I've had lots of requests to review the Daisy Winchester Model 11 and to give my opinion how it stacks up with the Cybergun Tanfoglio Witness 1911. I will be doing a full review of the Daisy Winchester Model 11 Colt 45 1911 replica shortly but wanted to kick things off with my comparison portion.
Your best off to simply watch my Vimeo Video Comparison of the Tanfoglio Witness 1911 and Winchester Model 11 but here are my thoughts on some of similarities, strengths and weaknesses for both 1911 syled airguns.
Similarities:
Both are good replicas of the classic Colt 45 1911 semi auto pistol.
Both shoot 4.5mm Steel BB's and use standard 12 gram CO2.
Both are mostly metal and weigh close to 2 pounds with the Cybergun Tanfoglio Witness weighing about 40 grams more.
Both come in a nice cardboard box.
Both have blowback operation with slides that lock back after the last shot.
Both have true 1911 styled single action only triggers.
Strengths:
The Winchester Model 11 has the higher feet per second rating and gets more shots per CO2 (410fps vs 320fps).
The Tanfoglio Witness 1911 has a full size drop out metal magazine that holds the BB's and CO2.
The Winchester Model 11 is more economical to buy and shoot.
The Tanfoglio Witness 1911 has a more realistic "full" blowback operation.
The Winchester Model 11 has less intrusive warning markings on the slide.
The Tanfoglio Witness 1911 has a working Grip Safety.
The Winchester Model 11 is made in Japan.
The Tanfoglio Witness 1911 can be field stripped similar to a real 1911.
Both have fairly high capacity magazines (16 BB's for the Winchester and 18 BB's for the Tanfoglio).
Weaknesses:
The Winchester Model 11 has a funky extra button on the thumb safety?
The Tanfoglio Witness 1911 tends to use a lot of CO2 with less average fps.
The Winchester Model 11 has more free-play (wiggle) in the slide.
The Tanfoglio Witness 1911 magazine are more expensive and can be hard to find at times.
All in all I really like both guns, and what really counts is how they feel and shoot and after a quick outside testing with the Daisy Winchester Model 11, it seemed to shoot and work pretty good for me. Realists may prefer the Cybergun Tanfoglio Witness 1911 because it is more realistic in terms of how it's built and how it functions but as a daily shooting gun, the Daisy Winchester Model 11 hits harder and gets more shots per CO2, all while still giving the shooter a very realistic 1911 styled shooting experience.
Watch my Vimeo video Comparison of the Daisy Winchester Model 11 vs the Cybergun Tanfoglio Witness 1911:
