Should be getting a EAA witness in .45 ACP in the next couple days.

T

T-90

New member
A fellow I know is selling his and he has five 10 round mags, a small GI ammo crate full of ammo, and a holster for it. The mags and ammo together are worth $200 bucks easy and he wants $500 for all of it. Its an older EAA Witness, and has very few rounds through it. Probably less than 200.

Anyone have any experience with the EAA Witness in .45 ACP?
 
t90,

I bought two brand new EAA .45 Wonder finished pistols in the late 2000's, one a compact and one a full size. Both suffered frame and slide cracking at low round counts (2800-3200) with standard velocity ammo. EAA refused to do any warranty work as they had been hard-chromed to minimize corrosion problems I had here in the tropics. Now both are used as paperweights. Frame and slide cracking seemed to occur on the standard and not higher-end pistols in both 10mm and .45acp calibers. No more EAA for me.

good luck- oldandslow
 
Should be getting a EAA witness in .45 ACP in the next couple days.
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Good luck on that, ... especially if it's an older model.

By the way, it's a Tanfoglio Witness. EAA is just the importer and the (alleged) service provider for warranty work.

And good luck on that too ... :rolleyes:
 
I have the polymer version. That's a fair deal for any version, a great deal if any of the steel frame versions or the full sized poly. It's only fair if the 'carry' version. The 'carry' poly will be labeled 'Witness-P-F' and have a 3.6" barrel.

Mine is a tack driver and eats most ammo. I've had some JHP not feed well in my full sized.
 
I've had excellent results with the actual stainless steel version I bought in the very early 1990's when for a short period EAA imported a stainless version.

It's accurate, reliable, and fits me very well.
Some people recommend buying a slightly stronger recoil spring, which is claimed to pretty well eliminate any problems with cracking.

Another possible good modification would be to buy a cone end recoil spring guide from Henning:

http://henningshop.com/products/tanfoglio-conefit-guide-rod-h081

EAALeft.jpg
 
Also the ONLY stainless Tanfoglio/Witness I've ever seen. Looks nice.

I've had a couple of .45 Witnesses including a Sport Long Slide, and they were pretty good guns -- all bought used, so no warranty. (I had some problems with the Long Slide over the span of about 5 years[ barrel cracked, despite never using anything but standard factory loads -- and that was a very unusal problem], and the SuperSight broke -- both were fixed at my expense.) Stuff happens.
 
Well it turns out mine is part of that "recalled" bunch for a firing pin and safety modification. They wouldn't tell me what the problem actually was. The other thing she asked me was if "I took it apart and pout it back together a lot."

I read on some forums were guys in the past just ignored it. Also another question is this. Where could I get a good after market recoil spring.
 
The wishes for good luck and getting a good one are not without cause.
I had one of the first ones in the mid nineties.
Hope yours is better.
For the first few action pistol matches, it was great.
Then the flaws began to show.
By the 1K round count, it was just a practice gun, no longer reliable enough for matches.
Too bad, as it was an excellent shooter, with great ergonomics and very good accuracy - when it worked.
Got a lot of malfunction drills with it, though.
Always helpful practice.
If you get a good one, you will enjoy it.
 
What problems did you have with yours?
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There've been a lot of problems with Tanfoglio guns over the years ... Look, do some basic research on these Italian wombats, especially those chambered in 10mm and 45acp ... You'll find slide-crackin', frame-crackin', knuckle-crackin' - take your pick. :rolleyes:

The real problem is .... for any function issues you do encounter, you'll have to deal with EAA, who is Tanfoglio's importer for the Witness line and also, apparently, for the Turkish-made Salizsmar K2s, ... unless you have a local gunsmith who is an expert with Tanfoglio's large-frame Witness-line.
 
Well I am hearing that replacing the recoil spring will help reduce the chances of a cracked slide. Some say that was part of the problem. What exactly is the issue with the firing pin/safety recall?
 
I heard about "cracked slides" some years ago, and that was eventually remedied by a slide redesign. I've not heard about that or other similar problems more recently with either the .45 or the 10mm versions.

There have been discussions about frame cracks on this forum or The High Road, recently, and the cracks there -- around the mag release location -- were remedied by a pressure-releasing cut on the frame at that position (now done at the factory.) When it first appeared, the crack showed itself but never really got worse. (There may have been other cracks in different places.)

I'm not defending Tanfoglio or EAA (as I don't think there's much way to rationally defend some of EAA's past behavior with or treatment of customers), but things have changed and the gun's design has subtly changed. In recent years I've heard of improvements, and the one key EAA manager that caused so much "stink" seems to be out of the picture.

The question as to whether the gun in question is an older model with the potential to have problems is the answer I'd be seeking. (I put a LOT of rounds through my Witness Sport Long Slide over several years and had a few problems, but slide or frame damage wasn't one of them.)
 
Walt's correct about the more recent user reports involving the "high-end" Tanfoglio models - specifically the Match and the Stock.

Reports on these guns in 10mm and .45acp (that I've personally seen anyway) have been positive.
 
Not sure what year this pistol was made. But it is a full size .45 ACP that was imported in 1994 from what I gathered. The recoil spring is actually fairly strong and the gun looks great. This is an older one I assume. A buddy of mine looked at it with me and he thought the recoil spring was pretty darn strong. At any rate taking it out this week with 100 rounds of 230 gr. FMJ, with the Beretta 92 F/S and a 100 rounds of 115 gr. FMJ, and see if I can work on my accuracy. A buddy of mine has a Steyr in .40 S&W and he is going with me to do the same thing. :cool:

I am decent with a rifle and shotgun, but I have always been a bit behind the curve with handguns. :o Got to work on that.
 
Here's a summary of some of the problems, and because YOUR gun is an older one, it could (but probably won't) have problems. I've had several Witness .45s from that periods -- the less costly models -- and they were trouble free. Lighter or heavier recoil springs arguably aren't the solution if you're concerned about cracked slides -- a different SLIDE is the solution.

If you ever DO have a problem with the gun, you can order a conversion kit from EAA and keep the caliber or change to a different one (like 9mm). The EAA solution is a different top end and magazine, and probably less expensive than buying a new gun -- but a used Witness might be cheaper. (I haven't priced the conversion kits.) The fact that your gun was bought used complicates things -- as I don't think EAA will help anyone but the original owner (and they've got a mixed track record there with .45s and 10mm models.)

I found this on the 'net and it seems to be a pretty good summary of some of hte issues. It includes some photos and links: http://www.gunwiki.net/Gunwiki/RefWitnessIssues
 
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Mine from the same 1994 time period wouldn't feed worth a hoot.
Not even factory jacketed hardball.
The rim of the out going case would catch on the mouth of the top round in the mag.
The rounds were slipping down the breech face.
A stronger extractor spring was tried with little success, as was a replacement extractor from EAA, which actually made things worse.
The only thing that helped was a home made extractor that held the cases firmer to the breech face.
And adding more taper crimp to hardball ammo, factory or my reloads using ball.
Forget trying to use anything else.
It also developed a crack where the dust cover (recoil spring tunnel) and slide met.
The cover had been honed out too much on one side.

You know that CZ makes a large frame .45.
The CZ 97
 
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