Hello. I recently picked up a DW Guardian 1911 in 45 ACP that was on consignment at a local gun shop because it was too good of a deal to pass up. The duty coat is fantastic and it appeared to me to have been shot a fair amount, but still in fine (or better shape). But, I did not take it all the way down and after I did, I saw a LOT of wear on the stainless steel match barrel. It shoots very well and is fully reliable with a sweet trigger. But the major scuffs on the top of the barrel near the ejection port and especially on the raised grooves gave me pause.

Reassembly is a major pain too, as the barrel semi "locks" up when pushing the slide back far enough to put in the slide stop. I've heard they can lock up a bit but this one is really tricky to reassemble. I've got the knack of it now.

So it occurs to me, do I have a poorly-fitted DW barrel? Or is this normal? Should I have my local gunsmith check it out?

Perhaps I put this on the wrong forum?

Perhaps pictures of the scuffs and wear would help.

Well, I used Flitz to polish the feed ramp and then the scuffed areas (mostly). Even cycling the slide started wear on the newly polished surface. Perhaps I'll go and shoot it again and take pix and report back.

I do not own any Dan Wesson pistols. That said, it sounds ike a well-fitted barrel, nice and tight. Wear happens. You should see my Ed Brown.

Just put another 100+ rounds through it (no pix though). Pretty sweet. Shoots (POI) a tad higher than I'd like, about 1" at 7 yards (2" at 15 yards), but consistently. I'm one of those "block-out" the center of the target vs. "rest" the center of the target on the top of the front post, which does the trick. I'm not going to mess with the sights.

As for reassembly, I figured out, through some trial and error, how to avoid the barrel locking-up so it is now pretty easy. It is one fine pistol, and I'm glad I got it. As for wear and the barrel, I tend to think it might be a tad too tight, but it is, so far, totally reliable. Only issue is that one of the DW 8-round magazines it came with will not reliably feed the first round if loaded to max (8). 50/50 at best. But if I load 7 it works like a charm so I marked that magazine "7". The other DW magazine works flawlessly. I go with Tripp (7-rounders) + 1 for carry.

I have 2 DW Guardians (9 & 45) and they are both very tight and well made. Their quality control is such that you can't tell which one of mine you have in your hand if you don't look on the barrel hood for caliber. They do take a little breaking in shoot better. My 9mm just starting liking 147gr ammo after more than a few tries. Enjoy it and keep on shooting.

I have several DW's and they're all very well fitted. No dfficulty with assembly or disassembly, and no unusual wear, however.