The Valor was tightly fitted, and it showed - firing groups that would be tough to beat with even the most expensive custom pistol.

I started at the seven-yard line, where I fired a few magazines to get a feel for the Valor and make sure everything worked as it should. I was thrilled to see my first few rounds fall into a nice, tight group, just a hair below the center of the three-inch bullseye. I quickly adjusted the Novak sight and brought the groups up and into the bull, then fired for effect. The Valor felt great in my hand, and it fed, fired, and ejected as flawlessly as I hoped.

I did my accuracy testing with the Valor from a sandbag rest at 25-yards. Because it was so tightly fitted, I was expecting good accuracy, but I confess that my first bughole group blew me away. I shot that incredible, .954-inch, five-shot group with Hornady's 185-grain XTP load.

But as good as that group was, it wasn't a fluke. In fact, my next two groups measured .925 inch and .974 inch. Nerves caused me to open things up a bit, but the five-group average of just 1.18 inches ranked right up there with my best full-house-custom 1911s.

It would be unfair to expect another load to match the accuracy of that Hornady load, but Federal's 230-grain Hydra Shoks came close. With a best group right at one inch and a five-group average of just 1.57 inches, that gun and load combination proved downright impressive.

I also tested ammo from Black Hills and Winchester. Both averaged over two inches, but the Black Hills load turned in a best group of 1.5 inches and probably would have averaged a bit better than the 2.2 inches I got had I shot it first, when I was a bit less fatigued.

A few days later I headed back to the range with two friends, Mike Ambrose and James Jeffrey, to complete my reliability testing. Mike, a Vietnam-era Navy SEAL, fired 60 rounds through the Valor. He raved about the Valor's trigger and accuracy.

James, who has a great deal of experience with high-end 1911s, also fired 60 rounds. He loved the Valor, too. He particularly liked the feel of the checkering and grips, and he thought the Valor might be the most accurate pistol he'd ever shot.

Once we were done with that, I loaded up a bunch of magazines and rapid-fired the last 160 rounds through the Valor. I really liked the match-grade accuracy and crisp, clean trigger, and because of my small hands I loved the combination of the slim grips and 25 lpi checkering. The grip was easy to wrap my hands around, and the checkering locked the gun into my hands during rapid-fire drills.

At the conclusion of my testing, I called Dan Wesson's Keith Lawton to brag about the Valor's accuracy. He was not surprised. "I know you expected me to be surprised about the groups you shot with the Valor," Lawton said, "but accuracy like that is not uncommon."

Lawton said the hand-fitting described earlier and the high-quality, name-brand parts Dan Wesson uses led to increased consistency and quality. He went on to say that by 2009, all Dan Wesson pistols will be completely free of metal-injection-molded parts, which are not held in high regard by many.

Under CZ-USA, Dan Wesson has endeavored to improve the quality of its 1911 line. Based on the Valor I tested, I would have to say the company has succeeded. I couldn't find a thing to complaint about. In fact, I was so impressed with the new Valor I bought it. I can't think of any higher praise than that.