sinnsyk

As all of us know here in the US, the chrome magazines is impossible to get. We only get one with a new gun, and all magazines bought after that is blued. I've tried to get EAA to import the chrome mags, but to no avail so blue it is.. until know for a limited time. I got hold of a few hundred chrome magbodies and I've got about 90 at the moment. While supplies last I am building all competition 40 S&W and 38 Super mags using the chrome magazine bodies. Same price as before, but you're getting a much slicker magbody which improves magazine function. I've also made the H-141 pads in blue, red, gray and black. The blue and red is very limited supply. Gray and Black is available in large quantities. If you order the Henning 21 Round Reloadable magazine for USPSA Limited competitions you can choose from either of these four colors until I'm out. Then it's either black or gray. The USPSA mags are guaranteed legal to fit the gauge and easily reloadable to 21 rounds. For IPSC Standard I've also got a few green pads available for the 18 round mags. And.. I've made available both 3-pack and 4-pack of magazines that will save you a few bucks when you buy them in bulk. Check out the shop for the magazines. Email me if you have any questions. http://www.henningshootsguns.com/shop/magazines.html

Loctiting the screw is definitely a must to ensure the screw doesn't come loose. The amount of concussion from the slide moving back and forth needs a solid locking to keep the sight in place. The factory drills a hole in the slide, but we cannot use that so to get the absolute best lock, a new hole can be marked and drilled into the slide. A cobalt drill bit is probably necessary to break through that glass-hard slide. I've used blue loctite so I can remove it if I want to, but if you have no intention of taking the sight out you could use red (262) which you'll have to use heat to break loose. Without loctite the screw will definitely work itself loose in no time. Anyone who has tried shooting a scope/mount without using loctite can testify to how few rounds it takes for it to come loose.

Sean Adjusting low would never be a problem. Taller sights require the rear to move up.

Big Bear I've been sort of slow here lately.. but yeah got BladeTech that'll fit all models. Here's the breakdown: Tanfoglio makes basically two (2) different frame models; "custom" and "standard". "Custom" is the ultimate competition frame which includes "Gold Team", "Limited", "Limited Custom", "Stock II" and "Hunter". It's their top of the line gun models with square trigger guard, more aggressive checkering, larger beavertail, built-in magwell bevel ready for magwell, long dustcover models etc. "Standard" covers a wide range of models which is their less expensive line of models including "Match", "Stock", "Steel" and "Steel Compact". These frames have a round trigger guard, lines instead of checkering on the frame, no internal magwell bevel, short dustcover only etc. I did an update of my shop where it should be even easier to what holster works for what gun model and what I would recommend them for.

Hey Paul Glad you liked the sight. Yes, I slave Emma all the time and she complains about me being too tough... he he. But she bitches about me being dis-organized and horrible all the time too, so it's all good ;-D Weekend is here and time for a beer..

Joseph, The height of the sight shouldn't be a problem. The new sight is only 0.015" taller than the factory of 0.150". When I push my gun into the IPSC box I SQUEEZE the rear sight hard. I can get the gun into the box with both H-520 and H-550 pads. Are you sure the box is correct size? Remember... SQUEEZE both the rear sight and the pad. I have a box that measures 149.50mm and it'll fit the H-520. Tight, but doable. When I went to the Europeans 2007 and Czech Euro this year, both the H-520 and H-550 went in. I can make a smaller sight, but that will severely reduce the visual input you need to shoot fast and accurate. I debated making the sight 0.175", but decided that 0.165" would give it enough extra height to avoid seeing so much of the slide and still not get too tall.The "Stock" has a 0.125" tall sight or something like that. To me that isn't tall enough. I'll shoot the sight in the upcoming Desert Classic where of course none of this will be an issue. I will also shoot it at an IPSC match... the New Zealand Nationals. It'll be interesting to see what they're doing in their part of the world. I will bring a dial caliper and measure their IPSC BOX. I've also always wondered if you can question the IPSC box if it's too small. Rules say 150mm + 1 mm (-0mm). So I guess it means the box could be anywhere from 150 - 151mm. The two boxes I've seen lately at the Europeans and Czech Euro must have been way bigger than 151mm because my gun dropped in and rattled inside the box..

Just received a shipment of Safariland magpouches so now I have pouches for every Tanfoglio gun out there. Large Frame magpouches is what 99% of EAA Witness owners in the US will use since EAA only imports the large frame guns. These also fits Caspian hi-cap magazines ! Small Frame magpouches is what 99% of Tanfoglio owners outside the US will use for their 9mm's. Also fits Springfield P9's, TZ75's etc and all EAA Witness models imported prior to mid 90's. Also fits a wide range of double stack mags from other manufacturers such as Beretta, H&K etc. Measure your mags before you order to be 100% sure you're getting the right one. So for Stock II owners outside the US, the small frame magpouches are killer.

I've got something in the works.. probably will take a few weeks.

Hey Jeff Happy birthday ! Glad you got them, she bought them for you a while ago ;-) I know what you're saying about the screws, I hate them myself. Problem is that what we need is a metric M3.5 screw. I found some at the hardware store, but they're the same head diameter and phiips. So not a good alternative. Originally I talked to a screw maker guy and I can get them made EXACTLY the way I really want them... allen head screw, small head and stainless. So that's all fine and dandy, but it'll cost me $1-2000 to have them made. All depending on how many of course, but without making a bunch of them the piece cost will be very high. I know that we can get these types of screws in Europe and I've had several people looking for me, but noone can reliable come up with a source. I'm gonna make a call to Tom, he sent me some he got from Europe I think..

A quick note on Big Bear's question of making a longer sight in the future... Initially I was going to make the front post stick over the dovetail. It for one turned out after talking to several machine shops to complicate the manufacturing process greatly. Secondly I don't know how much more light you actually will gain by moving the post forward. Ultimately I didn't want to create a sight that felt oversized, ugly and potentially I could catch with my hand when racking the slide (I grab the front, top of the slide when I rack). I hate to use the work compromise, because I don't want to settle for any thing when designing a part, but it felt like the best solution to put the two posts on the opposite far ends while still giving it a rugged support and pleasing look from all angles. I guess I could have radiused the back portion to reduce chances of snagging. I wasn't designing a tactical type sight so I will still be very careful about my sight when handlng the gun. We made it as rugged as we could while giving it the height and length between the posts. If we radiused the back we probably would have had to make the rear post bigger which would give it less exposed fiber = slightly less light. I think the most care has to be made when drawing the gun as the front, visible portion needs to have sharp, square edges for a good sight picture. It can catch on a holster, clothing etc if you don't have your rig set up correctly. I guess you can always smack the sight into a wall / port if you're not careful, but I don't think it hurts to have some of your brain power monitoring how and where your gun is at all times. If you smack your gun through a port, yes you could blow out your front sight if you're wreckless. I've definitely bumped the front of my gun into tight ports, but for the most part I've bumped the gun/slide/frame when I've done so. Fiber sights will always be more prone to damage than a regular black sight so pay attention as best you can. Treasure your sight. It's made with a lot of thought behind it and a lot of care in making each and every sight. My machinist really cares about the parts he makes and he takes extremely good care of his equipment; cleans the coolant, toolheads and tooling often. He never runs parts too fast and always triple checks what he's doing. It doesn't make him the fastest machinist in the world, but I always know I get a good product from him. And when we're running a lot of parts I end up running the machine as well. A fair amount of the magazine pads and grips I've ran. Doesn't mean I do much else than push start/stop and load/unload material, but I've pulled many all nighters and ran parts until 8 in the morning. Even thought the machine will produce a finished part a lot of times, several of the pads, grips and even the sight requires some manual deburring, polishing and careful inspection. All the parts I make are 100% made in the US and most of the made in the Colorado Rockies ;-)

I'm coming to Area 2, but I'm already running out of the sights. I had 32 on Tuesday night. Took two for myself and as of this evening I've got 3 left. The machineshop is busy with another project, but I've asked them to get at least 100 sights ready before I leave. As soon as I get them in my hand I can get them coated in flat black in a day or so. The fiber hole is 0.040" exact which means some fiber rods won't fit. I ordered a bunch of fiber from one manufacturer and some of them were 0.042" which don't fit. Of course we could have opened to hole to be more accepting, but I really want the fiber to sit in there good. And once you've melted the ends it's not going anywhere. I make sure mine are melted tight and with a small dot that I'm looking at. Of course, if you want a bigger dot, you can always open the hole to accept a 0.060" fiber. That wouldn't be a problem at all. The idea of a 0.040" on a 0.090" is that the dot is a visual aid, not the main aiming device. You still want to be able to see the black edges for a long distance, precise shot. And at dusk it'll be a huge help when you start having a hard time seeing the light between the front/rear or even seeing your front at all. At Desert Classic they run you from 6:50am until 6pm and if you're at either extreme ends of the day you'll be shooting in very poor light conditions. Then you'll definitely be quicker in picking up the front sight and have a clue what you're shooting at. I can't wait to get to Phoenix and shoot the Classic. It's my favorite match of the year, they always put up something crazy and it's a three day blast. I wrote in the article too, that Brownell's sells a 3-fiber stick kit (green, red, yellow) which are about 5" long each. It's $15 and they are perfectly 0.040" so they slide right into the iFiber. I cut the fibers that come with the sight to approx 0.550" length. This gives just the right amount of fiber of each side so that when you're melting it in place you don't create big blobs. This is how I like it so I wanted to make it easier for everybody by pre-cutting them and if and when you have to replace your fiber it's easy to stick a new fiber in and melt it in place. You could even do it at a match if you needed to. In the article / install instructions I mention how I melt the visual dot first, very carefully and as little as possible. Then on the opposite end I melt the excess fiber and create a strong hold. The iFiber has a 0.050" recessed hole on both ends which gives the melted fiber a pocket to create a nice round dot and also a pocket to create a hold / grab. I put one on my 6" Hunter 10mm and with the long sight radius it still looks good, but of course with more light between the front and rear. I've got two of these Hunter 10mm 6" guns and they are super-cool. One was machined by John Sandlin (Leo's buddy) to become my a 6" Limited gun. The other was done up by Canyon Creek Custom (Rich Dettelhouser) who put a 1911 barrel bushing in the slide to tighten it up for potentially improved precision. He also ported the barrel. The slide was already lightened by John Sandlin ala the Gold Team V8. Right now it's over at Schuemann barrels who is going to make a mount for the Aimpoint Micro. Once I get it back from him I'll have the gun BearCoated in their camo finish and probably take it hunting next year. At least that's the plan. I used to hunt back in Norway, but I've still to take my hunter safety course here in the US. I've always liked blasting a lot of rounds so I've had more fun shooting 1000 rounds in a day at the range than spending a whole day in the woods maybe shooting one. But with these cool pistols I want to take them up in the Rockies and shoot something I can barbeque.. Btw I have to say that I am super happy with all the machining work that John Sandlin has done on all of my guns. He's lightened several of my Limited 40's and they are more works of art than just lightening cuts. Give him some ideas and turn him loose to cook up something cool and it's a treat to get the gun back. Same goes for Rich Dettelhouser at Canyon Creek. It's just fun to take an already nice gun from Tanfoglio and have Rich trick and tune the gun into something that's unique and purposeful. As time and money permits I intend to develop and improve most of the internal parts of the Tanfoglio guns. Eventually it'll more or less only be the frame, slide and barrel left of the original guns. I'm working with spring manufacturers, sight manufacturers, machine shops, heat treaters and coaters of various kinds to eventually have high quality 99% drop-in competition quality parts that you will see, feel and understand makes a difference. I think they should be aesthetically pleasing, highest grade material and finish and make a noticeable difference to your shooting. For me it raises my confidence level when I'm at a match, knowing that the parts will improve my gun and my gun handling / shooting. And it's pretty cool to have a nice looking gun to show off too... ;-)

Here's a few pictures of Emma cutting the fibers to 0.550" so they're ready to be installed at your convenience. Our next project is a pro fiber cutter system... ha ha... Emma threw a couple of pieces of wood together to easily cut the fibers to right length. Note she's using a chisel. Kind of ghetto, but works fairly quick and gets the job done. ;-)

Thanks ! I got about 30 sights on the first batch and about half is gone. The shop is going to make hundreds of more for me and I'm hoping to get at least a hundred more ready before I take off for Area 2 and New Zealand. I'm gone all November, but I have a helper shipping while Emma and I are gone. Will be a great trip, but also a long time away from home and taking care of things. We're cutting fiber rods and packaging them up.

So just got all the pieces of the puzzle finished up today. I've got the first batch of sights machined and coated today. I decided to go with BearCoat in Flat Black which provides a very matte, black surface. The sight measure 0.090" wide x 0.165" height and a 0.040" fiber. It's super-nice and already on two of my guns. I wrote up an article this afternoon which has some decent pictures and more details: http://henningshootsguns.com/pages/2008_fiberfront.html

The smooth and checkered measure about 0.150" thick, hence why I called them H-150. Checkered may technically feel slightly thicker since they start as "smooth" and then material is checkering is applied to that surface. We can make the grips even thinner, but they seem to fit most hands from small to large. I wear size 10 gloves and they feel good to me. Also gotten good feedback from shooters with small hands who really likes them. Probably the most efficient way to make the grip smaller is to sand off the front checkering. I do that to all my guns. That way front to back is a lot smaller and the gun feels better in my hands. Easy enough to do using a belt sander. I'm using a 1" belt on a Dremel Belt Sander.

Slide lock can be unreliable both with the Grams follower and the factory follower. I never have my guns lock back on any of my guns. Unless you're shooting L10 I would recommend against it. Just another thing that can go wrong. Also, it may not be the gun sometimes, just enough that your hand/fingers accidentally hit the slide stop and push it up and locks back. The new titefit pin gives you a better lockup on the barrel as Paul mentioned as well as being a very slick solution. I designed the pin to only stick out 0.020" on each side so less accidental snagging and looks sharp.

There's some filing / dremel work to make it slide on. And you will have a small gap between the frame and the magwell. Several others have done it. It's not perfect, but currently the only option. Mike P; wanna share some pic's of your gun?

Hey, I knew I never can throw out what's in the works ... he he Soon, soon. Rob, I'm trying to get you sights before the WS. Gimme a call end of next week. We're waiting on some carbide tooling. I am waiting as much as all of you and it's all about getting the right material and the right tooling to make a supreme product. There's several components is on it's way to us and the machinist and the machine is on standby waiting to do the production run. Also researched and found tuff flat black coating I want to use etc. Rob, you're leaving on the 22nd for Bali? We'll definitely be cutting it close and I want nothing else than send you over there with new sights. As soon as I have a few hand fulls fresh off the press I'll get them coated and ship them to you. Let's talk Wednesday next week !

Right on. Yeah, I actually had Blade-Tech make them using my gun as a mold, but it took me another year before I decided to start selling them.. slow sometimes ha ha. I love this holster now, feels extremely safe which makes me much more comfortable walking around when I'm not shooting.. And a little safer on seated starts etc.

Now have Blade-Tech holsters in stock for - Elite Limited / Stock II - Elite Match / Stock Both available in Right and Left hand. I'm using it for my Limited guns now and I like how secure they feel. http://henningshootsguns.com/shop/holsters.html

There are a couple of solutions: 1) Reaming out the chamber to 38 super. Lots of 38 super magazine options available with full capacity options. 2) Fitting a small frame magazine to the frame by filling in the frame to fit small frame mags only. Small frame mags are long proven and what the rest of the world buys when it comes to Tanfo 9mm guns 3) I have a customer who says he can rebuild current large frame mags to functional 22 round mags. I just mailed him a mag and a H141 pad today and waiting to check it out when I get it back. It's quite a bit of work, but may be a good solution. However, no 170mm mags. 4) The factory is reportedly working on a new magazine body for the large frame 9mm mags. If they end up solving the problem and are able to provide a functinoal mag all our troubles are gone. My guestimate is March - April for this solution. ;-)

Main prototyping is done. Production will start this week.. FS looks good so far. Rear sight will be for both Limited and Match. They'll be two different types of sights. Don't think you could get a 'supersight' style on the Match cut.

Maybe just a Sunday morning sarcastic feeling, but yeah... not much "super" about the supersight..

Josh. Thanks for the input. I will look at a sleeve type solution using a set scrwe along with various forms of screw-on pads. I think both a delrin and aluminum pads / sleeves can be viable options. I will discuss it with my designer and then figure out with my machinist what will be the best way to manufacture it. These pads will be pretty small and they need to be reasonably quick to machine. It may also be that this will be a step-by-step project where I come out with a short trigger to start and continue to develop from this platform into a fully adjustable length system. Please bring me as many ideas as possible, I really do appreciate them and all inputs here are thrown into the brewing kettle.. We want to come up with something that'll satisfy all our different needs.

That's a great idea Jason. I do want to make the width of the trigger quite a bit smaller than the width of the trigger guard. Reason for this is to make the trigger super-safe. For those who know... I have good reasons for super-safing it, ha ha.