Dan Wesson DWX (Full-Size 9mm)

The Dan Wesson DWX is a hybrid that takes the single-action fire control group of a Dan Wesson 1911 and grafts it onto a double-stack, CZ-pattern steel frame. The result is a competition pistol that fires like a 1911, breaking from a cocked hammer through a flat, K-style trigger, while feeding from 19-round CZ P-09/P-10 F magazines. That single change solves the 1911's biggest competition liability: capacity. You get the trigger 1911 shooters chase with the round count a 2011 demands, without paying 2011 money.

The trigger is the headline. Guns and Ammo measured a single-action break at 3.5 pounds, inside Dan Wesson's stated 3.5 to 4.5 pound range, with the short reset and glass-rod wall that made Dan Wesson's 1911 line a custom-grade reputation. The DWX uses CZ 75-style lockup and takedown by means of the slide stop and a bushingless, locked-breech barrel, while the slide itself rides on external rails like a 1911. The bilateral thumb safety is the 1911-style control, not a CZ decocker, so the gun runs cocked-and-locked.

The full-size DWX wears a 5-inch barrel, weighs 43 ounces in steel, and measures 8.52 inches overall. Sights are a fiber-optic front with an adjustable rear, and a Picatinny light rail molds into the dust cover. It is not a 2011: the DWX does not use a modular grip or 2011 magazines, and the standard model ships without an optic cut. What it is, is the closest thing to a 1911 trigger at double-stack capacity for around $1,520, well under a base Staccato or SIG P211.