I have written here before about my first centerfire (and double action) semi auto pistol. It is a mid 1990's Tanfoglio 9mm P19, a pre Witness CZ clone. It was one of three purchased in the same month from the same dealer (the other two were bought by close mates) and while the other two performed well I had some issues with mine (minimal rifling leade from the chamber and very low point of impact on targets).
Fitted with a single action only trigger I always thought the trigger pretty good. That was until I started shooting 1911's and realised it was not good at all. When I learnt how to polish up my 1911 triggers for a crisp and light trigger pull (3 - 3 1/2 Ib) I realised that the Tanfoglio trigger was just awful, heavy and with a lot of creep.
This pistol has sat in my safe for most of the 2000's, seeing brief use for about 6 months after I returned to competition shooting (and before moving to the 1911 platform) in early 2015. Two years ago I sent it away for a higher rear sight to be installed. Before it came back Karen had her transplant and we were in Auckland at the transplant centre for 6 months then back and forth for some time after that. But towards the middle of last year I finally found the time to get the new sight dialled in. It didn't quite work as promised but lowering the front sight again did the trick.
I found a series of video's on YouTube on how to polish up a Tanfoglio trigger. The sample pistol was a CZ SP01 but, with a very limited number of upgrades, it is pretty much the same pistol internally. Before I got the time to sit down with the videos and my pistol I decided I really had no use for it and put it up for sale thinking it would make a new shooter a reasonable first pistol. Unfortunately new shooters were more interested in the SP01 pistols that are now available here second hand, not an over 20 year old "basic" CZ model.
At one time I had contemplated fitting the gun to a Roni carbine chassis, which at the time were available here in both CZ75 and 1911 versions, for speed carbine events, but all that was now available was a locally made version for the SP01.
Then last November I damaged my Springfield 1911 .45 slide and decided to buy a new Tanfolgio Witness 1911 .45. At the same time I borrowed my LGS owners SP01 carbine chassis and established that, with a little ingenuity, my P19 could be adapted to fit it. As the carbine chassis were on a 25% reduction special I ordered one to a company the Witness.
When the Witness 1911 arrived it was a far different pistol than the P19. Out of he box the trigger was more than acceptable. Less than 3/4 of a turn on the trigger reset screw was needed to get optimum reset, and when I pulled the gun down to polish the trigger parts I found only
one small spot on the back of the trigger bar needing to be polished down. The side bars were slightly high on the top and bottom edges, but I was all done polishing with a diamond knife sharpening hone in less than 20 minutes.
The sear, disconnector and hammer took a little longer, especially the flats, but much less time than my Norinco Ranger 1911 had taken me. When put back together the trigger was crisp and light, around the 3 Ib mark. With a magwell and Double Alpha grips this Witness was range ready. Sighting it in required less than a dozen clicks of the elevation and windage screws combined!
A retired engineer and part time gunsmith who is a member of my club fitted a picatinny rail to the bottom of my P19's frame, simulating the rail on the SP01, and I proceeded to sight it in, but that trigger was really starting to annoy me!
A week ago this past Sunday I had the P19 and the carbine chassis at the range, fine tuning my ammunition choice. For the first time with the gun and carbine chassis I managed to place five rounds inside the 8 ring of an ISSF 25/50 meter target offhand at 25 meters but it was slow fire. Picking up speed saw rounds flying out of the black target centre.
When I got home I queued the YouTube videos on my phone and sat down at my low work bench with the pistol. On getting the pistol apart I noticed that the hammer hooks were considerably higher than the 20 thou feeler gauge that came with my Ed Brown 1911 sear jig and which i use when polishing up the hooks on my 1911's. I reduced the hooks on the Tanfolglio so that they stood proud of the gauge, just like I do on my 1911's.
I lightly polished up all the internal parts and when I put it back together I found the trigger crisp, but closer to 5 1/2 Ib than 3 1/2. Better but not as good as I hoped it could be. An internet search led me to ordering a medium weight hammer and firing pin spring set from a local importer.
The springs arrived Friday, but as I was working this past weekend it wasn't until my day off today that I managed to sit down and install them. The firing pin spring was easy to install and in stripping down the hammer again I saw that I could probably improve the hammer hooks a bit more. A dozen passes back and forth with the hone and I put the gun back together.
I would like to say it was success at first try, but I had mixed up the two hammer springs and reinstalled the original 20 Ib spring. Realising this I pulled the hammer and sear frame out again, tried both springs by hand to ensure I was installing the lighter 15 Ib spring, and then reassembled the pistol again.
The trigger is now close to the one on my Ranger, around 3 1/2 - 4 Ib. Not as good as my Springfield, Kimber or Witness 1911's but close. The only issue is that the trigger reset is a lot longer than on any of my 1911's, but that is probably the result of the double action mechanism more than anything else, and not much can be done about it.
I guess I could say that I wished I had learned how to work on my pistols 20 years ago. But truthfully I would probably have gone too far in haste back then and ruined it, or made the gun unsafe! In late middle age I have finally learnt that a little often is a much better way to proceed.
And I now have two very nice Tanfolglio pistols, however I think the modern products are much more improved over the 1990 versions.
And Wednesday is another range day for me. I will definitely be shooting the improved P19 carbine on some falling plates
A tale of two Tanfolglio's
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