EAA Revolvers

[pmeisel]

I am being tempted by the EAA revolvers (built by Weirauch in Germany?) and their low price. Thinking of it as a warm weather alternative snubby. Anybody have any first hand experience?

[mroliver77]

I had one of their single action Colt wannabes in .45 Colt. It was a great gun! Very well built and super accurate. Based on one experience I would definitely try them again!
J

[IridiumRed]

EAA is just an importer, not a manufacturer (its easy to forget this, since they get to be so closely identified with the brands they import)

And they import from a WIDE variety of mfg's.... with just as wide a variance in quality. As a result is always really hard to put a blanket statement on anything EAA is bringing in....

That's not an intentional knock on EAA necessarily, I have two Witness pistols that I like a lot (made by Tanfoglio in Italy) (a .40 Limited and 10mm Stock II, for u Witness fans out there). These are part of their "Elite" line, and are in the $1000 to 1300 suggested retail price range.... and obviously I think they're worth it, or I wouldn't own them.

But, EAA has brought in a lot of junk too..... so anything they bring in, I'd look at VERY carefully before buying.... While I like the Witness / Tanfoglio guns a lot, having the EAA stamp on something does NOT add to the value to me... if anything it takes away from it

(and, EAA has the reputation, from SO many people, as being one of the most unfriendly, arrogant, useless companies ever...)

[KCSO]

Heritage pistols are the carp of the gun worls. New from the box they are 50/50. The Witness line is superb. You get what you pay for.

[Jupiter7]

Google search about the "EAA windicator", you don't want one. They were all over the market around $250 a few years back, junk....

Agreed, witness auto's are good stuff.

[UNIQUEDOT]

I had one of the 45 colt single actions and based on my experience with that one I wouldn't own another one.

[IridiumRed]

Glad to hear my views are shared. Always a good feeling.

I am a big/huge fan of the Witness guns, but just for anyone who is reading, I will say there is a learning curve to the witness guns. To elaborate -

1. There have been some Witnesses that have had problems. Tanfoglio is a company that seems similar to other Italian companies (such as Ducati, who makes a wide range of motorcycles). They certainly have their own style, and own ideas. Sometimes those ideas are brilliant, sometimes not so much, and it can take a while, or a long time for them to admit a mistake and work on correcting it. Their attitude tends to be "this is how we make it, this is perfect.... if u don't understand or agree then buy something else...."

The prime example of this, and the guns to watch out for, are the Witnesses that were in the "Wonder Finish" (yes, that's what they called it) with the ROUND TOP slides. The slides that had a heavy rounded contour starting right ahead of the chamber area. There seems to be a number of these that have cracked the slides when fired with heavy rounds. 10mm has been really bad about that (lots of energy, high slide speeds, high level of impact against frame), but its happened with the other calibers too. This doesn't include the slides with the flat sides and somewhat rounded top, more like a traditional 1911, JUST the fully rounded slides in the wonder finish. Basically, the metal was too hard and they cut away too much of it. I've heard that EAA dragged their feet a bit on this, but started replacing slides, and replacing them with the flat sided slides when requested.

From what I've heard/seen, Tanfoglio has been making / EAA has been importing a new Witness version, I think its called the "classic" (?) that has gone back to the flat sided slide.

The older Witnesses with flat sided slides (man that is awkward to keep saying), didn't seem to have problems, and were nice durable guns, and I think the new "classics" (?) have gone back to that format

2. That, and one thing to be aware of on the Witnesses is that they tend to be undersprung for the bigger calibers. Or, another way to put it is that the Witnesses are designed with interchangeable calibers (which I think is awesome), at least on the "large frame" pistols. IE, u can buy one of these pistols and run from .22 LR all the way through 9mm, 40 S&W, 10mm, 45 ACP, etc. BUT - Tanfo seems to put the same weight spring in all of them

So, a spring that works great with a full range of standard factory 9mm, the same weight is not gonna be good for a full on 10mm!

That same spring is gonna be too light for a full power 10mm, and that has contributed to higher slide speeds / frame impacts.... which has added to the slide cracking problem noted above in point #1.

In other words, if you pick up a Witness, I'd do some research about what spring rates are right for your caliber / load, and most likely look at picking up aftermarket springs.... may not be a problem, but I'd CERTAINLY advise checking on it.

3. The standard Witnesses tend to be good guns, but there is a BIG difference in quality, features when u go up to the Elite line. While the designs / overall setup may be similar, the Elites really are a completely different pistol. All the parts are different, sometimes in small ways, and sometimes in big ways. And they get a lot more handfitting.

The people who have just seen the average / run of the mill $400, $500 witnesses at the local gunshop / gunshow may not understand spending $1,000 or more on a fully equipped Elite series Witness, but.... just holding one of the Elite guns in your hand, checking out the build & quality, it becomes real apparent real fast that they are on a whole 'nother level


Wow, I said a lot, hadn't planned on going into that much detail. I'm just a big fan of the witness guns, obviously, and like sharing.... :) I'll shut up now :)