the dan wesson CCO. The one.

​A couple of years ago at Shot Show I had a whole day entirely to myself, which is quite a luxury during what’s normally a hectic few days. For some time I’d been mulling the idea of a new 1911 but wanted to find that perfect one and there’s nowhere better to go on that hunt than the world’s largest firearm trade show where (almost) every manufacturer has their wares on display. In the real world we don’t find that. We never walk into a gun store and see every 1911 currently manufactured, nor are gun store proprietors renowned for being the most cheerful types, nor are they happily inclined to throw open the case and let you fondle the goods just so you can find that slab sides thats perfectly fits your hand and wallet. In my opinion, this sight-unseen buying system is why we tend to purchase so many guns: we are relentlessly pursuing our perfect “one”. Thusly this down-day at Shot was an opportunity to sample the goods and something I felt necessary before parting with a grand or five to procure my perfect piece. Now let me say I was hunting exclusively for a 5” all steel Government model and nothing could sway me from that tack so after a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich and a 20oz cup of strong coffee I spent six solid hours walking from booth to booth, floor map in hand, and slathering my greasy breakfast-sandwich finger prints on the 1911 offerings of every single manufacturer from import to domestic, from mass produced to hand built and from $500 to $5000. I didn’t miss a single one I swear, which is why it took me all day and by the end I was parched and famished and knocking booth owners flat with my stale trade-show breath because refreshments are the toughest things to find at Shot (beats me why) but goddammit I succeeded in my quest albeit at the cost of everyone else’s comfort. It turns out my perfect 1911 wasn’t the 5” model I’d expected afterall, but an Officer’s model. The Dan Wesson CCO felt like it was mine the second is fell into my palm, in fact it felt so right I used up a full fifteen minutes just cradling it and falling in love. It was so perfect that it banished the thoughts of virtually every other I’d seen en route and I actually circled back around twice to check that my initial impressions were correct: I couldn’t believe the weight and balance, the lack of sharp edges, the attention to detail, the seamless marriage of aluminum and steel, the sights, the adherence to traditional ergonomics and the price tag considering the cost of other 1911’s that didn’t come half way. This pistol is truly a black beauty and actually it’s that pistol you’d absolutely keep if you were asked “if you could just choose one…?” In the end of the day there’s always one we’d reach for instinctively if we threw open our gun safe in an emergency and pistols were all we had. And that’s the one we should own and learn to clean and maintain and repair, and practice field stripping blindfolded like in the movies and behold reverently as a samurai once regarded his Katana or a viking his Ulfberht. The modern owner of any weapon should regard and master the use of his chosen instrument with sober respect for it’s capabilities and loyalty to it’s life protecting presence. In America we have an unprecedented (and staunchly protected) constitutional right to own and bear arms and for this we should be eternally grateful and thank Odin (and of course the powers that protect our 2A) that we can actually own a gun as stunning as the CCO versus just looking at pictures of it and sighing “ah, only if”. GOM