She likes it!!!

[Bret4207]

I gave my wife the EAA Witness 40S+W I bought her last night. She actually seems to LIKE it. Maybe this will work out after all:-D

[GP100man]

BRET
i bought a GP100 in 4" SS & the misses held & said tooo big ,toooo heavy, until i purchased a set of the smaller grips from another forum member ,i was putting em on at the eating table she said huuummmmm grabbed it and she handed me her snubbie back!!!!

GP100man


:cbpour:

[Buckshot]

..............Bret, I think the CZ75 shape is a fine one for most adult sized hands. Well designed. Now you oughta think about the conversion to say....... 38 Super? :-) My Witness was originally in 38 Super (a shooting essobee, it is too) and I added a 45 ACP conversion. I haven't done much work with the 45ACP setup yet. Setup as a 38 Super it has no issues feeding SWC's! It shoots cast from 115gr TC's to the RCBS 38-162 SWC. If you do go with a Super conversion, get a Wolff spring kit so you can cover the loading spectrum from mild plinker to "Holy Cow".

...................Buckshot

[Bret4207]

At this point I'm planing in the 22 top end and calling it good. This is the smaller model and the 45 top won't fit. I'm just glad she likes it. She's not a gun nut, so this was a chancy thing.

[9.3X62AL]

There is a lot to like about the CZ-75 in 40 S&W--or its EAA counterparts. I sure like mine. My overall impression of its grip and size is that it seems to be a double-action Browning High Power. BHP holsters fit it perfectly, and the feel is quite close to the BHP as well.

[Scrounger]

The easiest conversion if you have the .40 S&W is to simply get a barrel in .357 SIG, nothing else needed. The SIG is almost a .357 Mag, uses the same extractor and magazine as the .40 S&W, the brass is easy to find or make from .40 S&W. I bought a thousand once fired cases with that in mind but I'll probably never get around to using it.

[Boz330]

The super should be able to be loaded to 357 specs as well. The EAA was a popular number in IPSC competition for awhile and it had no problem making major power factor with the proper barrel.
I have short fingers and always like the feel of the HP and CZ5. I can shoot the bigger frames but they don't feel as comfortable. Even on the 1911 guns I like flat mainspring housings and thin grip panels for best fit.

Bob

[9.3X62AL]

Art--

I'm not 100% sure of this, but I don't think CZ has chambered factory barrels for the 357 SIG. It's a screamer, for sure--and Bar-Sto makes swap 357 SIG barrels for the CZ, at $200 each. I know of several guys at my old agency that got swap barrels in 357 SIG for their SIG P-226/229 or Glock 22/23 in 40 S&W, and none mentioned having to have any fitting done. It is a rather ferocious cartridge in factory trim, which is all I've fired. The 125 grain bullets go a righteous 1375-1400 FPS from the 4.5" barrels, and lose about 50-75 FPS in the shorter barrels. Both barrels BARK with this caliber, and the recoil impulse seems (subjectively, to me) faster and a little sharper than that of the 40 S&W.

CZ has a 22 LR top-end that fits most of the 9mm/40 S&W receivers--they call it the "Kadette" or something like that. I don't have any hands-on time with the kit, but these sub-caliber assemblies could pay for themselves in a pretty quick hurry.

[Bret4207]

Just what would my wife be able to do with a 357Sig she couldn't do with a 40? It'll be used 99.999999% for shooting rocks and tin cans. Should that .0000001% occur I don't think there's going to be a bit of diference between a 357 Sig and 40S+W, assuming she hits what she aims at. No flame to those who think the 357 Sig is the best thing since bottled beer, it's just why go with that if you can have a 10MM or 460 Rowland?

Now the 22 top end sounds like a winner to me. Thats part of the reason I got it for her.

[9.3X62AL]

I already put up with the masochistic delights posed by the dinky necks on the 30 Luger and 30 Mauser/7.62 x 25 cases. I need the 357 SIG about like a trout needs a mountain bike, for that reason alone.

I wonder also why the cartridge gets its headspace on the case mouth, rather than that nice shoulder the case offers. A roll crimp is a MUCH more reliable boolit anchor against feedramp contact and telescoping boolits than a taper crimp in those itty-bitty necks.

[spurrit]

Just what would my wife be able to do with a 357Sig she couldn't do with a 40? It'll be used 99.999999% for shooting rocks and tin cans. Should that .0000001% occur I don't think there's going to be a bit of diference between a 357 Sig and 40S+W, assuming she hits what she aims at. No flame to those who think the 357 Sig is the best thing since bottled beer, it's just why go with that if you can have a 10MM or 460 Rowland?

Now the 22 top end sounds like a winner to me. Thats part of the reason I got it for her.

I swear, some people would convert a Sig to a Jiminez, if it was the only gunsmithing trick they knew. The .357 Sig is an answer to a question nobody asked. Gunmakers only come out with new calibers to sell more guns. Think about all the new magnums in the last ten years. I expect the gunmakers are sitting around thinking, "Hey, the 300 Savage sold well. So did the 300 magnums. So did the ultra mag, and the short mag. I know, let's come out with a .300 ultra short mag!" (.300SAUM)

[9.3X62AL]

If we knew what motivated gunmakers and caliber developers--it would likely scare us to death.

The rationale I heard at the time of the 357 SIG's birthing was that it provided the same external ballistics as the much-vaunted 125 grain 357 Magnum revolver round--only in an autopistol with high-capacity magazine. Not a bad thing, really--and the caliber seems to have caught on best with LEO's in the American Southwest, esp. New Mexico and Texas. Whether the caliber offers more lethality than the 40 S&W--45 ACP--or even the 9mm with Real Ammo (125 grain JHP's @ 1200-1250 FPS) is pure conjecture. All four calibers do fine work, if directed properly. With all the bally-hoo given by the FBI over their 9mm sub-sonic conclusion Post-Miami, you won't see the 9mm getting real ammo in cop work any time soon--and that is a shame.

The only down side to the 357 Mag OR the 357 SIG with full-potential 125 JHP's is that MANY of the vests worn by a lot of the LEO's at the time of the adoption of the revolver round would NOT contain the bullet--so it was deemed advisable to NOT issue the ammo at my agency. The 158 grain JHP remains the issue round in 357 Magnum, and the 357 SIG was not adopted due to lack of commercially-available "low-cost" training ammo like the Winchester white box stuff (circa 2002, anyway).

[spurrit]

The only down side to the 357 Mag OR the 357 SIG with full-potential 125 JHP's is that MANY of the vests worn by a lot of the LEO's at the time of the adoption of the revolver round would NOT contain the bullet--so it was deemed advisable to NOT issue the ammo at my agency. The 158 grain JHP remains the issue round in 357 Magnum, and the 357 SIG was not adopted due to lack of commercially-available "low-cost" training ammo like the Winchester white box stuff (circa 2002, anyway).

Sounds like you should be more worried about who you give guns to, if you're that concerned with your guys shooting each other.

[9.3X62AL]

Sounds like you should be more worried about who you give guns to, if you're that concerned with your guys shooting each other.

That hasn't occurred--the question relates to an aggressor taking control of an officer's sidearm and attacking him/her with it. An agency doesn't want to issue ammo that can defeat the body armor it issues.

[armoredman]

CZ-USA does not make/import a .357 SiG conversion, or full unit, at this time. BarSto WAS making CZ barrels, but quit as demand wasn't high enough - we like 'em they way they come! The .22lr conversion is called the Kadet Kit, and will fit on any CZ-75 based pottol produced by CZ, ie, it won't work on the CZ-40B, SP01, or 40P, but works fine on the CZ-75, PCR, PO1, and Compact.
Your EAA Witness 40 is manufactured by Tanfoglio of Italy, a fine company i have had many excellent dealings with in the past. The Tan has been imported in the past as the Ecam TA90, FIE TZ-75, Springfield P9, and the Jericho 941/Baby Eagle, (slide/frame made by Tanfoglio, the rest assembled in Israel, for both pistols). It doesn't appear that Tan makes/imports a 357SiG barrel, either. Contact them to urge them to do so. Be advised, if they do make one, they cannot sell one to you, per Italian law/US customs.
BTW, one of my wife's favorite autos was her Witness steel compact 40 many years ago. She moved into the 9mm RAMI, but still has a soft spot for Witness Compact pistols.

[Bret4207]

Sounds like you should be more worried about who you give guns to, if you're that concerned with your guys shooting each other.

Statistics show the majority of cops are killed with their own guns when the bad guy gets it. Or so the story goes. You know what they say about statistics.

I'm sure you didn't mean your post to sound as insulting and inflamatory as it did.

[spurrit]

That hasn't occurred--the question relates to an aggressor taking control of an officer's sidearm and attacking him/her with it. An agency doesn't want to issue ammo that can defeat the body armor it issues.

Ah. MY bad. I guess I sounded a little insulting, too, now that I look at it again. Sorry.

[BAGTIC]

The .40 S&W has the advantage of much less noise than the .357 SIG. I wanted a .357 SIG caliber until my neighbor got one. No more.

[Bret4207]

Finally got a chance to put a magazine through it. What a nice gun! She won't have problems with the recoil, it seems about like a mid-range 9mm out of a Glock, maybe less, maybe like a mild 45. Gotta love steel guns! Sights are good. Grouping was good, trigger- eennngh, it could be better. She should be fine with it.