r/DWX

After my gun cabinet post, and all the questions I received (thanks everyone!), I mentioned a few times I don’t care the Dan Wesson DWX compact anymore because of the ports I had put in. But after thinking about and someone suggesting I just order a new barrel (I called, none in stock but I’m on a waiting list now. Thanks for the suggestion), I decided to”fuck it” and have been carrying the DWXc again, and man, do I love this thing.

My ONLY major gripe is capacity. 15+ is decent but when guns like the XMacro can get 17+1 for the same size, that’s annoying.

Someone did comment that folks in the DWX subreddit had mentioned swapping internals of the DWXc mags with XMacro mags and you’ll get 17+1, but I look for a while and couldn’t find anything on that in the subreddit or anywhere else in the internet ether. If anyone knows about that and can drop a link, I would greatly appreciate it.

Hey everyone,
I’ve owned my DWX for a little over a year now, and recently I’ve been stuck in “gun jail” again while changing jobs, so I suddenly had some free time. I figured this would be the perfect chance to sit down and do a full review of this pistol from start to finish.
And just to make this clear: I’ve shot the absolute hell out of this gun. If I had to estimate, I’m probably somewhere north of 20,000 rounds at this point. You’ll probably notice some clues later when you see how completely beat-up my magwell is. Honestly, I’d say I’ve put more rounds through a DWX than most people here.
I’m a USPSA shooter, and to be completely honest, besides myself, I still haven’t seen anyone in Texas — or at least in my local area — seriously running a DWX for competition. I genuinely think I’ve earned the right to speak on this gun more than a lot of people.

Pros
Ergonomics
The ergonomics are phenomenal.
If you’re already used to shooting a CZ Shadow 2 in Carry Optics, or if you’re like me — a wiredpunk running a milled-slide CZ TS2 in Limited Optics and basically a full-blown CZ fanboy who only shoots CZ/Czechmate stuff — the familiarity alone is enough reason to buy this gun.
The way it points, the grip angle, the overall feel… it’s instantly natural.

Trigger
The trigger is absolutely competitive with a 2011.
There’s not much else to say — the 1911 trigger design was kissed by God. My CZ TS2 can get down to around a 1.5 lb trigger pull, but so can a proper 2011, and naturally the DWX can too.

Price / Value
The value is honestly insane.
Compared to Atlas, MPA, the newer “2K11” guns, or heavily upgraded Prodigies, the DWX at around $2,000 is still unbelievably competitive for the money.
A Prodigy usually needs:
a steel grip
a full trigger setup
a pile of random upgrades
I helped a friend build one, and the final cost ended up significantly higher than just buying a DWX in the first place.
As for 2K11s — genuinely great guns — but for me, they also need a steel grip immediately, and suddenly you’re adding another $600.

Full-Length Dust Cover
I cannot explain how much I love full-length dust covers.
Normally I hate Picatinny rails, but somehow the DWX rail is long, clean, and symmetrical enough that I actually ended up loving it.
And every single time you pull this thing out at a match, somebody in your squad asks:
“Bro what gun is that?”
“Wait… is that a DWX?”

External Extractor
Nothing complicated here:
external extractors are awesome.

Compatibility
The compatibility is incredible.
Okay, admittedly this mostly benefits people like me who already own basically every CZ and 2011 part imaginable, but still — the ecosystem overlap is fantastic.

Reliability
The gun has been very reliable overall.
Sure, I’ve had malfunctions, but none of them were because of the mechanical design itself. Every issue I encountered was caused by:
ammo loaded too long
recoil spring being too light
sand/dirt getting into the mags
Nothing catastrophic or design-related.

Cons
It Could Be Better Out of the Box
Honestly, I’ve encountered basically every issue possible with this gun.
Now to be fair, I’m heavily into home gunsmithing, so a lot of those problems were self-inflicted while experimenting. But I also have a lot of 2011 experience, and I genuinely think the DWX could come from the factory in a much more refined state for normal shooters.
That said:
if you LOVE tinkering, the DWX is incredible.

Terrible Aftermarket Support
The aftermarket used to be awful.
Before Red Dirt came along, you literally couldn’t even find a decent trigger.
Yes, I know how to tune my trigger myself:
removing frame wobble
physically adjusting pretravel and overtravel
fitting things manually
…but seriously, Dan Wesson already merged the 1911 design into this gun. How hard would it have been to include an adjustable trigger from the factory?
I genuinely don’t understand how they overlooked that.

The Ambi Safety Is Horrible
I have never hated an ambi safety on any gun as much as I hate the DWX ambi safety.
And the funny thing is:
ambi safeties are usually objectively better, even if I personally don’t need one.
But I seriously question whether the testers actually shot this gun extensively.
At around 4,000 rounds, the safety had rubbed my knuckle raw and built up thick calluses to the point where I ended up spending another $100 just to “downgrade” it.
That’s insane.

Factory Trigger Pull Weight
The factory trigger pull was terrible.
I honestly forgot whether it was 3.5 lbs or 4 lbs out of the box, but I remember being genuinely disappointed the first time I tried it.

No Proper Thumb Rest Support
And the thumb rest situation…
I swear every day I pray somebody releases a proper thumb rest solution that DOESN’T require drilling the frame.

Fitting / Tolerances
My coating actually held up reasonably well.
I’ve seen people complain about the finish, but honestly the wear on mine is completely acceptable — definitely better than the early BUL Armory coatings, lol.
But the fitting quality disappointed me.
The DWX rails aren’t one continuous rail system — they’re split into front and rear sections.
The rear fitment on my gun is nearly perfect. Honestly, it’s bordering on custom shop quality.
But apparently whoever fitted the front rails had way too much tequila before work.
The front rails are slightly undersized, which creates noticeable slide play up front.
Now, I’m not a bullseye shooter, and I haven’t noticed any practical accuracy issues because of it, but still — they absolutely could’ve done better.

Spare Parts Situation
Dear God, please bless us with spare barrels someday.
I only had one squib with the DWX — and that was completely my fault — but ever since then, my anxiety kicks in every time I think about the possibility of damaging the barrel and realizing I might need to buy an entirely new gun just to keep competing.
Trying to find actual DWX support parts feels impossible sometimes.

Aluminum Guide Rod
The recoil guide rod being aluminum annoys me.
Every time I disassemble the gun, there’s a layer of aluminum sludge mixed into the oil from wear.
I really wish they would just switch to stainless steel.

My Current Setup
Optic plate (nothing special here)
Holosun 507 Comp
Silver trigger to match my silver grip panels
Patriot Defense brass grips
TS2 magwell
11 lb recoil spring from my old TS2
I also experimented with a 9 lb spring, and honestly it ran great too, but the mags were sitting too close to the edge reliability-wise and could occasionally create feeding problems.
After all, we’re stuffing tiny P-10F mags up to 24+1 for competition.
Then there’s the damn single-side safety…
and honestly that’s about it.
That’s the funny thing about the DWX:
there really isn’t much left that NEEDS upgrading.
If anything, I’d recommend an adjustable trigger, although since I already did a bunch of trigger work myself, I personally don’t need it anymore.
I didn’t even install the Ignite trigger kit.
For the mainspring, I literally just cut two coils off with a Dremel.

Final Configuration / Overall Thoughts
Right now the gun weighs 3 lbs 5 oz unloaded.
And if you still want more weight, you can add the brass magwell that Emma Tech makes for the TS2/Czechmate. I only stuck with the regular aluminum magwell because I wanted the color to match.
Trigger pull is currently around 1.6 lbs.
If I change anything else, I’ll probably replace the stupid hammer pin, because I’m still using the hammer pin from the ambi safety setup, and the extra protrusion doesn’t affect performance but visually it triggers my OCD every time I look at it.
Other than that?
I honestly don’t have much left to complain about.
This gun is damn close to perfect for me.
Honestly, I think it feels even better than an Atlas in actual use. (Although if the trigger were adjustable from the factory, it would probably be right there with an Atlas trigger too.)
But purely in terms of:
grip feel
balance
weight distribution
…I’m unbelievably satisfied with it.
If anyone has questions, feel free to ask.
And seriously — I really hope we start seeing more DWX shooters out there in competitive shooting.

I’ve seen a few threads on hear with people having issues with the optic comming off during recoil. I emailed vortex to see what screws I should use as I’ve heard the cz screws (m4 x .7 11mm) are too long but correct pitch. They replied saying the 9.8mm m4 x .7 screws should work if the 11 mm is too long. Just thought I’d share hope this helps anyone trying to figure out which ones to use without destroying threads on their dwx