Caracal C Review & G19 Comparison

General Firearms Handguns - Semi Auto
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I’ve often posted here with high praise for the Caracal pistols so I figured I’d knock out a review of the guns with the Caracal C going first. The C model seems to be the one people ask about the most and frequently the question is, “Is it better than a Glock 19?” We’ll get to that a little later but first I’ll lay out some of the pros and cons of the gun.

Pros:
-Reliable. The gun has well over 1,000 rounds (not sure on the exact count, I’ve let many people borrow the pistol to try out) with only 1 malfunction which was a bad primer with Brown Bear ammo. I put the same round in my G17 and it didn’t fire with that gun either so I’m putting the blame solely on the ammo
-Price. This gun is available online for $399 shipped with box and two mags. In my opinion it’s the best handgun deal on the market today (CZ 82 second).
-Accurate. This gun is like a 1911 in that it tends to make average shooters shoot like good shooters
-Very low bore axis (see comparison pictures with my P229 below) resulting in the softest shooting 9mm (along with the F model) I’ve ever shot
-Excellent trigger. It’s smooth with no stacking. It breaks extremely cleanly and has a positive reset
-Great finish. The Plasox (with nitriding) finish is holding up very well thus far
-It has a loaded chamber indicator on the top of the slide allowing the user to check that it is loaded without having to conduct a press check
-Very good ergonomics. Everyone that has shot the gun seems to comment on how good it feels in their hands
-15+1 capacity while only weighing 25oz
-Passed the WTD 91 (German armed forces) testing in 2006
-Has been adopted by several nations’ standard military sidearm; many police agencies in Italy and Germany have adopted it as well
-It’s classified as an IDPA production gun
-Easy to clean and maintain. Requires very little lubrication as well
-Interior parts are coated with the Plasox finish as well
-Ambi controls (except for the slide lock)
-Spare parts including springs are available from Caracal-USA now (this is relatively new)
-The Caracal C can use F 18 round magazines

Cons:
-Little aftermarket support
-Night sights are not available in the US currently. I spoke with Caracal USA last week and they said they are working with several manufacturers currently but they don’t have a date yet as to when they’ll be released
-The rear sight is part of the firing pin assembly. This will either make aftermarket sights more expensive or limit some to front sight only
-The guns are made in the UAE and Germany. The UAE made guns are the only ones available in the US currently. (I don’t care about this but it’s a common point brought up so I’m including it so people don’t say “you didn’t mention where it was made…”)
-In order to detail strip the gun you have to deal with roll pins. Not a big deal but I’d prefer not to if I didn’t have to
-The slide lock protrudes to far. I hit it with my thumb about 50% of the time if I’m not conscious of it and many people I’ve let shoot it have the exact same issue

Now, back to the original question—is it better than the G19? In terms of familiarity, factory customer service support, sight availability, and aftermarket support—no, it’s not. In terms of factory trigger, cost (non-blue label program), and perceived recoil—yes it is. I’ll give them a tie for reliability, simplicity, and accuracy.

The best way I can answer the question is to say if I never fired a handgun and was given a Caracal C and a G19 to shoot for a day and asked to pick only 1 which would I pick? I think I’d pick the Caracal C. That said, I’ve been shooting Glocks for years and am very comfortable and relatively proficient with them so now I slightly prefer Glocks but I wouldn’t have any reservations about trusting my life to a Caracal.

Here’s a video of me shooting the gun, a tabletop review with some comparisons to other 15 round 9mm guns (G19 and SIG P229R), and a chronograph test with some popular defensive loads:

CARACAL C HD VIDEO REVIEW LINK

Chrono numbers:
Speer 124gr Gold Dot JHPs: 1127fps, 350 ft/lbs energy
Federal 124gr HST JHPs: 1092fps, 328 ft/lbs energy
Winchester 115gr Ranger JHPs: 1095fps, 306 ft/lbs energy

Caracal bore axis:

SIG P229R bore axis:

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Way to pimp your YouTube channel.

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It’s no wonder that you had issues bumping the slide stop. Look how far and at what angle it sticks out away from the frame. :rolleyes:

Another Glock clone.

I’ll stick with the original. :cool:

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I snagged one of these after messing with LAVs, and its a good little gun. Shoots great, nice trigger, but I don’t like the design of the sights at all as I prefer a different style rear and I don’t see these getting much industry support based on the fact that the sight is integrated into the slide’s guts.

It was a good addition to the pile for the cost, and for a little over $300 used you could do much worse. Not swapping any Glocks out for it.

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I get no ad revenue from my channel currently. I just think it’s easier to explain some things by demonstrating them.

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No wonder. Designed by same guy who influenced design of Glock (and later worked at Glock for several years) then designed Steyr M1. You can find both in Caracal.

Actually I shot German made one on Saturday (they make them in Merkel factory, that Caracal bought from HK several years ago). I see much improvement over UAE prototype I shot back in 2010 in Belgrade. Mostly trigger and sights (one that I shot used “classic” 3 dot design). But this integrated rear sight is still weakest point of this pistol for me.

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I have been shooting a Glock 19 for 20 years and agree with the OP’s assessment. The low bore axis, durability of the finish, and accuracy are where this pistol really shines.

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Good review.The ergos look good just from the photos.Inprovements can be made and bugs worked out. I wouldn.t mind having one.
The first Glock 17 that came to the largest gun dealer here sat on display in the store window for two years,even at night. No one would even break the glass to steal it.
We see where that finally went.

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I remember those days. I bought my first Glock, a newly introduced Gen2 17, back in early 1988, while stationed at Camp Pendleton. You wouldn’t believe the trash I heard about how pathetically stupid my decision was to not only buy a nine sillymeter, but to get a plastic one at that…it was gonna melt, blow up, break, crack, you name it…
Those were the days…

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Montrala–do you have the option to purchase night sights (even just the front) over there for this gun?

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No. I talked to factory representative and for now only fiber optic front sight is possible. He was unaware of plans for tritium. Actually in Germany tritium is banned for environmental reasons. Nuclear waste, two headed sheep, you know. Usual stuff for German Green Party.

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I have put a lot of rounds through both the F model and C model. It is surprising how will the grip fits a wide range of hand sizes.

The one place the Glock outperforms the Caracal is how well/reliably the Glock works when it is dirty. I have found that after about 200-300 rounds of range time with quality factory ammo, the Caracal will start to malfunction, typically FTE issues. After a quick cleaning, it would then function fine.

Another CON for the Caracal is the small sharp tab the protrudes from the front of the magazine. It is this small tab that holds the magazine in place in the gun. While I have not worn one out yet (I have sliced my finger on it), it does seem like a fragile critical part.

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I thought your review was good. If I might offer a suggestion it would be a paper target of the accuracy of both the Glock and Caracal since you are comparing them. Also compare the bore axis of Glock and Caracal and not the Sig which has a known high bore axis. I do enjoy your reviews though because they are brief and to the point.

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Thanks for the suggestion. I occasionally do an accuracy test but I don’t have a place to conduct a bench test and shoot video so I have to do them offhand and the shooter (me) becomes the biggest variable instead of the gun.

I used the SIG just to illustrate the point since people often say that the bore axis difference isn’t significant; but I should have taken a photo with the Glock as well.

I do try to shoot for brevity though so pros and cons to both suggestions.

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I still have the Caracal C that I wrote the SWAT article about (I wound up buying it from the manufacturer).

Mine is equipped with the quick-see sights which feature integral sights as part of the frame just forward of the ejection port. The concept is that the sights are supposedly quicker to pick up than conventional sights. For closer ranges the sight setup is fine. At 25 yards these sights make it more difficult than conventional sights to get a head shot.

As part of the article, I had a Tritium insert with a white outline installed in the front sight. It turned out to work very well. In total darkness it seems to naturally index between the two rear sights. This is more than I can say for some other guns that I own that have tritium only in the front sight. I usally prefer three dot system with on tritium front dot and two rear dots, or even a single rear dot. But the QS sights seem to index perfectly with just the front tritium dot and always wind up with the front sight in the middle of the QS’s rear blades or wings.

I was actually considering selling this handgun, but then shot it side by side with my Glock 19 and found that I shot a bit better with the Caracal at closer ranges, but the quick-see sights were a disadvantage at 25 yards. The Caracal seems to have a better trigger than the Glock. My Glock 19 has a standard 5.5 or 6lb trigger, while the Caracal’s trigger is about 4lbs and very crisp. It also seems to fit my hand better than a Glock.

Here is a close-up from the rear of the gun:

Below is an overhead view:

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Ive been enjoying my Caracal C. Its fairly similar to a Glock in most respects, but the trigger is clearly better imo. Once night sights become available i will be using the C as my carry pistol.

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I have a Caracal C and a Glok 19. Even though I have shot the Glock thousands of rounds more I found I could shoot the Caracal better in a very short period of time. Like the first range session with both.:wink:

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Ed L–could you share the cost of that insert and who did the work?

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from my limited experience with the Caracal i can say without a doubt that the trigger FEELS 100x’s than a glock with a ghost #3.5 rocket. also the ergos of the gun in my opinion rape the glock and almost beat the M&P. the only draw back i have with the gun is the shitty sight design. cut it off and mill on a dove tail.

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Can you please define this statement and add something quantifiable to the subject?

Subjective feel of a pistol means nothing in the grand scheme of things as the only real non subjective indicators of worthiness of a pistol are the following three things

  1. Reliability
  2. MECHANICAL Accuracy
  3. Design in regard to maintenance schedules/takedown/cleaning
    3.1 Aftermarket support.

Lots of people love their new purchases. Lots of people love to think their new software purchase is infinitely faster, better, stronger, longer and even makes julienne fries.

At the end of the day, they’re all guns and the nut behind the trigger is the most important factor barring the pistol passes the above three criteria.