Caracal pistols

gyvel

New member
Has anyone seen any evidence of a rebound from Caracal? Looks like they just disappeared from the face of the earth after the Model C debacle.
 

gyvel

New member
Not a word. Too bad, I liked the gun for as long as I had it...

Did you think it was any better than the Bubits designed Steyr? (Out of curiosity.)

Are they even still in business? Or do you think they just pulled out of the North American market?

P.S. Did you get a full refund from them?
 

JohnKSa

Administrator
I was never impressed enough with the Steyr to buy one. I did like the Caracal although there were a few things that irritated me. For one thing, I didn't like the prolific use of roll pins. I hate roll pins because they're a pain to deal with. To top it off, some of them were sizes that are not generally available in small quantities.

But the gun was pretty nice. A decent trigger and it shot well.

Caracal still has a website, but it's not clear how recently it's been updated. It will be interesting to see if they have a presence at SHOT this year. It does appear that they are still in business, but it doesn't appear that they're selling anything in the U.S. at the moment.

I returned my Caracal F for a full refund. On their website they indicate that the upgraded version is available but I haven't heard anything about anyone importing them to the U.S.

There is a Caracal USA, but it appears to consist primarily of a facebook page. It does have official updates from as recently as Sept. 2015.
 

gyvel

New member
I handled a Steyr, but didn't shoot it. It felt good in the hand, and the innovative sights were particularly fascinating. Other than that, it really didn't make all the big of an impression on me as it was a relative "unknown" in the gun market. (Not the name, just the pistol.)

Never got the chance to handle a Caracal. My LGS had one, but sent it back for a refund before I could look at it.

And I can't fault you for your dislike of roll pins. LOL! One of my friends had a Browning Nomad back in the early 70s that jammed up tighter than a drum. When I finally got it apart I discovered that Browning has used a roll pin as the retainer for the firing pin. Of course, every time the hammer dropped and the firing pin hit the roll pin, it got thinner and thinner until it finally just dropped completely down out of the hole and securely locked up the slide. I replaced it with solid staked pin.

Roll pins are just another example of bean counter influence.
 
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Kosh75287

New member
JOHNKSA, how did the Caracal feed? Did it digest different ammo well, or perhaps you didn't own it long enough to shoot a great number of different types through it?

I was looking seriously at one, until they got recalled.
 

candr44

New member
I received a letter from them about 2 years ago telling me the replacements are in and to call them. When I called them and asked for a replacement the woman on the other end literally just laughed and said I better take a refund and run. She also said Caracal has a habit of offering a replacement but then never delivering on their promise.

The serious problems with the Caracal was with the model C not the model F. I never had a problem with my model F.
 

JohnKSa

Administrator
JOHNKSA, how did the Caracal feed? Did it digest different ammo well, or perhaps you didn't own it long enough to shoot a great number of different types through it?
I didn't own it long enough to do a lot of shooting with it. As I recall I only made one range trip with it before it was recalled.
The serious problems with the Caracal was with the model C not the model F. I never had a problem with my model F.
I never had a problem with my model F either, but the recall covered both models.
 

Mrgunsngear

New member
I still have both of the future collectible guns .

I know they still sell a ton of guns overseas but no clue what they're doing here.
 

PP99

New member
I really do not exclude the possibility of getting the new Caracal at some point in the near future, if these recall challenges were successfully overcome.
 

drobs

New member
Isn't the company a "play toy" for the one of Saudi / Dubai princes?

I don't think the owner is too concerned, about anything, one way or the other.
 

JohnKSa

Administrator
Isn't the company a "play toy" for the one of Saudi / Dubai princes?
I spoke with Wilhelm Bubits at SHOT the year they introduced the first Caracal pistols. Really interesting guy and an even more interesting discussion.

I made some comment relating to the company finances and his response implied that the company owner wasn't overly concerned about such things. So your guess sounds like it's on target.
 

cmdc

New member
I bought the Caracal F when they first came out. Liked it, and bought the C model. Then there was the recall on the F so I sent in and requested the Quick Sight model, and that's what they sent me, and I really liked the sights.

When they issued a recall on the C model due to "catastrophic failures", I sent it in for a refund which I received, hoping they would rectify the problems, because I really liked the gun. Never happened, obviously.

I still have the F QS gun. It has given me no problems, and I use it as one of my boat guns in FL.
 
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