Which 10mm do I need?

I picked up a Kimber TLE 10mm a couple months ago. I am happy with it, best case head support of the 1911 10s. Out of the box, it would not chamber a round, the extractor tension was much to high. I adjusted the extractor, and it has not malfunctioned yet with 100 rounds or so factory ammo, including DT hardcast. I have had a couple failures to feed with hot handloads (180 grain @1370 FPS), I think the slide is outrunning the mag, it is always on the last round in the mag. I have a 24 pound recoil spring and a couple wilson mags on order to see if the issue resolves.
 
I hung onto my Glock 29 SF and my G 20 SF, but sold my S&W 1076. So that tells something of my view of Glocks, once they modified the grips to fit me. Well, maybe to fit others also.

I was not enthusiastic about the Tangfolio 10mm and sold it.

But this Grand Power in any caliber has me interested. It looks like the pricing will be quite nice in the USA, unless something horrible happens to the exchange rate between the US Dollar and the Euro.

I'll be keeping my eyes open for the 10 mm GP.

Bart Noir
 
The EAA Witness Hunter is a very nice pistol. It is an all-steel frame double-stack with grip width very clost to a standard 1911 (1/8" wider, approx). It is very well machined and finished, exceptionally accurate and very well designed overall for 10mm.

It isn't perfect. The trigger is good out of the box, gets very good after 1,000 rds, but the trigger lever itself, at least on mine, has a lot of lateral play. This hasn't had any practical downside, but it's an aesthetic downside. The adjustable rear sight is quite nice, but mine tends to loosen over time--it also retains the firing pin block spring...so removing the rear sight means an insert has to be installed, near as I can tell, to retain that pin block spring.

Other than those two items--I love the gun. To me, it's really very much a 1911, with the added benefit of using the 10mm case size to advantage to pack 15 rds in a 1911 sized package.



To me, the single stack 10mm pistols such as the Smith 10xx series and the Delta miss out on a nice aspect of 10mm, and I owned and loved my P220 but wouldn't likely own another DA/SA gun as the configuration serves no purpose for me. Given what we know can be done with 10mm, I think the Dan Wesson Elite is the apex for a 1911 design, and Glock has proven what can be done with a compact double-stack. Somewhere in between the two, but far closer to the DW, is the EAA Witness Hunter, at a price far more working people might find approachable than the Elite.

I personally prefer the Glock 29 over any other handgun I own, except the M&P 45c. The Witness Hunter is a beautiful steel longer-slide toy I find a fun diversion however.
 
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I agree the Witness makes a nice hunter. I feel it mixes well with my 610. Between the two I figure I have the best of both worlds for hot 10mm shooting. (Unless I did out my KKM G20 but that is not a factory gun setup).
 
Those Tanfoglio Hunters look great, guys. :cool:

If I didn't have such trepidations about EAA's customer service - should the gun ever have a problem - I'd want to get one. The Hunter looks like it would make for an awesome hog pistol, even without some optic attached to it.
 
..and that's another nice thing---those 4 holes in the frame are tapped so mounting optics can be done without too much trouble, although you might have to have your own mount made. The Tanfoglio mount that fits those holes is readily available, but it's intended for a different Tang AFAIK. I bought one, mounted a red dot, then discovered the slide can't be removed due to no clearance btw the rear adjustable and the mount.

As for customer service, I only had one encounter with them and it was 100%. On the Hunter, the recoil spring guide is a 2-piece unit pinned together with a roll pin. The aft piece of the guide is designed to distribute the recoil over a large reinforced area of the frame. My pin sheared for some bizarre reason, and I asked customer service for a new pin. A complete recoil guide assembly showed up at the door about 5 days later (and it hasn't had any problems).
 
I know years ago the Glock 20 had the most over all firepower in a semi-auto pistol. That is potential ft-Ibs of energy combined with the magazine capacity.
 
Interesting point T-90. I thought my Witness hunter had the same mag capacity as my G20 and with a longer barrel it should have more power on tap.

Are you sure that the Witness mags have less capacity than a G20?
 
I am not as familiar with the Witness models. What capacity does yours have? I know the Glock 20 has 15+1, but like I implied my info is from several years back. I would be interested in taking a look at the Witness. I know they make good quality products.
 
Guessing the OP isn't involved in this thread anymore (from October) but I'll say that I just got my RIA Tactical 10mm out today and it shot really, really, well. As usual.

It has just one issue, doesn't like to feed the first round with a full mag (I'm not sure why, but its a range plinker so I don't care), runs weak and stout rounds like a top though, great gun.
 
well, I started my 10mm journey with a base model witness full size. was a very reliable gun, good shooter, soft recoil. then the slide cracked. (the early witnesses had a fairly square slide & lots of meat. the model I had had a scalloped slide. the material was removed starting just behind the ejection port, & that's where it cracked. My experience with EAA support was good. they replaced my slide with the equivalent of the Witness Match Slide (squared long-slide) & gave me an extra mag. I had reliability issues after that, so sold it to buy something else.

my next foray into 10mm was the rock island TAC 1911 II FS in 10mm. the gun looked good, but was unreliable. sometimes the first few rounds would nosedive, sometimes it would stove pipe, & recoil was significantly more than the witness. I will say that Armscor/Rock Island's Customer Service was phenomenal. first, I was the second owner, made that clear when i contacted them about my reliability issues. they said no problem, paid shipping both ways & tried some polishing. about 2 months after I got it back, the guide rod slipped & gouged the frame. I sent it back & they ultimately replaced the entire gun... & included 2 extra mags. incredible service for a 2nd owner. I wish I could have gotten that gun to run right, but it never did, & I sold it.

the next 10mm I'll be getting (with my Obama tax return) is either the EAA Witness Stock 1 or Witness Match. I think I'll get the Stock 1 so if i ever decide to shoot competition, I can shoot Stock Class. I have shot the match, & its trigger is not quite as good as a nicely tuned 1911... but its not much worse either.
Nothing quite like a 14+1 high quality DA/SA soft shooting 10mm!
 
I have a Wilson and it's a great gun, but I don't buy nor recommend Wilson since they lied to me regarding another build.

I'd go for the Nighthawk Heinie Longslide.
 
One day I was shooting my Sig X5 L1 .40 and my Wilson 10mm at 50 yards. Accuracy was the same; fantastic.

Recoil was also the same which surprised me. A lot. I guess maybe it can be attributed to the high bore axis of the Sig.

The point being I now think Sigs are at their best in 9mm; excluding their 1911s, of course.
 
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