Stumbled on this Tanfoglio and had to have it….

[Scoose]

[ftp]Like the title states I saw this gorgeous piece in my local gun stores counter and knew I had to bring it home. I always love learning about older pistols and the history behind them. Over the past years I have become a CZ, CZ clone and Browning Hi Power lover.  Enough of that on to this new to me piece

The more I learn about the history of the TA 90 the more confused I get about this lil fella. Best I can tell it was made in 82 by the stamp on the frame.  It has the frame mounted safety and it accepts baby eagle/Jericho 941 mags. What the heck do I have here??? Can’t wait to get it to the range…

[jwc007]

Gorgeous!!! 

What you have is a Tanfoglio Series 88 transitional model with a Slide that was left over from the Tanfoglio Swiss Contract Production Pistols.
A bit rare, but not unheard of.

Tanfoglio supplied many parts and some complete Pistol kits to ITM Solothurn in Switzerland. These Pistols were designated AT84S.
Later production Pistols were entirely Swiss made and were designated AT88.

There were quite a number of production Tanfoglio Pistols made with the Swiss pattern Slides, as Tanfoglio had
quite a number of them when the Swiss chose not to renew their Production Contract with Tanfoglio.

[Gunnerdad80]

Fantastic buy. I’ve had several of these pistols. I wish I wouldn’t have sold them all.  I’m a self-proclaimed Tanfo Fanatic.

[Scoose]

The amount of knowledge here is absolutely mind blowing!  Thank you so much for the information. Everything I was reading was contradicting what I was seeing.  I guess being that it is a transitional piece it would make sense why I couldn’t figure it out.  Again, thank you so much for clearing it up for me.

The dealer had about 13 or 14 of them in his used case. Only two of them were in good aesthetic shape. The rest needed some love, but he had the same price on all of them. There were three compacts In that lot, but they were pretty rough. At the time I figured I could grab the one that was really nice and if anything inside needed to be fixed, I could order the parts and do it. For $370 I was willing to take the chance.

I will head to the range this weekend to see how she does.

[GeeQ87]

I recently got one that stamp code dates back to 1979 but it was imported in 93.

These guns are beautiful and can be VERY confusing, i accidentally bought parts that I thought were interchangeable with CZ. If you are going to replace parts, hit up patriot defense… they have everything for Tanfoglios.

Mine is taken apart right now getting new springs and I’m polishing for a smoother trigger pull. Only downside is the front sight is pinned, no dovetail (i painted mine with a paint marker).

Oh, you will hear the large frame vs small frame… this would be a small frame. Just noticed the safety, that looks like a CZ75 which is finicky to remove.

[Scoose]

Thank you for the lead on parts. That info is invaluable!!!


I was astonished by the trigger on this piece. It is light and very crisp like it’s been worked on in the past. The DA was 3lb 7oz, 3lb 9 oz and 3lb 8oz. I didn’t measure the SA but it is soooo smooth.

I’m curious where it’s going to be on paper because I’m in the same boat as you on the sights.  I will also color the front sight but I’ll probably be at the mercy of some Kentucky windage at the end of the day.

[Gunnerdad80]

Thank you for the lead on parts. That info is invaluable!!!


I was astonished by the trigger on this piece. It is light and very crisp like it’s been worked on in the past. The DA was 3lb 7oz, 3lb 9 oz and 3lb 8oz. I didn’t measure the SA but it is soooo smooth.

I’m curious where it’s going to be on paper because I’m in the same boat as you on the sights.  I will also color the front sight but I’ll probably be at the mercy of some Kentucky windage at the end of the day.

Range report incoming then?

[Scoose]

Absolutely!!!! I’ll have it on the rang in the next couple days. By the way everything looks she should be a shooter. My only concern, before shooting it, are weak springs. We will soon see.

[Gunnerdad80]

Absolutely!!!! I’ll have it on the rang in the next couple days. By the way everything looks she should be a shooter. My only concern, before shooting it, are weak springs. We will soon see.

As long as the springs weren’t badly corroded or distorted, I bet it’ll eat almost anything you feed it.

[GeeQ87]

I put mine back together but it’s the wife’s bday weekend so maybe hit the range next week. I don’t have a trigger pull gauge but it definitely feels much lighter.

My extractor, sear and magazine release springs were caked in old grease so i soaked them in CLP to clean and re-used them. Debating if I should just replace them too and just have all new springs

[Scoose]

I put mine back together but it’s the wife’s bday weekend so maybe hit the range next week. I don’t have a trigger pull gauge but it definitely feels much lighter.

My extractor, sear and magazine release springs were caked in old grease so i soaked them in CLP to clean and re-used them. Debating if I should just replace them too and just have all new springs

I’ll bet there’s nothing wrong with those springs. However, I’m ordering springs regardless if I need them or not. I’m one of those weirdos that have extra springs a parts for most of my guns. 😎

[Gunnerdad80]

I’ll bet there’s nothing wrong with those springs. However, I’m ordering springs regardless if I need them or not. I’m one of those weirdos that have extra springs a parts for most of my guns. 😎

Ditto