EAA Witness .40 S&W Pistol who has one and are they as good as i'm told?

[jack404]

I've recently sold my .22 semi auto pistol and my .40 S&W with nthe plan of getting a hipoint witha .22 convetion kit but was advised by a bloke in the US about the EAA Witness

From what i read they have a goodly of option regarding calibers and this allows me a work around to have it registered as a single pistola here

3-4 for the paperwork and restrictions of 1!! suck that Mr Gun Control

so now comes the questions ( got most of the other hassles sorted )

who has one and how are they?

any glitches ( its a gun, most have them) but be honest what can i expect?

especially interested how they go when firing the .22 lr convertion and nother convertion kits

cheers

jack

[Helix_FR]

EAA's are good "now" but they are CZ75 clones which you can also buy .22lr conversion kits for. Not for much more money (well at least around here) you can get a CZ so why not go for the real deal.

[jack404]

In Oz a politician has a middlemans agreement with CZ
so add 30%-60% for pricing on top of our already raped and bleeding prices

EAA i know well and although they have not sold many here and hold no stock are happy to bring one in and all accessories and do so at trade

so $800 for the .40S&W base plus the .22 and 9mm kit

compared to $1490 for the base CZ alone, kits extra and no real answer on availablity

what would you do???

cheers

jack

[Helix_FR]

So your specifically looking for a .40S&W model that also has a 22 conversion kit available? EAA's ain't bad and they had some issues early on. LD will fill you in on those. I guess if that is what your up against then you can't really go wrong. There are bigger pieces of junk out there.
So my impression of your system out there is that the more sought after the manufacturer the higher the payola?
So what would be the deal of someone state side bought you the conversion kit then sent it to you? (not looking to break the law here just wondering) I guess customs would get involved. Around here it isn't considered the key part of a firearm so no FFL to transfer and the prices are reasonable.

The price for the EAA kit isn't bad. A EAA in 9mm costs around 500.00 the conversion kits are 150-200 so your cost isn't to bad for the 2 kits.

[mncarpenter]

the .45 Witness come with a 22lr conversion, in one of the packages marketed by EAA. Head over to the CZ forum http://www.czforumsite.info/index.php?board=27.0- there is a good section on CZ clones with lots of reading about the Witness. I've handled a few and will end up w 1 eventually. I have a CZ p01 and its my favorite pistol. But CZ owners are a lil goofy about their guns.

[bambihunter]

I had an early 10mm auto all-steel Witness and those were known to have issues but mine was nearly flawless. For those that do have issues, most are resolved by a "Fluff and buff". You can google that term and find complete info about it, but basically if you have FTF or FTE's you can polish the feed ramp and slide rails with Flitz or a dremel tool and polishing compound and work the bugs out.

Since you are down under, I doubt you'll have to deal with E.A.A.'s legendary horrible service so that is good, but assume you won't get any help. I have heard people deal with Tanfoglio directly and have much better response.

[jack404]

and here the result

yes .45 cal is illegal here so chose .40 as my base handgun load with .22LR as back up /practise i love 1911's and had a few

i also have a limit on total number of handguns i can own so the .22 that can be used regularly in the same frame is a big bonus for me



cheers for the input folks

[Jim Hauff]

Jack,
I've owned/own 4 Tanfoglio/EAA Witness pistols - my current piece is the full size .45 Wonder finish bought circa 1999. I, at one time - it was stolen, owned and carried as CCW a "compact" Witness in .40 S&W, ported barrel and slide. After a little bit of tweaking (polished feed ramp was all it needed) and break-in about 100 to 150 rounds - I found the accuracy to be much better than average and the reliability was perfect with all the different flat nose and JHP ammo I shot through it... The Wonder finish was easy to keep clean and the break down disassembly was very simple. If I still owned that piece, I would still be carrying it, despite the 36oz weight.
FWIW - the stolen gun was with a batch of 30 other handguns taken during a burglary. About 2 years after the crime - the .40 Witness showed up in the possession of an unlicensed/illegal owner. Apparently from the police report - the perp had placed the piece inside his belt between his butt cheeks (low pants apparently) with the hammer cocked and chamber loaded and the safety in off position. (Note: the gun was capable of cocked and LOCKED carry.) During the course of pulling the piece from his belt carry position, he put a round through his left ass cheek which exited his thigh about 3" above his left knee. When the cops arrived on scene, he claimed he had been shot by a robber - wound position indicated otherwise and the burn hole in his pants indicated that the gun had been fired while inside his pants. His claim of being a robbery victim quickly failed - cops "interviewed" his wife - who reluctantly took them inside the house and turned over the gun which she had hidden in the toilet tank. Cops still have my gun, dammit, pending trial of the gang bangers who were involved in the burglary and have been arrested and indicted only last year.
Good gun - and worked well - at least when handled properly.

[RunningOnMT]

Jim, Curious how you got hold of a previously stolen gun? I thought once police recovered it, it went back to the original owner, or got melted down.

Too bad that idiots aim wasn't better.

[gdmoody]

ROMT, I thought I was reading that they were originally stolen from Jim. Maybe I read it wrong.

I know that I had several guns stolen from me in a burglary years ago. About three years after the break-in, I got a call from the police letting me know that I could come pick up ONE of my guns that they recovered in a routine traffic stop,.

[Jim Hauff]

RunningOnMT-
The guns were stolen from me. I was the original retail owner of the Witness; I bought it New.

[AmmoForSale.com]

It's your money, but I would get the CZ. I had a EAA and it wasn't near the pistol that my CZ are. Since your prices are already ridiculous it almost seems like a better deal to get the higher quality pistol.

Sorry to hear that the prices are so high.

__________________
9mm ammo for sale

[Salvage33]

Shooting buddy of mine bought the Witness in 40 at a gunshow, new in box, and immediately took it out that afternoon and shot it. Of course, he didn't clean it up first, and had a FTE and two FTF's with it. Brought it over, complaining about his gun not functioning properly. I cleaned it up, oiled it, and it hasn't had a failure that I'm aware of in five years.

John

[jack404]

i've touched this very lightly with a small ultra fine Arkansas stone i got when last in the US and a mix of some metal polish paste ( carbide paste 1200 grade ) and SBGO ran 20 rounds through it with that mix on then stripped and cleaned and then went again , this is a beautiful shooter but running back and forth between where i store it and home is a pain , need to get a new gun safe here FAST!!!

[SFC]

I have the EAA Tanfoglio 9mm Witness and have no problems, very accurate, easily field strip and assemble. One major problem, locating a holster and accessories with the exception of factory magazines. Other than that it is a great firearm.

[raven66]

i have a EAA Tanfoglio 40 Witness with wonder finish(matte)
i run great never a problem.
but i try some after market mags, had problems. only use factory mags.
have fun
thanks,
alan

[mesinge2]

I have the 9mm one and I can never it jamming. It is also super accurate.

[hardknocks!]

hello All
i have the EAA witness 9mm which i call a tanfoglio.
put 550 rounds through it so far with one stovepipe during rapid firing, maybe my hold was loose? maybe not. that was around round 130.
its the full size and fits like a glove. at the gun show i paid 300.00$ w/one mag brand new in box.
very accurate even in my paws.
sorry dont know about the 40.
good luck

[jack404]

we'll 50 rnd through it today , in FTE on a reload that i was sus on in the first place , my first none function , my fault i dropped 3-4 rounds while reloading a mag and then dropped my tool box on the dropped ammo so wont blame the gun for now ...

got more mag's coming , but i cant really fault the gun so far , its accurate , light , and legal , gotta be happy with that eh

[Jim Hauff]

[NavyOrdie]

delete please

[jack404]

Welcome NavyOrdie,

with a pic from your PC go to Post reply

when that page opens put your text in the text box then scroll down a bit to see manage attachments , this is where you add your pic's

hit that and another pop up will open that you can choose your pic from your PC ( or put in a URL to the pic if its already elsewhere

again

Welcome !

[jack404]

Jim i do prefer the lines on yours than my own the closer together give it a more 1911 look ( imo) but i do like my two tone look and besides its got me a deer and two roo's so far and about 15 bunnies with the .22 kit ! and a heap of time just enjoying punching holes in various items and pic's

[armoredman]

Jack, congrats - I had the first 40SW Witness in the United States, was a great shooter. Can you legally get the 9mm conversion kit, too?

[RunningOnMT]

Jack, reading your post from six months ago , what if any reasoning was used by the powers that be over there to ban .45 acp but allow .40 S&W? I could at least understand if they said "no high power handguns" but other than being a bit heavier round, the .45 is so much slower than the .40 that it makes no sense to me to ban it but allow the .40.