Extar EP9: A review

[Grayfox54]

Some of you may remember THIS THREAD from last fall. It was asked who would be the TGO test subject and buy one. Well i'm your sucker volunteer. So now I'm gonna tell you all about it.  Here's a link to the manufactures web page with all the details. Extar EP9 Also note that the price is $419. That's pretty cheap for a gun like this. That's also why they're so popular. 

First off, the thing is kind of hard to get a hold of.  They restock on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 5:00pm Mountain Time. And you better be there then because these sell out real quick! I talking the whole inventory is gone in less than an hour.  It took six months, but I finally happened to catch it at the right time and ordered one.  The website also mentions that it takes 1 to 2 weeks for shipment. Believe it! It was two weeks exactly from the time I ordered until I had it in my hands.  I have no idea why it takes so long, but it does. 

Here's how it comes in the box. 

You might note that the brace was already on it when it arrived. All the info says it comes separate and the web site even includes instructions for putting it on. Oh well, I ain't gonna argue about it. 

Here it is after I added a few things:

First impressions: Its a neat little pistol. Compact, light weight and it even looks kinda cool. It handles very well.

The trigger is a bit heavy at just over 7 pounds. However, it breaks very clean and crisp. Once I got used to it, I could handle it quite well. Of course that's easy enough to fix. But I think I'm gonna leave it as it is. 

Magazine issues: The gun comes with one Magpul 17 round Glock magazine. It works perfectly, no problems there at all.  However I also ordered 4 Glock factory extended magazines for it. two 24 round and two 32 round. They had issues. all the mags fit ok, but none of them wound drop free when released. They were just a little too tight. I ended up having to sand the sides down a bit in order to get them to drop free. I remember in one of the You-tube reviews I saw that that guy mentioned that he had to do that too. Not really a big deal, but it was irritating to have to do it.  Since I don't own any Glock pistols to try, I can't say if the regular pistol mags work or not. It may just be an issue with the extended versions. 

When shooting the gun I also discovered that it is entirely possible to shove the mag in too far when inserting the mag on an open bolt. When this happens, the bolt hangs up on the back of the mag when trying to close. This only happens if you shove the mag in very hard. Plastic on plastic I guess? Anyway, I learned to insert the mag and then give it a slight downward pull as as it seated. Again, not a big deal but irritating until you get the hang of it.  maybe the gun just needs a little break in time? IDK?

Range Report: Ok. so I took it out today and shot it. I started shooting off the bench at the 25/50 yard range. I needed to sight it in and I wanted to shoot some groups. Overall performance was good. Here's a few targets.

Bear in mind that I'm a shaky, half blind old man.  A younger shooter and a better trigger would probably get better groups. 

MALFUNCTION!: It seems that one of my reloads was out of specs. It wouldn't go all the way into the chamber. When that big, heavy bolt rammed into it, the cartridge got stuck big time! It wouldn't fire because the bolt was slightly out of battery. OTOH, the extractor had a death grip on the cartridge and I couldn't get the bolt open to clear it.   I ended up having to separate the upper and lower receivers and putting a wooden dowel down the barrel and hammering the stuck cartridge loose.  But this was the fault of a bad round, not the gun. 

After getting it sighted in and shooting groups, I then moved over to the Action Shooting range. I had a bay set up with 7 steel round plates, 1 popper and I added three IDPA cardboard targets. From there it was all run and gun!  I'd put in a magazine and start banging steel as fast as I could go. I got good hits every single time and was able to stay in the A zone on the cardboard consistently.  The little gun performed like a champ! All in all, I put 500 rounds through this thing today. Except for the malfunction already mentioned, it fed and fired everything I put in it. Factory ammo, my reloads, FMJs, HPs and LRN. But be warned, this little sucker will burn through a whole lot of ammo real quick! 

One more little item to mention. When you start dumping 32 round magazines through this thing, the handguard tends to get hot! And that little quarter inch exposed section of the barrel nut behind the handguard gets real hot! I'm thinking it will be a good idea to add some sort of forward grip to this thing. Not sure if I want to go straight or angled? Opinions here would be welcome.

Final thoughts: Ok, so I got one. Now what? Honestly, I don't know why I bought it? Looks cool and sorta appeals to the inner operator in all of us.  But does it really serve any real purpose that my current handguns and rifles don't already fill? I just don't know. If the S should ever HTF. I know what I'll be grabbing and this ain't it. Granted, for what it is and at its price, its a darn good little gun. Yeah, it has a couple of little quirks, but nothing bad enough to say don't buy. I enjoyed shooting it as it is a lot of fun. But somehow I get the feeling that I'm just gonna play with it for a while and eventually send it on down the road. I'm gettin' a little bit too old to be playing at being an operator. 

 

 

 

[Ronald_55]

Cool looking. Thanks for the review. From someone who has not looked at these, are they just an AR9 design in polymer?

Fyi,  you need an angled foregrip unless you want to stamp it, if this is truly a pistol.

[hipower]

Yes, thanks for the review and pics. Little sucker seems to like the 124 gr loads from your pics. 

I toyed with the idea of one for a while, but just have too many other things in 9 to add this one. 

But I've said things like that before. 

[Grayfox54]

Ronald, yeah that's pretty much it. An AR9 in polymer. Its a straight blowback action and the charging handle is on the left side instead of the rear. But all the controls and the trigger group are pure AR. 

So you're saying that if I put a straight down foregrip on this thing it becomes a SBR? Really? 

[hipower]

8 minutes ago, Grayfox54 said:

Ronald, yeah that's pretty much it. An AR9 in polymer. Its a straight blowback action and the charging handle is on the left side instead of the rear. But all the controls and the trigger group are pure AR. 

So you're saying that if I put a straight down foregrip on this thing it becomes a SBR? Really? 

Yep. Ain't that a hoot?

The real world differences between a pistol, an SBR, and a rifle are just hilariously bizarre.

Edited May 7, 2019 by hipower

[Ronald_55]

45 minutes ago, Grayfox54 said:

Ronald, yeah that's pretty much it. An AR9 in polymer. Its a straight blowback action and the charging handle is on the left side instead of the rear. But all the controls and the trigger group are pure AR. 

So you're saying that if I put a straight down foregrip on this thing it becomes a SBR? Really? 

Yep. I think personally it is the whole reason angled foregrips came about.

This is old, but I think is still the current rule.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/open-letter/all-ffls-may2006-open-letter-adding-vertical-fore-grip-handgun/download&ved=2ahUKEwj40f-lvIjiAhVSdt8KHUrBAeYQFjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw1pWneRexYb6T7KC_VKk7bt

Edited May 7, 2019 by Ronald_55

[peejman]

9 hours ago, hipower said:

Yep. Ain't that a hoot?

The real world differences between a pistol, an SBR, and a rifle are just hilariously bizarre.

Indeed. And don't forget the AOW. 

Edited May 7, 2019 by peejman

[Magiccarpetrides]

Thanks for the review!  Sounds like a worthy truck gun or range toy...if I didn't already have an AR9 I'd probably be lining up to buy one at that price!

[Steelharp]

Awesome. Thanks, now I really want one! (When you get ready to send it down the road...  )

[hipower]

44 minutes ago, Steelharp said:

Awesome. Thanks, now I really want one! (When you get ready to send it down the road...  )

You are as bad as me!

[Jamie Jackson]

Thank you for the review @Grayfox54 !

Now I gotta figure what what I can sell 'cause I obviously need one of these.