I'm getting the bug to get another gun and the Tanfoglio Limited series seems to be hitting the right spot. The problem is no one around me has any in stock and YouTube has been a bit of a wasteland unless I'm looking for a Stock II or if I need a video to upgrade parts.

Any info I could get would be helpful, out should I buy a Shadow 2 and convert it to SAO?

My impression is they're Italian competition pistols, I think EAA did a very poor job marketing them in the US I like their look, and would buy one I just don't have a need for one.

I have one of 1990’s vintage 10mm Witness pistols. I haven’t shot it in awhile it is a heavy, well built pistol. It runs well, it is sprung heavy to run some hot 10mm.
It takes some effort to rack the slide as it is rather low profile with the internal frame rails.

I've had three Tanfos. Tanfoglio makes excellent handguns, and I highly recommend them. Since they're lesser known, you can often find great deals on used ones.

CZ made a Shadow 2 SAO. When they were discontinued last year, some places were closing them out for ~$900. You might consider looking for one of those NOS or used.

I own a stock II standard optic ready tanfo, if you're going to get the optic ready version get with patriot defense and buy their plate and screw mount kit. otherwise the stock plate and screws will not stay tight. I also have a stock II extreme tanfo, the trigger pull weight and double action on the standard model is 9lbs, on extreme its 6.5lbs. single action standard is 3.5lbs, extreme is 2.9lbs. you also get different trigger shoes, something to look out for is there is a large frame and a small frame, the large frame has a wider grip and small frame is the same size as the cz shadow, however if you are looking for single action only they have a different model you would look at and if you looked at cz the cz ts2 orange is the way to go. the tanfos have been amazing super accurate and reliable.its honestly probably my most accurate guns.

I had a EAA in .38 sup. Was waiting on a pistol range to open up, went to the rifle range while waiting. I had a 50% hit rate at a 9" paper plate at 100yds. I'm sure it could do better, but my eyes with those sights...it's actually impressive.

Pretty accurate, no feeding issues, fit & finish were descent. Buy new, and you shouldn't have a problem.

Back when I was wanting a 10mm I looked at the Witness. I actually found one locally and handled it. Nice gun, felt very well put together, and had the ergonomics of a CZ, which is a great thing. Unfortunately it was super heavy, which would have been fine for a competition pistol but not something I wanted to carry for miles backpacking in the woods.

Forgot to mention, an annoying thing that Tanfo does is that most of their guns only ship w/ one mag. This is especially irritating on their higher end models that come in very nice cases w/ built-in combination locks and cleaning kits.

Ship it in a cardboard box. I'd much rather have an extra mag or two, especially since their mags are relatively hard to find.

quote:

Originally posted by FenderBender:
My impression is they're Italian competition pistols, I think EAA did a very poor job marketing them in the US I like their look, and would buy one I just don't have a need for one.

I think this is spot on.

I agree with EAA not making them more well known as they are actually quality made guns.

I bought a Limited in .45 (2007-2008) to shoot USPSA Limited-10. A friend of mine played with it, loved it and ordered his own. His turned out to not be put together as well as mine, fit and finish wise. He ended up doing all sorts of work to his, aftermarket trigger/action work. I did do much.. Tried a couple aftermarket front sights, went back to the factory. Tweaked the trigger. grip tape o-plenty. (I remember now I did put a flat trigger in it years after I'd stopped shooting it, hoping it would inspire me to start using it again)

Down sides are not much aftermarket support, not that you always need that, but at least for things like magazines, at least back then, the only option was the factory mags.

It's a large full sized gun.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfamilyman_220:
I own a stock II standard optic ready tanfo, if you're going to get the optic ready version get with patriot defense and buy their plate and screw mount kit. otherwise the stock plate and screws will not stay tight. I also have a stock II extreme tanfo, the trigger pull weight and double action on the standard.

Thanks. I was wondering how good their optic plate was or if I should just do an EGW dovetail plate and save cost that way

quote:

Unfortunately it was super heavy

That seems to me the other problem besides optic ready models. One of the big reasons I sold my P226 X5 Classic was because of the weight. The upside on the Tanfoglio Limited Master I was looking at is that there's lightning cuts at the barrel end of the slide to shift the balance back towards the grip.

I was also checking out the 92X Defensive and the 92XI Gara along side this and they'd probably be the safer bet.

I have the Beretta 92 Gara (I'll send the pics tomorrow) i also have the Beretta M9A4 and Beretta 92x performance and the comp works great on the Gara however after you get past 10 yards the groups open up on the Gara because of the comp, all of my 92 Berettas are more accurate at 25 yards, its not even close. the closest thing to the tanfolio is the Beretta 92xperformace, has a better double action pull but a worst single action pull then the tanfolio. the grips are also way different, I prefer the tanfolio. slide to frame fit on the tanfolio is great, mine are both 2024 built and Italian firearms group is who imported them, the QC and the fitment is better than when EAA did it.

on the bottom of the barrel photos the bottom one is the CZTS2 orange, the next one up is the Tanfolio stock II, next one up is the Sig P226XFive, final one at the top is the Beretta 92x Performance; the slide to frame fit is the tightest on the Tanfolio over the CZTS 2 then the X Five226. the magazines for the Tanfolio Stock 2 I bought from Buds gun shop for 26.00 per mag! made my Metgar.

Thanks for the picture. I hadn't quite realized how large the Gara was until it was in scale with other guns. Gives me things to think about.