Will an Eaa Witness Use Baby Eagle Mags

FNG here. "Hello! Welcome to me!"

Want to give my experience/update just for anyone who is keeping tabs on these things. Likely no NEW info here, but if nothing else... it's current info.

First nugget: Sorry guys, I know you are suffering, this info has nothing to do with .40 cal.

I bought a new Witness Elite Match 9mm and received it on 25-Feb-11. It came with one magazine: says Tanfoglio, Italy on the cutout dish on the bottom of the base pad, red follower, glossy black, holds 17 rounds. It fits, feeds, drops cleanly, works fine. I've put 320 rounds through the pistol. (only one range day thus far... pathetic, I agree)

One characteristic of the OEM factory included mag: If I carefully and slowly open the pistol with the mag in place and the gun/mag empty, the slide will not lock open. This is only when I open gently like I might if it were a museum piece. If I open it normally or with any amount of manly force, it locks open as it should. It also locks open on last shot at the range with no hassles.

Last week, I ordered a three pack of new mags direct from EAA in Florida as recommended in this thread. Gal on the phone requested my pistol's serial number. Charge $85 on my Visa. I ordered on a Friday and received the three mags on the following Thursday. That's less than a week with a weekend in the middle of it. Nice! Mags came USPS Priority, box marked $6 for shipping so I guess the $85 charge to me included a $4 tip to EAA. (but who's counting, right?)

The EAA part number is SKU-101935. The number on the plastic baggie is EA9M2005. The UPC is 41566 11125. Bag says "Made in ITALY" They also stuck that silly pink card inside each baggie that says, "This product is sold 'as is' and 'with all faults.' The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the product is with the buyer." etc etc. I assume it's standard fare with "custom" parts but it's a pretty obnoxious thing to read with anything that you purchase. My guess is that it's something corporate requires... I'm guessing if the magazine arrived and it was crushed or cracked or otherwise useless, EAA would likely replace it, but the little pink card pretty much says, "you pays your money and you takes your chances."

The magazines themselves are exactly as pictured in the linked pics earlier in this thread. Witness holes are marked at 6, 10, 15 & 17 on the right side of the mag only. Anti-friction coating is nice. Black follower. Different cutout at top than OEM mag. Base plate appears the same, but it's not the same as the OEM. On the right side of the mag it says "FT-MADE IN ITALY" but there is no evidence anywhere on the magazine that I can see that it's a product of Mec-Gar.

(I'm sure it's a product of Mec-Gar, but there is no evidence whatsoever either by name or number that has any association with Mec-Gar)

Like others have stated, these mags would NOT lock in place in my pistol as they came right out of the bag. First thing I did was to pull the base plate from my OEM magazine and swap it on to a new magazine. That worked perfectly. So I figured I needed to sand down the base plate as has been mentioned many times on this forum.

I sanded down the base plate... quite a bit, actually. And it seems as if the rear of the base plate (where the case head and not the bullet end would be) is the offending part and not the front of the base plate.

After liberal sanding, I've got all three mags and all three base plates locking in to place with ease. I do not need to slap the mags in to place to get them to lock. I can even insert a fully loaded magazine with the slide closed and the magazine will firmly lock in to place and not fall out.

I can get only 17 rounds in to these mags. I have no Henning's or aftermarket parts, I don't intend to get any. 17 is more than enough and more than I'll likely use in them.

These magazines now lock the slide open with much more force than the OEM mag does. No matter how I baby it when I withdrawal the slide, the slide lock will "SNAP" in to place.

No range test yet, but I've fed a full load of 125gr LRN handloads softly and violently through the pistol and it doesn't show even a hint of failure. I also ran some 124gr JHP handloads through it also, but no live range fire yet.

In Summary:

--EAA got them to me in 6 days, $85 for three

--They need to be altered before they will lock in place, by sanding the tops of the base pads

--They appear to fit, function, look and feel as good or better than the glossy OEM magazine

--They have no evidence by name or number that they are made by Mec-Gar (even if they are)

--I have not yet range tested them but I don't anticipate trouble

Like I said, not much new here but it's current info just the same. If you've got a new 9mm Elite Match and you need more mags, $85 to EAA and some sandpaper and you are in the game.

Will an Eaa Witness Use Baby Eagle Mags

Source: https://forums.brianenos.com/topic/118954-mec-gar-factory-mags/page/4/

Share this post