Looking for another 10

[Benchrst]

I've got a Gen 4 G20, and it's an appliance - digests everything, a great gun, I'm just tired of plastic.

Held a RIA TC II today, felt nice in the hand, but $700 for a gun that might have to go back, I don't know.

I've never handled a Tanfoglio, and I'm not aware of any available locally, but the Elite Stock III and Limited Pro look nice, and I've read good things.

Mag capacity isn't an issue, and I don't want a compact. DW is probably out my price range. Other than the Sig is there anything else I should be looking at?

Edit: I should add that I roll my own, and I'm not a big fan of mild or medium


Thanks guys

[tommac919]

Go for the Sig 220 .... I told my wife shes buying me that for my B day

[will965]

Lots a guys here like the eaa guns, limiters,stocks and match elites or whatever... I would like to look at one of those for my next ten..the Sig is kinda pricey for what ya get IMHO...been down the ria 10mm tactical road- never again..

[sqlbullet]

Witness.  I think a Hunter is in my future.  My third witness and first longslide 10mm.

[Benchrst]

Gut's telling me Stock III.

$1,200 is steep for a gun I've never handled though.

[sqlbullet]

Notice there aren't a lot of used ones on gunbroker.

[Benchrst]

The Elite Match caught my eye, and it's a little bit easier on the wallet 

[sqlbullet]

I love mine.

[Benchrst]

I thought you owned one

Is it pretty tolerant of different bullet profiles / oals? Does it mind warm / hot loads? How does it treat brass? Anything you don't like about it?


Thanks SQL

[sgmtino]

I love my Match as well it is by far the most accurate centerfire pistol I have ever shot

[sqlbullet]

I thought you owned one

Is it pretty tolerant of different bullet profiles / oals? Does it mind warm / hot loads? How does it treat brass? Anything you don't like about it?


Thanks SQL

Here is a review I wrote on another site of the gun.

TL;DR:  It eats anything and is scary accurate.

Shortly after I bought my EAA Witness Full Size, I found a wonderful website called gunbroker.com.  And thereon I found my unicorn, an EAA Witness Elite Match in 10mm.  And for a price I could stomach.  I located an accountant nearby who liked guns and had an FFL and didn't charge much for a transfer, and the deal was done.

The gun came in a very nice case, complete with combination locks.  One of the said locks broke between the FFL and my house.  Broke in such a way that the case could not be opened. Which denied my access to my new, long lusted after handgun.

The case met a screwdriver, and it wasn't much good after that.

The EAA Witness Elite Match 10mm is a full size single action only handgun made by Tanfoglio of Italy.  It is the first rung on the ladder of guns that spend some time in the custom shop before they go to customers.  The gun features a 4.75" barrel, with a hard chrome frame and blued slide.

The gun tips the scales at 42.4 oz with an empty magazine.  The slide assembly is 18.5 oz, with 4.0 oz being barrel, 13.4 being slide and the balance the guide rod and spring.  The barrel slugged .4005", like the full-size Witness sibling I own.

The single action trigger is adjustable for take up and over-travel and breaks clean and crisp.  Trigger pull measures at 4lbs 14 oz on my test rig.  Adusting the trigger to clean up the over-travel required almost all the adustment range, and a health blob of lock-tite to lock the set screw.  Take-up was tricky.  If you dial all the take-up out, there isn't enough range left to reset the trigger.  The set-up process is to crank it in until the trigger won't reset, then back it out until it reset's reliably.  On mine that left about 1/16" of take-up, completely creep free.

The gun is very sharp looking if you like two tone, black on top styles.  Unfortunately the gun is very sharp in other ways as well. The cocking serrations are not blunted at all, front or rear. Nor is the front of the slide.  It cuts into holsters when you holster it, and will cut your hands if you are careless. If I were going to carry this gun, it would definitely need a melt.  Given it's weight, it is unlikely to ever be carried though.

The gun is scary accurate.  It shows what the poor trigger in the full size hides.  The CZ/Sig 210 system of rails inside the frame make for a very reliable tight lock-up and great accuracy.  Groups of 1" at 25 yards are possible, and 1.5" are pretty common, using a good bag.  A bullseye shooter I am not, but I would be not surprised at all if one could turn in ragged single hole groups at 25 yards with this gun.

Having learned my lesson from my full-size, and having ordered a 10 pack of +15% mag springs, I never took this Witness to the range with the factory magazine springs.  I cannot say it was unreliable in factory trim, since I never shot it that way.  With the +15% mag springs installed on day one, the gun has never faltered.  It eats anything I put to it.

One comment on the magazines.  I had previously ordered a three pack of Witness 10mm mags for my full-size. I assumed when I bought my Match, the mags would be interchangeable. As with all things EAA touches, it seems this was true only with a bit of tinkering.

The magazines looked identical, but the only magazine that would seat fully in the Match was the one that came with it.  Upon careful inspection, I found that the Match frame was longer than the full-size.  The tops of the magazine base plates had been sanded to remove a few thousandths of material from them.  I gave the other mag base plates the same treatment, and they all worked fine in both guns.

I bought this gun with the idea it would become my carry gun.  A couple of factors have prevented that from coming to pass.  First, the aforementioned sharpness makes for a very "snaggy" gun.  Second, while 2.4 oz doesn't sound like a bunch, it makes and already heavy platform heavier.  Were I going to carry this gun, it would be in a shoulder holster.  Third, the large competition style thumb safety and is too easily disengaged.  The safety concern could be resolved by ordering a standard witness safety from EAA's website, but that would do little about issues one and two.

This is one of my favorite handguns ever for shooting.  But I spend gobs more time carrying handguns than shooting them.  If I were to pick guns for the range base on grins per shot, this gun would win.

Price Paid: $515 (2008 - New)

The Good:
Accurate.  And great trigger.  And accurate.  Fun to to shoot.  Accurate.  Did I mention accurate

The Bad:
Not really suitable for carry or defensive use for a number of reasons. Like all EAA products, it seems to need some TLC.

Accuracy: 10/10
This gun will win lots of milk shakes.

Reliability: 10/10
Never a hiccup.

Satisfaction of Ownership:  6/10
Don't get the low score wrong.  I bought this gun with the intent to carry it.  It just isn't suitable for the task.  As a range gun there are few peers for the price

[Benchrst]

Thanks for posting your review sql, I appreciate.


Question: You state the Elite is SA only gun, EEA's site says DA/SA. Are we talking about the same model?

http://eaacorp.com/index.php/guns/handguns/witness-elite-match-93


Thanks

[sqlbullet]

That is my gun, minus the rail and with non contoured grips.  And the gun in that picture is SAO.  The description is wrong.

You can swap in a da/sa trigger pack if you want that

[sstewart]

I believe the stock three is the highest SA/DA gun in their lineup. The rest of their guns from the match on up are SA.
The regular witness is SA/DA also.

[sstewart]

I have a match and   a limited elite, both are awesome.