I've got a fairly decent story about one particular Dan Wesson.
So here's a little background: The Dan Wesson factory was located in Monson, MA, my hometown. My grandmother worked at the factory for many years assembling these fine revolvers. She would engrave her name on the area under the grip of guns she assembled. If you own a Dan Wesson, and the name engraved on the handle area is Andy(short for Adrienne) then the gun was assembled by her.During the time she worked at the factory, my father bought a 6" barrel .357. He told me it was somewhere in the early 70's when he bought the gun.
On to the story: Back in '96 we moved into a new house(still in Monson) the house got broken into about 4 months after we moved in. Among other personal items stolen was the Dan Wesson .357. Assuming the gun was lost forever, the insurance company replaced the Dan Wesson with a shiny, new Smith & Wesson .357. My father put this gun away and to this day has never shot it!
Fastforward to ten years later, 2006: We got a call from Hartford, CT police saying the gun was recovered in a drug bust, and my father could drive down and pick up the gun. He was working at the time, so my grandfather went and picked up the gun. We were amazed the gun was recovered and back in our posession after 10 years.
This summer my grandfather, who was a police officer, and chief of police in Monson for years, gave me an ammo can with approximately 400 rounds of .357 from back when he was on the force. So the only wheelgun I own being a .38 snubbie, I asked my father if I could use one of his .357's. (He also has my grandfather's .357 which is engraved with his name and badge number.) So after deciding not to let me use the unfired S&W, he gives me the Dan Wesson to borrow for the day.
Having not been cleaned since before the gun was stolen, it was caked with fingerprinting powder and had some rust. I thoroughly cleaned it and took it to the range. It was still accurate and a blast to shoot. The pachmayr grip and heavy barrel design of the Dan Wesson made it a pleasure to shoot. I'll try and get some pictures of the gun when I'm home this weekend.
Sorry for the thread drift and my rambling. The thought of Dan Wesson .357's brought back good memories of my grandmother, her stories about the factory (and her favorite about assmebling the kit guns with interchangeable barrels) and the amazing fact that the gun was recovered, and the fun I had when I fired the Dan Wesson for the first time in well over 10 years.
Oh yea, and the town demo'd the Dan Wesson Building this summer. Too much money to clean up the hazmat stuff and remodel.
Here's a couple pictures of the building before it was torn down.
Originally the building was a school. Thats a "lamp of wisdom" above the entrance, made of granite that was mined from the quarry in Monson around 1900.
Again, sorry for the long story and thread drift. Just wanted to share the story with y'all.
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