Charles Daly CD9 9mm

**o.d. ak** · 02-20-2010, 12:06 AM

Picked this up as an impulse buy at the funshop the other day. Since Charles Daly (or rather KBI and CD by extension) has gone belly up, seems that the remaining inventory has been sold off for cheap and this means that there are some potential good deals to be had.

At first I thought it was a Walther P99 when i glanced at it through the glass and was immediately interested since i've been looking for a old style AS P99 for some time. Low and behold it was a Charles Daly. I remember reading about these pistols in one of the gun rags coverage of last years SHOT shows and i had been interested but kind of forgot about it over time.

The price tag was very inviting so i asked to look at it. Felt good in the hand and i had some money burning a hole in my pocket so it followed me home. Now that i've had some time to look over it more closely i wanted to share my feelings on the good and the bad.

The Good: Looks like a P99 and feels like a P99. Interchangable backstraps. Steel magazines that seem to be of a fairly robust design. Novak style sights. Nice large trigger guard for gloved hands (standard issue around here nov-may

).

The Bad: White dots on sights are covered in glow paint making them kind of a dull white. Sights are plastic on the front and some type of alloy on the rear (i think). Proprietary magazine (AFAIK). Slide rattles a bit (but this looseness might enhance reliability, its no worse than some 1911's ive seen). Front sight is kind of pyramid shaped but i don't think that will affect "combat accuracy".

The Indifferent: Works like a Glock and suffers from the same issue (IMO) of being slighty undersprung from the factory, IE when the striker is cocked it takes little effort to push the slide backward and begin the unlocking action. This of course can be fixed with slightly stronger recoil spring (anyone want to measure a G17 guide rod for me ? I think it might fit). Only comes with two magazines.

Other Thoughts: The polymer used in the frame seems to be like the harder old HK style thats more like synthetic stock material than what you would see in newer poly pistols though i doubt this matters much. The finish is a type of baked on enamel that reminds me of the finish we had on our air force M9 pistols (only time will tell how durable it will be). Made in Turkey.

I haven't had time to get out to the range and see how it runs but it seems to be nicely machined (some tool marks) and quite well put together. Turkish arms manufacture has come a long way in the last few years and i've had good luck with some of the shotguns made over there. In all unless it turns out to be a total turd when it comes to shooting, i'm pretty happy.

Oh and total cost was $330 out the door with 100 rounds of 9mm. I'll update this thread when i get a proper range test as well.

j427x · 02-20-2010, 09:48 AM

the only KBI i have is a m-4 type upper. it is very nice and high quality all around.

i wish i had bought some of those p35s they were importing a few years ago.

your pistol was likely made by the same people making the 45 acp m1911 clone from turkey? if so it should be a pretty good all a-rounder.

**Coils** · 02-21-2010, 03:04 AM

Quote:

Since Charles Daly (or rather KBI and CD by extension) has gone belly up

Didn't hear of this. Was KBI & CD the only distributors for Daly's?

Looks like a nice pistol, I think you got it at a good price.

MUSIBIKE · 02-21-2010, 02:54 PM

I sure do like that one!

**o.d. ak** · 03-19-2010, 11:36 PM

Finally got out to the range today to try this and my newest AK build out and after 100 rounds and 0 malfunctions i am very pleased. As i suspected the pyramid front was a bit tough to get a good sight picture for formal target work but when doing some fast snap shooting the triangular shape helped indexing a bit i think.

about a 4-5" group at 50 feet offhand. Not spectacular by any means but for a combat type pistol as long as i can keep them on a paper plate at that range its good enough for me but i think the front sight might have contributed. Its a novak style so i might see if i can swap it out with something else but not really that concerned about it.

All in all its one of the better $300 purchases i have made in the gun world.

**bellson** · 03-19-2010, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MUSIBIKE

I sure do like that one!

Well of course you like it, you have what; a bizzillion rounds of 9mm in the shed?????

Seriously, it looks like a nice find.

**bellson** · 03-19-2010, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by o.d. ak

Finally got out to the range today to try this and my newest AK build out and after 100 rounds and 0 malfunctions i am very pleased. As i suspected the pyramid front was a bit tough to get a good sight picture for formal target work but when doing some fast snap shooting the triangular shape helped indexing a bit i think.

about a 4-5" group at 50 feet offhand. Not spectacular by any means but for a combat type pistol as long as i can keep them on a paper plate at that range its good enough for me but i think the front sight might have contributed. Its a novak style so i might see if i can swap it out with something else but not really that concerned about it.

All in all its one of the better $300 purchases i have made in the gun world.

Anything in the breadbasket is all good. If you can do that well when it counts, you will be more effective than 88% of LAPD cops.

NWCoastalSailor · 03-20-2010, 11:55 PM

o.d. ak

Wanted to thank you for the range test you posted last evening. I have been searching the net for such for over two weeks. Seems yours is the first to be posted.

Based on your original posting dated 2/19/2010 along with small hints on many other discussion groups concerning the CD9 I placed an order for the
pistol this past Thursday. Since Charles Daly has gone out of business the
Lifetime Warrenty which they had on the gun may be worthless. Davidson's
is listing the CD9 at the price you paid for it through your source and it comes with their companies Lifetime Warrenty. That eliminates one major negative to buying the gun.

I should have it early this coming week and after a proper cleaning and lubrication intend to run an assortment of 115 grain FMJ and a few 124 grain
JHP through it at my local range. We have 15 yard and 25 yard dedicated
pistol ranges and I will be freehanding and shooting from rest. I believe, based on your report, that I have made a very good buy.

If I run into any problems, I will post such.

**o.d. ak** · 03-21-2010, 12:59 AM

No problem. Keep us informed on how yours works.

NWCoastalSailor · 03-30-2010, 11:35 PM

I have just returned from my club's firing range where I have tested the second CD9 I have had in the past week and a half. The explination for this is as follows:

My sporting goods dealer received the first CD9 I had ordered through Davidson's early last week. I took the pistol home and gave it and both magazines through cleanings and proper lubrication. It is easier and faster to strip this gun for maintenance then to change the back strap on the rear of the grip.

The following day I took the CD9 to my club's 15 yard pistol range along with 3 different brands of 9mm Luger ammunition. All of the ammunition was FMJ.
I loaded each of the magazines with differing manufactures rounds. One brand of ammo in one magazine, another in the second magazine. The first round fired correctly and the pistol chambered the next round. On pulling the trigger on the second round, the striker was felt to function but a FTF occurred. I chambered a new round and recovered the FTF. The third round fired and the forth round failed to fire. If you pull the slide back slightly less then 1" on the CD9 after a FTF, the striker re cocks without ejecting the chambered round.

Believing that the gun was possibly not firing due to the brand of ammunition first used, I switched to my second magazine which contained a different brand. The same pattern of FTF's again occurred. I reloaded the magazine
with CCI Brass Blazer loads and again fired. The CD9 then performed perfectly, firing every round correctly. I reloaded both magazines with the Blazer rounds and commenced testing. The gun continued to fire every round and on experimental rapid fire (a pracatice my club frowns on) the pistol again worked flawlessly. No FTF's or FTE's occurred at any time while firing the Blazer loads. By that time, I had developed the necessary "feel" for the gun having found a minimal recoil and perceived muzzel flip. I then set 5"
targets on the 15 yard board. On firing the next two magazines free hand, at a slower steady pace, I was able to place 5 shot patterns with 1" or less spreads. On rapid fire the spread was 2" to 3".

I collected all my spent brass and compared them. All of the earliest shell cases exhibited single or multiple firing pin marks in their primers. The ejected FTF's also showed pin marks in their primers. The Blazer shells all had single strikes in their primers. The one visible difference between the
problem ammo and the Blazer was that the first two manufactures used brass primers and the Blazer uses aluminum primers.

I returned the pistol to my dealer and showed it and the spent rounds to the staff. It was immediately noted that all the firing pin strikes on all the fired rounds were close to the outer edge of the primers. The aluminum primers fired due to the fact that they are softer then the brass primers. The CD9 was then examined and a clear problem was found. It appears that the hole drilled for the firing pin was not centered properlly. The result was that the firing pin was off angle, slowed due to possible binding and not extending far enough or hard enough into the brass primers to produce proper ignition in those rounds having such. In other words, the FTF's were being caused by a machining and manufacturing flaw. We did not attempt to micro the striker face as the off set was clearly visible.

My dealer contacted Davidson's and told them what had occured. Davidson's immediately shipped out a new CD9 for me. The Davidson organizations and their Lifetime GuaranteeD program rocks. Due to the above, I highly recommend buying through them especially for the CD9 as the Charles Daly
warranty may now be none existant.

I have now received the replacement CD9 (only took 3 days) and have taken a trip to the range. While at the dealer, when the second CD9 was opened, I noted that the white dot on the forward sight was missing. Hole was there but no dot. As this is easily correctable, I accepted the gun in this condition. We examined the striker face and noted that the firing pin was well centered on this pistol.

I took the gun to my range today and in addition to the three manufactured ammunitions used in the prior gun, I added remanufactured 115 gr JHP's to the mix. I fired 200 rounds through the CD9 and had not one FTF or FTE.
Firing pin marks were near dead center on all primers. In other words it fired everything I served up and performed magnificently. The accuracy was exactly as reported above.

My only criticism now have gone through two CD9's is that the manufactures quality control leaves much to be desired.