Well, I picked up a TSO in 40SW last weekend at Tenda's VIP event. For under $2K. I couldn't say no.
Out of the box:
Pros:
- Fit & finish is tight! Zero rattle.
- Trigger is a very crisp 2lbs average with just a hair of grit that is barely... barely noticable.
- Gas pedal included! Yay!
- Two spare takedown pins (minus the slide lock lever), a nice bonus
- Shadow2 style extended LH safety with flat RH lever (I hated the box looking version with the notched corner on the earlier TSO)
- Aggressive frontstrap/backstrap checkering like the Shadow2
- Large Shadow2 paddle style mag release
- Nice magwell
Cons (mostly nit picking):
- Magwell not blended!! Grrr
- Mag release is stiff and gritty as frack
- Slide is hand fitted but not deburred
- Safety is STIFF and a little gritty. So stiff that trying to manipulate it on the flat RH side is almost impossible without using your fingernails.
- No extended RH safety lever
- Mags not easily dropping free or needing extra effort to seat
- No documentation that tells you what each spring weight is that comes in the kit
- 4 brown, rust looking dots on my barrel as you can see in the pic WTF?
- Factory installed buffer pad looked pretty beaten up but no signs that the pistol was shot much other than factory testing.
- Front slide serrations should be more forward and aggressive like the Shadow2 for easier manipulation and press check. It doesn't help that the frame is wider than the slide so if if you press check using your thumb and side of your lower index finger, it's too difficult to do.
I did a full tear down (minus the trigger) and deburring this afternoon.
The mag release channel had chatter and milling burrs galore. Deburred and polished up the channel now it's way better.
Mag release spring was prturding into the magwell, enough so that it would make contact with the magazine. Made some adjustments with the spring and mags drop out or insert without restrictions.
Polished the end of the trigger bar that was accessible and now that fine gritty feel is gone.
Hand lapped the slide rails and contact points on the frame. No more gritty slide.
Polished the safety and safety detent. It's smoother now but still pretty stiff. I think they use a stiffer detent spring than the Shadow2.
Surprisingly, the firing pin channel only had minor tooling chatter which was easily cleanen up.
The rust looking spots on the barrel were easily polished out.
I haven't gotten to blending the magwell as yet. I'll save that for next weekend.
It sounds like a bit of clean up work for what should be a factory tuned pistol but I'm just finicky that way. Most people would just shoot it as it is. I'll tell ya one thing, out of the box, it's a heck nicer than my Tanfoglio Ltd Custom which was $400. more and that was before the upgraded parts!!
Tenda has these at a steal of a price and I've never seen anyone selling these that cheap. Grab 'em while ya can!
Out of the box:
Pros:
- Fit & finish is tight! Zero rattle.
- Trigger is a very crisp 2lbs average with just a hair of grit that is barely... barely noticable.
- Gas pedal included! Yay!
- Two spare takedown pins (minus the slide lock lever), a nice bonus
- Shadow2 style extended LH safety with flat RH lever (I hated the box looking version with the notched corner on the earlier TSO)
- Aggressive frontstrap/backstrap checkering like the Shadow2
- Large Shadow2 paddle style mag release
- Nice magwell
Cons (mostly nit picking):
- Magwell not blended!! Grrr
- Mag release is stiff and gritty as frack
- Slide is hand fitted but not deburred
- Safety is STIFF and a little gritty. So stiff that trying to manipulate it on the flat RH side is almost impossible without using your fingernails.
- No extended RH safety lever
- Mags not easily dropping free or needing extra effort to seat
- No documentation that tells you what each spring weight is that comes in the kit
- 4 brown, rust looking dots on my barrel as you can see in the pic WTF?
- Factory installed buffer pad looked pretty beaten up but no signs that the pistol was shot much other than factory testing.
- Front slide serrations should be more forward and aggressive like the Shadow2 for easier manipulation and press check. It doesn't help that the frame is wider than the slide so if if you press check using your thumb and side of your lower index finger, it's too difficult to do.
I did a full tear down (minus the trigger) and deburring this afternoon.
The mag release channel had chatter and milling burrs galore. Deburred and polished up the channel now it's way better.
Mag release spring was prturding into the magwell, enough so that it would make contact with the magazine. Made some adjustments with the spring and mags drop out or insert without restrictions.
Polished the end of the trigger bar that was accessible and now that fine gritty feel is gone.
Hand lapped the slide rails and contact points on the frame. No more gritty slide.
Polished the safety and safety detent. It's smoother now but still pretty stiff. I think they use a stiffer detent spring than the Shadow2.
Surprisingly, the firing pin channel only had minor tooling chatter which was easily cleanen up.
The rust looking spots on the barrel were easily polished out.
I haven't gotten to blending the magwell as yet. I'll save that for next weekend.
It sounds like a bit of clean up work for what should be a factory tuned pistol but I'm just finicky that way. Most people would just shoot it as it is. I'll tell ya one thing, out of the box, it's a heck nicer than my Tanfoglio Ltd Custom which was $400. more and that was before the upgraded parts!!
Tenda has these at a steal of a price and I've never seen anyone selling these that cheap. Grab 'em while ya can!
(sorry, just being a ####).
