Okay, so maybe “Born In The USA” isn’t quite the anthem for this pistol, but RF and I both thought the 9mm Caracal C was one of the most impressive handguns we fired today. It’s a polymer-framed striker-fired semi-auto with a 15-round magazine, manufactured in the United Arab Emirates. Yeah. The U.A.E. Never heard of that before? You’re not alone; neither had we.

This shows the Quick Acquisition Sight System: a deep-channel notch positioned forward of the ejection port. It’s hump makes the Caracal’s slide look like the fuselage of a Sopwith Camel, but amazingly it works.

The Caracal C has passed the stringent acceptance requirements of the German police and military, and it shot amazingly well for both of us today. We didn’t get a firm MSRP, but it’s promised to be less than $500.

We’re really looking forward to getting one of these for testing and evaluation. Here’s a little more Gun Porn:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRVJgA-ppb8&feature=youtu.be

 

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22 COMMENTS

    • Ahhhhh UAE, Specifically Fujairah. Brings back memories. Was a refueling stop @ the beginning of every mission before patrolling the Gulf at the very end of DS and several months afterwards. The duty free shop there was where I fell in love with the “Lion Bar”. What a confectionery treat. I wont admit how many I ate on that deployment. Bought those suckers by the box.

    • Yeah really. One could say that anyone who hasn’t heard of U.A.E. must have had their head in the sand for the past 2 decades.

      Um. Well. That isn’t the best analogy, but good grief guys!? The eyes of the world are on the Middle East. It is sad that there are people who don’t even recognize countries in that region.

      Not meaning to knock you guys, but the profession in general. This is why people rib the media….You are supposed to know these things.

  3. I didn’t think it was possible, but someone managed to make a semi-auto pistol that’s uglier than the Hi Point.

  4. I don’t get the advantage of that sighting system, just seems to me like it gives you a much shorter sight radius. I’d have to shoot it for myself to see if it really does allow for faster target aquisition.

    Really don’t feel like buying a gun from the UAE though.

        • My best guess to answer your sight question: Promotes a self defense technique of mainly using the front sight only for aiming. During an attack there is limited time to get a true sight picture. One technique is to train for CLOSE quarters combat and aim with the front sight only. Bad guy is 3 yards away, do not take the time to get a clear front to rear sight picture as you might do in training. To me it is a step above Point shooting.

  5. What we’ve never seen before is a firearm, made in the U.A.E. being sold on the U.S. civilian market. Of course we’ve heard of the Emirates before: one of my cousins is working in Dubai right now, and I taught a student from there for years.

  6. The Caracal is being now produced in Germany. A wealthy industrialist from the U.A.E. owns a major stake in a German/Austrian firearms manufacturer (perhaps multiple firms, as my intel is not very detailed). His initial aim was to bring more engineering and manufacturing capabilities to his homeland knowing that the U.A.E.’s oil business is a dead end (limited supplies and all that). The Caracal was, from the start, a product of German, Austrian, and (to a lesser degree) American firearms design/engineering. It is a product of what deep pockets can buy on the world market.

    • I believe they are now being manufactured in UAE and in Germany. Germany is supplying Europe. I think the U.S. is getting the UAE made guns.

  7. The importer was having issues with the company not sending over enough pistols. Maybe the above noted sale means they are finally getting them in the needed volume.

    Steyr fans have been wanted this guy because the designer was the guy who came up with the M models.

    From what I have read and heard the gun sounds like a winner.

  8. I’ve got a full size with quick sights and I shoot it a lot better than my glock 17 with the same ammo at the same distance. 1500 rounds with no failure of any kind.

  10. Looks like it was designed as another Glock competitor.
    The Grip seems more ergonomic than the Glock Gen 4, but the S&W MP model fills this void nicely.
    I will wait to see how the Reliability and customer Service ratings prove themselves. I am sure Caracal has plans for other calibers in this platform.
    I wonder if it is too late to market, but since Glock is having problems with Gen 4 models…..

    • Actually designed by Wilhelm Bubits. The designer of Steyr M (hence the grip ergonomics) and one of the designers of the Gen 2 Glock (probably one of the many reasons for the comparisons). Another interesting item is that at 29 parts, it has less than the Glock.

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