# Inherited worn FIE Titan II .32



## darklawnmower (Nov 18, 2013)

Good day ladies and gents, as the title states I have received a pistol that says on the side "Titan II Cal .32 - Italy" and one line down is says "Miami, FL". I must make clear that I dont know much about pistols, and barely much skeet even. The grip is black with an "FIE" logo. Wiki and Bing return no such company, although Ive pieced together 2 or 3 snippets of information after digging through backpages and gun forums.
From what Ive read, FIE was a gun company that shut down over 20 years ago. Tehy imported guns from various European and Middle Eastern countries, some were of reputably less or more quality than others. So down to my question I guess.


After some trial and error with empty magazines and none in the chamber of course. I was literally figuring how to work the pistol. Flipping the levers above the trigger and on the slide, sliding the slide back and forth. I actually couldnt get the slide to close again without pusing down a little piece in the housing, which caused the slide to jam on my finger (ouch). Figuring how to slide and drop the magazine quickly. I got the trigger to depress and asses some pull. And I somehow dry fired it once on accident during this process. Repeating the exact couple steps I did, I got it to dry fire again, this time with my thumb on the hammer to let it down gently. I was thinking it had to etiher do with the lever above the trigger or something to do with the lever at the back of the slide. Because after I toggled them and adjusted them back to see if it was the case, I could no longer get my gun to retun to firing ability. 

The trigger refuses to depress wether it looks like the safetys on or not now. I thought the front lever was a safety, it only refuses to slide over and allow a red dot to show when the slide is closed, not open. I have no idea what the back lever is for but it seems to be thats how I got my pistol to dry fire a couple times in the first place. The gun looks somewhat worn. My buddy advised if there was ever a saftey in this weapon he believes it was shaved off (hes can clean a gun but hes no expert like you guys though). One time when we slammed up a mag with a single bullet, cocked the slide and it was a smooth action. Looked like it was ready to fire.... Yet when we cocked the slide back again to eject the chambered bullet, it was not chambered still stuck in in the magazine? Is this a common problem that can be fixed by routing gun cleaning? I have a friend who can probably disassemble and reassmble without too much difficulty. If this is the case.

Basically can this thing be cleaned and salvaged with some good repair and used as a good plinker out in the mountains? Or stash it as an heirloom and save up for a 22? This gun looks a bit old and worn and I really dont want it to blow up in my hands when Im shooting it, heh. Any experience with the FIE company or firing FIE pistols would be greatly appreciated. Also Im not exactly going to be target shooting just plinking cans with pals in the mountains, so take that into account I guess.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

F.I.E.: Firearms International Export.
Cheap guns, usually not particularly high quality. Made in Italy, Spain, and a few other places, and imported into the USA.

Titan II: Made by Tanfoglio (Italy). Came in .32 ACP and .380 ACP. Magazine held 12 rounds, in .32 ACP.
Lever behind trigger, left side: Trigger safety. Down = "fire." Up (points forward) = "safe."
Lever on slide, near hammer: Firing-Pin Block safety. Up = "fire" (I think).
It may have a "magazine safety," such that when the magazine has been removed, it won't fire. (But I don't know for sure.)

To Field-Strip:
Remove magazine.
Cock hammer.
Turn trigger-safety up to "safe."
Pull slide as far to rear as possible and lift rear end of slide up, off of frame.
Slowly and carefully let slide run forward, until recoil spring is free and slide clears muzzle.
Remove slide and spring.
Reassemble in reverse order.

Slide probably stays open on empty magazine.
Remove magazine, pull slide back just a little, and it will probably then run forward.

The pistol is worth next to nothing, but it would be a good piece to learn on: If you break something, you haven't lost much.
Keep ammunition away from it, and fiddle with it to your heart's content.


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## darklawnmower (Nov 18, 2013)

Thanks for your prompy and expert reply sir. By keep your ammunation away from it, do you mean dont fire it? Sorry my sense of humor is broken at times. I had planned on taking it tomorrow for some plinking.

Also the front safety lever actually has 3 positions, foward, down, and back, it completes a 180 degree and it seem to click in the down position as though its probably a legit setting. The red dot is visible whenever the lever is in the down or backwards facing position (ie the red is covered when the lever is always forward). Not sure if this is relevant or not but felt I might include it.

Would you have any guesses as to why. When we loaded a magazine with a bullet in it, cocked the gun (slid the slide back and forth), then pulled the slide again to eject the bullet. The bullet was still inside the magazine and not the chamber? Possible failure in whichever mechanism sends the bullet up and forward into the chamber?

Also earlier when I mentioned I couldnt even figure out how to get the slide closed after I cocked it the first time. How come it seemed like it would close when I manually pushed my finger down inside the housing (then the slide would jam shut on my finger). Was I bypassing the lever that I had on the wrong setting? Im so so sorry if these questions are frustrating I jus tkind of want to go shoot my grandpas pistol tomorrow. I left it with a gun loving buddy and he said hes learned a couple new things but that safety is still a real issue. Guess this is gonna have to a locked boxes ordeal. Many thanks gentlemen.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

darklawnmower said:


> Thanks for your prompy and expert reply sir. By keep your ammunation away from it, do you mean dont fire it? Sorry my sense of humor is broken at times. I had planned on taking it tomorrow for some plinking.


I mean that you should keep ammunition away from it when you fiddle with the mechanism, as part of your learning experience.
Invest in some .32 ACP snap caps, so you will have dummy ammunition to help you "play" with the gun, with no possibility of it going off if you make a mistake.
(But, all things considered, I would not shoot it until I had had it checked-out by a competent gunsmith. It is not a high-quality piece.)



darklawnmower said:


> ...Also the front safety lever actually has 3 positions, foward, down, and back, it completes a 180 degree and it seem to click in the down position as though its probably a legit setting. The red dot is visible whenever the lever is in the down or backwards facing position (ie the red is covered when the lever is always forward). Not sure if this is relevant or not but felt I might include it.


When you can see the red dot, the gun will fire. When the red dot is covered, the trigger should not work-if the gun is in proper condition.
The "third" position of the safety lever may be illusory, or there may be something wrong with the safety's function. This is where those snap caps come in: "fire" one, with the safety in each of its positions, and see what happens.



darklawnmower said:


> ...Would you have any guesses as to why. When we loaded a magazine with a bullet in it, cocked the gun (slid the slide back and forth), then pulled the slide again to eject the bullet. The bullet was still inside the magazine and not the chamber? Possible failure in whichever mechanism sends the bullet up and forward into the chamber?


First of all it's a "cartridge," not a "bullet." "Bullet" refers only to the projectile, the "front part" of each cartridge.
My first thought is that there is a weak magazine spring, which doesn't lift the cartridge high enough, or high enough quickly enough. My second thought is that you may not have fully seated the magazine into the gun. It is unlikely that there is something wrong with the very top of the magazine (the "feed lips"), but it, too, is a possibility: Look for cracks in the upper part of the magazine.
New replacement magazines should be available from Triple-K and from Gun Parts Corp. (They, too, may be of poor quality.)



darklawnmower said:


> ...Also earlier when I mentioned I couldnt even figure out how to get the slide closed after I cocked it the first time. How come it seemed like it would close when I manually pushed my finger down inside the housing (then the slide would jam shut on my finger). Was I bypassing the lever that I had on the wrong setting? Im so so sorry if these questions are frustrating I jus tkind of want to go shoot my grandpas pistol tomorrow. I left it with a gun loving buddy and he said hes learned a couple new things but that safety is still a real issue. Guess this is gonna have to a locked boxes ordeal. Many thanks gentlemen.


There probably is a kind of release lever, just inside the frame.
The normal method of releasing the slide is probably pulling the slide back just a little, and then letting it run forward. But to do that, there either must be a loaded magazine in the gun (use those snap caps for testing), or there should be no magazine at all in it. An empty magazine locks the slide back: This is how you know that you've emptied the pistol.


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