Tanfoglio Force Compact 99. Your feedback, please.

[Nordeste]

I've come across a used unit of this pistol at a very reasonable price. Appears to be in good condition and the seller has only one magazine (the other was presumably lost or damaged), hence the cheap price. I have already found out that I can purchase original Tanfoglio magazines from their factory in Italy, again at a reasonable price, but I have access, locally, to Mec-Gar mags in one on the LGS that I frequent. These Mec-Gar mags would fit the Tanfoglio?. I presume the ones meant for the "Compact" versions of CZ would probably fit, what about the higher capacity ones?.

That said, do any of you gents have experience with this particular family of firearms?. I own and shoot regularly a CZ SP01 Shadow and love it, so when the chance came of having a smaller, lighter, self-defense meant cousin of my CZ, I thought it could be a good idea. Do you consider this pistol a worthy self-defense EDC?.

Your inputs appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[hemiram]

From all my experience with their guns, Tanfoglio is good stuff. I have 3 steel guns of theirs, 2 full sized (See avatar to the left) and a compact. All of them are using Meg-Gar mags, as they were bought "surplus" out of Israel, and the importer usually puts a new mag in the box. I don't know what they do with the originals, as every surplus gun I've ever had, Beretta, Sig, Tanfoglio, CZ has come with MG labeled magazines. Your Force 99 is a nice gun. I don't own one, but I do own a made in Turkey Sar K2P, and a friend of mine has a Tanfoglio Force full sized, which is just a bigger version of yours. They shoot great, and if you get a couple hundred through it without problems I don't see any reason not to carry it.

Oh, on my compact steel gun, a MG mag that is listed as for the gun works fine, but doesn't hold the slide open on the last shot. The follower is just a little different. The mag that came with it has no brand name on it, not even the "T", and has a weird cast zinc or steel baseplate on it. It also came full of dead baby spiders.

 

[Nordeste]

From all my experience with their guns, Tanfoglio is good stuff. I have 3 steel guns of theirs, 2 full sized (See avatar to the left) and a compact. All of them are using Meg-Gar mags, as they were bought "surplus" out of Israel, and the importer usually puts a new mag in the box. I don't know what they do with the originals, as every surplus gun I've ever had, Beretta, Sig, Tanfoglio, CZ has come with MG labeled magazines. Your Force 99 is a nice gun. I don't own one, but I do own a made in Turkey Sar K2P, and a friend of mine has a Tanfoglio Force full sized, which is just a bigger version of yours. They shoot great, and if you get a couple hundred through it without problems I don't see any reason not to carry it.

Oh, on my compact steel gun, a MG mag that is listed as for the gun works fine, but doesn't hold the slide open on the last shot. The follower is just a little different. The mag that came with it has no brand name on it, not even the "T", and has a weird cast zinc or steel baseplate on it. It also came full of dead baby spiders.

Thanks a lot, that's good news. Once I get hold of it I'll try to get my LGS to find out which MG mags fit. I have two of them for the CZ and actually prefer them over the stock ones.

 

[JONWILL]

The CZ might fit. I recently picked up an EAA Witness and my full size CZ mags fit in it perfectly

 

[MAKster]

It is my understanding that the Tanfoglio Force is the same as the EAA Witness. EAA is the main US importer of Tanfoglio pistols.

 

[Tallball]

I own four Tanfoglio "CZ inspired" pistols: an old steel Israeli surplus in 9mm, a polymer 40 s&w, a polymer 45acp, and a steel target model in 45acp. They are my favorite centerfire pistols. Their accuracy, and fit & finish, are every bit as good as my friends' steel and polymer CZ's.

 

[hemiram]

The slide to frame fit on this gun would make a lot of high end 1911 owners jealous. It's just like glass when I rack the slide. So smooth.


I don't know how many rounds were through it when I got it, but other than the little marks on the frame, I see no wear anywhere, the SA trigger is perfect, IMHO. It was sold in "Very Good" condition with a "good" bore. If I put the barrel next to my recently purchased Jericho 941's barrel, I would defy you to see any difference inside them. This gun almost always gets a "Oh I like that!" comment when someone shoots it the first time.

The DA trigger feels odd to me, totally different than the gun in the avatar. Both are really heavy. The "898" feels like something is wrong with it in DA mode, but it shoots everytime. I thought it wasn't firing DA when I got it, like the DA sear was dropping the hammer too soon, but dropping a Bic pen down the barrel and firing it proved it was fine. The other gun, along with all my other CZ clones has the usual long and heavy DA pull. I wish my other guns had a trigger like it. The closest DA/SA trigger I have to it is my Astra A-75, which is almost as good. It gets a lot of positive comments when people shoot it too.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

A word of caution -- not about buying the gun, but with getting extra magazines. And this is true with either the compact of fullsize models.

Magazine followers can be an issue. IF you end up with a mag that won't lock back, you can try a different follower -- if you can find one that is compatible (or different than the one in the problem magazine.) EAA's customer service can help with parts for some of the earlier Tanfoglio guns but I don't know if that includes magazine followers.

But, unless you're using the gun in competition the slide not locking back is not a big issue. (For self defense or home defense use, very few real-world defensive shootings ever use enough rounds to empty a mag -- and a surprising number of folks don't carry a backup mag or have a spare mag available for quick access in the home.)​

The fullsize Tanfoglio guns tend to use the same mags as CZs and they are interchangeable from one maker to the other. In a few cases, the followers from some of the Tanfoglio mags (generally earlier models) are different and won't lock the slide back on later/other Tanfoglio models and CZ.

The "compact" Tanfoglio guns I've used had mags that are somewhat shorter than CZ-compatible "compact" mags and wouldn't work in the CZ compact models. Fullsize mags and CZ compact mags will work in the "compact" Tanfoglio guns, but will stick out farther than the flush-fit "compact" mags.