Tell me about EAA witness

[Lawlerr]

Would like to here some opions on aEAA witness. Found one for 320 and a 22 conversion for 225 .

 

[hso]

Own 3. Good guns. Lousy customer service by all reports, but I've never had to use it.

 

[newfalguy101]

CZ-75 copies, pretty hard to beat a CZ-75

 

[firesky101]

I really like mine it is a 9mm and came with a .22lr conversion. I picked it up used for $400. I have never had a single malfunction with mine, but I have also heard horror stories of the customer service department. If it is the large frame you can get all kinds of uppers for it to change the caliber (10mm, 9x21, .45acp, .38super).

 

[Lawlerr]

Cool may pick it up then. Does price sound right.

 

[NavyEngineer]

The price seems fair to me. I recently bought a surplus Israeli Tanfoglio Mossad (small frame Witness) from Gary Cole on Gunbroker. He has quite a few listed, asking from $249-$289. Mine had some finish wear, but internals were in excellent condition. The lock-up is tight, and it's proving to be accurate and highly reliable with a wide variety of FMJ and hollow-point defense rounds. It is a solid steel, heavy pistol, that should easily outlast me!

 

[Peter M. Eick]

I would say the same thing as HSO, but I only own 2 now. My buddy bought my third. I have never had to use their customer support but I have bought spare parts from them. No drama and all has worked out.

To me the witness is the undersung modern firearm. To bad the important makes it hard to champion.

 

[Cryogaijin]

They make one of the best 10mms on the market, but their customer service is lousy. If you have a good local gunsmith, buy with confidence. Don't even consider sending it back to EAA.

 

[jfh]

My review of a 10mm Elite Match and a Kimber ST-II 10mm and additional information on the .22LR conversion as well.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=331213

I plan to add a .45ACP conversion as well, one of these days.

Jim H.

 

[Grunt]

Both my .40 Witness compact and .45 Witness full size have been very good performers. That being said though, both are the older style with the heavier blocky style slide. The more recent offerings have a lighter radiused slide but when I hear of a Witness cracking a slide, it tends to be one of these newer designs. I would have no trouble at all getting another Witness but I'd make sure it was one of the older ones.

 

[Japle]

Google "EAA" and "customer service" before you buy.

 

[IdahoSkies]

I love mine. I wanted a CZ75 but was poor and ended up with small frame witness gunshow special, and I couldn't be happier. Good trigger. Eats everything I feed it and is more accurate than I am. Can't complain.

 

[Torian]

Great gun IF you can find one that isn't temperamental. I love my 10mm Elite Match, but I've had issues with it, and calling customer service made it worse.

 

[pendennis]

I owned one in .38 Super. Well-built, sturdy, and accurate. Too heavy to consider as a carry arm.

I was at a LGS, which had a Colt LWT Commander in .38 Super. Traded it in.

I considered a second caliber assembly for it (.40 S&W). However, the cost of the kit, and cost of having it fitted (those kits are not "plug 'n' play) wasn't worth the money.

As HSO wrote. Bad karma on customer support.

 

[taraquian]

If its used I would be check it out carefully an test fire it if possible, but i would probably buy it at that price. I have a few but have only ordered parts from EAA

 

[wbwanzer]

I've got two, and they are two of my favorite pistols. Haven't needed customer service so far.

 

[ATLDave]

I've had some experiences with EAA CS, and while I wouldn't give them an "A," they were at least "B." I don't doubt the horror stories, but it IS possible to have at least a neutral experience with them.

I don't have any experience with the base models of Witness guns, but the Elite series - the Match and up - are like high-performance Italian sportscars. They can be a touch tempermental, but when you've got them running right, they are WONDERFUL shooters. Super accurate, great ergonomics, just a pleasure to shoot.

 

[Cryogaijin]

Great gun IF you can find one that isn't temperamental. I love my 10mm Elite Match, but I've had issues with it, and calling customer service made it worse.

Did you have the sticky magazine issue? the more rounds you load in the mag the worse it feeds?

 

[jfh]

re the sticky magazine--

I had it on a magazine or two from EAA over the years--but I learned how to tune magazines--i.e., the feed lips, so it became NBD.

Jim H.

 

[1006]

They have a reputation for having more problems than other leading guns. Like glock Ruger etc

 

[Torian]

No issues with magazines. The new ones are all Mecgar I believe. They are solid performers!

 

[ATLDave]

I had one of the pre-Mecgar orange-red follower mags, and that one did seem a little prone to inducing 3-point jams. The later Mecgar ones have all been fine. I also had to play around with recoil spring weights to get to 99+% reliability*. The rear sight disassembled itself under recoil once (and it had been prone to slipping before - it was not totally unexpected), but EAA sent me a new one. Then I had frame cracking at the very bottom of the grip. EAA sent me a whole new gun.

My advice: don't buy one if you are the kind of person who cannot tolerate a break-in period or a gun that needs any kind of tweaks. If you are willing to work through some stuff, you can end up with an amazingly good gun (at least in the Elite series) for a very good price.

* I do not believe in the existence of 100% reliability. All mechanical things can break or fail.

 

[MarkL]

I have a 2006 Witness .45 full-size steel. I recently had to send it in for service to EAA. It was fixed and returned within 5-days. They even included a free Mecgar magazine with it. Very happy with the service.

As for the pistol, I really enjoy the feel of it and it's been accurate and fun to shoot.