Will B. Droopy

Hi KneelingAtlas; No, the Speed Ledge products are not for Open guns. Other thumb rests cover that field quite nicely. The SL is a thumb rest for tactical, Limited*, and Limited 10 use. Most Open guns, except for perhaps the Lone Wolf Open Glocks, have no need of the SL, and certainly not on a basic SP01. But as to a Limited SP01 Shadow, that's a different story. -Will * Thumb rest restrictions removed as per USPSA BOD in-person meeting minutes of 12/02/11, and went into effect 1/1/13 with new Limited & Limited 10 appendix D2 and D3 created.

I'm not sure I understand, NoSteel: I know the forum doesn't want spam, but a direct solution to a forum member's question is not allowed? So I'm not permitted to help out at all with any product, even "for other*" manufactures (such as a link or image for the *thumb rest [generic]* Thumb Rest?). How are we suppose to help each other? *...do not advertise products or services for yourself or for others in your posts...

. This Picatinny thumb rest that we make here at C&L Co. has worked perfectly for me, since I refuse to drill into my frame, much less break a tap off in it. http://www.thespeedledge.com/ -Droopy

No one seems to know the answer to this, I would think, simple question; do Picatinny accessories fit Glock's "Universal rail"? I tried Glock USA, but no go. Looked all over the Web for simple dimensions or a dimensional drawing, but no-go again Any one here have any idea? Any one have calipers and a Glock? Thank you, -Will

As one of the posters that had a 9mm Witness slide crack on me, I investigated this problem a bit Online, and from my understanding only the steel framed Wonderfinished slides seem to crack. And I would guess (not worth much, I know) that the polymer frame of your particular model will absorb so much slide energy that the slide should be OK. (Even I would trust such a gun, but I have made it a rule now to only buy 9mm CZs and 1911s, which (especially the 1911) are way overbuilt for the "pipsqueak" 9mm cartridge). Can't say as I ever really fell in love with the EAA like I do did with my 1911 and it's many variants, but the Witness was by far the most accurate pistol I had ever shot -- almost like a friggin' lazer! But what bugged me the most about all this, is that NO ONE seemed to care about the slide crack, and EAA most assuredly never contacted me on any of this after I turned it in. It was almost like they wanted to ignore these issues as "bad for business"... PS: BTW, just to clarify, my steel Wonderfinish 9mm Witness cracked using 100% FMJ factory target rounds (no reloads or +P), and it was never abused and always babied, and I used only its full strength stock recoil spring.

My Ruger extended "1911" safety. I wanted something that I didn't need to take apart my Rube Goldbergian 22/45 Ruger. Don't know why Ruger doesn't do something similar on its production 22/45's, since they are suppose to be 1911-like...

Thank you! My wife freaked when she saw the huge crack in the slide, knowing it would have been a right-eye ending experience for me if I had fired just one more shot. The gun shop people are always very accommodating , but I suspect that they think I am somehow at fault for this, since I also had TWO Charles Daley Tactical shotguns I had to return to them a year or so ago due to a defective part in both guns. However, the gun store folks (who seem to have the patience of Job!) really didn't even want to look at the cracked Witness slide, and certainly didn't appear to realize the seriousness of this issue, even though the crack had now propagated completely through-and-through to the very edge of the slide overnight . The only thing keeping the slide together was the metal directly under the ejection port. I picked the Taurus 9mm PT1911 up from them yesterday as a replacement, and so far so good... -Bill

All steel; I don't like plastic guns :

No, I have completely lost faith in Tanfoglio . Even though the Witness is a beefy, well constructed pistol, I have read too much about frame and slide cracking on these models, both the small and large frame (even though others had "only" cracks on the ejection port area of the slide, which isn't nearly as long or as dangerous as my particular slide fracture). I've always had great luck with Taurus , and since I have a bunch of 9mm ammo in my closet, and I am a recoil-sissy, I think I will go with this almost unknown, but tried-and-true, design called the "1911" ;-), but in 9mm:

Hi All, Well, I cleaned and oiled my large frame Tanfoglio 9mm Witness, just as I always do after our local USPSA shoots. But when I placed the slide back on the frame I heard this odd metallic "click" sound that I had never heard before when reassembling this pistol, but thought nothing of it. Then, a few minutes ago I looked down at my gun, and did a double take. Below is what I saw (I may have been only a single 9mm round away from having the rear of the slide embedded in my skull. Ouch!) Are cracked slides a common problem with Tanfoglio, even with little pipsqueak 125PF 9mm rounds? PS: I have, at most, put 2000 rounds through this gun of standard velocity factory ammo (I do not reload, nor do I ever use reloaded cartridges from ANY source, nor do I use +P or +P+ ammo).

Hi Amaziah, The internals are anywhere from 1930 to about 1939. The frame and the barrel are probably from around 1990 or so. (Since my C96 use to be a full auto M712 Mauser, a new semi-auto frame had to be built or it could not be legally imported into the U.S. (why they couldn't just have welded-up the selector switch hole, I have no idea -- but that's BATF rules for you!). For competition I changed out all of the coil springs (to Wolff), polished the feed-ramp and chamber, modified the magazine (stronger spring, beveling, polishing, etc.), flared the stripper clip slots, rounded certain sharp edges (top of grip frame, ejection port), ground down some of the trigger guard (to better fit my hands), modified the rear sights to a square notch and ground down to shoot POA, epoxy filled the grips for tighter fit to frame, polished sear and hammer, removed metal from under sear to increase engagement with hammer (due to occasional doubling issues that scared the &$@# out of me!). I am going to the range again on Wednesday to "officially" confirm my groups, as well as the POA, due to my poor performance on the Texas Star this last Sunday. However, when I was sighting in the C-96 in a few weeks ago, it grouped (very "unofficially") at about 3" at 25 yards. My draw has changed a bit, since I am going from double-action for the first shot with my Witness, to single-action cocked-and-locked with the C96 (frankly, I like the cocked-and-locked much better!). I have to get back to my Tangfolio, but I'm having so much fun with my Broom, as well as the increased challenge/fun/cool-factor of loading with stripper clips, that it may be quite awhile before I hang-up the C-96! -Bill

Usually I shoot Production matches with a Tanfoglio 9mm Witness, but this time I decided to go with my Mauser 9mm C-96 that I just fixed up (new springs, trigger job, sight modifications, general tweaks, etc.), as well as (poorly) converting an old Bianchi holster for better competition performance (there are no off-the-shelf USPSA holsters made for the C-96). All went well during the match, with the exception of my pitiful stripper-clip reloading performance . Gotta keep practicing… -Bill

I wasn't pulling anyone's chain (if I ever felt like trolling, I think I'd be a little more outrageous than simply complaining that "I don't like dropping mags in the dirt and sand"! Plus, I'm not 13 years old anymore, nor am I a bored half-wit; so trolling just isn't in the cards for me ). But back on topic: As others have said here -- that I would ultimately start dropping mags -- is quite true; about four months ago I finally took the plunge, and I now drop all of my mags in the dirt, sand, mud, and other assorted detritus . Of course, due to my OCD'ish tendencies, I also have a pretty complete mag cleaning "station" on my shooting cart, so a gritty mag never gets inserted back into my gun (I just can't get myself to abuse a firearm like that; just as I can't get myself to abuse my car… ). -Bill

Hi All, I shoot USPSA Production, and I can't afford tens of thousands of rounds of 9mm practice ammo per year -- much less surviving days at the range in 100+ degree heat -- so I typically practice at home with an all-metal Beretta PX4 Storm .177 pellet gun with reciprocating slide (pretty good recoil!). The problem is, due to the fact that most pellet and Airsoft guns use pot-metal construction for their internals, they don't seem to last long. For instance, something in my Beretta Storm's trigger group broke after about six thousand rounds, and it is now useless. (This internal breakage occurred, needless to say, ten days AFTER the expiration of its 90 day warranty). So my question: What Airsoft or pellet gun model, hopefully priced under $200, would not only be appropriate for home Production Division training, but can also take the "abuse" of our practice and not break after a few thousand rounds? Any suggestions? Thanks, -Bill The Beretta Storm pellet gun:

That really does take a load off my mind! I bet many old farts, such as myself, are still deathly afraid of hang fires, when there is actually no need to be anymore. Heck, every time I got a dud round for the last forty years I would extend the gun out towards the target for 30 seconds, worried that the failure to fire might go off. (Sometimes there wasn't even a round in the chamber due to a failure to feed! ) I'll now tap-rack-bang! Thanks, -Bill

I just had a thought (which is a rare occurrence): Does anyone out there shoot their CoF with their computer glasses on, as opposed to their normal distance vision glasses? If so, do you like it and do you score better? The reason why I ask this is that I have noticed that with my 55 year old eyes my computer glasses are of the exact prescription to make my PD pistol's front iron sight look clear as crystal (while improving rear sight clarity), while my regular prescription glasses are, of course, optimized for a much greater distance. Using computer glasses will obviously blur the target more, but that front (and rear) sight sharpness is the most important. Thoughts? -Bill (PS: Also, I am a "one-eyed shooter" -- never could open both eyes while firing a weapon -- so different lenses for each eye wouldn't work for me.)

I've just started to give this a lot of thought GrumpyOne, and after I become moderately good at USPSA, and dropping the mags will then actually make a true difference in my score, then I plan on spending the money to buy enough mags to complete the entire day without re-using a single dropped mag. (After all, what's the difference now if it takes me 59 minutes to complete one CoF, but by dropping those mags it speeds my time to 58 minutes* -- I still lose! ). Then I'll clean all 15 or so dropped mags at home -- thoroughly (this should satisfy my annoying OCD tendancies). I see only two problems to all this though: 1) My wife may kill me for spending $450 on "just" mags; 2) On my full size, all-steel Tanfoglio 9mm Witness, I can't reach the mag release unless I shift my grip, or use my other hand (so I'll still be rather slow with mag changes...) -Bill *Kidding about those times

Mr. bbbean, I'll take a pair of the Bean BlasterTMSquib Resistant Gloves in a large; and as soon as you get all the kinks worked out of the Full Body Squib and Detonation Protection device, I'll also take one of those in a male size 38L (but only if the price is right). Both look like a sensible solution to a common problem. Looks like Bean BlasterTM is on the ball again. Good work. -Bill

Hi Carmoney, My squib sounded like a double click through my electronic ear muffs. Maybe it was just me and my aging ears; don't know. But as I say, instead of the BOOM I would normally hear, the squib incident sounded to me like this: 1) the click sound of the impacting hammer on the primer; 2) and then a microsecond later another click sound of the exploding primer... -Bill

For you guys who have had a squib during competition, when the adrenalin is running and your ability to hear and see things -- except for the targets -- is greatly diminished (especially with earmuffs on), and you only have a microsecond to make a decision as to whether the gun was empty, or the primer didn't ignite, or you had a FTF, or you had a very dangerous squib? One gentleman noticed that the sights didn't rise as far as normal, and I personally noticed (but not during competition, and with my ears on) that there were two distinct clicks (one click the hammer drop, the other the primer) instead of a single BOOM. What I am saying, I guess, is that when you are under the huge pressures of competing, and when you are using hearing protection, just how obvious is it that the cartridge's powder charge has not been ignited, and only the primer has detonated? (Especially, as said here by others above, when the empty ejects -- or almost ejects -- which really would be confusing to the competitive shooter while under such pressure...) -Bill

Thanks for the pointers, GrumpyOne! I guess I'll ignore the rare possibility of a hang-fire; and in the case of a squib load I'll depend on the force of the primer against the blocked barrel to cycle the slide, as well as listen for that faint primer "pop" through my electronic ear muffs. (I've had squib loads before, but only in a revolver: It actually sounded very much like the hammer had simply dropped twice within milliseconds of each other, rather than zero times as when the (extremely loud) powder goes off). Still not dropping my mags; I just can't get myself to do it. I don't think it makes much difference in my case though, since I shoot the course about as fast as molasses flows in Winter anyway. Thanks Spanky and G-ManBart. Good feedback! -Bill

During the heat of battle in a IPSC/USPSA match, what do you do when you pull the trigger and nothing happens? To some, the answer may appear obvious: immediately rack the slide (or pull the trigger again). The problem I have with the above actions is that if you just had a squib load go off that you didn't hear, then the next shot could mean the end of your gun (and perhaps a few of your fingers); or perhaps your gun didn't go off because you just had a hang-fire, in which case immediately ejecting the round could be a very bad idea for you and those around you. The question: Do you do the officially recommended thing and keep the gun pointed down range for 30 seconds (thus effectively losing the match or CoF)? Or do you risk it and rack the slide immediately for a new round? Any thoughts on this? -Bill

Thanks Mike -- much appreciated! -Bill

Hi all, As we all know, finding a decent selection of real over-the-counter holsters (i.e., not crappy one-size-fits-all nylon types) for the EAA Witness all-Steel 9mm Tanfoglio Pistol with rail is very difficult, while holsters for the CZ-75 seem to abound. Does anyone know if the CZ-75 SP-01 9MM pistol (with RAIL) is close to the Witness in size and fit, so that I can open-up my selection of holsters a bit more? If not CZ-75, then any other pistol (with rail) may possibly be a good holster fit? (Perhaps even a full size EAA polymer w/rail?). Any hope; any hope at all? Thanks, -Bill EAA Witness all-Steel 9mm Tanfoglio Pistol: CZ-75 SP-01 9MM pistol: EAA Witness Polymer 9mm Tanfoglio Pistol:

That's what I thought: thanks Mike! -Bill