Got a decent deal on a used EAA Witness 9mm today but it has a bizarre serial number.
The little gal at the store I was dealing with even had to check with the owner to make it was the serial # for the paperwork.
It's BILL and has a single digit after that.
Anybody ever hear of anything like that before?
Nope, never heard of a SR# that simple. Except for limited editions or prototype models.
Maybe it's just a random combination of numbers. In computer programming for example, 57005 decimal is 0xDEAD hexadecimal.Originally Posted by weevil
It looks funny when someone writes code like "int X = 0xDEAD;"
But it means nothing different than any other number.
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Could be random but it does seem odd that it only has one digit after the letters, and at the risk of putting a serial number on the net it's the number 1.
Since it was bought at a store I have a receipt so I'm not as leary as if it were a private sale.
BILL 1 seems like a strange number to be just random, but I never heard of anyone doing custom serial numbers. It's just a normal looking blued Witness so I don't think it's any sort of special edition.
You got Bill's special edition!
I've got a special edition CZ with only 3 numeric digits: CCCP###
"I'm fucking furious, I'm violently angry, and I like it. If you don't know what that feels like then I feel bad for you"
I have a glock with a "cpr" serial prefix
Yeah that thought ran through my head, but who's Bill and why would he want a special edition Witness with his own personal serial #???
I've got a special edition CZ with only 3 numeric digits: CCCP###
That would be the perfect serial # for a Russian Makarov or Tokarev.
Last edited by weevil; 06-01-2012 at 06:42 PM.
because he's a pimp
Well at least you know what to name it.
"I'm fucking furious, I'm violently angry, and I like it. If you don't know what that feels like then I feel bad for you"
Doesn't sound right, maybe email EAA and ask them.
Yeah it does seem strange but it seems like a ordinary pistol.
The wood grips were some I had, it came with the generic rubber ones. Nothing special or out of the ordinary......
......except the odd serial #.
Yeah contacting EAA maybe the only way to know.
Is the slide or barrel numbered/matching? One thing that bugs me is the number is on the wrong side from all the witnesses I've seen or owned (not that I go looking for witness serial numbers). Normally they put them higher up and to the left of the model info on the left side or between the safety and grip on the left side. I'm not sure I've ever seen a stamping like that either, all mine were of a dot matrix pattern (that might be early vs late pattern though).
No other numbers anywhere, just CAL 9 PARA on the barrel. The slide finish matches perfectly so it's probably not a Franken-gun. The serial # is deeply punched into the metal. It came out a little scraggly looking the pic but is professional looking deep and straight not just a laser etching or home stamp job. It's also perfectly blued in, it looks completely factory.
This is my second Witness but for the life of me I can't remember where the serial # was on the other one. It was perfectly normal though EAO25XX. As I recall it didn't have any writing except the serial number. It was extremely plain jane. The only pic I have is a left side pic.
I would say it's an early model just by the Model EA-9 on the slide. As I recall EAA only called them that when they were first importing them. Most Witness's I've seen are like the 10mm I had and have little or no markings on them.
Last edited by weevil; 06-02-2012 at 12:13 PM.
Checked a few on Gunsamerica and that seems to be a normal spot for the serial #.
Now that I see it in the pic I remember the lawyer warning and # on the 10mm in the same spot.
They say Made in Italy between the grip and safety.
Last edited by weevil; 06-02-2012 at 03:10 PM.
Maybe it was made in the Middle East in one of those little huts where they people make one gun a day. The guy that made it was Bill.
Actually, I have a friend who bought the component parts for a 1911 and had the Navy Shooting Teams Armorer build the pistol for him. The SN is NAVY XX. Could this be something similar?
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"HATE IS GOOD, WHEN ITS DIRECTED AT EVIL." PROBASCO, April 20, 2012
I tried to push the envelope, but found that it was stationery.
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Could be, I sent an e-mail to EAA about it last week but haven't heard anything back from them.
Tanfoglio is well known for making component parts for CZ-75 clones so it's possible it is some sort of custom build.
its possible it was a custom run for a supplier like lou horton etc. i had a gold cup commander that was a lou hourton gun and its serial was "LHE343".
SW
Could be, but I still wonder who BILL would be and it does seem a bit coincedental that I got #1 if it was a limited run of some sort.
Still no word from EAA. They got a reputaion for crummy customer service so I'm not gonna hold my breath waitting for a reply.
From my web research I've found it's actually a pre-Witness pistol and that EA-9 was one of the model names used before they came up with Witness as the brand name.
It was also made before 1993 as this is the year when Tanfoglio changed to the round trigger guard.
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