Nice review: I've been bitten by the Dan Wesson 10mm long slide bug for a while. BTW, is that one of the DW finishes that some cleaning products can mark?
I never had much use for a 10mm, or a 40 S&W, for poking holes in paper or dinging other targets at a range; in pistols, my C series Browning High Power had that all covered. Then first the magazine restrictions came in, and Browning sold a 40 S&W Hi-Power with a 10 round magazine of almost the same frame size as my C series. And I had an ATC to carry a bear wrench while in the bush. So to give the finger to the government's new regs (like they actually noticed), I bought the 40 HP, put it on my ATC and ran it with Double Tap 200 grainers. Yes, we all know that doesn't make it a 44 Mag or something similar, thank you, but my small hands have never worked with N frames.
Fast forward to the early 2000's and Dan Wesson released the CBOB in 10mm. And out of the blue I was offered one with the factory drop in 40 S&W caliber conversion it was ordered with. Buddy ordered it from Dan Wesson complete with the conversion kit, and about the time it arrived he saw a classic car he couldn't live without. Short story, when he eventually asked me if I'd give him $900 for it, I owned a 10mm CBOB that replaced the High Power 40 S&W as my bear wrench, stuffed with Underwood WFNs.
Impressed with workmanship and ergonomics from the first time I held and looked at it; presumably yours is the same?
The thin grips aren't close to being as good looking as the factory grips, much thinner than you have on your Bruin, but they feel much better in my small hands so they remain.
I have found with mine that taking it down can be a real struggle; yours?
I'm not sure whether that's due to the match barrels and/or not quite perfect final fitting or something else; getting the slide stop out for field stripping is a female dog. The gun as purchased couldn't go through a magazine of 40 S&W without jamming; contacted Dan Wesson and Keith Lawton, their gunsmith, asked for return of everything but the receiver shipped at their cost. Came back with all the work at their expense despite not being the original buyer. And very heavy #24 - #26 springs for the heavy bear loads (factory 10mm CBOB at the time was 20#). The struggle with take down/reassembly remains...
I have no familiarity with that beautiful long slide of yours, but if for some reason you have a use/desire for heavy rhino roller loads, DW might have a suggestion for using a different spring if you're going to fire more than a few loads. The cost of Dan Wessons these days, particularly when compared to the cost of springs, popping in the best spring recommended by DW for the intended use seems to be a fairly good idea. For the CBOB, Keith Lawton suggested increasing #4 - #6; that long slide may generate a completely different advisory for heavy loads. There must be more than a few Americans shooting heavy hunting loads out of their Bruins.
Keith Lawton, last time I looked, is still Dan Wesson's VP of Operations and top pistolsmith and is active in the Dan Wesson section of the 1911 forum as "Keith DW", where he fields questions on everything from the best lubricant to what spring weights to use (usually, if he thinks the question should have an answer from Dan Wesson's pistolsmiths):
Good place to hang out if you come up with questions about your Bruin.
You might want to keep an eye on your sights for the first little while. One issue that came up with mine after a little bit of firing a few bear wrench loads to prove reliable function and a lot more near- bear wrench practice loads: the sight shot loose.
When I asked Keith Lawton about this (didn't lose the sight while in the sticks, fortunately), he said the grub screw was just tightened against the slide metal at the bottom of the sight dovetail. His suggestion was to use non-permanent thread locker. What I did instead was to put a small flake of pure lead in the bottom of sight hole, then ran in a cup faced grub screw, just lightly so I could drift the sight with small taps, and finally tightening it down when zeroed, then confirmed zero.
Some recent Bruin related posts showing up where guys are for various reasons replacing the angled spring plug for one from EGW or a few other sources. Some said they made the change because the angled plug eventually became marred during tear down/reassembly.
Anyways, while I'm still contemplating a DW long slide 10mm, will be interesting to follow your future posts as you continue shooting your Bruin and what you do with it.
I never had much use for a 10mm, or a 40 S&W, for poking holes in paper or dinging other targets at a range; in pistols, my C series Browning High Power had that all covered. Then first the magazine restrictions came in, and Browning sold a 40 S&W Hi-Power with a 10 round magazine of almost the same frame size as my C series. And I had an ATC to carry a bear wrench while in the bush. So to give the finger to the government's new regs (like they actually noticed), I bought the 40 HP, put it on my ATC and ran it with Double Tap 200 grainers. Yes, we all know that doesn't make it a 44 Mag or something similar, thank you, but my small hands have never worked with N frames.
Fast forward to the early 2000's and Dan Wesson released the CBOB in 10mm. And out of the blue I was offered one with the factory drop in 40 S&W caliber conversion it was ordered with. Buddy ordered it from Dan Wesson complete with the conversion kit, and about the time it arrived he saw a classic car he couldn't live without. Short story, when he eventually asked me if I'd give him $900 for it, I owned a 10mm CBOB that replaced the High Power 40 S&W as my bear wrench, stuffed with Underwood WFNs.
Impressed with workmanship and ergonomics from the first time I held and looked at it; presumably yours is the same?
The thin grips aren't close to being as good looking as the factory grips, much thinner than you have on your Bruin, but they feel much better in my small hands so they remain.
I have found with mine that taking it down can be a real struggle; yours?
I'm not sure whether that's due to the match barrels and/or not quite perfect final fitting or something else; getting the slide stop out for field stripping is a female dog. The gun as purchased couldn't go through a magazine of 40 S&W without jamming; contacted Dan Wesson and Keith Lawton, their gunsmith, asked for return of everything but the receiver shipped at their cost. Came back with all the work at their expense despite not being the original buyer. And very heavy #24 - #26 springs for the heavy bear loads (factory 10mm CBOB at the time was 20#). The struggle with take down/reassembly remains...
I have no familiarity with that beautiful long slide of yours, but if for some reason you have a use/desire for heavy rhino roller loads, DW might have a suggestion for using a different spring if you're going to fire more than a few loads. The cost of Dan Wessons these days, particularly when compared to the cost of springs, popping in the best spring recommended by DW for the intended use seems to be a fairly good idea. For the CBOB, Keith Lawton suggested increasing #4 - #6; that long slide may generate a completely different advisory for heavy loads. There must be more than a few Americans shooting heavy hunting loads out of their Bruins.
Keith Lawton, last time I looked, is still Dan Wesson's VP of Operations and top pistolsmith and is active in the Dan Wesson section of the 1911 forum as "Keith DW", where he fields questions on everything from the best lubricant to what spring weights to use (usually, if he thinks the question should have an answer from Dan Wesson's pistolsmiths):
https://www.1911forum.com/forums/dan-wesson.52/
https://www.1911forum.com/threads/factory-spring-weights.209416/
https://www.1911forum.com/threads/clp-as-slide-lube.381378/#post-4047448
https://www.1911forum.com/threads/factory-spring-weights.209416/
https://www.1911forum.com/threads/clp-as-slide-lube.381378/#post-4047448
Good place to hang out if you come up with questions about your Bruin.
You might want to keep an eye on your sights for the first little while. One issue that came up with mine after a little bit of firing a few bear wrench loads to prove reliable function and a lot more near- bear wrench practice loads: the sight shot loose.
When I asked Keith Lawton about this (didn't lose the sight while in the sticks, fortunately), he said the grub screw was just tightened against the slide metal at the bottom of the sight dovetail. His suggestion was to use non-permanent thread locker. What I did instead was to put a small flake of pure lead in the bottom of sight hole, then ran in a cup faced grub screw, just lightly so I could drift the sight with small taps, and finally tightening it down when zeroed, then confirmed zero.
Some recent Bruin related posts showing up where guys are for various reasons replacing the angled spring plug for one from EGW or a few other sources. Some said they made the change because the angled plug eventually became marred during tear down/reassembly.
Anyways, while I'm still contemplating a DW long slide 10mm, will be interesting to follow your future posts as you continue shooting your Bruin and what you do with it.
