apachec10 Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 Hello all, I found this forum while researching a new aquisition. I know I'm doing this backwards, but ran across this pistol and bought before reading about it. It's a Witness compact, wonder finish, 10mm. After checking around on the internet, I'm wondering if I should get rid of it after reading so much about cracked slides and frames, also are they discontinued? I can't find anything about them on EAA's website. I really hoped I could get a top end in .38 super for it. I'd appreciate any info anyone could give, so I know whether to trade it off or not. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MemphisMechanic Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 I’ll be curious to see if anyone around here has experience with the 10mm guns, or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kneelingatlas Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 I had a 10mm long slide Witness I loved and the wonder finish is very durable. I'm pretty sure the cracked slide stories you're reading predate the wonder finish guns, but even if it does crack, I would feel confident EAA would replace it for you (they don't have the best customer service, but it's hard to argue with a crack). I don't think EAA sells the conversion kits on their website anymore, but if you call they might have the .38 top end you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KelsonAK Posted March 17, 2022 Share Posted March 17, 2022 I've seen quite a few of the 10mm Witnesses. There are a few of them pulling bear gun duty here in Alaska... I have not seen any cracked slides in the past 7-8 years, even with the bear loads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apachec10 Posted March 17, 2022 Author Share Posted March 17, 2022 First, Thanks for the replies. I've since done a lot more studying, and found some pics of the earlier ones, and can see how much thinner the slides were. I can see why they were prone to cracking, mine is marked 2020 by the safety, and the slide is much thicker. Would that 2020, mean the year of mfg? I feel a lot better about keeping it now, I tried to call EAA today about the availability of upper conversions, but got an answering machine. Does anyone here have any experience with the brass buffer washers, and tapered guide rods? Also I know it depends on the ammo, but is this 10mm with the 3.5" bbl. any better than a.40 S&W? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singleshot Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 All you need to do is get a 38 Super barrel and mags to go to that caliber. Probably a lighter mainspring too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apachec10 Posted March 18, 2022 Author Share Posted March 18, 2022 22 minutes ago, singleshot said: All you need to do is get a 38 Super barrel and mags to go to that caliber. Probably a lighter mainspring too. So the .38 super barrel will work with the 10mm slide? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBurgess Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 15 hours ago, apachec10 said: First, Thanks for the replies. I've since done a lot more studying, and found some pics of the earlier ones, and can see how much thinner the slides were. I can see why they were prone to cracking, mine is marked 2020 by the safety, and the slide is much thicker. Would that 2020, mean the year of mfg? I feel a lot better about keeping it now, I tried to call EAA today about the availability of upper conversions, but got an answering machine. Does anyone here have any experience with the brass buffer washers, and tapered guide rods? Also I know it depends on the ammo, but is this 10mm with the 3.5" bbl. any better than a.40 S&W? I guess the real question is how much are you going to shoot this gun? I ask because most people shooting 10MM are shooting in the range of say hundreds of rounds a year vs many of the competition shooters you see around here that are shooting 10s of thousands of rounds a year? For anything resembling normal use you are likely fine as is, if you plan to feed it lots and lots of ammo (think many many thousand) or if you plan to shoot a whole bunch (think thousands) of super hot reloads (180s @1200+) then the cone head guide rod man not be a waste of cash (it is said to prevent peening of the frame where the guide rod head sits that can make removing the upper a little more difficult as the barrel lug has to slide past the displaced metal (a few seconds with a needle file can fix this issue if it comes up). The brass buffer is intended for practice use only IIRC so maybe use for range days when testing nuclear reloads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
singleshot Posted March 18, 2022 Share Posted March 18, 2022 The Super and .40/10mm rims are only about .020" difference. Super barrel in my .40 slide works a treat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apachec10 Posted March 18, 2022 Author Share Posted March 18, 2022 I will probably only put a few hundred rounds a year through it, and maybe a third of that will be heavy loads. I'm glad to hear about not needing to change slides for the super, one of my favorite cartridges. I just took it out in the back yard and put ten rounds through it, and surprised that there wasn't more muzzle rise, but lost about half my brass. This thing throws the brass at least 25 to 30 feet! I was shooting Aguila 180 gr. fmj, functioned fine, all but launching the brass into space! Thanks to all that replied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Endall Posted March 19, 2022 Share Posted March 19, 2022 I have a Match Elite and a Limited Pro in 10mm. Both have worked fine with 1200+ 180 Gr rounds. Maybe 1500 rds in the Match Elite and less in the Limited Pro. I have never seen a Compact Witness. But if the recoil is not too bad, should be fine. The full size guns sling 10mm brass further than 30’. And it is fast also. Cannot see them, just hear them hitting things. A friend was shooting a Colt Gold Cup with me this month. The brass was lazily coming out and landing less than 5’ away. I thought about the two 10mm Tanfoglio. I had a guy come over one day to complain that 10mm brass was hitting his vehicle parked two bays over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apachec10 Posted March 20, 2022 Author Share Posted March 20, 2022 14 hours ago, Endall said: I have a Match Elite and a Limited Pro in 10mm. Both have worked fine with 1200+ 180 Gr rounds. Maybe 1500 rds in the Match Elite and less in the Limited Pro. I have never seen a Compact Witness. But if the recoil is not too bad, should be fine. The full size guns sling 10mm brass further than 30’. And it is fast also. Cannot see them, just hear them hitting things. A friend was shooting a Colt Gold Cup with me this month. The brass was lazily coming out and landing less than 5’ away. I thought about the two 10mm Tanfoglio. I had a guy come over one day to complain that 10mm brass was hitting his vehicle parked two bays over. Same here, my wife was watching for the brass and couldn't see them either. She had to stand way back to finally get an idea where the were going! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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