Witness Polymer Carry
I wanted to balance the “all-competition, all the time” side with a more pedestrian, affordable “daily” gun and Paul Richter at EAA said, “That’s easy, get a Polymer Carry.” The thing about this model is its versatility. Witness Polymer pistols can all be converted to .22 LR, 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP and even 10mm (like our test gun) with “kits” available from EAA. They say a caliber change needs fitting by a gunsmith and this makes sense, but for the cost of the bits, you have a new caliber in the same gun. Kits are sold on EAA’s website.
I actually asked for our test gun to be changed to 10mm, as it began life as a .40 as I recall. I wanted to see what it was like to turn this polymer (29 oz.) defensive gun into a hand-canon. The 3.6″ barrel, 14+1 capacity (10mm), 7.5″ OAL and 5.5″ height make it doable for EDC, home defense and yes … even weekend club IPSC type competition. Shoot what you carry, eh?
At a full MSRP price of $711, I’m suspecting it’s more affordable at your local dealer, making it and the idea of easy caliber conversions tempting. From my understanding, it’s essentially the same mechanics as the “Xtreme” family (based on the CZ-75 design), but without some of the custom and fussy touches. This is a working gun, built tough with attention to keeping things affordable and functional.
The double-stack grip is slightly smaller around than the Xtreme and has no grip panels. The action is the same DA/SA design with the same safety set-up. But I’ll confess the controls on the Xtreme simply worked more smoothly and felt “better” due to the hand-fitting and parts design. No surprises there since one costs more than three times as much as the other.
The SA trigger pull on the Polymer Carry tripped right at 4.9 to 5 lbs. with some creep. But I’d call it virtually identical to most polymer guns I’ve shot over the years. It’s a workable trigger and would likely slick up a bit with use. The sights are fixed, adjustable for windage and easy to see. The barrel is a bushingless set-up (cone-shaped) with a full-length guide rod, mated to a “compact” slide on a full-sized frame.
I kept picking it up on my desk, hefting it, pointing it out my window at my plate rack outside and I kept thinking, “I feel well-protected with this gun.” If there was a bump in the night, I’d feel perfectly fine taking the Polymer Carry along with a light on the rail to check things out. Well, along with the two Aussie Shepherds here to bark and act like they own the joint.
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