SAR SAR9 Subcompact Gen3: Budget-Friendly CCW

“Everybody deserves to have a gun that is easy to use and easy to shoot, regardless of their income level. We strive to give the shooter the best gun we can for the money,” said Tony Pignato, CEO of SAR USA. The release of the SAR USA SAR9 Subcompact Gen3 is a testimony to this commitment.

The SAR USA SAR9 Subcompact

I had the chance to speak with Pignato at the Athlon Outdoors Rendezvous last April. Held at the Brush Creek Ranch, we both shivered as the temps were in the 30s during the morning, and the range house we stood in was unheated. Stamping our feet didn’t seem to help much.

“Our Turkish partner, Sarsilmaz, is 145 years old. Just a start-up company, right?” he joked. “We have over a million square feet of manufacturing space, and handguns are our lowest form of technology.

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“We’re the third largest military and law enforcement hard goods manufacturer in the world, and we produce aerospace products, robots, drones, and dozens of other related products. We’ve made a heavy investment in robotics and now have zero waste at the factory because robots don’t make mistakes-only humans do.”

Pignato picked up a SAR9sc, SAR USA’s subcompact 9mm.

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“Your carry gun is the gun you shoot the least and suck with the most. But it is the most important gun you own when you need it.”

The SAR9sc is a polymer-framed, striker-fired 9mm that comes with a 12-round concealment magazine and a larger 15-round mag that gives the shooter the feeling of firing a full-size pistol. Control is important with a stubby 3.30-inch barrel.

The SAR9sc in Hand

Ergonomics are very important to Sarsilmaz designers, and they strived to make the SAR9 a natural pointer. Designers took the impressions of 1000 hands and created a computer-generated amalgamation. They then designed the grip around that. The result is a grip frame that my large hands found very comfortable.

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I watched as some of my female colleagues handled the SAR9sc, and they each remarked at just how incredibly comfortable the gun felt in their hand. Pignato said that the design “aids in the incredible absorption of disruptive energy.” The gun’s low bore axis also helps attenuate muzzle rise.

After firing several magazines of ammunition through the SAR9sc, I placed an order for a test and evaluation sample. It arrived a couple of weeks after our Rendezvous.  The sleek striker-fired gun and its petite dimensions have a great deal of appeal for concealed carry.

The polymer grip frame has very shallow finger grooves on the front strap and just enough texture to provide a secure firing grip without being overly aggressive, which can cause layering garments to hang up on.

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Sarsilmaz undercuts the frame where the trigger guard meets the frontstrap to encourage a high grip on the gun. The gentle arch of the backstrap funnels the hand into a higher hold. Shooters will find this helps mitigate recoil.

Rather than add length to the backstrap, Sarsilmaz engineers increased the length of the magazine floorplate. This provides a comfortable grip without the shooter’s pinky hanging under the grip frame. It’s a well-thought-out design that keeps the gun’s dimensions trim and makes it very concealable.

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Switching from the 12-round magazine to the 15-round mag gives the shooter a full-size grip for uncompromised shooting.

Subcompact Up Top

Its slide and barrel are both machined from carbon steel and finished in a tough, corrosion-resistant finish. The barrel is rifled with a 1:10” twist and is cold hammer forged, guaranteeing a long life. There are cutouts in the slide, ostensibly to lighten it and improve its cycling. Correspondingly, the gun uses a dual spring recoil system to give it the spring mass to handle light range loads as well as hot defense rounds.

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Sarsilmaz outfits the SAR9sc with tritium night sights. Its front sight features a fluorescent yellow ring around the tritium vial so it’s easy to pick up quickly in any light. The rear sight boasts a “U” notch with tritium vials on either side, and it can be drifted in its dovetail for windage correction.

The SAR9sc is optics-ready and is shipped with an adapter plate for the Shield RMSc red dot. This is one of my favorite optics, and it is perfect for use on a sub-compact.

As luck would have it, I had an event scheduled at Gunsite and brought the SAR9sc along with me. During some downtime, Gunsite’s affable Ken Campbell offered me the use of the range to test the pistol for accuracy and capture velocities.

Accuracy Testing

To remove as much human error as possible, I set up my DOA Tactical shooting bench and rested the pistol’s dust cover on my Ransom Rest Multi Cal Steady Rest. All groups were fired from a seated rest with five shots to a group, with the targets set out at 15 yards. Three groups were shot with each ammunition, with the best group recorded in the accuracy chart (below).

Even on a bright and cloudless July desert afternoon, I was able to easily see the Shield RMSc’s red dot. I centered it on my 2-inch diameter Shoot N C target and applied the 4 pounds of pressure necessary to drop the striker.

During my testing, I managed to place five shots into a tight .89-inch group using Federal’s 124-grain Training/Match Syntech rounds. I say “managed” because it did take a great deal of concentration to produce this group. While the gun’s trigger pull is only about 4 pounds, it is rough. So, it required every bit of finesse I possess to stay on target while increasing pressure on the trigger.

I had to remind myself that this isn’t a high-dollar custom gun but rather a value-packed budget gun. Despite this, my aggregate group size for the SAR9sc with the six different loads I tried was just 1.05 inches. That’s the kind of accuracy I expect from a gun costing two or three times as much!

Plinking with the SAR9 Subcompact

I also spent some time shooting the gumdrop-shaped steel targets, which approximate the heart and lung area of a human. Then, I took a spin through Gunsite’s Playhouse shoot-house. I found that when I stayed on the dot, I got my hits.

The SAR9sc’s rough trigger didn’t hamper me much, and my double-taps were quick. Likewise, I was able to transition from target to target without any issues. I’m currently 300 rounds into the gun’s evaluation and have yet to experience a stoppage. That’s the kind of performance needed to seriously consider a gun for defense use.

Today’s consumers are better educated and equipped to make a purchase than at any other time in history. SAR USA’s SAR9sc has a suggested price of $499, but you know how that goes—real-world pricing will be less. A quick interweb search will point you in the right direction.

Whether you pay full price or find a pistol at a significant discount, it will be hard to find a more value-packed gun for the money!

Parting Shots

I had the chance to speak with Tony Pignato, SAR USA’s CEO, at the Athlon Outdoors Rendezvous last April. Pignato filled me in about their Turkish partner, Sarsilmaz, and the commitment they have made to upgrading their robotic machinery.

“Robots don’t make mistakes,” he said succinctly.

Correspondingly, the new SAR USA SAR9sc GEN3 is a beautifully built gun with tight tolerances and a flawless finish. The polymer-framed, striker-fired gun is shipped with two magazines: a 12-round magazine for concealed carry and a 15-round extended mag.

The new gun is perfect for budget-minded concealed carriers and boasts a trigger blade safety. Likewise, a passive striker block prevents discharges if the gun is dropped on its muzzle.

Sarsilmaz equips the gun with low-profile tritium night sights. Additionally, for those who prefer red dots on their carry guns, the slide has an optics platform for the Shield RMSc footprint. I outfitted my test sample with just such a red dot and was impressed with the gun’s inherent accuracy.

At 15 yards, my aggregate group size, fired with a variety of range and defense ammunition, measured just a hair over one inch! What is even more exciting is that I fired over 300 rounds without a single stoppage.

Shooters today have an almost endless choice of polymer-framed, striker-fired guns to choose from. The SAR USA SAR9sc should certainly be included in your search. The suggested retail price of this pistol is $499. However, a quick internet search should lead you to one for substantially less.

SAR USA SAR9 Subcompact Specs

Evaluation

Performance