Caracal announced today a recall of every C model pistol the company has ever made. Â The recall is not limited to any specific serial numbers or market.
The safety issue(s) with the Caracal C cannot be fixed according to information released by the company. Â No guns will be repaired and/or returned to the purchaser. Â Caracal is offering a full refund of the original purchase price or vouchers for other Caracal products.
Caracal appears to have shaken up the entire product line. Â Some guns are out, while other new guns are now being shown. Â Here is a quick break down of all of the changes, along with links to detailed information on each of the new guns.
In the handgun category, the old “F” and “C” pistols appear to have changed names, and the addition of a sub-compact pistol to the line has appeared. Â They are the CP660 (full size), CP661 (compact) and CP662 (subcompact) pistols. Â All three of these guns are chambered in the 9mm.
The Caracal Assault Rifle 816, or CAR 816, is a piston-operated M-4 type carbine that was introduced earlier this year. Â The gun uses a two-position gas port for normal operation and suppressed shooting. Â Rate of fire is listed as 850 rpm. (Ed. note: Â See the September 2013 update at the bottom of the article regarding the gas port and rate of fire.)
The CAR 816 is chambered in 5.56 NATO and comes in three barrel lengths:  10″, 14.5″ and 16″.  The barrels are chrome lined and cold hammer forged from chromolybdenum steel.  The barrel uses a 1:7″ twist.
The barrels are threaded, and come with a “standard muzzle break [sic].” Â From the photos, it appears the muzzle device is a standard A2 type birdcage flash hider. Â Of course, with so many different muzzle devices on the market today, it is hard to say for certain from the photos alone.
According to Caracal, the rifle comes with a magazine release on the right side of the receiver, but an ambidextrous option is available.  The gun uses STANAG-compliant magazines, and ships with a 30 round mag.  The rifle is shown with a PMAG, but it is not known if Magpul magazines ship with the gun, or more pedestrian USGI mags.
Introduced in the summer of 2012, the 2013 SHOT Show was our first opportunity to get our hands on the new Caracal CC10 9mm carbine. The “CC†stands for “Caracal Carbineâ€. The CC10 has a steel receiver and barrel, with a polymer frame, however no details were given on the type of steel.
The CC10 will come in (2) variants – the SB (short barrel version) and the LB (long barrel version). The SB versions are marketed towards law enforcement, while the LB versions are promoted to the civilian market. Unfortunately, I was not able to put some rounds downrange with this carbine to truly give it a full review.  [Ed. note:  When we were at the morning session of Media Day during the 2013 SHOT Show, Caracal did not have the CC10 at the range.  They promised to have it there later in the day, but it was never seen by any of our writers.]