One of the latest 2011-style handguns out from European American Armory Corp. is its Girsan Witness2311 MatchX platform, which includes a built-in, single-port compensator and is designed for competition use. Watch our "American Rifleman Television: Rifleman Review" segment above to learn the details of the Match X and see how it runs on the range.
"It is similar-looking to some other handguns that we've seen out there on the competition circuit, particularly with that integrated compensator up front," American Rifleman Executive Editor Evan Brune said. "But the important thing to note is this 2311 Match X is about a quarter of the price of some of those other competition guns, so we're looking at great value here."
The 9 mm Luger-chambered handgun is built with a full-size, 5-inch barrel that ends just before the integrated single-port compensator. Overall, the pistol measures 8.75 inches in length, 6 inches in height and 1.58 inches across the controls and polymer grip frame. Each Witness2311 Match X ships with a flush-fit, 17-round magazine and an extended 20-round magazine.
"One of the other nice things about this is, you know, obviously it's got this really generously sized Picatinny accessory rail that terminates right flush with the front of that compensator," Brune said. "And while that offers great versatility in terms of accessory mounting, Another nice thing it does is add weight. So you've got more weight out here at the front of the gun, and that also works to soften recoil."
Unloaded, the EAA Girsan Witness2311 Match X weighs in at 30.4 ounces. At the top of the gun, there's an adjustable, target-style rear sight that sits in a slide cut to fit Shield RMSc-pattern red-dot optics, allowing owners to easily swap out the rear sight for a red-dot sight. A dovetailed, fiber-optic front sight allows for quick target acquisition with the open sighting system.
"EAA has really done yeoman's work in getting the 2011 back out there in the marketplace and popularizing what, until recently, had kind of been sort of a niche platform," Brune said. "European American Armory Corp. makes it possible to have not just this dedicated competition version, but any number of 2011-style configurations, and they offer them in a lot of different chamberings as well. So, you know, kudos to European American Armory Corp. for really bringing this to the common man."
To watch complete segments of past episodes of American Rifleman TV, go to americanrifleman.org/videos/artv. For all-new episodes of ARTV, tune in Wednesday nights to Outdoor Channel 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. EST.
