Dan Wesson CO2 BB revolver

[Zarvan]

Several of you have mentioned wanting to see a review of this BB revolver, plus the customer reviews are quite good. And I also wanted to see how good it was, so everything came together today.

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This Dan Wesson revolver resembles the classic firearm somewhat, but misses the mark of being a perfect replica. However, only a Dan Wesson nut would spot the flaws.
The cylinder latch is made like the one on a Smith & Wesson instead of the traditional Dan Wesson, which would be a flat button located on the left side of the crane. I never liked how that latch worked, which kept me from ever owning a Dan Wesson revolver, and the omission looks like an improvement to me.

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It has a safety!
Flying in the face of firearm revolver design, but validating every female British mystery writer ever born, the Dan Wesson revolver actually has a safety catch. So, Agatha Christie was right after all. Pull the cylinder latch straight back and the gun is on safe. The trigger is blocked and the hammer cannot move.

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This revolver comes in 2.5-inch, 4-inch, 6-inch and 8-inch versions…and some come in black and others come in a stainless finish (that Pyramyd Air is calling “silver”). Only the 8-inch version was available when I ordered, so that’s what I’m testing.
Let’s start off with some insight into the Dan Wesson revolver concept and the history of the gun.

Dan Wesson
Dan Wesson was founded in 1968 by Daniel Baird Wesson II, the great-grandson of one of the two founders of Smith & Wesson. His concept for revolvers was the modular approach, which in 1968 was quite new and innovative. And the hallmark revolver that company made was the .357 Magnum model 15-2, which in its highest form was sold in a “pistol pac” that contained the revolver, an extra set of grips, three extra barrels of different lengths that the owner was expected to install, a belt buckle and the wrench and feeler gauge for the barrel and shroud. When I was a young man, this was one of the most coveted handguns on the market and was revered for its strength, beauty and for the facility to change barrels and therefore also control the cylinder-to-barrel gap. The only real reservation I had, as I mentioned, was the cylinder latch that was hard to work and a deal-breaker for me.

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The Dan Wesson name passed through a number of hands since the founder’s death in 1978, and today they produce several other models that are not as distinctive as this revolver system. So, the BB gun we’re now testing is supposed to copy the original firearm that had interchangable barrels, though this one does not.
The BB gun
Rejoice, fellow airgunners, for this is an all-metal revolver! You pay for that realism — and it’s delivered. Nothing on the outside of the gun but the grips is anything but metal. Still, the gun is very light for having such a long barrel. It weighs 2.29 lbs. or about a full pound less than a typical firearm with the same length barrel.
The cylinder is mounted on a real crane that swings out to the left side when the cylinder latch is depressed and the cylinder is pushed out. Twenty years ago, such realistic features were only dreams for airguns and even for some lower-priced rimfires. Since it does swing out, you’ll need to restrain yourself from flipping it closed like you see on TV, as nothing will ruin the mechanism faster.
The cylinder revolves freely when the gun is not cocked, being restrained only by a spring-loaded barrel that pops into a mating recess in the front of each chamber, just like the S&W M&P R8 BB revolver that Mac is testing for us. The bolt at the bottom of the frame comes into play only when the trigger is pulled, so the gun locks solid when fired either single- or double-action. In this respect, it’s not unlike a suicide special revolver of the late 19th and early 20th century.

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The gun comes with a second set of six “cartridges” that hold the BBs and a speedloader to load them into the cylinder. The speedloader does not do the job like its firearm component. The cartridges are not held in the loader at all and will fall out if it is tipped past level, so it’s more for looks than for function. You can’t carry a loaded speedloader in your pocket the way you can with a firearm speedloader. However I did find it very convenient for unloading the cylinder, as all the cartridges fall back out into the loader when the gun is tipped up. Since there is relatively low pressure running through each cartridge, they do not swell when fired as firearm cases do.
NEWS: Dan Wesson CO2 BB revolver