Tanfoglio Witness 1911A1

[rockdrill]

Anyone know anywere in the south west that is stocking the tangfolio witness ?

Helston Gunsmiths have them.

[manxmangt]

Not wishing to pee on anyones parade I bought a TW on Saturday, took it back on Monday as I was getting 6 shot per charge, changed it for another, took that back on Monday afternoon as it constantly jammed and swapped it for a Dan Wesson 6", not looked back since.
The TW is a great looking gun, when it works its brilliant, but obviously I found it unreliable.

[gingernut]

Not trying to shoot it outdoors in this cold weather were you?
Cos they really dont like it.

[manxmangt]

Not trying to shoot it outdoors in this cold weather were you?
Cos they really dont like it.

Never left the kitchen, something was obviouly wrong with the valve on the first one, it was expelling the gas through the barrel, the second one would not strip a bb from the magazine, just jammed half shut.

[magicniner]

Never left the kitchen, something was obviouly wrong with the valve on the first one, it was expelling the gas through the barrel.

I just looked at one doing exactly this, there was nothing wrong with the valve, the gun was failing to complete the blowback cycle - which is what allows the valve to close.
A strip, clean and lube later I haven't managed to persuade it to dump gas again
Regards,
Nick

[humperdingle]

I just looked at one doing exactly this, there was nothing wrong with the valve, the gun was failing to complete the blowback cycle - which is what allows the valve to close.
A strip, clean and lube later I haven't managed to persuade it to dump gas again
Regards,
Nick

I noticed this... I think it was when I tried to de-cock the hammer. The spring tensioning the hammer was enough to make the CO2 vent through the barrel... But that was just my mistake rather than a hardware issue.

[manxmangt]

Strange that BAR have returned theirs for venting all the gas out of the barrel after 20 shots, there is obviously a problem with some batches.

[gingernut]

Obviously they wont all be perfect.
But I have three and have only had one incident.
This involved a bb getting stuck at the rear end of the gun in a place I couldnt see.

My friend Baz stripped it very quickly and after some persuasion it fell out.
It was in a square hole which Nick might be able to name and was under some mechanical pressure.
Never happened since! But as it involved first use of a Crosman capsule I use Umarex in them now.

It is in the nature of bb guns to jam.
I had to strip my Colt Special Combat on the first day I had it.
Resist the urge to fire wildly and empty the gas. Difficult I know.

[gingernut]

Actually I had four but sold one which is still ok.
The reason I bought so many is that I look at other pistols and then look at the TW and think blimey they are good value.
Stopped now tho.

[magicniner]

Strange that BAR have returned theirs for venting all the gas out of the barrel after 20 shots, there is obviously a problem with some batches.

Venting gas from the barrel can occurr if the mag is faulty, it will also occur if the slide fails to cycle fully back - these are airsoft based mechanisms where the valve is pushed & held, not struck
Regards,
Nick

[gingernut]

Yes and what happened to mine was the rogue bb stopped the slide from going right back causing the gas to vent as per Nick.

[Aardys]

alot of the probs i have read above are due to these guns realy not liking the cold ,, venting gas etc
the way to prove this is ,, if you have a mag that you know was good, , and now seems weak , , put a fresh co2 in it , and put it on a radiator for a few mins , and the gun , and it will soon recover from all its misshaps, , just warm up the mag and gun between shoots , im looking forward to summer , if you use the same mag all the time it will work great but if you leave them in the cold for ages then try it , it will run slugish , gota keep em warm im afraid , my qb78 is not bothered by cold much , but the tan wit is .

[blooregard]

Reading about the problems above and the issues BAR had I wonder if this gun has been a victim of its own success. They have been flying off the shelves since release and we have all be demanding extra magazines (which contains the valve), is it feasible that demand for magazines had lead to rushed batches or a lack of quality control??

[magicniner]

is it feasible that demand for magazines had lead to rushed batches or a lack of quality control??

Definitely,
but unless the mags are dumping gas before inserting into the gun then there is no proof it's the mags ;-)

- Nick

[PaulR]

I bought one today.

Brought it home - loaded up- fired five shots and then it just let all of the gas discharge down the barrel.

OK - try again - same result.

OK - had seen on here - strip down an relube.

So I did.

Five shots and gas discharge again.

At this point I am going back to the shop - not fit for purpose.

Then I had a thought (before seeing above posts). I was trying it out in my garage and the temp was about zero.

So I put the magazine and pistol in front of a fan heater - all warmed up - guess what it fires perfectly. Pumps out the BBs and locks back when exhausted.


SO - temperature seems to be the key to firing problems with this one?


Now I've got it sorted I love it. 36 - 50 decent shots from a CO2 cartridge and I can plink away to my hearts content. AND - you have to admit it is a bloody good replica.