I was referring to the bigger picture and those who may be starting from the ground and buying a new pistol altogether. This alone would be a good explanation on why production has stopped. I just don’t see the demand being as high as the past giving the railed frames nowadays.
I have a Dawson on one of my 1911’s, not by choice, just what was available at the time. I have no complaints with its durability, though I have not had luck finding quality leather holsters that will work without significant work . If I had the option back when, I gladly would of with a railed frame…
Which holsters have you tried? What difficulties were you having?
I got a Milt Sparks VM2 to work just by keeping that holster with the pistol and a thick ziploc bag in it for a few days in a hot moist area, and it works fine.
I had a Sparks SS-II and a VM-II, neither was remotely close to working. I tried the ziplock bag on the SS but wasn’t getting anywhere so didn’t bother trying with the VM. I should have tried a heatgun (or something) and worked it a little more but I decided to try and order one made for my pistol.
I had an order with 5-Shot Leather for a model built with a DR but haven’t heard anything from that guy in months…I ordered Dec. 2010. I ended up with a RCS and called it a day.
For clarification, 10-8 Performance is NOT picking up production of the Dawson Rail. Even during its heyday, sales of the Dawson Rail were quite minimal, which is what prompted the eventual discontinuation of the part. The rail was a great solution back in 2004-2006, but has been superseded in overall functionality by integral rail frame 1911s. The need for a proprietary adapter which must be semi-permanently mounted to only one light option is also a drawback if starting from scratch.
My website’s Light Rail 1911 Resource has also been updated to reflect the latest information on rails/lights.
Unless MARS Armament produces a significant number of these, I’d expect them to dry up in the near future. I agree that looking forward there are too many high quality railed frames out there (Colt, Imbel, Caspian, Wilson), and making an X300 slave to one weapon system isn’t really ideal.
The other issue with the DR equipped guns is that of future compatibility. Not all lights in the future may be adaptable to the DR. I sincerely hope that the new surefire lights are…
With a standard rail you should be good to go for almost anything and everything for the foreseeable future.