Las Vegas, Nevada –-(Ammoland.com)- The Caracal Enhanced F 9mm pistol was one of many firearms at Industry Day at the range that stuck in my mind as a gun that I really enjoyed shooting and has the potential to change the way pistols are typically made.
The Caracal 9mm pistol is not a new product, in fact, it has been presented a few times at SHOT Show. This year, Caracal brought out the Enhanced F and equipped the gun with their Quick Sight system. The Quick Sight system removes the traditional rear sights from the end of the slide and instead places the rear sights after the ejection port. The purpose is simple, to make sight acquisition much faster than the traditional rear sight system allows for. By closing the distance between rear and front sight posts, Caracal has succeeded in making a quick sight system.
The Quick Sight system works well, finding your sight picture as never been so fast and simple.
I will not say that I was smacking steel with each shot, in fact, I noticed that I was repeatedly sending shots a little high. So, using the Quick Sights will require some training, but that is something no gun owner should complain about. The sights work well for what they are designed for, and in that Caracal has succeeded with this innovative pistol sighting system.
In my opinion, the Quick Sight system is something I would like to see more on other pistols. For the purpose of concealed carry, drawing a gun from a holster and finding the sights is paramount in your ability to effectively defend yourself. The Quick Sight system allows for this in a smoother way than traditional sights ever have before.
The combination of the low bore axis as well as a low profile slide, help to reduce recoil and make shooting the pistol more instinctual in maintaining the pistol on target. Combine the impressive trigger and the Quick Sight system on the Caracal Enhanced F, and the pistol is easily one of my favorite polymer-frame pistols to shoot.
Ergonomics on this pistol fit my hand very well, and the stippling on the grip was comfortable. The overall weight, even when loaded, was light and in the same realm as the GLOCK 17.
Caracal’s pistol does not just have a great sight option, but it also has some other great features. The back plate of the slide, that has been altered from previous editions, now has an extended lip to catch on a belt should the user be unable to rack the slide with their other hand.
For example, if I was shot in my left arm and could not use it to pull the slide back, I could still load using only my right hand. Using the lip of the pistol to catch on a hard surface I could pull back the slide and be ready to fire.
The Enhanced F 9mm also features ambidextrous magazine releases as well as a trigger that was very impressive in both trigger pull and distance to reset. The magazine holds 18+1 rounds and the firearm is chambered in 9x19mm Parabellum.
Overall, I enjoyed shooting this pistol, and in terms of its applications of use, the list is a long one. One thing that can easily be said of Caracal is that they are developing quality firearms and are not shying away from trying a new thing. The Quick Sight system gives the shooter confidence each time they aim because of how simple it is to acquire the sight picture. Even older shooters with poor eyesight, told me that they found the Quick Sight system to be useful and effective.
The MSRP on this pistol is $599.99 and will be commercially available at during the late summer and early fall of 2017.
About Brian D. Johnson:
Brian Duncan Johnson is a graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. His focus of studies were on History and Government. Duncan is a regular contributor to AmmoLand and assists in the everyday gun-news publishing as an assistant editor.