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SAR USA is the exclusive United States importer of Sarsilmaz pistols, a Turkish manufacturer dating back to 1880. Sarsilmaz manufactures pistols for military and law enforcement in over 80 countries. SAR USA collaborates with Sarsilmaz to design pistols built for the US consumer market. One such pistol designed for the American market is the SAR9 Sport edition, a pistol built for competition at a budget-friendly and entry-level price.
I’ve long been a fan of pistols imported from Turkey as they’re usually feature-rich, affordable, and surprisingly accurate. I find SAR guns comparable to imported pistols from Tisas and CANiK, which I have reviewed in the past. SAR USA sent me the Gen 3 SAR9 Sport, the first SAR gun I’ve received to review. I found many pros to this handgun, along with a couple of cons, but overall, I was impressed with the look, feel, and functionality. Let’s dive into the features of the SAR9 pistol.
SAR9 Sport Flat Face Trigger
A pistol designed for competition needs to come out of the box ready for action. Manufacturers that design handguns specifically for competition without a trigger to match are missing the mark. SAR USA nailed the trigger on the SAR9. The aluminum flat face trigger is a pleasure to shoot, with smooth take-up, a clean break, and an easy-to-find reset. The SAR9 is also built with several safeties, one of which is an integrated trigger safety.
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Optic Ready
Competition guns should also come standard with an optic cut, whether it be a specific footprint for a direct mounting solution, or cut for use with optic plates with various footprints. There are pros and cons to having a gun pre-cut for use with one footprint, as well as it being compatible with optic plates. A direct mount solution is ideal for competition, mainly because there are fewer set screws and fewer parts to worry about loosening. The downside, however, to a gun cut for one style footprint is its limitation of compatible optics.
A pistol that is optic-ready but requires an optic plate typically introduces two more set screws to the mix, which isn’t a downside if you torque the screws down correctly and apply a little Loctite to them. The real difference in using an optic plate on a slide is the height that is added to the optic when it’s mounted to the gun. This might mean you need to work on dry firing a little more to establish what the natural aim is on target with the red dot.
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SAR9 Sport Optic Footprint
With all of that explained, I was surprised to find that the SAR9 Sport Gen 3 pistol is cut for RMSc and not RMR or another style footprint for larger optics. RSMc footprint optics tend to be smaller and are designed more for compact and concealed carry handguns.
It doesn’t matter what handgun I want to compete with or what shooting sport I’m competing in. I prefer the pistol to have the largest window optic for its expansive field of view. A few examples of optics I prefer on competition handguns are the Holosun 507Comp, Trijicon SRO, or Meprolight MPO-F. What do they have in common? Giant windows, bigger MOA reticle options or multi-reticle options, and all designed with the RMR footprint. I think it was a miss for SAR to outfit this competition-specific pistol for use with optics designed on the RMSc footprint. If it were a choice between keeping the rear sight or getting an RMR direct cut, I’d lose the rear sight in a flash.
Reflex Sight
I am thankful to Gideon Optics for sending me a few optics a couple of months ago to try out. The Judge Pistol Reflex Sight was perfect to use on the SAR9 Sport as it has an RMSc footprint and a 3 MOA dot reticle. The controls on this optic are similar to the RMR, featuring a plus button on one side and a minus button on the other to make brightness adjustments. It’s simple to zero with adjustable windage and elevation dials.
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This optic is powered by the popular CR2032 battery, which I prefer because it’s the most common type to find. I have been impressed by Gideon Optics as the quality is there, as well as the reliability. I’ve tried four different optics now on various types of guns chambered in multiple calibers. None have lost zero, turned off randomly, or failed in any way. The price vs. the value is what’s most unbelievable, so if you’re looking for a budget-friendly optic that is still of good quality, check out Gideon Optics.
Other Features
The ergonomics of the SAR9 Sport are well-designed. While I usually am not a fan of finger grooves, the subtle grooves along the front strap of the grip are naturally comfortable. The SAR9 Sport also ships with three interchangeable backstraps to fit different hand sizes, allowing you to customize the gun to your preferences. Since this pistol has a polymer frame, there is generally more felt recoil. I was grateful that the ergonomics made it a comfortable shooting handgun.
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The slide serrations on the front and rear of the slide are well-designed and are one of the features I look for in a competition handgun. Most shooting sports are an outdoor affair, which means extreme heat, rainy conditions, shooting in snowy weather, and the possibility of having to shoot with gloves on. Even with a red dot optic mounted to the pistol, a C Clamp grip over the optic allows you to use the rear slide serrations to manipulate the handgun as necessary. The front serrations can give you purchase on the slide using just about any method, whether it’s a C Clamp or using the web of your hand to manipulate the slide.
Minor Details
Sometimes, the more minor details on a handgun are what I appreciate the most. The SAR9 Sport pistol has a rectangular texturized patch on both sides of the frame, right above the trigger. This is typically used as an indexing mark for your support hand thumb to ensure you’re gripping the gun the same way every time. This small detail is valuable to competitive shooters for consistency. The other feature I appreciate about this gun is the design of the magazine release button. The unique rectangular shape is one I haven’t seen before, and I like how high the button is located on the frame. The texturing on it is another one of those small details that SAR got right.
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Manual Safety
The final feature I wanted to mention is the ambidextrous manual thumb safety. It’s great that the SAR9 Sport Gen 3 has an integrated trigger safety, manual safety, and firing pin/striker block to ensure the pistol doesn’t fire when it shouldn’t. That said, I don’t think a striker-fired handgun designed for competition should have an external thumb safety. Sure, you could choose not to use the thumb safety in practice, but in most shooting sports, an external safety must be engaged if it exists. For example, rule 8.1.2.4 in USPSA reads:
“Striker fired/Safe Action” – chamber loaded, handgun cocked, external safety engaged if present.
The thumb safety is a bit small and challenging for me to disengage, but other shooters might not have any issues with it. The safety probably isn’t a deal breaker for most people, especially newer shooters wanting to try their hand at shooting sports. The time it takes to disengage the safety isn’t long enough to impact most shooters’ results. For high-level competitive shooters, any extra time struggling to disengage a safety can be costly.
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Range Test
My friend Maggie and I put the SAR9 Sport Sport through the ringer. Although I only chronographed and tested accuracy with five loads, we fired 10 different types of ammunition through the SAR pistol. I was curious about its performance using not just full metal jackets, but also with flat nose and coated bullets. I only had one or two stovepipes, which makes sense as the overall length of each load varied. Maggie had a few malfunctions, but credited them to her lack of grip and wrist strength. Maggie is usually my go-to tester of handguns to see if they will work for shooters with smaller hands and/or less hand strength compared to others. With lightweight striker-fired handguns, you need major grip strength for the gun to cycle properly. Any limp-wristing will most likely result in failures to cycle.
The accuracy of the gun was what I expected, with varying results depending on the ammunition. The Speer Lawman 147-grain ammunition wasn’t only the most accurate but also the slowest, offering the best felt recoil through the gun. The SAR9 did not like the lighter grain bullet loads with the faster velocities. With the right pairing of ammunition, the SAR9 Sport will shoot tight groups, perfect for competition.
Final Thoughts
With an MSRP price of $549.99, the SAR9 Sport is an excellent handgun to use in various shooting sports. I would recommend this pistol for entry-level competitive shooters who want to try competition shooting to see if they like it without investing thousands of dollars into something they might not enjoy. As I mentioned at the start of this review, the overall performance of the SAR9 Sport is an excellent value for the price and total package.
SAR9 Sport Gen 3 Specifications
Caliber: 9mm
Action: Striker
Capacity: 17 and 19-round magazines
Pistol Width: 1.4 inches
Barrel Length: 5.2 inches
Overall Length: 8.1 inches
Weight Empty: 29 ounces
Sights: Tritium Night Sights, RMSc Optic Ready
Safety: Trigger Safety and Manual Thumb Safety
MSRP: $549.99
Accuracy & Chronograph Data
| Federal Syntech Action Pistol 150 grain Syntech Jacket Flat Nose | |
| Average Velocity | 974 FPS |
| Best Group | 1.39 inches |
| Aguila 147 grain Full Metal Jacket Flat Point | |
| Average Velocity | 940 FPS |
| Best Group | 1.87 inches |
| Speer Lawman Handgun Training 147 grain Total Metal Jacket | |
| Average Velocity | 1,007 FPS |
| Best Group | 0.80 inches |
| Super Vel 124 grain Full Metal Jacket | |
| Average Velocity | 1,051 FPS |
| Best Group | 2.27 inches |
| American Eagle Handgun 115 grain Full Metal Jacket | |
| Average Velocity | 1,220 FPS |
| Best Group | 2.03 inches |
(5 Rounds Shot at 15 yards and Chronographed using the Garmin Xero C1 Pro)
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The post Hands On With The SAR9 Sport Gen 3 appeared first on Athlon Outdoors Exclusive Firearm Updates, Reviews & News.
