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TTAG reader EH emailed us with a link to Caracal’s UAE website. It’s been hacked. On this side of the pond, Caracal USA hasn’t updated their Facebook page in just under a year. They’re not answering/returning phone calls. We’ll look for Caracal at this year’s SHOT Show but I think the manufacturer of my favorite ever carry gun – created by Steyr M designer Austrian W.Bubits – is out for the count. I sincerely hope not. The Caracal set a new standard for trigger feel and ergonomics. My time with the gun(s) was all too short; click here to read the sad chronology. I’m hoping FNH-USA’s new FNS-9c will fill the gap. Watch this space.

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49 COMMENTS

  1. Bubits has answered questions on the SteyrClub forums before, Might be worthwhile to poke around there.

  2. The moment they “recalled” the guns from US consumption without a specific reason , it was clear to me they were simply pulling out of the US market .

    Perhaps the prospect of Arabs building guns for infidels in the Great Satan proved too troubling to the builders. Perhaps the whole thing was an international Ponzi scheme. We may never know, except that one should never adopt a brand new firearm design immediately.

    • My thoughts exactly. After they started recalling every Caracal product under the sun, it didn’t really surprise me that they’d be going out of business.

    • I agree that a Walther PPQ (or even PPX) is a generally superior firearm, but I’ll have to admit that I found the Caracal quick sights intriguing. I did a quick patent search and didn’t see anything in Caracal International’s patents that would restrict another manufacturer from adopting this sighting system.

  4. I suspect that they need to stick to ammunition designed for use in guns like that, either their own round, or revolver cartridges. How do you handle it when you say it’s 9mm, but there is no way to be certain that a given box of ammo will work, after all, the maker isn’t testing how well the bullets remain properly seated, so round to round it could vary dramatically.

    Or they just ran out of money.

    • I would say it’s very indicative considering there’s been no response, and they’ve yet to take down the defacement. I ran the arabic through google translator and from what I gathered this cracker is angry about this company not arming the radicals with their firearms.

      • OK..after quite a while it looks like they’re back up. It’s a shame that Caracal doesn’t have anything in the works. I’d love to still buy a pistol that’s advertised on their website.

    • TTAGs forums were overrun, this past weekend, by Russian spammers – does that mean that TTAG is going belly up?

  6. Annnnnnd now the reality starts to sink in – how difficult it is to do something new in gun design today. Carcal’s problem is that they tried to do too much, too fast when they didn’t already have a couple of cash cows on the shelf.

    • Caracal is de facto an Abu Dhabi government company (UAE), part of the much bigger Tawazun group.
      They’re not dead at all and cash inflows in UAE state owned companies are never an issue.
      What I got from insiders is that they are restructuring.
      I have no idea if they’re interested in the civilian market anymore, but they’re clearly pretty active on the military side.
      At the latest show where I’ve seen them (ADIHEX, Abu Dhabi, September) they had the biggest booth as usual, with few handguns, some pistol caliber carbines, plenty of sniper rifles and AR-15 variants (piston driven – with fun switch).

  8. RF,

    Would you have preferred to keep your gun, as a nonfunctioning collectible, now that it seems there will be no fix or replacement?

    • Well, that is the thing. It functioned. There was some flaw in it that theoretically made it unsafe which meant he wouldn’t carry it. Personally, keeping it just to show people and perhaps shoot sounded like a fine idea. With the caveat it may be hazardous.

      Certainly beats having nothing.

  9. According to “Requiem for a Caracal” (20 September 2013) Robert was relegating the Caracal-C to Safe Queen status. A wise choice, if not hurting for cash, as it will probably appreciate in value.

  10. I met the USA Marketing Director for Caracal recently at my local gun range. He gave me his card, so I e-mailed him asking to respond to this article.

    • Thank you for the heads up on this post. It was a pleasure meeting you. however, Im not the Marketing Manager, Caracal USA is not currently marketing anything…Currently.

  11. Another fascinating footnote in the long and colorful history of the firearms industry. Unfortunately, much of that history demonstrates how deserving the firearms industry is of its place perhaps behind only show business and real estate as being most heavily populated by flaky operators.

  12. On that note, it might be a good idea not to visit that site. Hackers are notorious for inserting viruses and other malicious code into the sites they hack.

    • That’s not even proper hacking. A DDOS attack isn’t hacking. Doubt they put malicious software in there, though you can never be too carefull.

      • That’s not a DDOS attack. If it were a Distributed Denial of Service attack, you wouldn’t even be able to access the site

  13. Caracal is still alive and well. undergoing management transitions…see you all at SHOT Show. Robert, If your calls are not being returned please email me directly. Im sure you have the email addy and phone number. we have spoken previously.

  14. I have a friend who kept his instead of sending it back, he must be happy as hell at this news. In a few years it will be worth Buku bucks. It’s a shame, I never got a chance to buy one everything I read was positive.

    • Your time to own a Caracal pistol will come. Don’t believe the hype… See you at SHOT Show!

  17. What Bubits made at Steyr’s M series were plastics body, safety and sights and at trigger of Caracal, was
    mirror reflection of Glock trigger lockwork with minor differences. If evalued through related patent texts,
    Bubits did even not know the connect terms of “Ejector” and “Extractor”.

  18. I checked both GunsAmerica and GunBroker and I do not find any Caracals for sale on either.

    So, they really have been pulled.

    I am believing Jeff S. that they will come back.

    I wonder what they were offering on their recall?

    Was it repair and return or was it some other reimbursement?

    I got to meet the Caracal sales team at the SHOT Show in 2014.

    They were a real serious subdued group.

    God bless!!

    PPP

  20. Had a ‘C”, loved the trigger and the ergo’s. It’s a shame that it all turned out the way it has but better no gun than a unsafe one. Used the recall $ for a Glock 19. Have never looked back.

  21. The only worthy thing they had were quick sights and when that patent is up everyone will make em. Good ridden to another foreign gun whose people can’t even really own them. I’m tired of foreign gun makers exploiting American citizens because of their rights that their serfs will never have.

  22. I never quite understood the fascination that some people have in needing to buy the first new product from a new company that has no history, good or bad. Maybe I’m too cautious a consumer, but I like to spend my hard earned dollars on stuff that has a good track history, manufactured in a country that has free elections (with more than one party involved) and a passable civil rights history. But then I don’t understand standing in line at the electronic gadget store overnight to get the first “new” bug laden widget, just so I can say I was first. I did buy a first gen Glock model 17, but I waited 2 years after they were first introduced.

    • It’s not hard to understand. If nobody buys a product (y’know, waiting for it to mature) then that product won’t mature because the producer isn’t making money.

      Geez, guys, this isn’t rocket surgery.

  23. It’s an company in the UAE…The UAE is a great place, but it’s still a Middle Eastern country. They tend to take forever to make decisions. They also tend to be very opaque in their decision making.

    I wouldn’t make any guesses as to the viability of the company. But I really doubt they’re going under anytime soon.

  24. I have to give the company credit for the recall. I know of a lot of other gun manufactures that would have stood behind lawyers and payed expert witnesses. If Caracal does bring another pistol to market I will be first in line to purchase……Loved the sights on pistol….so easy to use

  25. I come here as a Permabear, so I see this as a general symptom of the deflationary energy economy, that has clobbered the UAE’s other sectors, and not just real estate. Canada (especially my Province, Alberta) has a UAE-style oil and real estate economy that is also starting to circle the drain. Of course, Russia is farther along this path.

  27. I bought a Model F in 2012. Great guns, no complaints. In Oct 2012 Caracal recalled the Model F. Took 4-6 weeks but they followed through and replaced it. In March 2015, I get another Fedex recall letter from Caracal for my replaced Model F. No explanation, just a replace or refund letter. I am not replacing anything until Caracal has replacements in stock.

  28. Tired of waiting on Caracal. Who wants to buy my paperweight/display Model F with QS and 4 mags? Works perfectly for me but sold as is and not advisable for buyer to shoot it as it has been recalled. 😉

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