CZ-75 or EAA WITNESS?

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Spieler

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Quick question for those with experience with either one of these pistol.

I like the CZ/TZ design and have narrowed down my next purchase to either a CZ-75B or full-size, blued EAA Witness, both in 9mmP. The difference now lies in the pricing. I see that CDNN currently has the Witness for ~$270 NIB and a local shop has the CZ-75B for about $100 more, NIB.

So, is the CZ really worth the extra $100? Features are about identical: blued finish, standard sights, one mag each NIB, etc. I have handled the CZ-75 and liked the way it fit my hand, but I have not handled a Witness yete.

So, go for the original or go for the 'copy' and have some dough left over for additional mags and BBs?

Help me decide.
 
I have a EAA witness in .45ACP, while its not a 9mmP I find the gun very well put together and it goes bang everytime the trigger is pulled. its quite accurate out fo the box as well.



Travis
 
Both are nice guns, the CZ is much more consistant in their performance and quality. Witness guns are very nice..but once in a while you get a 'bummer" gun.
Its worth it to me to get the CZ..........shoot well.
 
CZ for me. I'm occasionally tempted by a 10mm Witness but I still have hope of seeing a 97B in 10mm one day so I'm holding off.

I hear the Baby Eagle/Uzi Eagle/Jehrico is a little more consistant than the EAA offering and AFAIK Magnum Research isn't too bad of an importer to deal with. Certainly better than EAA, although more greedy than CZ USA. Just what I've heard. I've never needed to deal with any of them directly so don't have any 1st hand experiance.
 
I'm gonna agree with the CZ notion. EAA is alittle more inconsistant in their firearms. CZ on the other hand are a ton better. Deffinately worth the extra $100.

clipse
 
Oh great googly moogly, how do I answer this one? :rolleyes: I had 6 Witness pistols, and if not for financial pressure, I would still have 5, (gave one to my brother right after the AWB went into effect. Idiot sold it two weeks later.), BUT, on the other hand, i have had two CZs personally, and the wife one, and we only have CZs now.
Either or is a good pistol, though I have to state EAA customer service BITES. The Witness is a good pistol, and I like them a lot...may get one in 38 Super sometime. The Witness can convert to a wide array of calibers, too, while the CZ has the 22 Kadet Kit, only.
Long and short...I am totally dedicated to my Cz PO1. I may get a CZ Compact 40 someday, or an EAA Witness Compact 38 Super, and I will be confident in either pistol.....
 
I have the CZ 75 SA, 85 Combat and a Witness .38 Super. All are great guns, but I think the fit and finish on the CZs is better. The edges of the witness seem sharp to me (espeically the bottom of the safety).
 
If its 45ACP you want, the Witness is like a CZ75 in 45ACP where as the CZ97 is a good gun, its feel IMHO is nowhere as good as is a CZ75, maybe iy your hand is bigger you'd like the 97 better.

For 9mm & .40 CZ all the way! For 10mm EAA is one of your few choices, with none from CZ.

OTOH the Witness pistols on sale at CDNN might be cheap enough to get instead of the CZ. I picked up the fullsize .45ACP Witness-P (they were out of the steel framed .45) for $260, love the fit, haven't had a chance to shoot it yet, just picked it up yesterday.

One other plus for Witness is mags drop free, for CZ you need to remove the brake if you want drop free.

--wally.

PS, anyone know for sure if the Witness-PC and steel frame compact guns take the same mags? I'm seeing conflicting info.

My CZ97 mag fits, locks the slide back and feeds dummy rounds (as I said I haven't shot it yet) in my Witness-P and vice-versa.

I'm intrested in picking up one of the Compact Witness-P in 9mm for my wife as see loves the CZ75 but finds it a bit large and heavy. I see 9mm Witness Compact mag are easy to find, but am not sure they fit the Witness-PC.
 
I have one of the real classics, an original "Pre-B" CZ75. I used to have a P9C from Springfield Armory. This was a compact version of their CZ clone. While actually a Tanfoglio, the P9's were, to me, the most attractive of the tribe. I miss it, and wish SA would release them again.
 
Shep, with EAA having the import rights to the Tanfoglio line, it is unlikely we will ever see the P9 again. Too bad, as EAA's customer service went so far downhill, Tanfoglio almost needs a new importer to perk up the image again....
 
It depends on the Caliber. The 40 poly mags I had wouldnt go in my CZs...to fat. The steel framed ones went in but were to short. So the poly ones probably wont work in steel.....but will work vise versa.........just a note.

Shoot well.......
 
Armoredman, you're likely right. After the way Springfield Armory burned themselves trying to produce too many guns, they aren't likely to try again. Also, they are doing so well with the new designs that there's no reason to.

A body can still dream, though...
 
Got to shoot my .45 EAA Witness full size poly today!

Got to shoot my .45 EAA Witness full size poly today!

I also took a CZ97 mag with me to see if it'd work, was short on time so didn't bring the CZ97 to check the Witness mag in it.

Basically I like the gun, it feels better in my hand than does the CZ97. YMMV.

Started with a box of Wolf and had three feed stoppages in the first mag of 10 rounds, not a great start :( But these were the kind where you pull the slide back and let it slam forward again and you then get a feed. In my experience this usually means the mag is binding the rounds not getting them up into position in time. So I kept shooting, 1 of the same feed failure in each of the next three mag loads. Starting to get a bit concerned since the gun only came with one mag.

Next I try the CZ97 mag -- all ten rounds feed perfectly. Figuring problem is the mag and it just needs either more shooting or some internal polish, I go back to the EAA mag and break out a box of my hard cast lead H&G 68 style 200gr SWC -- these my CZ97 doesn't feed very well generally giving two or three jams a box. Pleasent surprise, the Witness fed all 50 perfectly!

Figuring the mag may have loosened up a bit, got out another box of Wolf 230gr ball. This time all 50 fed perfectly. Not perfect function out of the box but seemed to break in quickly, and it looks like the initial problems were mag related since the CZ mag worked.

As to other calibers, again I see conflicing info about EAA mags compatability in Poly vs. Steel guns. I'll try to find samples to compare at the next gun show.

I'm very happy and think it was a great buy at $259.95 from CDNN.

--wally.
 
If buying sight unseen, you may want to lean to the CZ. If you are able to see them side by side, then I'd go for the one that feels better in your hand and the overall feeling of which one you would like. Though similar, I prefer the grip and style of the Tanfoglio to the CZ. I had the full size .45 that I sold only to assist in financing another purchase (revolver for wife). Mike
 
Witness Poly Mags

the Poly witness's do take different mags than the steel framed guns.
Click to expand...

I just ordered some Witness mags today, and asked about the "difference" between the steel models and mags for the polys. Turns out the only change is the color of the rubber bumper on the bottom of the mag. So I compared one of each. The bumper on the steel mags is black that is perhaps 95% black and the poly is 100% black, or just barely darker. It might matter to purists, but otherwise a non-issue.

When I looked at CZs, the ones I saw had lovely polished wood grips. Nice to look at, but likely to be awfully slippery in a clinch. The Witnesses have more "modern" non-slip grips. There are after market grips for CZs now, but its one more thing to mess with.

My wishlist for either of these would be to add a de-cocker.
 
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