Witness reliability

[cgreth]

Adding to an old post.

Just recently ran into a problem with my Witness Stock 3 with factory magazines.
The nub on the slide-lock that engages the follower on the magazine is very small and barely engages the follower.   I traditionally have used the same two magazines for most of my shooting.   The magazine followers eventually got to the point where the nub was pushing the follower to the side on the last round - follower had a wear mark right on the edge from the nub.   

When pushed to the side by the slide-lock nub, the follower was pushing the magazine against the trigger bar.   I was getting slow to no trigger resets on last rounds.   Also the the slide-lock was not fully engaging - take the magazine out and the slide slammed home.

I looked at my other magazines that I didn't use very often and confirmed that even on a brand new one the nub was barely engaging.    Examined the slide-lock and it was undamaged.   Ordered a new one and it looks exactly like the old one.   So not broken, a design issue.

I got some JB-Weld and built up the nub on the slide-lock.   After it cured I took the slide off the gun, reinstalled the slide-lock and inserted a magazine with 1 round.   Using a set of swiss files I filed down my built up slide-lock until it could clear the rounds in the magazine, but still fully engage the follower.

Works great now and all the issues have disappeared.    Hopefully the JB-Weld will last a long time.

[Intercooler]

No issues with my fleet of Witness pistols. If they don't run... I don't own them!

[Kenk]

Well said Intercooler

[se3388]

I have a 9mm, 40 S&W and a 45 acp (with a 38 Super topend) Witness and they have all been very reliable especially the 45 acp.

Steve..........

[Patriot]

I could have wrote the first post in this thread. Very similar to my situation years ago with Witness pistols. If anyone is still having problems, check to see how old your gun is, and what type of magazines you have. The mec-gar magazines with 14 round capacity get rid of 99% of the feeding problems. Also, newer guns built since 2013 seem to be built better. Heavier, square slide instead on the lighter weight rounded one.

After years and years of dealing with them, I finally gave up. The higher end ones run great. My Stock 2 is flawless. But it's too pretty to be functional. It's a safe queen. I won't even put it in a holster for fear of scratching it.

I moved on to the glock 20 and 29. And I get my new XD-M tomorrow. Hoping it becomes my new favorite.

[blaster]

my Witness must be finally getting broken in.  the last few range trips, I had only a couple jams each shooting session. instead of a couple per every magazine. I guess all it needed was a 5000 round break in. it sure is a pleasure to shoot when it runs right.