DW... Monson, Palmer, Norwich

And along the lines of other makers is there a 'standard' that a gun from a particular place or era is probably better made?

Pretty much what I read too.. Also read that DW was good at correcting any noted deficiencies so the issues in the Palmer guns were quickly resolved.

Most DWs I pick up are Monson guns. I have ever been impressed with any DW so far as fit and finish. The way they stamp the name and SNs on them looks like they hired old Ruger employees (serial number stampers) from the 1950s. Will say that I haven't handled a Norwich DW.
With all the gyrations of DW the production records do not exist where we can see them (BATFE has them). The DW nuts generally know which ones are hardest to find. The long cylinder guns are the scarcest. 414SMs are generally impossible to find followed by the 375SM, the 445SM, and then 357SM. We see a lot of 44, 357, and 22 DWs on the auction sites. The 32s and 41s aren't seen much.

Nice "set." Beware selling... As an old running buddy says, "They aren't eating anything." They always cost more to get back too.. Do keep me in mind on the 375...

And the REAL DW nuts come out!
They might make a nice little nesting place here!
Bring us some good ole buddy deals on DWs..

Good LORD, I truly hope you don't trust "Wikipedia" as a factual source...especially on anything gun related!! That's almost as blasphemous as admitting that CNN is "the honest-to-God-truth" to what's currently going on with our country these days.
Go ahead & slap yourself, Axe!!!.
There, that's better.
Sometimes it seems the internet is more of a curse that anything, I tell ya! Some days I'd rather be limited to my own sources of the erroneous "written FACTUAL word", than believing the blather I happen across on the interweb. I can't say I haven't been guilty myself, but good grief!
Okay, so...

The DW company didn't officially begin until the calendar year of 1970.
No matter what some Wikipedia "cut-n-paste" genius has to say.

Prior to 1970, DW was a tool & die company. The first actual run with "DW" guns shipped in August 1970. Cut-n-dried. It wasn't until 1992 that Seth & Carol Wesson (Seth is Dan's son) relocated to Palmer Mass., a few years after Dan's death.
Pictured here is "Ed & Fred"...#'s 96 & 97 off the line in 1970. These were each released as one of the original "Pistol Pac's"...



And here's my pair of examples from the Palmer plant. These two are affectionately known as "Pete & Repeat", a Ying/Yang pair of 3" .357's with fixed barrels...only made in the Palmer plant (not Monson, not Norwich). There were also some .44 Mag FB guns available, but from what I've seen so far, all other Palmer models had interchangeable barrels.



In the early days, the Palmer plant was erroneously given the distinction of a "bad rap" concerning an inferior product. The "rag writers" of the day (who shall remain unnamed) were particularly malicious in their opinions.
In my own opinion, I consider them as severely biased...I think they were paid to say what they said, from the ignorant competition at the time. no qualms about it.

Unfortunately, a biased label was laid early on with the Palmer guns...the label that "these guns are flawed".
Yes & no.
The Palmer plant used much of the leftover tooling from Monson, sometimes resulting in some flawed guns being shipped to customers. Much of that tooling had been "used beyond it's years", so fit & finish suffered a bit with some models. To help with this problem, the Palmer plant offered a longer warranty, in an effort to correct any tooling (and fit-n-finish) irregularities.
However by the late 90's/mid '00's 99% of any known irregularities have been handled by now, these many years later. I have three Palmer guns myself thus far & I honestly consider the overall report card as better than many of my Monson guns for fit/finish/function.
Palmer guns are some of my top priority candidates for personal collector status.

One other thing, in the early 1990's, the Palmer plant whipped out one of the best factory handgun Compensator designs to date, albeit numerous other offerings of the day. And I've gotta tell ya, it works like a dream!!
Here's 3 pics; overall layout, "business end pieces", & assembled except "Comp nut".
This is a .445 Supermag Barrel Assembly.

Sounds great! You know, I bet you're gonna love that 414SM conversion when it's done. After reading about your conversion project, I'm getting tempted to do that myself...it's getting frustrating waiting for a factory one to come along.