Canik TP-9 Review

General Firearms Handguns - Semi Auto
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The Canik TP-9 is imported from Turkey by Century International Arms and comes to market somewhere between $300-350. That alone is enough to get the attention of many but when I heard the specs of the pistol it really caught my eye so I picked one up. Here’s what we found:

Reliability

For me, guns have to be reliable to be interesting and this one meets that requirement. The cold hammer forged barrel ate anything I fed it. It was 100% reliable with everything from cheap steel cased Wolf and Silver Bear ammo to quality defensive ammunition like Speer Gold Dots.

Ergonomics

When you first see the Canik TP-9 many will notice the similarity to the Walther P99 AS. Well, it’s almost an identical copy of the pistol and there’s simply no denying it. In the case of ergonomics, that’s a very good thing. The P99 grip is widely renowned for its’ excellent feel in the hand and natural pointing; the TP-9 mirrors those results. The pistol ships with two backstraps and I replaced the small (comes installed) with the large to accommodate my relatively large hands.

Trigger

The trigger system on the TP-9 is what they call “double action, single action” but that doesn’t really describe what it is. In reality it’s a striker fired gun that has the ability to fire from the de-cocked position as well as the partially cocked position. Insert a full mag, release the slide, and the striker will be partially cocked and the trigger pull is a very short, crisp 9 pounds. Repeat the process but hit the de-cocker button on the top of the slide and the trigger is a long 11 pound pull. Following the shot, the reset will be very short, audible, and tactile regardless of which mode you fired from.

While the trigger is heavy, it’s crisp and doesn’t feel like it’s 9 pounds. Most folks I had dry fire it guessed it to be in the 6 or 7 pound range. I’d like to see it a few pounds lighter but it’s not so heavy that the pistol can’t be shot well so it’s not a huge issue.

Miscellaneous

The gun comes with a very serviceable “Serpa-esque” holster that can be configured with belt loops or a paddle. Also included are two 18 round Mec-Gar magazines, 2 different height front sights, user manual (in English), lock, and the tool to adjust the windage on the rear sight.

The only real “cons” I see to the gun are that the trigger’s a little heavy and the fit/finish is not quite on par with what you’d see from some higher end guns. But, my model is the tan one and from what I understand the black and chrome versions have very even finishes for what it’s worth.

All in all, I think this gun will continue to grow in popularity and the aftermarket accessory market will also continue to increase. Great reliability, ergos, and all around performance combined with two Mec-Gar mags and a holster for a street price of $300-350 will make this gun a winner for Canik for sure.

Video Review

Here’s the video review of the pistol with some shooting footage and a discussion of the features of the pistol that I discussed above:

//youtu.be/csjv00zij6s

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Thanks for the review!

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You’re quite welcome.

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That gun has gotten great reviews over the last year or so. Real tempted to pick one up just for grins. How hard is it to get extra mags? What kind of rifling does the barrel have? Chrome lined?

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Very Good review on a pistol I never would have looked twice at. Thank you sir.

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Are the mags interchangeable with any of the Walther offerings?

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Seems like a perfect candidate for a stipple job.

Love the videos.

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My understanding is yes (with the right ones).

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I recently picked up a Canik 55 - specifically, the TriStar T-120. It’s a dead ringer for an alloy-framed Jericho 941, finished in Desert Tan Cerakote.

It’s not small, it’s not lightweight, it’s not fancy.

But it is most certainly reliable (zero problems after 800rds, plus countless dry firings), accurate (1.5" groups at 15yds, and I’m not that good a shot), and inexpensive ($329). Takes CZ-75B magazines, and the stock mags are Mec-Gar with the +2 extensions, totaling 19rds each. I couldn’t pass it up, given the price. The trigger seems better (smoother, lighter) than I remember my “Baby Eagle” I had a few years back being.

If there was any issue I could think of, it’s that it’s essentially a CZ-75, and as such is annoyingly difficult to detail strip if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. Aside from that, it’s impressed me every time I’ve used it. The TP-9 is next on my “why the heck not” list.

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+1

I know they’re selling a lot of them at Academy to budget minded shooters, but if I were in charge of that company I’d extend and thread that CHF barrel across the whole line of CZ/Jericho/Walther types and offer them as a suppressor ready line for a little bit more.

I’m already checking out their 75 Compact Rail/ P01 with a safety model, I just need a little push.

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I’d like to see that as well.

FWIW, I have the Stingray C that you’re referring to and it’s been awesome so far. Review is in the works.

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I have heard nothing but good things about the canik line for a budget too bad theyre made in Turkey.

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Thanks for your review PD. Your signature means something. Interesting pistol, and now that PP99 AS’s are again available, an interesting comparison. From reading it SEEMS that the P99 AS trigger is better and lighter in both modes, and most DON’T carry it in SA. It WOULD be interesting to hear if the TP cleans up a bit or that the SA at least gets a bit lighter with use, OR, that a reliable trigger job can be done easily. That seems to be the only real ‘drawback’. Looks like a $220 avg difference in price point, and with 18 rounds, looks like a neat bargain - again, reliable and accurate. I did not get a feel for accuracy vs. a ‘tier 1’ weapon like Glock, PPQ, HK, etc. I suppose sight options are limited.

A note about Canik. I got a C-100 only because CZ won’t pull its head out of its 4PC and make available a production gun with alloy frame and manual safety. In short, it is reliable and accurate, with a reasonable finish. It also has a very positive safety good for CC, and the barrel to slide fit is superb. The trigger is decent in SA OTB, but the DA is tediously heavy. The gun, because it is a manual safety is not too hard to detail strip and work on. I had some real problems fitting a roll pin back on the gun as the dimensions are slightly different than a CZ. I THINK the CGW special trigger pin will work, but need to test it. The DA cleans up fairly well, and I run a 15 LB mainspring. I’m not a big fan of extremely LIGHT mainsprings in alloy frame CZs because they impart more wear on the gun for the usual reasons. Evidently they have changed trigger pin sizes and CGW has put out a special one for this - bravo CGW. Mecgars work so that is a good thing. However, the CZ Cadet kit does NOT work in the Canik, because they (stupidly in my pea brain) changed the rail/frame size. MAYBE they did this to strengthen the rails somehow -if so I stand corrected. But, they are not in all dimensions CZ clones. I am running a CZ combat trigger, and CGW pin for now. My beef: despite ISO 9000, my gun is missing some of the rifling at the beginning of the rifling out of the chamber. No, it is not free-bored per say. on one side, the rifling is missing part way down the bore. My only guess is that someone mis-applied the mandrel in the CHF process. The kicker is that despite examination, Tristar would not admit this is out of spec, and do anything about it. But, it is still accurate. I just added the part about the barrel to tell you these are not wonder guns without occasional mistakes. It still runs accurately.

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What’s wrong with Turkish origin?

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I continue to enjoy shooting my Tristar C-100 and recommend these guns as a good second pistol for general use. I don’t know of a better value. About the Canik rifling, I too have noticed similar if not the same condition that you described. In my pistol this “defect” has not affected accuracy and in the maker’s view, it may not be a defect. My guess is that the genius you talked to at Tristar really didn’t understand what you were talking about. If it makes you feel better, I can say that over the years, my experience has been that in rifles, barrels with rough bores from rust or neglect would perform well after a thorough cleaning–as long as the muzzle crown was not damaged, and the same was true for handguns. My experience comes from firing many surplus WW2 weapons fed a steady diet of corrosive ammo. Some 1911 bullseye shooters purposely rusted their barrels because they thought that the pits held more bullet lube. In their minds this was a good thing. I never agreed. New surplus 45 barrels were $5.00 each then.