Pistol Review: The SAR 7/24 Series

May 8
5 min read

Every few years, a manufacturer drops a pistol at SHOT Show that makes the room pause. Not because of hype. Not because of celebrity endorsements or Instagram campaigns. But because the gun in hand does not feel like what the badge on the slide would lead you to expect. The Sarsilmaz SAR 7/24 series, debuted at SHOT Show 2026 in Compact, Full Size, and Sport configurations, is that kind of surprise. Pick one up and you stop thinking about where it was made. You start thinking about how well it was made, and why nobody told you sooner.

The Name Behind the Numbers

Sarsilmaz is not new. The company was founded in 1880, giving it over 140 years of continuous firearms manufacturing experience. Based in Turkey, they are one of the largest firearms producers in the world, supplying military and law enforcement agencies across more than 80 countries. American shooters may know them better under the SAR USA banner, which handled U.S. distribution for years. The company recently rebranded under the Sarsilmaz name globally, and the 7/24 series represents their most ambitious play for the American commercial market to date. The name itself is a clever inversion of "24/7," signaling a pistol designed for constant readiness, any hour, any day.

What makes the 7/24 interesting is not that a large Turkish manufacturer decided to build a steel-framed 9mm. It is that they built one this well.

The Platform

All three 7/24 models share the same core architecture. These are hammer-fired, DA/SA, all-stainless-steel pistols built on the CZ 75 pattern, with the slide riding inside the frame on internal rails. That design keeps the bore axis low in the hand and produces smooth, consistent slide travel with minimal vertical play. The frame wraps up and around the slide in the familiar CZ 75 fashion, and the grip angle and ergonomic contouring have clearly been designed with the Shadow 2 crowd in mind.

Each model features a forged steel barrel with an integrated barrel bushing, a detail that most pistols at this end of the market do not include. The bushing provides consistent barrel-to-slide lockup on every cycle, which contributes directly to mechanical accuracy and reduces the vertical stringing that looser lockup systems can produce under rapid fire.

The trigger is a curved DA/SA unit with an adjustable reset distance. Double-action pull comes in around 9.5 pounds, smooth and progressive. Single-action breaks at approximately 2 pounds 13 ounces, which is genuinely competitive with pistols that cost significantly more. The reset is short, defined, and tactile. Sarsilmaz has also noted that the trigger system can be converted to single-action-only with a flat trigger shoe, though the DA/SA configuration with the curved trigger is what ships on these models.

All three guns wear G10 grips with crosshatch texturing and frame checkering that provides aggressive traction without being uncomfortable during extended sessions. An extended beavertail allows a high grip close to the bore axis. The flared magwell is integral to the frame, facilitating fast reloads without an aftermarket add-on. A universal Picatinny rail sits ahead of the trigger guard for lights, lasers, or competition weights. And every model in the series ships optics-ready, with the slide milled to accept RMSc, RMRcc, and RMR footprint red dots. All three mounting plates are included in the box, which is the kind of decision that suggests someone at Sarsilmaz actually listens to what American shooters want.

Standard sights are 3-dot white iron sights, simple and effective. Magazine capacity across all three models is 17+1.

Three Models, One Philosophy

What separates the Compact, Full Size, and Sport is barrel length, slide length, and intended application. The grip frame is shared across the series, which means all three maintain the same 17-round capacity and the same full firing grip. You are not losing purchase on the gun when you move to the Compact. You are simply shortening the slide.

The SAR 7/24 Full Size wears a 4.0-inch barrel and weighs 38 ounces empty. Overall length is 7.7 inches with a height of 5.8 inches. This is the all-purpose model: balanced, capable, equally at home as a duty pistol, a nightstand gun, a range companion, or an entry into competition. If you are buying one 7/24 and want it to do everything, this is the one.

The SAR 7/24 Compact trims the barrel to 3.6 inches and drops the weight to 36.3 ounces. Height comes down to 5.7 inches while overall length holds at 7.7 inches. The shorter slide makes concealed carry more practical, particularly under a jacket or with an OWB holster and cover garment. At 36 ounces, it is still a steel-framed pistol, so nobody is going to mistake it for a pocket gun. But for the shooter who wants CZ 75 architecture, steel-frame stability, and the ability to actually carry the thing, the Compact fills a role that the Full Size and Sport were not designed to.

The SAR 7/24 Sport stretches the barrel to 4.4 inches with an extended slide to match, and adds an adjustable rear sight assembly. The additional slide length provides a longer sight radius and more reciprocating mass, both of which benefit the competition shooter chasing fast, precise strings. The Sport is designed for the range and the match stage, and its adjustable rear sight allows fine-tuning of point of impact that the fixed sights on the Compact and Full Size cannot offer.

Why This Matters

The steel-framed, CZ 75-pattern, DA/SA 9mm is one of the most competitive segments in the handgun market. The CZ Shadow 2 has owned this space for years, and for good reason. What the SAR 7/24 series brings to the conversation is a stainless steel alternative with a forged barrel, a barrel bushing, factory optics cuts with three plates included, a sub-3-pound single-action trigger, and the backing of a manufacturer with 140 years of institutional knowledge. All of that at a price point that undercuts the established competition.

It would be easy to dismiss the 7/24 as "another CZ clone." That would be a mistake. The barrel bushing, the adjustable trigger reset, the included optics plates, the stainless construction, and the overall fit and finish speak to a level of engineering intent that goes beyond simply copying a successful design. Sarsilmaz took the CZ 75 architecture, understood why it works, and built their own interpretation with modern features that the original platform was never designed to include.

Final Thoughts

The SAR 7/24 series is a lineup that respects the shooter's intelligence. It does not overwhelm you with gimmicks. It does not try to be something it is not. It is a steel-framed, hammer-fired 9mm built on proven architecture, executed with modern manufacturing, and offered in three configurations that cover carry, duty, and competition without asking you to compromise on features or capacity. The Compact carries. The Full Size serves. The Sport competes. And all three do it with the kind of quiet confidence that comes from a company that has been building firearms since before the automobile existed. If you have been looking for a steel-framed DA/SA 9mm and assumed the only serious option started with the letters C and Z, the SAR 7/24 would like a word.