Sarsilmaz SAR 9

[Slater]

Regarding the Turkish manufacturer SAR Arms and their new(ish) SAR 9 handgun, their website claims this:

"Possibly the most rigorously tested pistol ever developed, the new SAR9 endured 130° baking to simulate desert conditions, -50° for the arctic, salt fog, high altitude, 24 hours of rain, solar radiation, fouling, drop tests and 150,000 round of live fire in the factory. Police later ran their own test that included 50,000 rounds. Finally, a NATO test against major manufacturers from Austria, German and the U.S. ran 90,000 rounds with the SAR9 the clear winner. However, the SAR9 has more to offer than just toughness and reliability."

I think that it was more of a matter of national pride that the Turkish military adopt a Turkish-made handgun than any overwhelming superiority of the SAR9 over Glock and HK. In fact, the SAR9 looks like someone spliced together a Glock and an Hk. By all accounts, it's a cheap ($300 range), reliable, and reasonably accurate handgun with a CHF barrel. Politics aside, anyone own/fire one of these yet?

http://sarusa.com/sar9.html

[everready73]

I do not have that gun, but did purchase a SAR b6P a few years ago to use as a truck/four wheeler gun etc. I have well over 3k rounds through it at this point and never had a failure. The machining quality is good for the $250 i paid for the gun and it is accurate as well. SAR would definitely be an option for someone on a budget, or that wants a "beater gun".

The big downside to these guns are parts/accessories availability. I was able to find a few holster options, but that is it. No site upgrades, or other parts i could find. They are imported by EAA from what i remember and only come with a 1 year warranty, so if you did have an issue it could be more trouble than its worth. Also i would assume if you did need a part like a recoil assembly, trigger spring etc you would have to order from EAA and that could be hit or miss