I need honest input about EAA Witness

[atblis]

Huh? Maybe on the lower Witness line

I am looking at a full size Witness in Super 38 cal. ( which I want)in Wonder finish.

It appears that is what the OP asked about.

Tanfoglio has a worldwide reputation for making quality firearms.

Unfortunately not in this country. I am not saying that Tanfoglio doesn't make some worldclass guns, just that they don't enjoy that reputation here. Those who are familiar with them know this, but in general... That's mostly EAA's fault, but I'd say Tanfolgio has some culpability in the situation.

 

[hags]

Quote:
I am looking at a full size Witness in Super 38 cal. ( which I want)in Wonder finish.

It appears that is what the OP asked about.

Ok, missed that, my bad.

hags

Tanfoglio has a worldwide reputation for making quality firearms.

atblis

Those who are familiar with them know this,

Well, that's contrary to what you stated earlier in this thread, which is what I was commenting on.

 

[mainmech48]

Never had a .38 Super, but I've had my Wonderfinish full-sized 9x19 for about 14 years and can give you the skinny on it.

I bought it LNIB with 2 full-cap mags for about $225. It's run flawlessly with everything but some gun show "remanufactured" lead stuff that I foolishly bought because it looked pretty and was cheap. FWIW, the same stuff wouldn't run either of my other 2 9x19s reliably either.

I've gone through something on the close order of 8.5K of assorted rounds in it. Aside from routine spring replacements at about the 5K mark it's still 'stock'. Nothing's broken or worn out, the finish has held up extraordinarily well and it still shoots where I point it and groups as well as I can hold it for.

It shows some minor wear on the part of the barrel's chamber visible through the ejection port and the leading edges of the locking lugs, but the rails of the slide and frame and the other contact areas underneath look as if they've just been lightly polished.

I've read a lot of whining and trash talk about Tanfoglio's pistols, but I haven't actually seen any of the 'issues' demonstrated in my presence. Given my personal experiences with my one example, I tend to look at many of the negative anecdotal generalizations skeptically.

 

[surveyor]

I've got 2, one a standard steel wonderfinish, the other a match, both are in .45
they get used and enjoyed.

on the standard I put a adjustable LPA rear sight on it, and changed the trigger out to a single action. it shoots POA, and is confortable, no problems in over 1K rds either 230 ball or 185 JHP. I havent shot any 200 swc in it yet,

the trigger was changed only after getting the match, since I liked that one so well. no problems with the mags, & the mecgar mags.

The match has a tighter slide fit, and the only thing I've done to it is put a fiber optic front sight in it. I have about 500 rds through it, and when my wife goes to the range with me, she shoots it. I only had 1 problem with it, and I attribute it more to pilot error. the mag release is longer and if you bump it with your grip the mag drops out, and does not feed. it only happened once.

I did notice that the older one of the older witness mags I had does not want to lock in as well as the mag that came with it, or the mecgars..

so it is a little more finicky in that regard.
the trigger is a bit more smoother on the match, than the standard, with less travel. that's one of the reasons I changed it.

as far as what I think would be ideal, would be a standard in wonder finish with a single action trigger, dovetailed front sight, and adjustable rear sight.

also as far as the saftey, it seems a little more positive as far as locking the hammer from moving on the standards than on the matches.. you can put the saftey on and pull the trigger on the match and the hammer will move a little, not so on the standard.

while I see grumblings about poor customer service on the net, I haven't had to use any.

there is more info on these at http://henningshootsguns.com

and the CZ forum in the clone club.

 

[JeepGeeek]

have a FS steel 10mm in Wonder, and a FS poly in 9mm blue. Very happy with both, they're tack drivers.

 

[mpmarty]

Let's see, I've got a full size wonder finish 10mm, a compact all steel wonder finish 10mm, a Witness Match in 40 S&W with a 10mm barrel bought from EAA for a very reasonable price and delivered in three days. They are all tack driving accurate and once I properly fitted the 10mm barrel in the match gun they never failed in any way with cast reloads, cor-bon, 200gr Speer fmjs at 1215fps. The fit and finish on the match is unbelievable. The standard full size and compact are well done also but not as highly polished and fitted. As the .40 and 10mm are the same diameter I use the same ten magazines for all three pistols. The only "bad" Tanfoglio guns I've ever heard of were the early polymer pistols they had made where Tanfoglio made the uppers, barrels and recoil assemblies but had someone in Austria cast the polymer lowers and they were junk. Not unusual in todays European Common Market. The quality stays home while the buyers travel looking for bargains.:banghead:

 

[neviander]

The slide is so low profile that I could not rack the slide real easily

I found that a little cumbersome at first as well. I have the Elite Match in .45. So far I love it, it's plenty accurate and hasn't had any failures...plus it's pretty

 

[Don357]

I have a Witness Poly Compact .45acp. Shoots like a dream. I had some minor feeding problems but they were corrected by polishing the feed ramp. I read somewhere that the early 10mm's had some major feeeding problems due to a flaw in the magazine follower. Tanfoglio corrected that and supposedly no more problems now. Mine also shoots low and I plan to change the sight to an adjustable style, but I'm in no hurry since I got mine figured out. The barrels and slides can be interchanged to change calibers, which is a really nice feature. Check out www.savvysurvivor.com, for more info and a few gunsmithing tips.

 

[atblis]

Just

Just to possibly save someone some confusion, Savvysurvivor is no longer in business.

 

[Galen]

I have a fairly early 10mm plane Witness. Love it. It works.

 

[hemiram]

I have a .45 fullsized Witness in the wonder finish. The slide fit is very good, no real slop, just a tiny amount of movement with about 1500 rounds through it. A friend liked mine so much, he bought a .45, then a 9mm, and just last week, a .40, all fullsized. All shoot perfectly, and he loves them. He also has a CZ 97B, and while it looks much prettier than the .45 Witness, it's not a better shooter.

 

[Jiml3]

I had noticed a crack in the slide and contacted EAA. Since the pistol was imported by the previous importer, then refused to supply me with a replacement or any support. They said they only support what they sell. I contacted the owner in Italy to complain and he said there was nothing he could do. I really liked the gun but I would never buy anything again from Tanfoglia. Since then, I have been a very satisfied customer of
CZ-USA.