Gun Review: SAR9 Subcompact 9mm Gen 2: Review

There are a few major gun makers that the wider world is familiar with that, for the most part, make minor annual changes to the same handguns they’ve been producing for some time. From time to time, I like to take a gander at lesser-known companies to see what they’re making that’s worthy of the average gun-buyer’s interest. It’s with that approach I picked upt the SAR9 Subcompact Gen 2 in 9mm.

Here’s some background on SAR from their own website . . .

SAR Firearms is the new identity of SAR USA Corp. Founded in 2017 based in Miami, FL, brought the Turkish Sarsilmaz handguns to the US market with innovation and advancement. As the exclusive U.S. importer for all firearms and ammunition products produced by Sarsilmaz Silah Sanayi, a renowned firearms manufacturer based in Istanbul, Turkey, will continue the innovation of the brand. Sarsilmaz Silah Sanayi has a rich history dating back to its establishment in 1880, Sarsilmaz has emerged as one of the largest and most respected firearms manufacturers in the world. SAR Firearms collaborated with Sarsilmaz to develop the third generation of the SAR9, a proven and reliable handgun. As an independent and sovereign company, SAR Firearms is committed to enhancing and updating the legacy of the SAR9 handgun line.

Features

Here are the technical specs on the SAR9 Subcompact Gen 2:

• Polymer Frame
• 3.3-in. Barrel
• 6.4-in. Overall Length
• 22.2-oz. Weight
• Forged Steel Barrel & Slide
• Cerakote Finish
• Striker & Trigger Safety
• Tritium Sights (Bright Green On The Front)
• 10-, 12- and 15-round capacities available
• Shield RMSc Optic Cut, with Cover Plate

So, the SAR9 Gen 2 is very similar to GLOCKs and many other similar striker-fired handguns. When I pulled the SAR out of the box, I did a quick web search to see if it’s a clone of one of the other popular striker fired pistols like PSA’s Dagger is. It isn’t. The SAR9 Gen 2 9mm is dimensionally its own gun. That means it uses its own holsters that, thankfully SAR offers for sale. The SAR Subcompact comes with two mags, a 10-rounder and a 15-rounder.

My first impressions of SAR’s Subcompact Gen2 were extremely favorable. It has an excellent grip shape, impeccable texturing, I loved the slide cutouts, the tritium sights were extremely vivid and eye-catching. There was a lot of ooh-ing and ah-ing. It’s been a while since a gun has impressed me this much out of the box.

I started checking it out with some dry fire and manipulation drills. I like the slide stop and magazine release, both are positioned well for me, which isn’t my usual experience. The trigger is pretty much on par with the rest of the factory striker fired guns of the modern era. Operating the gun felt very crisp.

I ran into my first spot of trouble with the extended 15-round mag. The additional length of the magazine is covered by a bit of plastic that extends the lines of the grip frame downwards. That bit of plastic simply slides down over the top of the mag. The problem I had was there was no way to get the magazine to easily drop free when released with that extra bit on it, the grip segment pressed a little too far back into my palm. That said, the shorter magazine drops free with no problem. So either one mag is drop free and the other isn’t, or I have to remove that section of the grip and leave an ugly, snag-prone, naked section where the extended mag sticks down.

Where Bullets Meet Steel

On to shooting. I really like the SAR 9’s recoil impulse, and the grip texture is very effective at keeping the gun in position.

The trigger and sights are both better than those on an OEM GLOCK, providing a little more “hot rod” and a little less “pickup truck.” Despite having a little creep, the trigger was always doing what I wanted, when I wanted. The sights really grabbed my attention and lined up quickly on target.

Every component had continued to impress me, which is why it was so baffling when my groups weren’t what I expected. Not just groups, even individual shots weren’t landing predictably. Slow trigger pulls for “target” shooting, quick shots, nothing hit where I wanted. This was the case with the first four different types of ammo I tried, from 80 grain to 115 grain.

I figured the brand new gun, might just have needed a break-in period. Maybe there was a stray burr on the barrel? None were visible to me, but still I ran another 250 rounds through to see if this was a one-off machining oopsie, which happens in production from time to time.

I spent this time practicing reflexive shooting drills and contact distance holster draws. Thankfully, Federal had sent a good amount of their Syntech Training Match ammo exactly for that reason.

Did the accuracy improve? Thankfully, yes.

Accuracy is now on par with my personal performance with other subcompact guns. At first, I was shooting groups almost three times the size of what I normally get with my G43x. By the end of my final sessions, my reflexive fire was almost on par with the G43x, and slow aimed fire exceeded my usual GLOCK groups.

So far reliability hasn’t been brought up. My favorite range days are the ones where reliability is an afterthought. The SAR handgun fed and shot flat nose, ball, JHP and monolithic hollow-point ammo without any trouble at all. I’m through more than 700 rounds without a problem, which is a good start.

Parting Shots

SAR Firearms might not be reinventing the wheel here, but the Subcompact Gen2 is a highly refined version of the general design that GLOCK has popularized. With an optics cut slide, heavy grip texturing, a good trigger, tritium sights and quality Cerakoting, the SAR 9 Subcompact Gen2 brings a lot to the table. Once past the initial stumbles, this pistol developed into a really nice handgun to shoot.

The SAR9 Subcompact Gen 2 has an MSRP of $469.99 (black), or $479.99 (platinum, green or bronze), with a street price around $20 cheaper than the current MSRP.  It’s definitely worth checking out.

See more of author Jens “Rex Nanorum” Hammer at The Truth About Guns, and Ammoland.