Caracal!!!!!

fishface5

fishface5

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Feb 3, 2001
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whoa -- I spent the last 2 days shooting pretty much every 9mm I could rent at 2 good ranges here in Seattle area - Wade's and at West Coast Armory. I have been looking for a new 9mm so figured why not? Well, that was a lotta guns and BY FAR the best one, for me, was one I had never heard of - the Caracal (a type of lynx I guess). Made in the United Arab Emirates (?!?!) by a guy who worked at Glock, Walther and Steyr, and combined the best of all of them. Link to a big review is below, but seriously, it blew me away. Almost no perceived recoil, lightweight, excellent trigger and stupid accurate. It's like Glock and Steyr had a baby.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=429362
 
1 year warranty? It's hard to have confidence in something that the manufacturer doesn't have confidence in.
 
I agree that is very disconcerting. And a bit odd, because per the manufacturer:

"Before being put into production the Caracal pistol was evaluated through independent tests. These tests were carried out by the Federal German Armed Forces Technical Center for Weapons and Ammunition (WTD 91) in Meppen, Germany, which included metallurgic and composite analysis, functional fitness-for-purpose and quality evaluation, endurance firing, environmental exposure, safety and accuracy tests. A certificate was issued by the Bundeswehr Technical Center for Weapons and Ammunition (WTD 91) in May 2006 after the pistol successfully complied with the NATO D14 standard, the German Federal Police Standard and the German Federal Armed Forces Technical Purchasing requirements. These tests are the most stringent test protocols ever devised for a service firearm."

It's hard to find any long-term reviews since the gun has so recently been approved for import into the US.
 
So I picked up a compact version and the manual says limited lifetime warranty, not 1-year as I had seen previously.
I do not shoot the compact quite as accurately as the full-sized, but the compact does retain the same ridiculously-low amount of felt recoil.
After about 350 rounds without a hiccup (except 2 limp-wrist failures by my girlfriend, shooting for the first time in her life) I remain very impressed. Except with the sights, straight-8s don't do it for me.
 
Been meaning to join bladeforums.com for awhile and I came across this Caracal thread and just had to contribute.

Thanks fishface5 for the review. It's good to hear more about this pistol from others. I've put in about 100 round through a C and was very impressed. I'm waiting for a fiber optic front sight before I take it out again. I actually prefer a straight 8 system (or just a front dot with solid rear posts) to 3 dot sights when I am shooting steel at speed. I find this configuration easier to reacquire sights with.

Yep - Caracal states a lifetime warranty but most manufacturers who don't officially offer lifetime warranties (ie Walther, Beretta, etc) will still offer warranty work after a pistol has passed it's warranty expiration.

I can't tell - did you end up purchasing a Caracal or have you just rented so far?

And the big question is: what knife to pair with it? I'm thinking a Kershaw Turbulence 1790CKT might work :cool:
 
The Caracal seems to have a very very low bore axis, is that correct?
Click to expand...

Indeed. Makes for a very manageable pistol. A common design theme from Wilhelm Bubits (lead designer of Caracal and Styer M9-A1)
 
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I remember reading about this gun when it was first announced, my first thought then is still the same as today. How will you get spare parts, who will provide service, where will the service be provided and what happens if they pull out of the US marketplace? As a collector and shooter of firearms, I pay attention to these things. If you think service is easy, try to get HK to do some warranty repair work on a timely manner and with open communication.
 
Valid points CWL - every gun has it's pros and cons and it's up to the shooter to decide what pros they like best and which cons they can live with. I too collect quite a bit of firearms. Many of the manufacturers of the guns I collect are no longer around. In fact, this often makes the gun even more collectible :) Take the Steyr M9-A1 as a very recent example. About 2 years ago it was pulled from the US market. The market value of the pistol doubled. in this scenario, primarily collectors wanted the gun. Then Steyr began importation again in smaller quantities (thank goodness) keeping the value where it was for those who paid double to collect it.

I get that guns break from time to time - but for me, there are so many other priorities that affect my decision to purchase a firearm before I get to "Will there be parts or service down the road?" Most of the firearms I own have never needed service and will probably never need service until maybe my grandchildren (which I have none of yet) become old. I suspect this to be the case with the Caracal - as a shooter, Caracal USA and their primary distributor are committed to servicing the pistol if i need. As a collector, with the small numbers of pistols that have been imported so far, should the company fail I would not be too crestfallen ;)
 
I've got a Steyr M9A1 and the trigger is has a much faster reset and much better break than a Glock...the Caracal seems to have captured that. The compact does look quite decent for as CCW...very sleek and svelte. If Caracal USA can't provide good enough customer service and if Caracal doesn't pump out some spare parts/accessories it will suffer much like the Steyr.

ROCK6
 
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