Palmetto State Armory is an evil temptress. They fiendishly work to pry money from your wallet with insidious Daily Deal emails. I recently fell victim when I spotted the full-size SAR9 from Turkish manufacturer Sarsilmaz on sale for just $180. I’ve owned Glocks for longer than I can remember but I’ve always leaned towards smaller models like the sub-compact Glock 27 and the compact Glock 19. At this price, though, how could I refuse?
The SAR9 had one feature which really jumped out at me. Since I’m a big fan of the 1911 platform, the idea of a thumb safety on a Glock-style pistol was something I found appealing. I’d been considering a new nightstand gun and I tend to leave the weapon surving that role out of a holster to save precious time. Since there are other things in the drawer, not worrying about something accidentally snagging the trigger sounded good.
It was also supposed to have a nicer trigger than the standard Glock. I have found that there’s still a good bit of travel before it breaks. I’ll need to do some tests to see how closely they compare.
Sarsilmaz has been around since 1880 but only joined the US market in 2018. They provide weapons to the Turkish military and have received very positive reviews across the various gun forums and Youtube. The first range trip was very promising. After disassembling it and giving it a solid cleaning/lubrication, I put 260 rounds through it without a single hiccup. The first 250 were Monarch 115-grain brass-cased rounds from Academy. The last 10 were Federal 124-grain HST which have excellent ballistics for a defensive round. I could have put more rounds through it, but I made a critical mistake and forgot my mag loader in my other range bag. Manually loading the very stiff magazines was slow and killed my hands so I didn’t push it beyond the single box.
I added the Osight SE green dot optic which mounts directly to the slide. One downside is that with the Gen 1 which I purchased is that it is optics ready, not optics cut. So I can’t co-witness with the factory sights. It’s a minor nit, but something to be aware of. The Gen 3 actually has a cut slide. I found the gun to be very accurate while using a braced grip. I did pull/push a few shots which I blame on unfamiliarity with the trigger. I’m confident that with more dry practice those mistakes will go away. I shot at 3-, 7-, and 10-yards and didn’t have any complaints.
For the price, SAR really takes care of you. The gun is provided in a hard case similar to Glock (not the Tupperware, though, this is a real case). Inside you’re rewarded with a safety lock, grip attachments to fit the grip perfectly to your hand (I found it fit like a glove right out of the box), two additional magazines for a total of three, and a very nice cleaning kit with a brass rod, nylon and brass brushes, patch holder, and the case becomes the handle.
I found that I don’t mind the full size at all. In fact, it feels a lot more natural in my hand than my Glock 19 Gen 5. The Glock feels clunky. The SAR9 feels like a dream.
