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Do Open Tanfoglio guns in 9mm Major crack often?


Cy Soto

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I believe my STI will much more durable shooting Open.

Deep down inside, I think I have known this to be the case all along. It's probably time for me to bite the bullet and get an STI for Open. I will admit that the DVC Open is quite tempting.

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Cy, I put down a deposit for a DVC limited only to hear that it may be a year wait. I am now considering buying another edge and then hacking it up. If you want to shoot open in this lifetime, you might consider going a different route.

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I know that those DVC's are going to be in short supply for a while. I might instead have an Open gun built but, regardless of the route I take, it will be a while before I switch to shooting Open. I was thinking of starting next year but Limited is challenging enough, it may take me a bit longer to make the jump.

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I believe my STI will much more durable shooting Open.

Deep down inside, I think I have known this to be the case all along. It's probably time for me to bite the bullet and get an STI for Open. I will admit that the DVC Open is quite tempting.

I found a smoking deal on mine. It was a used STI Competitor with the Trubor barrel in 38 super, two 140mm, one 170mm and a complete CR speed rig for $1,699 on gunbroker. The mags were all tuned by Dawson. I replaced the springs and followers with Wolff and Grams bits for reliability. All mags have been perfect with no feeding problems. The deals are out there my friend, you just have to be ready to jump when they reveal themselves.

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Cy, I put down a deposit for a DVC limited only to hear that it may be a year wait. I am now considering buying another edge and then hacking it up. If you want to shoot open in this lifetime, you might consider going a different route.

Get a Trubor. At least this way you have room for small tweaks.

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I had four tanfos; 2 open and 2 standard. No cracked frames but very heavy lug peening in all cases with worst being the 38 SC open guns. Primary gun sheered the lugs right off with less than 15k rounds. All 4 guns also broke off the safety plunger pin. Also cracked compensators and pieces breaking off the comp sleeve. Rear sights that wouldn't stay together or hold a zero.

Loved the way they handled but man, they sure needed some better manufacturing process.

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R.Elliot- the lugs sheered off- do you mean where the barrel locks into the slide? What part was more damaged the barrel or the slide and was the other part reusable?

I had to locktite the rear sight bolt and since then its been great.

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I'm not at home right now so do t have my notes but if memory serves, 9.4 gr. 3n38 X 125 gr. Zero @170 pf. 10 lb spring.

Top lugs, barrel and slide, both pretty much evenly.

On the sights, I tried locktite, o-rings, silicone to absorb the bounce, pretty much everything. Sight elevation screw still walked out, leaf pin walked out, blah blah blah.

I'll be sticking with 2011 from now on or CZ for production. Less hassles.

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BTW... Henning said the other day he is going to make an adjustable replacement for the Super Sight. He has an old prototype that he never finished out. Hopefully it has some feature to keep the elevation screw firmly locked forever! That in addition to not needing to crank it way up to get adjustment will help tons! I'm his biggest Cheerleader on this piece right now :)

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R.Elliot,

9.4 grains of 3n38 behind a 125 gr zero and getting a power factor of 170 is really good out of a V8.

Usually guys are having to use at least 10.3 to 10.5 grains of 3n38 out of the V8 and V12 ported barrels to get that same 170pf.

Just a guess but it may have been the 10lb recoil spring just being a little bit to light, that caused the lugs to go away after only that many rounds.

The 2011's can handle the lighter recoil springs but some of the Tanfoglio's aren't able to take the Major loads and also run a lighter spring too.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with the Tanfoglio's, but thank you for sharing your situation on what happened with your guns. It lets us know what we need to keep our eyes out for. Thanks again.

Edited by gunnit
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Well as I say, I wasn't cometely sure of the load. It's a few years ago and I don't have my notes handy.

Regarding the recoil spring; it may have been 10 or 11 lbs. It was whatever Eric recommended at the time. Thing is though, if you have to rely on a heavy spring to reduce lug-lash, there an issue with the fit. The lugs should be in full contact until the gun links down in recoil. The fit of the barrel hood to the breach face was sloppy as hell, so right there you will get lash. Combine that with "close enough" lug fit and you have an expensive, great looking gun that will last maybe 15k rounds.

I sure loved the ergonomics and the handling. They've got that part down pretty well. It would however, benefit a lot from forged frames and slides, compensators made from titanium or at least forgings (both of mine cracked), fitted barrels, better safeties, non-frangible sights, decent fire-control parts etc. For the same money or less, you get all that on a custom built 2011.

I dunno, maybe I just got unlucky and ended up with Friday guns. Regardless, I have a Bedell-built 2011 now and couldn't be happier.

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The fit on any gun can be the best on the planet but there is still a possibility that too light of a recoil spring ( whatever weight that may end up being ) on any major platform may cause premature wear on any model ( 2011, Tanfoglio or other ).

The Tanfoglio is definitely an off the shelf open gun and as you said would benefit from the forged frames, slides, compensators made of titanium, etc. However I don't think you can buy a brand new 2011 with all that done to it by a custom gunsmith for under 2000.00.

The STI Trubor open gun, which are a great guns, ( to a degree an off the shelf gun and have a much better fit than a Tanfoglio) brand new to the best of my knowledge, are not under 2000.00.

One of the reasons some of us choose the Tanfoglio is because of it's affordability, and yes there can be issues with it.

But there are also 2011 guns out there at twice the cost, that have had frames and slides crack and were built by fantastic gunsmiths using all the best materials the planet has to offer.

So we're all taking a chance when we buy or build are own guns, it just comes down to a personal preference and what platform will work best for us individually.

Bedell builds a fantastic gun, I know guys that have them and like them a lot. They are great guns to shoot.

In the end it always seems to work out somehow. Thanks again for your input.

Edited by gunnit
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Pricing is a little different in Canada. The price of the new Eric gold extreme is pushing SVI money.

Sure, I know the risks with any competition gun. I've had a bunch and had stuff grenade on me, absolutely. There was usually an issue traceable to build though. Occasionally defective component parts. My old Trubore was a real workhorse though. I was sorry I sold it.

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Sorry I missed the Canada situation. Your right here it's the other way around.

I haven't heard of anyone having an Eric gold custom Extreme in this country yet, but someone might have one hiding somewhere.

And the Extreme is definitely pricing higher than a regular Gold Custom even here too.

Only once in a while do I here of a problem with a Trubor. For the most part they are a pretty solid gun.

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