EAA Witness Question

I like the one on top best!!

Mine is a 2003 or 2004 model with a square slide and it has grips like "the other gun".. Bestest,most accuratest pistol I ever shot! I loves me some Witnesses!

I believe that yours is newer.

My grips are like yours. I purchased mine in 2010.

Yours is the new style. I just got a Witness straight off the boat from Italy (well, direct from EAA as a warranty replacement, with the timing dictated by the arrival of the shipment), and it had the grips shown in the first post. The gun it replaced had the grips shown lower.

The new grips are significantly thinner than the old ones.

They changed to the thinner plastic grips in 2011. I bought a 9mm Match in early 2011 and it had the earlier rubber grips. A couple months later I bought a 45 Match and it has the plastic grips. The 45's rail is not as thick as the 9mm's too. The rubber grips look better but the plastic grips don't look too bad and they are noticeably thinner, and with the different grips I can tell the two guns apart at the range without having to look down the business ends.

I don't mean to derail the thread but I have been looking closely at the EAA Witness Steel line lately, in 10mm.

Is the Witness a reliable gun? How does the single action trigger feel?

g_one said:

I don't mean to derail the thread but I have been looking closely at the EAA Witness Steel line lately, in 10mm.

Is the Witness a reliable gun? How does the single action trigger feel?

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I'm not familiar with the Steel. But I've got an Elite Match which is SA only and the trigger is excellent, in my opinion. Mine is 9mm and I have had no problems with it. I have recently bought a 9mm Witness Compact pictured below. I happen to like the rubber grips. They're a little more 'grippy'.

The Witness is a very accurate, reliable gun, given that all makers have problem guns that get out.
It's generally seen as a "best buy" due to the price/quality.

The SA trigger is good for a normal service type pistol, and seems to break in nicely. If it's not good enough, there are gunsmiths that do trigger work on them.

A few people have had problems with the 10mm model cracking slides. This is claimed to be a matter of the factory recoil spring not being heavy enough, although the factory knows more about their gun and the requirements than anyone else.

Put a Hogue wrap around with finger grooves. Nothing touches it!

Here's what I'd say about the Witness, based on the two Elite Matches (10mm) that I have had. They are Italian sportscar guns. They are machines offering incredible performance, and they deliver that performance in a way that forces the user to smile. Many people have shot my Match and declared it to be the most enjoyable gun they've ever shot. The SA triggers are very good out of the box, and can be rendered fantastic with gunsmithing. The only quibble with it is that the trigger itself can have some side-to-side play, but there are replacement triggers that can eliminate that entirely. In fact, for a relative obscure gun (in America, anyway), there is a pretty comprehensive set of custom parts that can be put in. Their accuracy is absolutely great. The big steel frame and outsanding ergonomics makes even 10mm enjoyable to shoot. My Elite Match is my favorite handgun, and only my Beretta O/U shotgun (which cost several times as much as the Witness) can compete for "favorite gun" status.

But. I would not call it the most reliable gun I have ever owned. The guns, like Italian sportscars, sometimes need tweaks. The chambers are generally fully-supported and snug, which makes for good accuracy and an ability to shoot hot loads without blowing out the brass... but they can be slightly finicky with their feeding, since they don't have the gaping maw of a Glock or M&P. I've had an extractor break; it's a replaceable part, but it takes a bit of work. I've had a frame crack; it wasn't in a palce that caused a safety issue, and I got a new gun for free, so they took care of me, and it was after thousands of rounds of 10mm, but it was a crack nonetheless. I've had the rear sight (adjustable) disassemble itself under recoil; again, CS at EAA took care of me, but it happened. Haven't had any issues at all with my 2012 gun, but I've got less than 200 rounds through it.

In the end, I love my Witness. It's my favorite pistol. If I ever get around to actually competing in gun games, I will use it, or another Witness. But it's not my bump-in-the-night gun. Maybe my 2010 gun was something of a lemon (though I loved it until I had to send it back over the frame crack), and the 2012 will prove completely reliable. Then it would be perfect. If it does not, it will just be my very inexpensive Ferrari that is a blast to drive, but sometimes has to be fixed.

My 10mm Witness compact cracked its slide in the first three boxes of ammo

It was the "rounded" slide model, they replaced it with a "square" profile slide, but I had to pay to send the gun back to them, which really irked me as interchangeable uppers is a feature of the standard Witness pistols, so if I had to pay I should have only needed to return the upper (which not being a firearm would have cost ~$10 instead of ~$60!).

My 10mm Elite Match is a great shooter, but mag issues prevent me from really recommending it. In any other caliber the Elite Match is one of the best bang/buck pistols out there.

If you must have a 10mm, IMHO get a Glock 20 or Delta Elite 1911, I've had no issues with either of these.

Are the caliber conversion kits available for the Match or other long-slide versions, or only in the 3.6" and 4.5" barrels?

Slide/barrel conversions are available for Elite series pistols; call EAA and they can (once they call you back) talk you through it.

wally said:

My 10mm Elite Match is a great shooter, but mag issues prevent me from really recommending it. In any other caliber the Elite Match is one of the best bang/buck pistols out there.

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Have you tried the Mec-Gar mags? I have had good luck running 10mm out of those, with either their follower or a Grams follower and an aluminum base plate.

Have you tried the Mec-Gar mags? I have had good luck running 10mm out of those

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No, I'd heard they were coming out, and folks had high hopes of them solving the problems, but I've not not found any yet.

Got a reasonably priced source?

Don't know what you consider reasonably priced, but I've bought them here: http://www.henningshootsguns.com/shop/magazines.html (Incidentally, that is the best Witness accessory/parts source I know of.)

Consider getting the ones with the aluminum base pads; they add 2 rounds to the capacity, so you get 16 rounds in a 10mm.

I don't consider $37 very reasonable. I'll try one if I run into one at a better price.

The EAA factory 10mm mag holds 15 rounds. Mec-Gar reduced the capacity of their Para P-14 mags by one round too, which in my P-14 made them a lot more reliable than the factory mags. I can hope for the same with the Witness 10mm.

I've got the Henning aluminum base pads for my EAA .45ACP Limited, they work great but are rather pricey.

Hogue it up!

I need to get another Witness with the rail and slap a pair of those wrap around grips, they look great.

I still have my large frame steel .45 I bought back in '02. Either a 10mm conversion or the whole gun (in 10mm) will likely be my next addition.

I really, really, like Tanfoglio pistols. I don't care for the BUL-led redesign of the slide, though. The squared slides are better in the heavier calibers. In 9mm, it won't matter, and it won't matter either way as EAA's warranty is the same as Glock or SIG, but in 45 or 10mm, I prefer square slide profiles.