I just got my witness 10 mm vintage of year 2000 blue steel with red followers in 10 round mags and unlike my other 10s it will not run right yet.I have yet to replace the recoil spring and am thinking about a 22# as per reading on the EAA forums.The mags both "drop" out when firing after maybe 2 rounds so any advice in these issues would be much appreciated.I will order 15 round mags and a couple of recoil springs to tune with.
Sanding the base plate of the magazine may be the solution to your magazine issue. I had a similar issue and documented my fix at the page below:
http://fellingfamily.net/witness_mags.html
The changes I made to mine were: Fluff and buff (http://www.savvysurvivor.com/tanfoglio_witness_gunsmithing.htm), 22 lb recoil spring, +15% (or maybe +10%) magazine springs, and about 200-300 rounds. At this point in it's life it became rock solid and has not had any failures except when fed work-up reloads (out of spec ammo) or in the hands of novice shooters (limp wrist).
My Witness Elite Match has been 100% since day one, but it arrived in may range bag shortly after I got all my +power mag springs, and it got a 22lb recoil spring before it ever went to the range. Except for the mags not latching in properly, which I covered above.
Hopefully this helps.
You need K10 black follower mags and 90% sure the problems will be gone!
IC is right...Lots of folks had issues with the red follower mags.
But, I have 5 of them, and the all run fine...Go figure.
Well it "seems" that the mags have a little space between the bottom of the gun and base pad so it "might" not be the issue here.It feels like the mag latch needs more surface to lock better but I'm no Witness mechanic....yet.
I will order the new mags and the 22# spring but was wondering if I need any thing else to make it run.A flat bottomed firing pin block like my 1911s?With the cost of shooting these days I want to fix as much as I can with the
least amount of wasted ammo in doing so.Thanks for any and all help here guys!
Changing to a 20-22lb spring and a flat bottom block are good ideas. Maybe put a cone guide-rod in there too! You can bend the locking tab out some with a pair of needle nose pliers for more positive engagement.
So when bending the locking tab with the pliers the mag catch will need to be removed right?Or is it some thing I can do without disassembly....yet?
On the magazine side where your release is located, just slightly flare the metal out for positive engagement. It sounds like it is traveling up far enough to catch the slot but the release isn't seating deep enough.
Santa, IC is talking about altering the magazine, not the mag catch.
Yeah bullet I got that and thanks for the advice.Will the new mags need that mod also?I mean the black follower mags.
Not likely.