dan Wesson corporate staff participation is http://forums.1911forum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=52

You should visit, but be prepared that the crew, including me, is just as rabidly loyal to Dan Wesson and the folks here on KahrTalk . . . maybe more so, in fact. :D

These guns do not have any extra safety do dads, so they are easy to work on, because they are less tricky to assemble. Still lots of parts, but just like John Moses Browning intended. Here's hoping you enjoy yours as much as I do mine.

[TriggerMan]

She arrives Friday. I ordered a nice Cordovan Desbiens IWB #3 holster to keep her warm. The pic is similar except for color and extra sharkskin trim.

[OldLincoln]

Too late for the existing scratches but you can make life easier reinstalling the slide lock with a simple mod to the slide lock. This thread here (http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=4389&highlight=Dad%27s+Colt) tells about it and some pics I borrowed are below.

The mod is just filing a small notch so the retaining pin can slide over the slope. After the mod you just push the slide lock straight in. Really cool.

http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx269/OldLincoln/OldLincolns%201911/LogManMod1LMM.jpg

http://i762.photobucket.com/albums/xx269/OldLincoln/OldLincolns%201911/LogManMod2LLM.jpg

[TriggerMan]

I picked her up tonight around 7:30. What a great looking gun. Happily it fit my OWB Galco holster and my Tommy Theiss leather-kydex hybrid. These holsters are/were for my Sig 1911 RCS. I still have an all leather IWB Desbiens holster on order with an expected 16 week wait.

Cosmetically, she looks good. The hammer, which looked bad in the photos, looks fine. No immediate need to touch it up with blueing. The 'idiot mark' at the slide stop isn't bad but I will want to fix that.

I also picked up three extra flush blued authentic DW mags at a DW scuff and scratch sale. They were $9.99 less 15% off and look perfect. I have 2 CMC mags and three DW mags. The also work in my Sig RCS but they stick out a little bit. The difference between 7 rnds and 8 rnds. Silly me didn't understand that the CBOB had a longer grip than my RCS. A little harder to CCW, but the BOB helps a little.

I hope to shoot Saturday, if not, Monday for certain.

[TriggerMan]

Awesome! It's good to hear that you are pleased. How does the trigger feel? If yours is like mine, you will enjoy your range session, a lot. :D

Going to shoot shortly but measured pull weight just now at 3.25#. That seem too light for carry. There is also more pre travel than my other 1911. Should be a great range toy. May do some adjustments later.

[Bawanna]

Glad to hear the wait is over and its in your waiting hands. The waiting accounts for some of the worst days of my life.

All the rest we can deal with now that's home. That trigger is a tad light for my preference but that's fixable. I like the factory trigger in mine for both looks and function.

Your a lucky man, those puppies are hard to lay hands on these days.

[TriggerMan]

Well, I shot a box of Rem UMC green and white 230 gr FMJ, a box of Speer Lawman 230 gr FMJ, and one mag of Speer 230 gr Gold Dots.

I had two Failures to go into battery when loading a fresh mag. I was too nonchalant in racking the slide. My bad entirely.

The light trigger pull wasn't an issue.

I was prepared to be as blown away as the day I shot my first .45 Auto. I wasn't. I was as accurate as I am with my Sig RCs, no more. Had high expectations and probably need another session, shooting both (didn't today). Its all me, the gun is a keeper on its looks and pedigree alone. Hell, @ $900+shipping & FFL, its a great deal.

[zamboni]

Just a FYI for you CBOB fans...It doesn't look like it is sold yet.

http://floridaconcealedcarry.com/Forum/showthread.php?26003-Dan-wesson-cbob-excellent-condition-1200-is-a-steal

[Bawanna]

It won't let me see the pictures but if anyone is looking for a CBob that's a deal now days. If it looks decent I'd go for it.

[Dueeast]

Man that's one sweet 1911.