On September 18th, 2002, Dan Wesson Firearms of Norwich, New York shipped the first of its new Dan Wesson Patriot 1911 .45ACP semi auto pistols. The introduction of the new Dan Wesson 1911 line could well be the biggest development in the 1911 market since the birth of the Kimber 1911 in 1995.

The Patriot is a "ground up--zero base" project with frames and slides being machined from forgings, in America, in one of the most modern and sophisticated machining facilities in the world. It is a high end premium 1911 designed to compete directly with Kimber. It is priced similarly. As you are no doubt aware, Dan Wesson Firearms, founded in 1968, was a producer of innovative revolvers which became legendary in the world of competitive silhouette competition. The out of the box accuracy of the Dan Wesson revolvers was unsurpassed.

The current owner and CEO of Dan Wesson, Bob Serva, has always been an accuracy buff dating back to his early days of competing with Dan Wesson revolvers. When Bob decided to enter the 1911 market, superb out the box accuracy was one of his top objectives. He spent years developing a source of fine match grade barrels and personally designed and built an ingenious shooting vice to help him prove that every Patriot shipped meets his accuracy criteria. To date, the average group for all Patriots produced so far is an inch at 50 feet; 5 shots, from a vice, with Federal factory ammo. A proof test target, signed and dated by the tester, is included with every gun.

Serva was also bent on making sure the Patriot was the most reliable 1911 ever brought to market. To help him achieve this goal he decided to incorporate an external extractor operated by a coil spring. This well tested design not only looks like it works, it does. It has been tested with tens of thousands of rounds on mule guns during the last year and has performed absolutely flawlessly.

Another area of concern to Bob Serva with respect to reliability was the magazine. Bob strongly believes that the magazine is the heart of a well functioning semi automatic pistol. In the years leading upto the design of the Patriot, Serva tested dozens of magazines with dozens of different brands of ammunition and concluded that one magazine was head and shoulders above all others, namely the McCormick Power Mag 8. Simply put, it is the best magazine in the world. It is constructed from stainless steel to exacting dimensions and features eleven extra- powerful coils of aerospace grade spring wire, increasing reliability and service life, even when the magazine is kept fully loaded for extended periods of time. This remarkable magazine feeds all types and brands of ammo without any malfunctions whatsoever, and is standard equipment on the Patriot.

Serva's very favorable impression of McCormick's magazine also lead him to source many of the Patriot's small components from Chip McCormick Corporation, including hammer, sear, trigger and safeties. The finish on the Patriot also sets it apart. Whereas many high end 1911's these days have matte military type bead blasted finishes, the Patriot is completely and meticulously polished by hand to the highest custom standards. The fit and feel of the gun cannot help but bring joy to the true 1911 enthusiast.

Last, but certainly not least, the Patriot is fitted with superb AAA exhibition grade cocobolo grips, hand checkered with a traditional double diamond pattern; a very classic touch so to speak! The grade of wood on these grips is absolutely spectacular with high contrasting colors and gorgeous figure and lines.

More pictures of this pistol will be soon available here, and at Dan Wesson's web site.

Other M-1911 pistols by this manufacturer include the "PointMan". Here are the models offered:

Pointman Seven stainless (PM7-S) match grade Bullseye Model

A full size 5" stainless steel frame and roundtop slide, with dovetail mount adjustable target rear sight, dovetail mount target tactical front sight, match fitted barrel, bushing and link, 2-piece full length recoil spring guide rod, Chip McCormick (or equivalent) match grade trigger, serrated extended thumb safety, high ride beavertail, serrated slide release and checkered extended mag release, match grade sear and hammer, fitted extractor, lowered and relieved ejection port, beveled mag well, coco bolo double diamond checkered grips, serrated steel mainspring housing (not plastic!) 3.5 lb. trigger job and laser engraving.

Pointman Major stainless (PM1-S) match grade IDPA/IPSC Model *enhanced for 2002* *new caliber available*

A full size 5" stainless steel frame and new forged slide with double squared cocking serrations and dovetail mount for front sight blade (as shown above), flat top rear sight rib, adjustable rear target sight, match fitted barrel, bushing and link, 2-piece full length recoil spring guide rod, Chip McCormick (or equivalent) match grade trigger, serrated extended thumb safety, high ride beavertail, serrated slide release and checkered extended mag release, match grade sear and hammer, fitted extractor, lowered and relieved ejection port, beveled mag well, coco bolo double diamond checkered grips, serrated steel mainspring housing (not plastic!) and laser engraving.

Pointman Guardian Duce with adjustable sights (PMGD-AS) match grade IDPA/carry Model

A Commander size 4.25" stainless steel frame with a blued carbon alloy steel slide with rear rib, adjustable rear target sight, DW interchangeable front sight, match fitted barrel, bushing and link, 2-piece full length recoil spring guide rod, Chip McCormick (or equivalent) match grade trigger, serrated extended thumb safety, high ride beavertail, serrated slide release and checkered extended mag release, match grade sear and hammer, fitted extractor, lowered and relieved ejection port, beveled mag well, Hogue black rubber grips, serrated steel mainspring housing (not plastic!) and laser engraving.

Pointman Guardian Duce with fixed sights (PMGD-FS) match grade IDPA/carry Model

A Commander size 4.25" stainless steel frame with a blued carbon alloy steel slide with rear rib, fixed rear target sight, DW interchangeable front sight, match fitted barrel, bushing and link, 2-piece full length recoil spring guide rod, Chip McCormick (or equivalent) match grade trigger, serrated extended thumb safety, high ride beavertail, serrated slide release and checkered extended mag release, match grade sear and hammer, fitted extractor, lowered and relieved ejection port, beveled mag well, Hogue black rubber grips, serrated steel mainspring housing (not plastic!) and laser engraving.

Pointman Minor (PM2-P) entry level IDPA/carry model

An full sized 5" black oxide blued carbon alloy steel frame and conventional roundtop slide, with a non-glare bead blast matte finish on the frame and the top of the slide and satin-brushed polished finish on the sides of the slide. Standard equipment includes dovetail fixed target rear sight, dovetail ramp target front sight, chromed barrel, Nowlin (or equivalent) adjustable match trigger, skeletonized target hammer, highride beavertail safety, fitted extractor, serrations on thumb safety, slide release, mag release and mainspring housing, beveled mag well, 8-round mag, exotic hardwood grips and laser engraving.

Pointman Hi-Cap (PMHC) entry level IDPA/carry model

The Pointman Hi-Cap, model PMHC, is an entry level IDPA/IPSC Colt-compatible 70 series 1911 style 10-round wide body semi-automatic pistol in .45 ACP with full length 5" chromed barrel, black oxide blued carbon alloy steel frame and conventional roundtop slide, with a non-glare bead blast matte finish on the frame and the top of the slide and satin-brushed polished finish on the sides of the slide. Standard equipment includes dovetail fixed target rear sight, dovetail ramp target front sight, Nowlin (or equivalent) adjustable match trigger, target skeletonized hammer, highride beavertail safety, fitted extractor, full length 2-piece recoil spring guide rod, serrations on extended thumb safety, extended slide release and extended mag release, beveled mag well, 10-round mag, wraparound fingergroove black rubber grips and laser engraving.