Caracal International
Caracal is a huge, international firearms manufacturer with facilities in Asia, Europe, South America, the Middle East, and the U.S. The company has high-tech manufacturing and quality control capabilities only available to production powerhouses. Its U.S. guns, including this one, come from Caracal’s plant in Idaho.
Caracal supplies militaries and law enforcement agencies worldwide, so its pistols are tested to U.S. military and NATO standards, including tests such as the Bore Obstruction protocol.
Overview
The gun itself is your typical full-sized, polymer-framed, striker-fired 9mm pistol designed for self-defense or duty carry. It’s a rugged and reliable gun that uses the standard Browning tilting action – nothing particularly groundbreaking or innovative here until you get to the sights.
This Quick Sight system looks weird, but it works. The sights on this pistol are very fast to pick up, which makes getting on target and transitioning between targets extra speedy. It’s probably the fastest iron sight system I’ve used on a pistol.
This new Enhanced F pistol is Caracal’s American-made redesign of its earlier F pistol produced overseas. The gun uses the latest firearm ideas and is built around a modular steel chassis, which is the serialized part of the firearm. In theory, grip modules can be swapped out just like on the SIG 320 or 365, although I haven’t seen Caracal introduce different frame sizes.
I like the fact that the slide rails on the chassis are longer than typical chassis guns, so it more fully supports the slide.
Grip & Trigger
The grip itself has a slim feel for an 18+1 capacity gun. It’s completely dehorned for comfortable carry. The tang is high, allowing for a deep grip and low bore axis. There is a large trigger guard opening for gloved hands. The takedown tabs are located in the trigger guard, but they work just like on a Glock.
I would have preferred more grip texture, but I didn’t have any major problems – except that the ambidextrous magazine release needs to be depressed very deeply to function. I found myself having to rotate the gun a lot to push it in deep enough for the mag to release.
The trigger was about standard for a duty-grade, striker-fired gun – nothing to write home about. It broke between 4 and 5 pounds and was a bit spongy and long. The reset was long as well.
Slide
The slide is low profile, similar to a CZ 75. This short height slide makes it light to reduce felt recoil and improve slide speed. I found the recoil impulse very manageable.
Overall weight is 26 ounces with an empty mag. That’s pretty good for a gun with a 4.1-inch barrel and a full-sized grip. The rear of the slide has a ledge for one-hand manipulations. There is a loaded chamber indicator and a small left-side slide lock.
My only issue with the slide was that I wish the forward serrations extended back a bit farther. I found the front slide cuts a little too close to the muzzle for my taste.
Quick Sight System
Now, let’s talk about the sights. The Caracal Enhanced F is offered with two different sighting systems: one with traditional sights and the Quick Sight model. There is supposed to be a suppressor-ready model with suppressor-height sights and threaded barrel, but I have not seen it released yet.
The Quick Sight puts both the front and rear sights on the slide in front of the ejection port. On a normal-sighted gun, the front sight is on one focal plane, and the rear sight is on a different focal plane. Because the human eye can only focus on one focal plane at a time, it’s common doctrine that the front sight should be in focus and crystal-clear, while the rear sight should be fuzzy.
The Quick Sight system puts both sights in virtually the same focal plane, making them easier to acquire and line up. No longer must you align something that’s partially blurry.
I was very skeptical when I first heard about this, but in practice, the system delivered. The sights were very natural to pick up. It’s incredibly intuitive.
Some may comment that the shortened sight radius will impede accuracy. At long ranges, this may be true, but this gun was designed for combat distances. I found it accurate enough for normal use. My groups at 15 yards were respectable. I’m confident I would be able to hit a man-sized target past 25 yards. For me, that’s good enough for me to trust and carry this system.
Issues
My first “con” is that the rear sight can’t be changed. I like the sight picture that comes from the factory – white dot front with serrated and blacked-out rear – but the rear sight is machined into the slide. There is a dovetail for the front sight, so you can change that, but none on the rear.
Also, there is no option for mounting a red dot sight, which seems blasphemous in 2024. Finally, I would like a little more grip texture.
Conclusion
While not really geared toward competition use, this is a great self-defense pistol for people who don’t like red dots or for institutions that can’t put red dots on all their guns. It’s reliable, accurate, and easy to carry. The Caracal Enhanced F is an extremely capable pistol with a unique sighting system that is worth a look.
