Adler Arms AD-9
- Graham Baates
- Oct 12
- 6 min read
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Since the beginning a decade ago I've always taken interest in firearms that are different or at least uncommon. This, combined with my bias-free protocol method of reviewing firearms has meant that several times in the past a firearm has appeared on GBGuns months or even a year before it's seen on one of the more commercial channels. Pride in this only deepens my interest in what is different or uncommon, so sometimes I take the risk of purchasing an unknown. In recent memory this includes the Balistik Defence Adam 9b, Ranger Arms RA9 Defence01, and Derya Arms DY9, all of which turned out to be excellent pistols.
Adler Arms is another company I hadn't heard of before, and when I saw the pistol retailing under $200 I took a chance. It's my hope that this can be another option among the slim pickings in that price range. The right to self defense should not be gate kept by one's earnings. That's a mantra the now-defunct SCCY held and Hi-Point continues to operate with.
The company website says they were established in 2007, but it appears import of handguns to the US has only recently began. The US importer, Akdal Arms website has a 2024 copyright and Google maps has the address as a muffler shop. My sample is of 2024 production and low serial number despite being purchased late in 2025. A lot of unanswered questions.
What Is It? The Adler Arms AD-9 is a medium-to-full sized, "optics ready" pistol that uses Glock-akin construction though I doubt any parts would interchange. An interesting choice is the use of Beretta 92 pattern magazines. The Beretta 92 does not use the Browning tilting barrel action and yet the AD-9 does. There is not much information out there about the pistol including the manufacturer and importer websites, or even in the manual! Special thanks to Classic Firearms for at least having some copy about the gun.
Who's it for? At this price point and size one might expect the Adler Arms AD-9 to be positioned for first-time buyers or those looking for a simple range and home gun. Unfortunately the manual appears to be mostly copied and pasted from someone else's manual and lacks any valuable information about the pistol so I can not recommend this for a first-time buyer unless they have someone to guide them through getting into shooting.
Take a Look at the Adler Arms AD-9 and what comes with it in the Tabletop video below. Rumble Link
Limited Specifications:
Caliber: 9x19 mm
Barrel Length: 4.5"
Capacity: 15 (note: although a Beretta 92 pattern magazine, this is a shorter magazine)
Weight: 26.8oz
Prices around the web as of 12OCT25
Click links for current pricing and availability
Optimistic about finding a new budget champion, though not trusting that "optics ready" I hit the range to follow the standard GBGuns range protocol of:
Cold Shots: Truly my first shots through the gun.
Full Magazine +1: Suprisingly some modern guns still struggle with this. It's a test of how much play is in the magazine as well as how the slide cycles with pressure. This is also when I do my best to learn the trigger. With aged magazines there is no promise.
What's For Dinnerâ„¢: A test to see what ammunition the gun will eat. Does the gun feed the round from slide lock, will it cycle and feed another round of the same type, does the slide lock to the rear on empty, and is there any notable point of impact change with different loads.
For this gun the following ammunition was used:
Priced and linked where found at the time this article was written
95gr Magtech SP $21.85 / 50 at Widener's
100gr Liberty Ammuniution Steel Plate and Range $33.59 / 50 at Palmetto State Armory
100gr Sellier & Bellot XRG $13.34 / 25 at Target Sports USAÂ (see review HERE)
100gr Blazer Reduced Recoil $17.89 / 50 at Palmetto State Armory
115gr Hornady American Gunner $21.41 / 25 at Global Ordnance
124gr Federal Premium HST $39.95 / 50 from Widener's
124gr PMC SFX JHP $24.85 / 50 from Widener's
130gr Federal Premium PCC Syntech $29.99 / 50 direct from Federal
147gr Fiocchi Defense Dynamics JHP $21.89 / 50 at GrabaGun
147gr Winchester Defense JHP $25.85 / 50 at Widener's
165gr AMMO, Inc. /stelTH/ $21.25 / 50 at Target Sports
Standard range ammunition was Norma 124gr $12.82 / 50 at SportsmansGuide
Sights & Trigger Control: on a 6" spinner target at a distance of 12-ish yards. We got this from Titan Great Outdoors and use it to gauge how learnable the trigger is and usable the sights are for forced, timed, precise shots.
Practical Accuracy: Five shots from a distance of seven yards at a one inch target. This isn't so much about printing a tight group as it is a culmination of the shooting experience and time for to collect thoughts prior to making a conclusion.
After Shots: Final impressions and reflections from the range session.
See the process for theAdler Arms AD-9 in the Shooting Impressions video below. Rumble Link
Ammunition seen in our Shooting Impressions video was made possible by our Patrons and supporters of our ammunition savings account through Ammo Squared.
On the Range things started off decently. Recoil is very soft and the crude sights work (though I later discovered the rear sight had come loose). I felt a bit of a point on the tip of the trigger, but was able to change my hold to avoid that. It's when we got to What's For Dinnerâ„¢ that the real trouble started.
The point of WFD is to help people know which loads might run better and/or feel better or worse in a particular firearm. The gun is known to work, the ammunition is known to work in other guns, but how does it work in this gun? In recent years most handguns have functioned with all loads with maybe one or two performing less than ideally. With the Adler Arms AD-9 only three of ten loads even fed. Looking at the seven that didn't feed it appears the shortened feed ramp, or magazine presentation angle prevents rounds with blunt ends such as hollow points from feeding.
This could be the result of using a magazine designed for a non-tilting barrel; the presentation angle isn't right for a Browning action. It could also be that these magazines are of poor quality or poor copies. I did not bring a real Beretta 92 pattern magazine with me to the range, and am curious if it would solve things, though what's the point of a gun that comes with two disfunctional magazines?
It could also be the fact that gun makers in Turkey do not have access to the variety of ammunition we have here in the US market. While other Turkish manufacturers have learned over time to design US-market guns for our ammunition, they also use the Bronwing tilting barrel action and with the way technical data seems to be passed around among Turkish manufacturers (once one makes something it seems 5 others do a few months later), it's expected that all the Browning tilting action guns will work with US-market ammunition, but the Adler Arms AD-9 is using a magazine not designed for that, and I suspect the barrel feed ramp was shortened to accomodate the magazine. As shown in the video this worked fine with 124gr FMJ, but did not with anything else.
The Adler Arms AD-9 became a great reminder of why What's For Dinner is an important test. Had the range video been filmed only with the 124gr Norma it would have appeared to be a decent gun. Had I filmed only with the WFD loads it would have appeared to be a completely non-functional gun. The reality is something in between.
Combining performance on the range, the manual, and limited information about both gun and company it feels to me like Adler Arms simply doesn't care, or aren't shooters themselves. I hope I'm wrong, and my sample size of one just so happened to be the worst of the bunch, but currently I can not recommend Adler Arms.
