EAA & Zastava EZ 40 Disapointment

[itchy1]

After studying what little research I could find on the Zastava EZ 40, I decided to take a chance. I purchased a brand new gun and eagerly looked it over after it arrived. The finish was OK and the slide to frame fit seemed decent enough. Popped in a snap cap and quickly found out what a horrible DA trigger pull it had. The travel is long and the pressure keeps building up until it finally breaks and then the trigger slams into the frontstrap. SA was surprisingly decent considering how bad the DA pull was. The grips are cheap and thin--they actually flex inwards a little when you grip the gun firmly. Admittedly, I was a little disapointed considering the positive reviews that I had read. I decided that I could live with all this if it served its primary function well enough--after all, I paid $330 for it and didn't expect it to look and feel like a gun costing twice as much.

So I finally get a chance to shoot it. I load up the mag and go to rack the slide. I release the slide and the forward movement abruptly stops well short of where it should. The bullet is stuck. The nose of the bullet is caught at the base of the feed ramp and the rest of it is still stuck in the magazine. No matter how I try to work the slide to eject it, the bullet won't budge. I carefully hit the mag release and the mag won't eject. I have to end up grabing the bottom of the mag and carefully apply pressure until it pops out. Thinking that perhaps this was a fluke, I re-insert the mag and try it again. Same exact thing. Stubbornly, I try it again with the same result. By this time my fingernails on both hands feel like they are about to detach from the force necessary to pull the stuck mags out. At this point I am done.

I go home and decide to take a closer look at the gun. I rack back the slide(empty chamber/mag) and it locks back. I look at the feed ramp and the it does not appear to be rough at all or have any sharp, snaggy areas. I reach in to feel the ramp with my finger and it moves forward and up several millmeters, leaving a relatively wide gap between the lip of the mag and the ramp! I'm not a gunsmith but none of my other autos have that much barrel movement with the slide locked back.

So I try to contact EAAand see what they can do for me. I explain exactly what happened to the seemingly nice lady and she asks me if I think it may be the magazine. I tell her that I don't know but that I am concerned about the excessive forward movement of the barrel. She then informs me that I need to send the gun back to them at my own expense and also include an additional $20 for return shipping. I explain that I have a defective, brand new gun and don't feel that I should have to incur any further costs as the gun left the plant defective. She is now no longer friendly and is firmly reciting their policy. According to EAA, even a brand new albeit defective gun is still considered a warranty issue and the buyer must pay shipping and the $20 for return shipping. She will not budge or listen to any reason. She then quips that the problem could have happened in transit and that they were not responsible for such things. I have no further options left at this point. I try and muster as much professionalism as I can and give her my honest opinion of their policy. I won't repeat it here.

I know that their are a number of happy EAA customers out there and in truth, I'm happy for those who have had good experiences. I'm not trying to diminish their experience, just share my own.

I will end up posting this on other boards that I frequent so if you see the title, move on down as you have already read my novel

[Will Beararms]

I had similar experiences with an EAA Tanfoglio Witness. The feed ramp wasn't finished at the factory. EAA turned it around quickly and I traded it in even quicker.

[Mrgunsngear]

I have a Witness 9mm and it runs like a tank. It's unrefined for sure but never an issue. Sorry to hear about that poor CS...

[Palmetto-Pride]

“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.” " Benjamin Franklin"

I had a witness 45 that would not chamber hollow points for anything.
I had just bought it and shot it at the range next door to the gun shop and the guy that sold it to me said "what do you want to use hollow points for any way"

I don't know a little thing called self-defense maybe.

[vladan]

Good luck with EEA customer service.

[ltc444]

My EAA Witness had problems feeding when I first got it. I messed with it and let it set for a couple of years. Took it to the the range for a final attempt before trading it. The darn thing started working and I have not had a problem with it since. Have no explanation.

[cheezhed]

I have dealt with EAA customer service before and they are out and out rude. I was yelled at over the phone and said that I had to be abusing the shotgun that was giving me a slight problem. I vowed to never buy another thing from them. I have had much better service from Century Arms.

[oldandslow]

itchy, 3/17/12

I too have had the unfortunate privledge of dealing with EAA customer service after my two Wonder finished Witness .45's developed frame and slide cracks at low round counts. I sent them back to EAA at my expense and they shipped them back to me at my expense without repairing or replacing the defective parts. Their excuse was "aftermarket finish (hard chrome) voids our lifetime warranty." I've had eight other pistols or rifles hard-chromed and they never had any metal cracking problems. Thanks for nothing EAA. Needless to say I have never bought another EAA product. I hope it works out for you.

best wishes- oldandslow

[xtriggerman]

Sounds like you just need the feed ramp recut slightly lower. This is a VERY common problem on what you are describing. An easy way to prove this is the case, make up some marking grease. That is a mixture of plain old wheel bearing grease mixed with alot of carpenters chalk line powder. Load up a full mag since a full mag will hit the lowest point on a feed ramp. Put a dab of the grease on the top bullet tip & replicate the described jam. Pull the side back so you can mamualy engauge the slide stop, take a small screw driver and push the top round all the way back into the magazine by way of the rim. Drop the mag and see if you have a grease mark below where the feed ramp realy starts to ramp to the chamber. If the bullet mark is on the feed ramp, polish it out with a dremil polishing tip, is just a rough ramp surface. or if the mark is not quite on the ramp yet, you can find a better magazine or cut the ramp slightly to below the grease mark with a stone tip on a dremil. Just keep your ramp straight. slightly deeper at the bottom to extend it but hardly touch it at the top where it meats the chamber. polish out the final work & your done with no shipping or hassel. Iv done alot of these over the last 30 some odd years, Anyone whos some what dremil handy should be able to knock this out for you. good luck

[itchy1]

After getting nowhere with EAA, I contacted the vendor where I purchased the gun and explained everything to them. They said that they don't normally allow returns but would make an exception in my case since the gun was brand new and unusable. It is currently in transit. I'll chalk up my shipping costs and FFL fees as a learning curve loss--one that I'll hopefully come out a little wiser from.

Thanks for the supportive posts and comments.

[overkill0084]

I have Witness Elite Match .45. It runs like a clock. I've not tried any thing but round nosed ammo though. I rolled the dice in the hopes that I would never need their customer service. So far so good.

[tacrancher]

I know this is a late reply. EAA has the worst customer service in my opinion and experience. Too many issues for me. I could not get them to order a replacement part of a firearm they imported. I told them I would pay a high price for it and they still would not sell or ship it to me. I won't buy anything they import or have. NOTHING.

[Japle]

So I try to contact EAA and see what they can do for me. I explain exactly what happened to the seemingly nice lady and she asks me if I think it may be the magazine. I tell her that I don't know but that I am concerned about the excessive forward movement of the barrel. She then informs me that I need to send the gun back to them at my own expense and also include an additional $20 for return shipping. I explain that I have a defective, brand new gun and don't feel that I should have to incur any further costs as the gun left the plant defective. She is now no longer friendly and is firmly reciting their policy. According to EAA, even a brand new albeit defective gun is still considered a warranty issue and the buyer must pay shipping and the $20 for return shipping. She will not budge or listen to any reason. She then quips that the problem could have happened in transit and that they were not responsible for such things. I have no further options left at this point.

This is the EAA “customer service” standard response. It’s the reason I sold my two working Witness pistols and locked the non-working one in the safe.

As tacrancher said, EAA has the worst customer service in the industry. And they don’t care. Tanfoglio knows all about EAA’s reputation and they don’t care. I spoke to Mr. Tanfoglio at the SHOT Show a few years ago and as soon as he understood what I was talking to him about, he turned his back and ignored me.

Every now and then I hear that EAA has improved their service. Then I read another horror story like this.

[TDodge7]

It sounds like the feed lips on your magazine are just too close together and it's not able to strip a round out of the mag without jamming it up against the feed ramp, open up the lips on the mag at the front a little so that the rounds sit nose up a little more and see if it feeds then. Unlocked barrels can move quite a bit, if it locks up well with the slide closed and isn't physically broken you should be ok.

[joehxx]

I bought an EZ9 brand new that doubled.It was returned to EAA and repaired under the warranty at no charge within 4 wks. $20 for return freight.I think every co. charges for the return freight. The pistol does function best with RNFMJ. It is based on a military service firearm

[Japle]

I bought an EZ9 brand new that doubled.It was returned to EAA and repaired under the warranty at no charge within 4 wks. $20 for return freight. I think every co. charges for the return freight.

No, they don't. S&W certainly doesn't charge for shipping on warranty repairs.

Not only that, but EAA insisted I ship a gun to them and pay overnight rates, even though I live 20 minutes away and could have dropped it off. They insisted on shipping parts to me, also at the high overnight rates. They claimed any face-to-face contact at the office would violate their policy.

[mec]

The Zastava EZ Pistols are usually very high quality and moderately priced. The good news is that a different distributor is handling them now:
http://www.k-var.com/shop/home.php?cat=
K-Var Better business bureau rating- A
Previous importer- C

[tacrancher]

EAA and HK are the only ones that have charged me for shipping and the work needed that I did not cause. the only other two service issues from other companies stated ship to us and fix and ship back for free. EAA was very rude as well and I hope seriously that I will never want or have to buy EAA ever again.
Kind of funny though. My very first pistol was a CZ99 in 1990. Fit my hand like a glove. Shot like a custom race gun. While reading a lot about the anti 9mm hype in the mid 90s, I looked for a 40s&w CZ99 advertised. Never found one. Sold my CZ99 and got into HKs, then Witnesses, Sigs, Taurus (very under rated and affordable), Ruger then back to the ones that fit- CZ/EZ. As I am left handed, I can truly say that the CZ99/EZ and CZ85 are true ambi pistols I have ever handled and shot. I have never had any problems with CZ/EZ. Your mileage may very and to each, their own. IMO EAA is ISO Loser.

[mec]

The Armscor Map and MAPP Series pistols are from Tanfolio. Armcor is a cross generation family business involved both in manufacturing firerms and distribution. They are very respectful of their customers and proud of their business ethics.
http://www.armscor.com.ph/tanfoglio.htm

[dgludwig]

I'm curious as to how the op ultimately fared. Did EEA finally make good on their problem pistol?

[10mm4ever]

The CZ99 family is is one of the most under rated pistols ever. My Zastava EZ9 is very comparable in quality to my SIGS and every as bit as reliable. EAA was simply the importer and they have had a terrible rep for customer service for years!

[mec]

A LONG time ago when the Witness line was fairly new, they came out with their first .45 version. Jan Libourel wrote one up for Gun World and noted that the safety would fly up and engage from recoil/slide reciprocation. He voiced the opinion that he might have been hitting the safety with his thumb and causing it to engage. Shortly thereafter, a friend bought one of the Witness .45s. We had read the Libourel article and took pains to avoid any contact of thumb with the underside or any portion of the safety lever. The safety regularly self engaged from enertia. Somebody figured out that the probable problem was that the spring used on the safety was the same as had been successful on the 9mm Witness and was not strong enough for the 45 recoil.
When my friend broached the subject with the head gunsmith at EAA he was informed that he was an idiot and that he was handling the pistol wrong and allowing his thumb to ride the bottom of the safety. Apparently the individual had read the Libourel article and adopted the obiter of Mr Libourel as a article of settled orthodoxy. It was certainly more convenient than addressing the actual problem.

[pete2]

It's hard to understand companies that offer poor customer service. There are a lot of them. I've had poor results from more than one company, not just gun companies. I don't buy their products anymore with the exception of S&W, they seem to have their act together at the moment.

[mec]

Delivering poor customer service must be FUN! and with no negative consequences. One under discussion here has disrespected customers since it underwent a name change decades ago. It's still alive and well and who knows, if they treated people right, they might be overwhelmed with repeat business and have to work harder and hire more staff.

[pgdion]

What's really odd is mostcompanies at least split the shipping with you. You pay the shipping to them and they pay the shipping back.

Bummer!

I had the opposite experience with Bersa. Had a squib round stuck and another round fired into it ... bulged the barrel. Talked to at least 3 people who said just said it in. They've had this happen and Bersa has repaired them under warranty even though it's clearly not a deffect. Should have sent mine in but IN was just happy I could get a new barrel for $30 instead of 90. What really impressed me is I could get any piece in the gun online. I can't even order a new slide spring for my Neos.