Initial impressions of my Tisas Fatih 380

[jar]

Since my local range is closed right now for cleaning and lead abatement I've had a chance to do a cleaning and inspection of my Tisas Fatih.

Some basics.

First about the name; "Fatih" is the old district in Istanbul/Constantinople.

The pistol is a licensed version of the Beretta 84, specifically the BB version of the Cheetah. It's a dual stack 9mmCorto/.380 and came with two Mecgar magazines that appear to be the standard Mecgar Beretta 84 magazines. It has an aluminum alloy frame and steel slide and is DA/SA. Weight with a loaded magazine is 1 pound 7 ounces. The DA trigger pull (10 pull average using my Lyman digital trigger pull gauge) was 4 pounds 13 ounces and SA was 1 pound 9 ounces. The DA pull is long and very smooth while the SA is short and really crisp with a reasonable reset both tactile and audible.

The sight picture is a SnowMan, single larger dot in back and single smaller dot in front. Will report on how that does once the range opens. It's easy to reach all the controls and has an ambi safety.

Internally it has a firing pin block raised when trigger is fully to the rear and the safety puts the trigger in a free mode that does not connect hammer or sear or the firing pin block making it somewhat safer than my 81 7.65 version. It does not have a decocker but the firing pin block does make lowering the hammer on a live round slight safer.

Take down is just like the rest of the Cheetah family; press button on left and rotate lever on right. The only difference I've found is the recoil spring is about a million times heavier than the 7.65 version. Reassembly has the same issues as the 81; make sure the recoil spring is seated in the right spot and that the barrel is seated fully in the slide and it's easier if you reassemble with the hammer cocked.

Overall I'm impressed by the fit, finish and lack of machining marks, on the uniformity of the coating (Ceracote?) and a total lack of obvious cost cutting signs.




My 81 (the 7.65 version):

 

[jar]

The range is back open so I had a chance to see if the pistol actually worked.

No failure to feed, fire or eject and ran 3 magazines plus one.

 

[potmetal]

Looks like a good shooter. I don't know why but I never see them in any of our local shops.

 

[PCFlorida]

I bought one a year or so ago. Looks great and shoots great. And the price was in the $350-$400 range as I recall.

 

[jar]

The ones Tisas showed at this years Shot Show have Turkish Walnut grips and an MSRP just under $350. I wish they'd import their 32acp version.

 

[Reinz]

Sounds like typical Tisas, great value!

 

[C0untZer0]

Thanks for the review.

Is it comfortable to shoot ?

How does the recoil compare to locked breech / short recoil pistols that you've fired, either 380 or 9mm ?

 

[jar]

Thanks for the review.

Is it comfortable to shoot ?

How does the recoil compare to locked breech / short recoil pistols that you've fired, either 380 or 9mm ?

The recoil impulse is certainly noticeable, primarily in the webbing of my hand. It's way less than most of my many 380s, less than the Beretta Nano, S&W BG 380, Remington 380, way less than the LCP but also more than my Ruger Security 380, S&W 380EZ or the fixed barrel Walther CCP M2+ 380. That latter trio are all really mild shooters.

Compared to 9mm Luger the recoil impulse was slightly more than my Browning BDM, Arcus 94 and other P-35 clones, S&W 59 and 469, Walther PPS but less than my Sig P290Rs

 

[C0untZer0]

OK,

thanks so much...

I have the Remington RM380 so that's good to know...

 

[gc70]

Compared to 9mm Luger the recoil impulse was slightly more than my Browning BDM, Arcus 94 and other P-35 clones, S&W 59 and 469, Walther PPS but less than my Sig P290Rs

Is this not backwards?

 

[jar]

Is this not backwards?

I don't think so. The former groups are all larger and most are heavier than the Tisas Fatih and the Fatih hurts the webbing of my hand slightly more and I feel more recoil impulse. The Browning BDM, Arcus 94 and other P-35 clones, S&W 59 and 469 and Walther PPS have less felt recoil than the Fatih and more felt recoil than my Beretta 81 7.65.

The little Sig P290RS though really hurt in both 9mm Luger and .380 versions and was down right painful to shoot in several ways. The Sig P290RS also had a vibration with each shot at the trigger that by the third round or so left my trigger finger stinging.

 

[Nullcone]

Wait... wait.

Your trigger pulls are less than FIVE pounds double action and less than TWO pounds single action?

I'm not saying you're wrong... but as good old Ronnie used to say, "trust but verify".

Does a gallon milk jug full of water weigh 8 pounds on your scale?

If so, I may have some shopping to do at the new Scheel's here in AZ this weekend!

 

[gc70]

I don't think so. The former groups are all larger and most are heavier than the Tisas Fatih and the Fatih hurts the webbing of my hand slightly more and I feel more recoil impulse. The Browning BDM, Arcus 94 and other P-35 clones, S&W 59 and 469 and Walther PPS have less felt recoil than the Fatih and more felt recoil than my Beretta 81 7.65.

The little Sig P290RS though really hurt in both 9mm Luger and .380 versions and was down right painful to shoot in several ways. The Sig P290RS also had a vibration with each shot at the trigger that by the third round or so left my trigger finger stinging.

Okay, I get the P290RS 9mm that weights 3/4ths as much having more recoil than the Fatih .380; I should have separated it from my comment.

The heavier full-size 9mm pistols are a huge surprise. An S&W 59 has 4.54 lbs. of calculated recoil versus 2.15 lbs. for the Fatih. The locked breech must reduce the recoil perception of the 9mm much more than I would have anticipated.

 

[jar]

Wait... wait.

Your trigger pulls are less than FIVE pounds double action and less than TWO pounds single action?

I'm not saying you're wrong... but as good old Ronnie used to say, "trust but verify".

Does a gallon milk jug full of water weigh 8 pounds on your scale?

If so, I may have some shopping to do at the new Scheel's here in AZ this weekend!

My Lyman Digital doesn't work well with milk jugs, but I do get similar readings from my Beretta 81. I will check it when I have a full gallon jug though.

AbE: So I tested the gauge using an unopened gallon bottle of HEB spring water and it did not weigh 8 pounds.

The average of 10 pulls was 8 pounds 10.9 ounces.

Ronnie was okay reading from que cards but never made it to the "A" level or got the "A" level writers.

 

[JohnKSa]

The locked breech must reduce the recoil perception of the 9mm much more than I would have anticipated.

Yes. It's quite significant.

 

[jar]

AbE: And as promised, the empty HEB gallon size plastic jug had an average weight of 4.6 ounces. 8 pounds 10.9 ounces minus 4.6 ounces gives us 8 pounds 6.3 ounces.

Close 'nuff!

 

[doubleh]

I didn't know such a firearm existed. My interest in semi-auto pistols has wained in the last few years except for 1911 varieties. That is a nice looking one though. How is the recoil?

I saw the CCP mentioned. I bought the 1 version in 9mm and it was one of the best feeling semi's I have very owned and was accurate. Since it was a liteweight recoil was a little snappy even with it's piston system of operation. Not bad but noticable. It needed three hands to take down and assemble but a vise with padded jaws made a nice hand substitute.

 

[Nullcone]

Wow, that's an impressive trigger. I have a Beretta 81 with a lot of miles on it and its trigger is nowhere near as light.

I guess I will be out and about looking this weekend.

Thanks!

 

[jar]

I didn't know such a firearm existed. My interest in semi-auto pistols has wained in the last few years except for 1911 varieties. That is a nice looking one though. How is the recoil?

I saw the CCP mentioned. I bought the 1 version in 9mm and it was one of the best feeling semi's I have very owned and was accurate. Since it was a liteweight recoil was a little snappy even with it's piston system of operation. Not bad but noticable. It needed three hands to take down and assemble but a vise with padded jaws made a nice hand substitute.

I discuss the recoil in this post above. My CCP 380 is an M2+ and the only issue is learning how to get the piston in on reassembly.

 

[jar]

Wow, that's an impressive trigger. I have a Beretta 81 with a lot of miles on it and its trigger is nowhere near as light.

I guess I will be out and about looking this weekend.

Thanks!

My 81 is a Base version from before the firing pin block. Using the same gauge and 10 pull average with my Beretta 81 (7.65) I get 5 pounds 8 ounces DA and 1 pound 10 ounces SA. But the linkage is slightly different between the two and the 81 does not have the firing pin block.

 

[jar]

I put an old set of Herrett's stocks on; they are Brazilian Cherry IIRC. They feel great.

 

[halfmoonclip]

Had the Beretta version in .380, never thought it was especially pleasant to shoot. I've had a couple chances to get the .32 version (a batch were imported the other year), and should have grabbed one...love .32s.
Yeah, it's the straight blowback, and I thought the .380 version was snappy, it much the same way of a PPK in that caliber.
Moon

 

[jar]

A couple of the holsters from the Boxes of Shame:

In a Brauer Bros:



and one of my old Bucheimers: