EAA Windicator

[Guest mikedwood]

I have gone wheel gun crazy lately and this one is perhaps my favorite. Mainly because it's a cheap .357. I had been seeing them on Gunbroker for $244 new plus shipping and ffl transfer and tix so about $304. Then I saw one in a local pawn shop in pretty good shape for $228 out the door. It was used but in real good shape ***

I have recently started reloading and thought a cheap .357 would be perfect to test first few lots of loads on and if something goes wrong and I live through it then I have trashed a $228 dollar gun and not a $400 plus dollar gun.

It's a heavy gun, very heavy and about 85% of the gun is well made, the other 15% boggles my mind because it looks like for $10 in parts they would have made a real winner.

At the range it is pretty darn good. It feels good in my hand. The grips are super. Very little recoil on the .38. (I'm not going to use .357 in it because apparently that causes the gun to have issues.) After about 30 rounds the cylinder arm screw (I pointed to it in the picture, gonna try locktite) backs loose.

I am not carrying the gun but it's making a fun truck gun cause I don't care what happens to it, so I'm dragging it around with me about everywhere.

From what I have read about it in other reviews the main problems are the screw backing out and also if 357 is run through it the ejector rod gets finicky and takes some working to get it back in.

All in all don't buy one unless you have a reason for a cheap .357 that's not really a .357.

*** Don't buy a used EAA unless you are feeling gutsy or get a great deal because their warranty does not cover any owner but the 1st.

[Magiccarpetrides]

I shot this and its a good shooter, now I dont think its nearly as nice as that Ruger you got however ;-D

[Guest CK1]

I kind of want one of these and I don't even like wheel guns... handled one once and it felt pretty solid, should've bought it.

[lowbud]

these along with comanche's make great truck / tackle box guns.

[Smith]

Could you not just use loctite on the screw?

[Guest coldblackwind]

My friend has a windicator in .38, shoots pretty good as long as you use jacketed rounds. Shoots a foot to the left with lead cast for some reason. However he shoots +p's in it all the time, and has never had a problem out of it. Near as I can tell, I loaded some of his +p's every other with .357 magnums in my s&w 66 and they are darn near the same load, if his .38 can handle the +p's, your .357 will likely be fine with .357 I would think.

[Mike.357]

what is the general consensus on EEA handguns?

My son wants to help him pick out a handgun next week when we go to AZ, the gun store we are going to use has EEA's in 9mm for about 340. Is it a good value, or better spending another 200 and getting a Glock or XD?

[Guest 10mm4me]

what is the general consensus on EEA handguns?

My son wants to help him pick out a handgun next week when we go to AZ, the gun store we are going to use has EEA's in 9mm for about 340. Is it a good value, or better spending another 200 and getting a Glock or XD?

If you have to ask, I think you know the answer. EAA's are alright for the range, but I would never carry one.

[Smith]

Never heard anything bad about EAA's. They are copies of CZ's mostly (auto's) and have a good track record. Whether or not customer service is worth anything I don't know.

[Mike.357]

If you have to ask, I think you know the answer. EAA's are alright for the range, but I would never carry one.

I asked because I know nothing of these. I have heard of them and seen ads for them but I have never seen one.

If they are CZ knockoffs we might have to look at CZ's then, the same gun shop sells them as well.

I am pretty sure he wants it as a range gun, he found out the guys on his team at work are all gun nuts, he wants to join them.

[nightrunner]

the steel frame EAA Witness is a CZ copy. The polymer frame version, I have never heard anything real good out of it. Also heard lots of bad stories of their customer service. most of them ends up with EAA says FO

I would never get one. And it is very tempting as they are the only other manufacturer that I know of besides the Glocks (simply dont not fit a humans hand) chambered in 10mm (excluding revolvers and 1911s)

[Magiccarpetrides]

I have shot a 10mm all metal gun and it was awesome....I have heard good things about the all metal guns, but stay away from the polymers

[Guest mikedwood]

I shot this and its a good shooter, now I dont think its nearly as nice as that Ruger you got however ;-D

Yeah the Security Six is a real gun, love it!!! 200th Anniversary:usa: Freedom!

The Windicator is more of a test and toy gun.

what is the general consensus on EEA handguns?

My son wants to help him pick out a handgun next week when we go to AZ, the gun store we are going to use has EEA's in 9mm for about 340. Is it a good value, or better spending another 200 and getting a Glock or XD?

I have had two EAA guns. A .45 Witness and this one. Even though one was a semi and the other a wheel gun they have similarities.

: They fit my hand great. They are as accurate or more accurate than most guns.

: They will break. They are not for someones 1st or second gun.

I think the extra $200 for a Glock or an XD would be well spent at this time. Both will run non stop in 9mm for sure. If either were the only gun he ever had he would be OK.

If an EAA were the only gun he ever had, well I wouldn't waste a ton of money stocking him up on bullets.

This one works great for me cause if I had gotten a new one it would have voided the warranty to shoot reloads out of it.

I'm going to loctite it and see how that works.

[ShamGlock]

I actually almost picked up a Windicator for the exact same reason a few weeks ago. There was a guy at one of the shows around here selling them for $260 plus tax and background brand new.

At that price how can you go wrong just throwin' it under the seat of the truck or even having it as a decoy gun somewhere.

[Guest mikedwood]

My friend has a windicator in .38, shoots pretty good as long as you use jacketed rounds. Shoots a foot to the left with lead cast for some reason. However he shoots +p's in it all the time, and has never had a problem out of it. Near as I can tell, I loaded some of his +p's every other with .357 magnums in my s&w 66 and they are darn near the same load, if his .38 can handle the +p's, your .357 will likely be fine with .357 I would think.

Took it to the range today with lead reloads and with lead it shoots about 8" low and 8" to the right with lead. With FMJ it does much better

Since I got it to shoot reloads with and the reloads did great in the Ruger this EAA is up for sale as much as I hate to cause I like the gun.

So I'm going to sell it for $200 .357 mag PM me. I lose my tax and tics basically.

[Guest coldblackwind]

Yup, something about the rifling in those guns just doesn't like lead cast. They shoot a good group, its just WAY off from where it should be.

[Guest mikedwood]

Yup, something about the rifling in those guns just doesn't like lead cast. They shoot a good group, its just WAY off from where it should be.

If I hadn't read your post about that before I shot it I would have went banannas.

FMJ OK lead goes to the side and down. My friend that was with me thought I was nuts. "A bullet is a bullet" he kept saying. But I basically proved it was the case.

All I can guess is it's something in the rifling that makes the softer lead spin faster or slower.

We switched guns and his bullets hit darn near where mine did with the Windicator and I shot his Ruger Security Six (I should have brought mine) and it was pretty dead on target with the lead bullets. I put my carry ammo in the Windicator and it hit the target pretty well. Shot a few rounds of FMJ and it did OK. Switched back to lead and it's shooting to the side.

My mind is blown.

Edited March 11, 2010 by mikedwood

[Guest coldblackwind]

We did the same thing. We tried to sight it in when he first got it with some reloads I had, and we couldn't even figure out where they were hitting at first, didn't even touch the paper. He was just about to give up and send it down the road and decided to give it one last shot with some factory ammo, which happened to be fmj. Dead on target. Never ran across anything quite like it before.