It’s been about six months since I got my hands on a Dan Wesson Pointman 45 (PM-45). And I really didn’t start spending time with it until a couple of weeks ago, when I started getting ready for an upcoming USPSA 1911 State Championship. However, I did a few other things with it and to it since I got my hands on it. Since it just hit the 500 round mark, it’s time for me to catch y’all up on it.

So let’s get into it.

Upgrades and Changes

As I mentioned in the first impressions review, I saw competition as the primary application for the PM-45. In fact, I got it with the intention to compete with it in the upcoming USPSA 1911 State Championship. So one of the first things I did with it after that initial review was dress it up a little to make it a little more competitive for the USPSA Single Stack division and give it a little flare as I like to do with my competition rigs and guns.

The very first thing I did to it was replace the stock general issue (GI) length guide rod with a full-length tool-less guide rod from Dawson Precision. I’ve got one of these on the Staccato P and it’s worked flawlessly for over 5,000 rounds. I mention this because I’ve seen some videos of the internal “tool-less” spring fail on these guide rods at matches and I suspect I may have introduced another point of failure. However, I don’t expect to see it fail anytime soon even if it is dealing with the additional recoil and power from the .45 ACP round compared the 9mm in the Staccato P. I think the convenience it provides from easier field stripping for maintenance is worth the additional point of failure risk.

The next thing I did was replace the stock grips with a set of 1911 Bogies from LOK Grips. That’s not quite right. I installed the left panel of a set of red 1911 Bogies on the left side of the PM-45 stock and the right panel of a set of blue 1911 Bogies on the right side. This is because I’m going with a USA theme for the competition rig and figured the red and blue grips would give it more flair. That said, I find the aggressive texture of the 1911 Bogies to be perfect for competition especially when combined with some Liquid Grip hand chalk. These specific ones are the full size grips with standard thickness and standard thumb relief cut for a notched magazine well.

A magazine well to help with the plethora of reloads required by the low capacity of 8-round .45 ACP 1911 magazines was the next obvious upgrade. For this upgrade, I went with the Dawson Precision ICE Magwell and opted for the flat mainspring housing. I’m not sure how much it helps since my reloads are still slow and I still get hung up when the magazine doesn’t come in with near perfect alignment. Regardless, it looks cool. And last time I checked, looking cool was rule numero uno. Right?

The final acquisition needed was a boat load of magazines. I went for a total of eight. Six for the belt, which should be plenty for the 32-round long format stages even if I end up launching one down range. One for a barney mag because that plus one makes all the difference often. And a spare. For the magazines, I went with the Dawson Precision Competition Ready magazine kits with the Wilson Combat ETM magazines and CTR basepads.

There were a few more acquisitions along the way to get the competition rig for it ready, but I’ll save those details for another post.

Flight of the Front Sight

The upgrades and changes took place over a few months, but everything was ready for testing around August of 2024.

In my opinion, the best place to test a competition gun and set is at a local match. So that’s exactly what I did. And about twenty or so rounds into the first stage, the front sight decided its home was in outer space where it could orbit the Earth.

That’s right. The stock front sight flew off in the middle of the stage, never to be found.

I started the warranty repair process with Dan Wesson. Given some of the recent horror stories I had heard regarding their customer service and the nature of the failure, I thought it would be best to buy a replacement from sight and install it myself which turned out to be a good learning experience.

Hand fitting a front sight isn’t difficult, but it does require proper tools (like triangular files and a vice) and a lot of patience. The learning process took three front sights and the help of a friend who happens to be a gunsmith.

On the Horizon

With the kinks and flaws worked out, the Dan Wesson PM-45 is running well and is ready for the upcoming championship match. At this point, I am confident that the 1911 is running reliably and should get me through the match.

Based on the remaining practice schedule and the match book, it is likely that the 1911 will hit the 1000 round mark before this year comes to a conclusion. As such, y’all can expect a 1000 round update post where I plan to talk a bit more about how the 1911 performed and how it’s breaking in.

For now, all I can say is that I’m happy with the Pointman 45. Even with the unfortunate front sight incident, I still think it’s a good value and should function well as a competition 1911.