EAA Witness 9mm

[SoilworK777]

When I Googled "EAA Witness cracked slide" it seemed that all the images were of the 10mm, and of the "Wonder Finish" variant. Does anyone know if this combination of caliber and what I assume is the heat treating process is the cause? Would getting a 9mm be a crap shoot?

[Amin Parker]

I do not own a Tangfoglio 9mm ( cz 75 clone/variant/inspired ) but have shot a few. Some have seen a hard life and many rounds and they seem to do very well.

[Mrgunsngear]

I have the steel 9mm in the 'blued' finish. It has been 100% reliable and is sturdy as a rock.

[SoilworK777]

My thought was on the wonder finish model and it's "heat treated" condition. They are for sale in this finish for $438 locally and seem well made. The blued version is not advertised as having been treated.

[10mm4ever]

Why not a CZ? Just curious why one would consider a clone instead of the original when the prices are so close?

[mkk41]

EAA Witness's were available in the US long before the genuine CZs were.
Tanfoglio of Italy , the Witness manufacturer , is a top notch gunmaker , and even supplied the parts for Springfield Armory's version of the -75 , the P9 and P40.

I'd contact EAA. They have an excellent service and customer support record.

[oldandslow]

777, 9/12/11

I have two of the .45 caliber Wonder finish Witnesses whose slides and frames have cracked and because of this I follow this issue closely on the firearms forums. Pretty much all of the cracks seem to be in the .45 and 10mm chamberings. I recall one case of either a 9mm or 40sw with frame cracking but I don't remember much detail. Most folks seem happy with their 9mm Witnesses.

As for customer service- google EAA and Customer Service and you will find many, including myself, who feel that their customer service is the worst in the industry. They never did repair or replace my pistols despite their failure at low round counts. My pistols were hard chromed because of corrosion issues and this somehow "voided" their lifetime warranty. My other hard chromed pistols, Sigs and SW and even a Remington 700 rifle have had no problems with cracking after hard-chrome treatment. Good luck.

best wishes- oldandslow

[larry60]

I have to second mkk4 on the Witness I own a Witness and a CZ and love both guns. My Witness came with a stainless steel barrel and stainless steel guide rod the CZ 75b did not the CZ has a plain steel barrel and a chrome plated guide rod, the plating started coming off within 200 rounds. Other than that the build quality seems the same. I can find Witness pistols for over $100.00 cheaper than a CZ. I want to repeat that I love my CZ and would choose it over more expensive guns. But the Witness is a better buy as far as i am concerned.

[SoilworK777]

I too already have a 75B in 9mm, and it has a plastic guide rod. It sounds like tracking down a non-wonderfinish version will be the way to go.

[HKFan9]

Most guns these days have plastic guide rods... im sure you can find an aftermarket one if it bothers you that much.

Like someone else stated... why not just get the CZ?

[SoilworK777]

What the hell...I just said I already have one.

[GojuBrian]

I'd go with another CZ.

[Walt Sherrill]

I'd contact EAA. They have an excellent service and customer support record.

Your making reference to the same EAA that has been selling Witnesses for years?

Excellent service and customer support?

I understand that things have improved somewhat over the past year or so, but EAA/Witness has long had one of the worst reputations for service and support of any gun sold in the U.S.

The horror stories are legend.

Happily, most of the guns they sell here are trouble free, and customer service or support isn't required. I've had a number of them, and the ones I've had have been quite good.

[Mrgunsngear]

My Witness was actually purchased as a 9/22 combo pack. The 22 slide was damaged and they sent me a new one in 4 days of notifying them of the problem. That was about 4 months ago; I was very happy with the customer service...

[SoilworK777]

I don't want another CZ and am not planning on dealing with EAA's customer service, hence the question about the heat treating. I appreciate the responses.

[chris in va]

To answer your question, I've personally never heard of any issues with the 9mm Witness, just the 10 and 45's.

But I have to ask, what does the Witness offer that the CZ won't? And yes, I've had both.

[Skans]

Regarding Witness cracked slides for 10mm. You really need to go back and do a little research on this. It turns out that the slides that were cracking were those that were rounded on top - had less metal than the later production slides. All of the Witness models that have been made for a number of years have the more squared off slides. These slides are not a problem.

I only recently saw a Witness with one of the rounder slides in a gunshop - it is the only one I've seen in person, but interesting to find one. I believe it was 9mm or 45 (not 10mm, I would have remembered that). Even the rounded slides had no problem with 9mm, only 10mm as I recall.

[mavracer]

I don't know if you'd be interested but they have a 9MM combo that is blue/black that comes with a 22lr conversion. I've seen them go for $400 seems like a smoking good deal.

[larry60]

Why not a CZ, lower price for at least the same quality and maybe better what's so hard to understand about that. And a plastic guide rod, how cheap can you get? Buy the Witness.

[Wishoot]

I'd contact EAA. They have an excellent service and customer support record.

No EAA bashing intended BUT...

I don't own an EAA because most of the reports on their customer service seem to say the opposite.

Perhaps they've improved over the years?

[SoilworK777]

Skans

That is exactly the kind of information I'm looking for. Would you say that a wonder finished 9mm with a squared slide would not be prone to cracking, or does this apply to the blued version?

[MaXXimus]

Why not a CZ, lower price for at least the same quality and maybe better what's so hard to understand about that. And a plastic guide rod, how cheap can you get? Buy the Witness.

It's actually delrin and will outlast many SS guiderods. But who really cares? CZ & EAA have great firearms. To each his own. Pick what you like and like what you pick.

Swyped from my LS670 using Tapatalk

[Skans]

Would you say that a wonder finished 9mm with a squared slide would not be prone to cracking, or does this apply to the blued version?

My EAA Witness Stock is a 10mm with squared slide and with the Wonder finish. I really don't see how the Wonder finish could possibly have anything to do with slide cracking. I believe that there is one person who posts on this forum, or used to post here that complained of frame cracking on an older model. He had an aftermarket chrome or something applied to the gun, and apparently EAA told him that the frame cracking was due to the application of the aftermarket finish. Who really knows on that one - you would really have to have the gun inspected by a professional metallurgist to determine what happened there. I suspect that it could have been a problem with small voids in the frame or ammunition related - doubt it had anything to do with the finish, but those are just my thoughts.

The only problem with slides cracking that I've ever heard of were 10mm's with the older rounded slides - even the rounded slides were never a problem with 9mm as far as I know.

The "wonder finish" is a really good finish. It is more scratch resistant than stainless, easy to clean, keeps rust off the gun and doesn't come off. It is applied to all surface areas of the frame and slide. I really like the finish. It's probably a newer version of the Starvel chrome finish that Star used on some of its pistols. I have a Megastar .45 and the starvel finish on that has held perfectly over the years.

I don't know what more I can tell you, my Witness Stock is one of my best shooting guns - it has been 100% reliable for me and is a pleasure to shoot. I posted some pictures of if field stripped to show the frame, fire control components and inner part of the slide elsewhere - if you search posts under my profile, you can find it.

PS: If you want to see the difference between the rounded slide and the squared slide, check out this thread on another forum - has some interesting information too: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=122900 It appears that EAA originally came with squared slides; then they went to a rounded slide for awhile; and then back to the squared slide.

[hardknocks]

Hello all
I have a EAA witness i picked up about 6 months ago in 9mm.
personally i call it a tanfoglio and put 610 rounds through her with 4 or 5 different brands of ammo. also some speer GDHP.
Very accurate to boot.
Early on i had one stovepipe during a rapid fire drill (ball ammo). its the only failure and could have been caused by my grip? maybe not?
Yes its only a small round count. but the thing fits my hand like a glove.
holds 15+1 (at least thats all i can get in there) spare MEC-GAR mags are 25.00$.
brand new in box at local gun show 300.00$;)
A couple of friends also are impressed with this shooting iron:D
thats my limited experience.
regards
Mike