The 1911 style .45 auto pistol is one of the
most popular pistols on the planet. The reason is very
simple; they work and work well. When someone speaks of a
".45 Auto", it is understood that they are referring
to the 1911 style pistol as designed by John Browning,
and first manufactured by Colt. It has been almost 100
years since the world was introduced to that weapon. It has
stood the test of time very well. The .45 ACP has an excellent
reputation as a man-stopper. It gets the job done without
excessive noise, blast, or recoil. It is a very efficient
cartridge. It and the 1911 are the perfect marriage of cartridge
to pistol.
There was a time when getting a good, reliable
.45 auto meant buying a Colt and then having a custom
pistolsmith make it to work properly with hollowpoint
ammunition. The good old 1911 was designed to work with military
jacketed roundnose ammunition, commonly known as
"hardball", and it usually took some tweaking to get
the Colts to run properly with high performance hollowpoint
ammo.
Those days are long gone. A shooter now has a
seemingly endless variety of 1911 style pistols from which to
choose, from several different manufacturers. There has
developed over the past few decades a large aftermarket parts
and services community just to service the 1911 auto pistol. It
has never been better. Just about every 1911 that I have
tried in the last few years works very well. Some better than
others, but most are pretty good weapons.
I knew that Dan Wesson was now building
1911 auto pistols, but hadn’t really paid much attention to
them. I was recently talking with a good friend of mine who
works for a large gun distributor, when he suggested that I
really should look closely at the Dan Wesson Bobtail. I trust
his judgment, so I put in a call to CZ-USA, the
distributor of the Dan Wesson line of pistols and revolvers.
Soon I had here the subject of this review; a .45 ACP Commander
Classic Bobtail.
The most obvious thing to distinguish the
Bobtail from the plethora of other 1911 pistols on the market is
the unique shape of the mainspring housing area at the bottom
rear of the frame. It has been chopped at an angle and
rounded off to provide one of the best feeling pistol grips that
I have ever held. Looking at it won’t do, you really must hold
this weapon in your hand to appreciate the difference that it
makes. I have seen pistols with similar treatment before from Ed
Brown, who produces high-dollar 1911 pistols that are very
well-built, but prohibitively expensive for many shooters.
However, Ed Brown also makes and sells very high quality parts
for 1911 pistols, and sells them to other custom shops and
through parts distributors. His parts are some of the best that
you can buy, and are widely used on custom guns.
In building their 1911 Commander Classic
Bobtail, Dan Wesson also uses Ed Brown parts for several of the
components. Most producers of 1911 pistols choose less
expensive vendors to supply parts, and it shows that the folks
at Dan Wesson are striving to build a superior product by using
premium parts in their pistols.
Upon opening the hard plastic case I was
immediately impressed by the obvious quality of this weapon. I
have handled hundreds of 1911 pistols over the last three
decades, but I have never handled one that was built any tighter
than this Bobtail. There is absolutely no discernable play
between the slide and frame, nor is there any between the barrel
and slide. I was worried that it might be too tight. I have had
a custom built 1911 for about twenty-five years, built by a
master at his trade, and it has never been as tight as this Dan
Wesson, and it took some breaking in to get it running reliably.
The high rise beavertail grip safety is from Ed
Brown, and has their memory groove bump pad at the bottom to
assure positive engagement. It of course uses the Ed Brown
Bobtail mainspring housing, giving the grip its unique feel. The
four and one-quarter inch barrel has the word "match"
printed upon it. Checking the chamber, it does appear to be cut
to match specifications. The magazine release is of the
slightly extended type. The magazine well is slightly beveled
for quicker mag changes, and the ejection port is lowered to
assure positive case ejection without dinging the brass. The
firing pin retainer, ejector, extractor, and barrel bushing are
blued steel. All other visible metal parts are stainless.
The grip panels are checkered Cocobolo, and have a slight
reddish tint. Dan Wesson also specifies that Wolff
springs are used throughout. The Bobtail has a Rowell-type
hammer and a skeletonized aluminum trigger. The front strap of
the grip frame is checkered at twenty lines per inch to assure a
positive grip in all conditions. The thumb safety is extended,
and is a right hand only unit. The sights are of the sloped Novak
style, are dovetailed into the slide front and rear, and are
adjustable for windage by loosening a set screw to drift the
rear sight laterally. The good part is that the sights wear Trijicon
tritium insets in the three-dot pattern for use in low-light
conditions. This is a very important feature, and one that is
ignored by most pistol makers. Most center fire pistols are
designed for social work. They are carried by people to save
their butt in the gravest of situations. The pistol is there to
protect one’s life when danger is imminent, and it must be
capable of being brought to bear on the problem at hand quickly
and accurately. Many pistol manufacturers seem to think that the
dregs of our society only work the day shift, when the opposite
is much more likely. Thugs prefer the cover of darkness, and one
is far more likely to need his sidearm for protection at night,
or in a darkened parking garage. Still, most pistols are shipped
and purchased everyday without night sights. Thankfully, the
Commander Bobtail is equipped with a set of excellent night
sights.
The Bobtail has also been slightly dehorned,
with the sharp edges knocked off. Dan Wesson obviously uses
great care in the machining of the forged slide and barrel, as
the cuts are precisely done, with no rough tool marks present
inside or out. This is a quality pistol.
Shooting the Commander Bobtail proved to be a
real pleasure. The trigger pull is one of the best available on
a 1911. It is match-grade, very crisp, and released perfectly at
three and one-quarter pounds of pressure. Perfect. The gun
handles very well, and the shape of the frame seems to do
wonders for the controllability of the weapon. In the video, you
can observe that the weapon is very controllable in rapid fire
shooting full power military 230 grain hardball ammunition.
In addition to that load, I tested the Commander Bobtail with
several other .45 ACP factory loads, along with my favorite 200
grain semi-wadcutter target handload. I also tried some Speer
Gold Dot G.A.P. ammo, just to see if the shorter cased
ammunition would function through the Bobtail, which it did
perfectly. The Bobtail chamber is throated and the feed ramp
well-polished. It would even feed empty cases from the magazine
without a hitch. If a pistol will feed empties, it will feed
anything. All ammo fed, fired, and ejected perfectly. Again,
looking at the video, one can see the empty cases ejecting
perfectly from the Bobtail. The chronograph results from the
four and one-quarter inch barrel of the Bobtail are listed
below. Velocities are listed in feet-per-second. Jacketed
hollowpoint is abbreviated JHP.
| Load |
Velocity |
| Buffalo Bore 185-grain JHP |
1098 |
| Buffalo Bore 200-grain JHP |
1014 |
| Buffalo Bore 230-grain JHP |
929.4 |
| Cor-Bon 165-grain JHP |
1268 |
| Cor-Bon 200-grain JHP |
1002 |
| Cor-Bon 230-grain JHP |
947.8 |
| Cor-Bon 165-grain PowRBall |
1130 |
| Olin 230-grain Ball |
730.1 |
| Handload 200-grain SWC |
849.7 |
| Speer 185-grain Gold Dot G.A.P. |
1011 |
The accuracy of the Dan Wesson Commander Bobtail
was also impressive. It proved capable of keeping its shots in
tight clusters at a range of twenty-five yards. This is a target
grade handgun. Even more importantly, the Bobtail is a very
capable combat weapon. Keeping rapid fire, offhand groups
centered on a man-sized silhouette target was very easy.
This is the most controllable .45 auto that I have ever fired.
Perhaps it is just that the grip works very well in my hand. It
just feels so much better to me than a standard 1911 grip. The
Bobtail grip also makes the weapon a bit more concealable under
light clothing. And it doesn’t dig into the side of the person
carrying the pistol. For concealment, I carried the Bobtail in
both a Mernickle PS1 Paddle
holster and a High Noon Need-For-Speed high rise belt
holster. Both worked very well at concealing the Bobtail.
If you couldn’t tell already, I really like
this Commander Classic Bobtail. It is perfect for ninety percent
of those who want to carry a 1911 concealed for social work. For
the other ten percent; those of us who are left-handed, it is
lacking a thumb safety on our side. That is easily
corrected. I called Brownell’s to order an ambidextrous
thumb safety. They have several in their catalog from which to
choose, and I selected the Ed Brown Tactical model. When I
called and gave Brownell’s the part number, they told me that
they had 57 of them in stock. That is one thing that I dearly
love about Brownell’s; they stock what they catalog. You
don’t spend half a day hunting parts. One call to
Brownell’s, and the part was shipped the same day. The Ed
Brown safety requires a bit of fitting, but it is easily done.
Looking at the new safety compared to the stock safety, you can
see the area that needs to be filed down. I had mine done in
about twenty minutes, filing a bit and trying it until I got it
just right. Another four minutes slightly modifying the right
grip panel, and the job was completed. If you don’t feel
comfortable fitting one of these ambidextrous safeties, it is a
simple job for a gunsmith, and should only cost a few bucks.
Anyway, most shooters will not need an ambidextrous safety, but
for left-handers, a quick call to Brownell’s will get you
fixed up. The part number for the Ed Brown Tactical safety is:
087-245-893. At the time of this writing, the cost is just under
$58 for the stainless model.
The Dan Wesson Commander Classic Bobtail is an
exceptionally good 1911 pistol. The Bobtail makes a world of
difference in the feel and controllability of the weapon, at
least in my hand. You can also get a Bobtail 1911 pistol
directly from Ed Brown for just under 2500 bucks. You can get
this Dan Wesson for less than half of that, and in my opinion,
have just as good of a pistol. The Commander Classic Bobtail
currently has a suggested price of $1169. It comes with a
hard plastic case, two magazines, a bushing wrench, and
instruction manual. It is a lot of custom grade gun for the
money. It is American Made, and one fine handgun. I highly
recommend it.
Check out the line of Dan Wesson pistols and
revolvers online at: www.cz-usa.com.
To order the Ed Brown ambidextrous thumb safety,
call Brownell’s toll free at: 1-800-741-0015 or check
out their extensive line of quality gun parts and accessories
at: www.brownells.com.
To find a Dan Wesson dealer near you, click on
the DEALER LOCATOR icon at: www.lipseys.com.
For a closer look at the holsters shown here, go
to: www.mernickleholsters.com
and www.highnoonholsters.com.
For high performance .45 ACP ammunition, go to:
www.buffalobore.com
and www.cor-bon.com.
Jeff Quinn
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