Author Topic: EAA Witness 45 Compact review  (Read 17359 times)

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Offline CZ527owner

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EAA Witness 45 Compact review
« on: June 02, 2010, 10:08:42 AM »
Well I finally picked one up at Cabela's this past Saturday the Memorial Day weekend sale price was $399.99 plus tax. I spent almost 3 hours there and looked at a half dozen guns and still chose the EAA compact. Overall the fit and finish IMO is above average especially for a gun in that price range. The gun itself weighs in about the same as a compact 1911 and the grip with the rubber panels are a little large but they do their job very well even rapid fire. It's a DA/SA unlike a 1911 with no decocker just a safety that works both ways. Sunday morning I headed to a unmanned Mo Dept. of Conservation range for the trial run. With me I had 50 rounds each of PMC, American Eagle and some reloads using Titegroup and Ranier bullets all 230 gr FMJ along with a few personal protection HP rounds. All fed and fired just fine with just a few hiccups with the AE brand. Accuracy was quite good although 2 inches low (shooter grip error and will improve with practice) 3 targets 3 fist sized groups at 10 yards while shooting offhand and all loads shot to the same point. Recoil was quite manageable but with some muzzle flip. The only cons were #1 only one magazine came with the gun so I need to buy a couple of extras from someplace #2 after only 150 rounds the gun seemed dirtier than my 1911 after 500 rounds. Not sure which ammo was the worst culprit normally use Clays for reloads but they're a but light and I wanted something hotter. #3 The brass is thrown WELL clear of the gun making for a nice Easter egg hunt at the range in tall grass only found about 60% of the empties may invest in some Wolf ammo for range time with this gun. And lastly #4 this gun had a similar issue to my RAMI. But on this one the slide lock actually activated on my RAMI the slide would stick open  ??? . This happened twice with the PMC ammo 6 times with the AE brand but my reloads went off with out a hitch. When this happened it was always after the third shot in the magazine. The slide lock spring was caked with alot of dirt so I think that contributed to the problem. Overall this pistol is a solid 7 and if anyone is looking for a good 45 but doesn't have the money for a Kimber look at these pistols.

Offline Rod Slinger

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Re: EAA Witness 45 Compact review
« Reply #1 on: June 02, 2010, 05:07:56 PM »
CZ527owner ......You may want to check EAA for extra Mags.  They usually cut a deal on lots of three.  You can also use full size Mags in this gun if having the mag stick out the bottom is not a problem for you.  I carry a compact Witness for protection with the compact mag in the gun and two full size Mags in the mag pouch.

 As for your Witness being dirty.  The gun comes soaked in two quarts of used engine oil.  I bet once you give it a good cleaning the dirty gun problem will go away.  What I do on all of my guns ( not saying this is Wright) is to use a small amount of Rig +p on the contact areas of the barrel, the slide rails, and contact areas on the underside of the slide.   On the trigger bar, sear, pivot pins, and any area where metal moves against metal in the fire controls is use a very small amount of Break Free.
Last I wipe the out side of the gun with a rust preventive.  I like the ones the don.t leave a oily residue.

Last run a few more hundred rounds through the Witness to break it in.  If it is not 100% reliable then check back with us.  The Witness should be the most dependable gun you own.   It it is not we can fix it.   R S
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.  Thomas Jefferson

Offline jwc007

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Re: EAA Witness 45 Compact review
« Reply #2 on: June 02, 2010, 07:06:22 PM »
I've had good luck with CDNN for magazines, so you might also consider them.

http://www.cdnninvestments.com/eaawico458rd.html

I also think you probably need to shoot it more and wear it in.  Say about 500 rounds.  Sounds like you had a fairly good initial run with your Pistol.  Also, if you shoot Cast Bullets, avoid using them till break in is complete.  After that, Cast Bullets are fine!

Your load with Tightgroup may be too light to expand the Shell Casing to seal the chamber adequately, allowing more blowby to enter back into the action of your Pistol, fouling it up.  Consider a slightly heavier powder charge.  Titegroup is normally a fairly clean burning powder in the .45 ACP, and it may have been your other ammunition as well.  That's about all I can think of for that.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2010, 07:15:57 PM by jwc007 »
"Easy is the path to wisdom for those not blinded by ego." - Yoda


For all of those killed by a 9mm: "Get up! You are not dead! You were shot with a useless cartridge!"

Offline CZ527owner

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Re: EAA Witness 45 Compact review
« Reply #3 on: June 02, 2010, 10:45:24 PM »
Thanks for the CDNN EAA mag link I appreciate it. Hopefully this weekend I can hit the range with it again but I'll probably try and pick up some Wolf ammo locally and see how that does. With the way this thing kicks the brass out I hate losing the empties makes me feel like I'm losing money  :'(. BTW I rarely use harsher cleaners than Break-Free, foaming bore cleaner, and Hoppes but is the Break-Free powder blast cleaner safe to use on the Wonder finish and I want to make sure I get that slide lock spring area cleaned out.

Offline Rod Slinger

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Re: EAA Witness 45 Compact review
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2010, 11:18:09 PM »
CZ527owner .......Break-Free powder blast cleaner will not hurt the Wonder Finish.  This finish is very tough.  JWC007 may well have put his finger on where residue is coming  form inside your gun. R S
« Last Edit: June 02, 2010, 11:20:14 PM by Rod Slinger »
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.  Thomas Jefferson

Offline DenStinett

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Re: EAA Witness 45 Compact review
« Reply #5 on: June 03, 2010, 01:13:02 AM »
For Witness mags, Reed's Ammo has nice pricing and shipping rates are fair
$23.00 for the mag and shipping, you'll have to ask Ron
http://shop.reedsammo.com/category.sc?categoryId=57

Offline CZ527owner

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Re: EAA Witness 45 Compact review
« Reply #6 on: June 06, 2010, 09:47:31 PM »
Well took the pistol out to the range again today but this time with some Cabela's Wolf/Herters steel case rounds. Most guns have no problems but not all of them. I Only bought one box just in case the pistol didn't like the stuff and boy it did not. Had about 15-20 FTF's out of 50. Accuracy wasn't too bad and the empties were sent 15-20 feet away like the brass cases but some of the rounds kept getting hung up on the feed ramp.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2010, 11:58:25 AM by CZ527owner »

Offline Rod Slinger

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Re: EAA Witness 45 Compact review
« Reply #7 on: June 06, 2010, 11:31:58 PM »
CZ527owner .........Sorry to hear you are still having problems.  Maybe I can help.  Lets check a few simple things.  Field strip the gun and with the slide resting on the sights slide a few empty brass hulls under the extractor and into the breach face.  Do they slide in easily, or do they catch and then pop into place?   R S
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.  Thomas Jefferson

Offline detroiter

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Re: EAA Witness 45 Compact review
« Reply #8 on: June 06, 2010, 11:36:35 PM »
Hmmmm, I don't reload so I always buy factory and usually the cheapest I can find for target. With my .45 Witness, I have never ever had a problem. Seeing as how you say it's a FTF, if you haven't you may want to take that mag apart clean and lube, check for any burrs or rough spots on the feed lips or the follower. It may help.

Sorry to hear of your problems

Offline DenStinett

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Re: EAA Witness 45 Compact review
« Reply #9 on: June 07, 2010, 01:10:58 AM »
Sorry to hear you?re having so many problems
Maybe it?s just me, but I wouldn?t run ?steel case? rounds thru any gun, not even one owned by my worst enemy, I respect the gun way too much for that
?Wolf? ammo is, by far, the worst kind of junk (trust me, I wanted to use a different word here) out there
It may be cheap to shoot, but it will tear up a gun with every shot
Now that?s just my two cents
Shoot safe all, Den S

Offline CZ527owner

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Re: EAA Witness 45 Compact review
« Reply #10 on: June 07, 2010, 09:16:23 AM »
Everything seems fine I took the mag apart Saturday and cleaned it real good before heading to the range yesterday. After I got back home without cleaning the gun I picked up some of my dummy reloads and simply started handcycling them through the gun standing, sitting on the floor and my couch , laying on the ground it didn't matter # of failures 0. I've already picked up some S&B ammo for next weekend and I'll get some more of a different brand next Saturday when I'm out. As for the evils of steel cased ammo I've shot steel cased ammo out of my 1911 heck some of the gov't ammo during WWII was steel cased, 2 XD's a 40 and 9mm, 2 AR's and a AR-180B, an M-1 carbine, a CZ-82 my CZ-527 7.62x39 and of course the ubiqitous AK's and SKS's which is all they eat. The only firearm that ever had any issues was the M-1 carbine the Wolf was too weak to operate the action consistently. Having said all that I only bought the Wolf beacuse I lost so much brass the last time and to me losing brass is like throwing money away.

Offline CZ527owner

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Re: EAA Witness 45 Compact review
« Reply #11 on: June 24, 2010, 10:02:57 PM »
Well another one bites the dust. Cleaning it tonight and there is a 1mm x 2mm hole in the left side of the slide 1 inch from the muzzle. Have already spoken to Cabela's and will be exchanging it tomorrow.