I've been somewhat interested in this pistol for a while now.  I like the looks and the price and the assortment of calibers it can be had in.  For those of you who own them what is your opinion of them?  I'm looking at getting something for mostly plinking and maybe to have as a backup on the nightstand in case I can't get to the shotgun in time.  I like the 10mm but ammo is fairly expensive and I haven't gotten into reloading yet so I'll save that caliber for another day.  So I'm thinking mayber 9mm or .45.  How is the reliability of this pistol?  Can I trust it to go boom?  Thanks.  

I just bought a witness compact in 10MM, and haven't shot it yet....this week will tell the tale, have heard that they are a decent handgun for the money.............

The Tanfoglio/EAA Witness guns are a good buy.
While not up to the quality of the CZ originals, they offer all the benefits of the CZ design at a cheaper price.

While CZ uses forged and milled slides and frames, the EAA guns use cast, so the lower price.

However, the development of the CZ design is actually being driven by Tanfoglio.  While CZ was still offering only .9mm guns, they were making the .41 A&E, and then .38 Super, 10MM, 40 S&W, .45 ACP, and .22LR.

CZ still uses the original profile trigger, placed very far in the front of the trigger, while guard, while EAA has reshaped theirs to put the trigger further back in the back of the guard, greatly reducing the trigger reach.  For some reason CZ won't make this basic change, so their guns have VERY long trigger reaches.

Tanfoglio was first with a Commander style rounded hammer, a better, redesigned safety, and a stainless gun, (now discontinued).

So, if you want a CZ-type gun with good quality, reliability, and accuracy the EAA is the way to go.

buckshot, the witness is more than a plinker, much more.

i had the full size, all steel, .45 for about two years.  i shot pin matches with it.  ran through maybe 5000 rounds and never a hitch.  as a test, i put ten rounds of 185gr factory match wadcutters in it one day.  the slide was slow, but, it ate them all. recoil nil.  2" groups at 25 yards.  mine may have been exceptional YMMV

it did need a trigger job.  i am uncommon particular about triggers. it could have suited others.

the pin range went down as ppl moved on to other things.  a friend kept hopping from one foot to the other over the witness and i let it go.  he still has it and still loves it.  and, it has yet to ftf.

My Tac2 .40 witness is one of my favorite pistols. Actually, an improvement on the CZ75 which is another of my favorites. It has a feature that I really like. The saftey locks the hammer, not the slide. The net effect is that I can lock the slide back, put the saftey on,insert a loaded mag, release the slide, holster the gun, carry all day. At night I release the mag, rack the slide to clear the gun, and never once has the gun gone off safe.
A feature I would love to see on my Commander or Hi-power. A feature that I never thought I needed, but now it makes alot of sense.

Just bought a new witness fullsize .45 on monday, have not shot it yet but it seems to be well made. I love the safety features and the grips are comfortable for my big-ass hands. I am going to shoot it this weekend. I will update with range report.

I've owned 2 full-size, and now own a compact 9mm. The steel-frame Witness is the way to go, IMO. The fit and finish on all 3 of them was near perfect, and all 3 would feed anything from FMC to HP ammo with not a single malfunction. One would even cycle shotshells, believe it or not. The triggers in mine all gave good control. A friend of mine liked the design of mine so much, he bought a full-size .45, which has recoil comparable to a 9mm, and will also feed any type of ammo. The only change I would make to it is to shit-can the rear sight, and put an adjustable sight on it, although out of sheer boredom the other weekend, I blued the barrel. Also, factory hi-cap mags for either full-size or compact sell for $30 at CDNN.

the grips are comfortable

Forgot to mention how comfortable the grip is; the best grip profile on any handgun I've ever held.

I shot my Witness 10MM compact yesterday for the first time and was impressed with the accuracy of the 3.75"(actually 3.66") barrel at 25 yards, much better than I was expecting...I was shooting CCI Blasers 200 gr. JHP's, and they ran well through the handgun.......I bought 500 Winchester cases and some Hornady XTP's in different weights to reload, so, hopefully they shoot somewhere to POA...

Finally! I shot my .45 full size 'wonder' witness.Damn was that fun to shoot!I was ultimately impressed with how smooth it was. Not only is the recoil fairly moderate, but it was shooting 3" groups at 25 yards with cheap UMC 230gn. I love this gun, for $350 new and out the door it was a steal. I totally recommend it.

A friend has a .45 and likes the gun, but the safety had a problem...here is the text of his e-mail to Witness...
"I emailed EAA and told them I could put the safety on
(the Witness .45) and pull the trigger 3
times and the hammer will drop.
I got an email back (I'll try and send it to you) was short and sweet. It has cured me of thinking of doing any business with them"
I don't exactly understand his problem, but since you asked about the gun.
VF

Have the full size Witness in .45

Shoots pretty good. Love the feel of the wonder coat or whatever its called.  Has a silky yet tough feel to it.

Accuracy was pretty good.  Never shot it off a rest and really measured, but I can always hit the poppers at 15-20 yards without having to really concentrate.  Though I'm a revo shooter most of the time, and the extra work of keeping a revo in line, makes shooting any bottom feeder relatively easy.

Doesn't like steel case .45's at all though.  Jammed like 5 times out of 100 rounds of the stuff.  Shoots normal brass cases without a hitch.

Carefull about the magazine plates.  Let the magazine free fall during an IDPA type course and the factory mag plate broke on the concrete after about three drops on the floor.  

I put self adhesive foam on the bottom and the other mags, and they were fine.  Maybe that one mag just landed wrong.

In my personal opinion you can't beat it for the money.  I really believe ergonomics wise, there is no other double stacked .45 that feels better in my, or my friends hands, bar none.  

Even my one friend will grudgingly admit, the Witness feels better than his single stack Kimber.

choir-boy out.

I have the full size 45 as well.  I like it alot.  SA trigger pull is 2.7#.  The slide seems to cycle slowly, but doesn't stop me from doing doubles and hammers.  Recoil is minimal due to size and weight.  No jams yet (nearly 1k rounds).  It's narrower that a double stack 1911.  Good accuracy, as noted above.  If it had a ambi safety it would be perfect for me.  OSI (savvysurvivor) sells some parts for them.

Thanks guys.  I appreciate all your help.  I will for surely be putting my towards a new witness sometime soon.  I still can't decide which caliber though.  I want to shoot it a lot so I'm thinking 9mm but .45 or 10mm sound real tempting as well.  Damn it this is hard.  Thanks again.

Quoted: 10mm sound real tempting as well.  Damn it this is hard.

Find someone with a 10mm gun and find out how they like it first.  I have heard 2nd hand mixed reports about them.  

buckshot, go to the EAA website.  they offer adjustable sights, trigger options, lots of others, including Caliber Conversions, .22lr up to .45

from time to time i consider getting another Witness and a couple conversions so i can shoot 9's and 10's, and maybe 22's, in the same gun.  lighten up my gun bag a bunch, shoot everything from the same grip and trigger. yep, i might just do that.