#SundayGunday: EAA Girsan Witness2311 Hunter

This week we take a brand-new double-stack 10mm into our hands: the EAA Girsan Witness2311 Hunter. This semi-auto single-action 1911-style handgun delivers 15 rounds of 10mm double-stack firepower in a sleek design with a six-inch barrel, an accessory rail, an adjustable rear sight and an optics-ready slide at a shelf price of about a thousand bucks. This is an affordable full-size pig hunter.

The Witness2311 Hunter is part of EAA’s 2311 series of single-action, 1911-style double-stack handguns. The top half of the gun, including the slide and barrel, is made of 4140 steel and produced by Girsan, of Turkey, a company that has been in the 1911 business for years. The bottom half is made of aluminum alloy and polymer in the United States by Cosaint Arms of East Flat Rock, North Carolina. The trigger guard, front strap and back strap, as well as the grips and the accessory rail are made of polymer. However, the frame rails where the slide rides are made of alloy, as are some parts of the trigger group. The gun uses Staccato 2011- and Springfield Prodigy-style double-stack magazines. One 15-round magazine comes standard; additional mags are available from EAA for $50 apiece.

The standard Witness2311 comes in seven different versions chambered in 9mm, .45 ACP or 10mm with barrel lengths of 3.4 to 5 inches long. But this big pig hunter in 10mm wears a six-inch barrel. It is ready to go out of the box with a nice, fully adjustable, target-style flat-wing rear sight that lines up with a front blade backed by a white dot. The gun is optics-ready, as the slide is milled to accept optics on the RMS or RMSc footprint.

An integral accessory rail along the bottom of the slide stands ready to carry a light or laser. On a six-inch gun it’s long, so there is little fear of buying a light or laser that is too long to fit on it. An extended beavertail and grip safety, and a rounded, combat-style hammer reduce the chances of the gun biting you during recoil. A competition-style magazine well is flared, and stands ready to help you feed a new mag on demand. However, hunters who fear they won’t seat a fresh mag securely in the deep mouth can opt to remove it by tapping out a single pin. An ambidextrous manual safety rides on either side of the frame.

The skeletonized trigger, as expected on a single-action gun, pulls straight back and is hinge-less. Triggers in the Witness2311 series break in the five- to seven-pound range, and our test model was no different, breaking at seven pounds average pull weight.

Ergonomics of the gun are familiar to fans of the 1911. The grip has 360 degrees of texture including checkered panels, a stippled front strap and checkers on the rear. The slide carries serrations front and rear. The ejection port is lowered and flared. Disassembly is like any 1911: rotate the barrel bushing to allow removal of the spring and plug; line up the cutout for the slide stop release, and push it out to free the slide and barrel for removal.

EAA has been at the forefront of delivering reasonably priced firearms for American hunters and shooters since 1990, and the Witness2311 Hunter is no different. It is a feature-rich 10mm single-action handgun that is ready to rock. EAA likes to call it the first affordable 10mm six-inch double stack, and we’d have to agree.

It’s manufacturer’s suggested retail price is $1,028, and it carries EAA’s limited lifetime warranty. To learn more about it visit eaacorp.com.