EAA Tanfoglio Witness Firing Pin Upgrade (Recall)

[walker944]

I happened to be browsing around the EAA website and noticed that they have issued a free firing pin upgrade notice. I have a 9mm and .45 ACP Witness and sent the slide in, per the instructions below. EAA takes about 3-4 business days to swap out the firing pin; however, once completed, they took two more weeks before shipping them back. They cited a backlog in their shipping department as the reason for the two-week shipping delay.

If you have an EAA Witness you may want to check the serial number range below and get your firing pin swapped.

Here's the notice wording from EAA's website and the link to it: http://www.eaacorp.com/firearms.html Click on the "Owner Safety Upgrade Notice" link.

SAFETY UPGRADE NOTICE​

If you own an EAA Witness style semi-automatic pistol bearing a serial number between AE00000 to AE70000, please read this Notice.
Owners of the above designated Witness pistols should immediately field strip the pistol and send the slide assembly to European American Armory Corp., 411 Hawk Street, Rockledge, Florida 32955. Upon receipt, European American Armory Corp. will replace the original firing pin with an upgraded firing pin for your pistol.

Please follow the instructions and warnings in the Owners’ Manual and do not disassemble your pistol beyond a field strip. Any disassembly beyond a field strip should only be performed by a qualified gunsmith. In particular, the firing pin should never be removed by you. If the firing pin is removed, it must be re-installed correctly by a qualified gunsmith or the EAA Corp. service center. If the firing pin is installed incorrectly in an upside down position, it may adversely affect the operation of your pistol and its safeties. If your pistol is not operating properly, discontinue using it and take it to a qualified gunsmith or send it to the European American Armory Corp. service center immediately.
Thank you for your attention to this Notice. Please call European American Armory Corp. at (800) 536-4442 if you have any questions regarding this Notice.

 

[Japle]

Maybe this is why my .45 Witness has been misfiring. It's part of a special run made years ago; S/N PRO 00050.

I hesitate to send it in and have to deal with the horrible customer service the EAA's so famous for.

What the hell, I'll call them.

 

[hardluk1]

The fireing pin recall is on older guns . Pay attention to your serial number. If it starts with a AE send it in. The more resent pistols are a EA number. Pay attention

 

[loop]

Glad one of my first EAA upgrades is the firing pin...

 

[TheVirginian]

I haven't sent mine in and don't really plan on it. It isn't a safety or reliability issue for normal use. The problem is that the firing pin was designed so that it should only be installed one way. If it gets disassembled completely (I never get a gun that dirty anyway), then you need to be very careful that when you reassemble it, the firing pin is replaced top side up as it came out. It looks as if they just redesigned the pin so that it can be installed upside down even and still have the firing pin block engage. As long as you don't completely disassemble the slide and reverse the original pin, it'll engage as it was designed. So it's not a defect, just a tweak to keep the untrained from defeating their internal FP safety.
-Bill

 

[hardluk1]

By now most all these older guns should have been done already.

 

[loop]

I put in a titanium firing pin and took all that safety crap out.

A few thousand rounds and a dozen trophies later it still only goes bang when I pull the trigger.

I wouldn't be overly concerned. If you take that safety stuff out you have to clean the firing pin channel every 1,000 rounds or so. It will take at least two !-tips...

 

[chrislee51]

are there newer models with the serial numbers starting with pro. jw i just bout a new target pistol and it starts with pro so far all is good shoud i look into this or can ne one help he out here i have only seen a couple identicle to mine it has ported barrel and slide and specificly says Witness Target on slide

 

[hardluk1]

chrislee51, No new guns with pro in the number. You do have an older gun. talk to henning about your gun. He is one of the guys that still has and shoots old tanfoglio's. You are not going to find much here on them..

 

[chrislee51]

the gun has never been fired by anyone other than me do you know if they made a pistol with "Witness Target" on the slide. and how long has the wonder finish been available

 

[Ash]

Wonder Finish has been out more than 10 years. As said, it is not a defect, just a replacement for the firing pin to cover their rears. You you are worried about the pin, the test is easy. Take the slide off and get any kind of punch, pencil, etc and push the firing pin from the rear (where the hammer would impact it). Look at the bolt face and see if the pin is sticking out. If it is sticking out, then your firing pin block is compromised. If it is not sticking out, then the firing pin block is working just fine.

You can then press the block on the underside of the slide upwards and then press the firing pin. It should then protrude out the bolt face. If your pistol passes this test, then you have nothing to worry about.

Ash

 

[hardluk1]

The witness target also would be from a earlier series of tanfoglio pistols. Contact henning or the brian enos eaa forum for help from folks that do still have and do shoot the earlier guns for more help.

 

[chrislee51]

pics of the gun are available on the witness .45 target thread c for ur self and let me know