April 2016
The Internet back-and-forth on the Canik (pronounced Janick) TP9SA is so fierce I am actually hesitant to wade in with this review. There seems to be a magical $300 price point in handgun market. If the gun has a three after the dollar sign it is junk to some people, but $400 and up is acceptable. The TP9SA not only comes in handsomely below $400, but has a unique feature that challenges the greatest failing of the Glock design; pulling the trigger to disassemble the gun. Combine the price point and the trigger release button and the Internet has been stormed with opinions on the humble Canik.
Stats:
Length: 7.5 Inches
Height: 5.25 Inches
Width: 1.125 Inches
Weight: 26 Ounces (Unloaded)
Sights: 3-dot with rear center line
Barrel: 4.5 Inches
• Polymer frame, steel slide
• Single action trigger
• Decocker
• Cocked indicator
• Loaded chamber indicator
• Four slide finishes available, two frame colors
• Standard accessory rail
• Cerakote finish over phosphate
• Reversible magazine release
Canik
It is surprisingly difficult to find information online about the company. Canik is based in Turkey and is a subsidiary of Samsun Yurt Savunma, a major Military contractor in Turkey. Turkey has become quite the destination for outsourced gun manufacturing in the last decade and several major names, especially Italian names, have moved portions of their manufacturing to the country for better labor rates. Canik holds some prestigious manufacturing certifications, including ISO 9001 certification, and their parent company is involved in aerospace manufacturing. They also hold major Turkish police and military contracts.
Canik is mostly known for its all steel copies, or maybe interpretations, of CZ designs including the CZ 75 and SP series. I say interpretations because Canik does not just make faithful copies of the CZ designs but offers variations it sees as improvements to the original designs.
Reputation of these designs has not been perfect. Generally considered quite attractive on the exterior, once opened, and especially compared directly to an original, rough machining and tool marks have been reported and reports of inconsistent function have plagued the company’s products. Double action triggers have generally been reported as gritty and sub-par, but single action function has largely been praised.
I recently came across a Tristar Arms booth at a show in Georgia where they had several of the Canik CZ style pistols on display. I shot several of them and disassembled two. No tool marks were in evidence and the triggers, in both modes, registered no complaints. Garrett Bader of Tristar spoke glowingly of the Canik manufacturing facility and cited the work the company does successfully in Aerospace and for the military.
TP Series
The TP series obviously has its roots in the Walther P99 and the follow on collaboration between Walther and Smith & Wesson, the SW99. It is impossible to look at the two and not see the family resemblance.
The P99 is perhaps best known for an innovation on the double-action/single-action firing mechanism. Many pistols with an exposed hammer fired in what is now generally called standard double action. This meant the firearm was typically carried with the hammer down making the first shot a longer heavier double action pull. Subsequent slide action cocked the hammer to the rear making all the rest of the shots single action until the user dropped the hammer, either through a dedicated hammer drop lever or a safety that dropped the hammer as part of the action of putting on the safety.
The Walther P99 looked like a double-action only pistol because it had no exposed hammer. Instead, when the slide was released the pistol was in single-action. A large button on the top of the frame could be depressed to safely release the firing pin placing the action into a double-action first shot firing mode. An indicator on the rear of the slide told the user the current state of the firing action.
The original Canik TP9 used the same system incorporating the large button on the top of the frame to change to double-action mode. It departed from the original in that it dropped the paddle style magazine release for the American standard push button release. The original TP9 is no longer available, though a version 2 is available.
The original TP9 was followed up by the TP9SA, a single-action only version of the gun. Rather than changing the design of the slide, Canik kept the button used to release the striker, but on the SA model pressing the button left the weapon with no way to fire until the slide was racked to reset the trigger.
The series now also includes the TP40V2 and the TP40SA. These correspond to the models just discussed but in .40 caliber. The line has also expanded to include TP9SF which does away with the push button on top of the slide altogether and the TP9SFx, a long-slide version designed for competition. The V2 has six finishes available, the SA four the SF two and the SFx just one. While the Canik website claims some of the TP models are available in .380 it does not appear they are being imported at this time.
Canik holds an ISO9001 manufacturing certification. The company states the V2 and SA models have passed NATO certification testing including accuracy and function tests through 50,000 fired rounds. These pistols are used by police and military forces in Turkey. None of that influenced my evaluation.
TP9SA Drama
The TP9SA has created quite a stir on the Internet for two main reasons: Price and the striker release button.
The price point of $300 in firearms is like a siren song to me. At that price I can go out on a limb and try something and if I end up unhappy with my purchase I don’t beat myself up too much. Despite good labor rates in Turkey I have no idea how Canik can make a profit on these guns. I bought a TP9SA from Prepper Guns, www.preppergunshop.com, on sale for $289.00.
The TP9SA arrived in a foam-lined hard-plastic case with a push-button holster, two MEC-GAR 18-round magazines, two attachment systems for the holster, a bore brush and a loading tool. While previous models have been rife with tool marks and poor machining inside the slide, the machining inside the gun I received looks sharp and deliberate with no issues.
Many have described the holster as a ‘range holster” rather than a carry holster. That is a fair description as the gun has a lot of wiggle even secured in the holster.
The drama comes from the striker release button on top of the frame. With the striker cocked this is a true single action handgun with the striker under spring tension and the trigger moving the blocks and releasing the spring. If you push the de-cocker button the striker has no tension and requires at least a partial rear movement of the slide to reset. Essentially, once this button is pushed you have a club rather than a gun until the slide is activated again. The concern is that the button may be pushed inadvertently in the holster without the user knowing and the gun could be presented in an emergency situation unready to fire.
This is a valid point. The problem is the de-cocker button on top of the slide is no push over. You have to really want to push the thing. I tried to activate the button with a trigger pull gauge that maxed out at 12 pounds. Pushing the button exceeded the 12-pound tolerance. In addition to the force necessary, the angle has to be correct to get the button all the way down. Lastly there is an audible click when the button finally activates.
The upside is that to disassemble the gun for cleaning there is no need to pull the trigger. Using the de-cocker button has the same effect as pulling the trigger with no possibility of setting off a round in the chamber. (I tried this extensively in a safe manner at the range). Is this a significant safety enhancement? Maybe.
I personally know of three negligent discharges at a major law enforcement organization over the past ten years in which a Glock was fired accidentally in the cleaning area when someone pulled the trigger to start the disassembly process. One of those resulted in significant blood loss. The odd thing is that many who would argue that pulling the trigger for disassembly is not a safety issue with proper training will also argue the TP9SA cannot be carried effectively with the de-cocker button regardless of training. Go figure.
Several times over the years, especially while exiting the car, I have heard a faint click and found the twisting motion of my body pushed my carry gun against its holster enough to activate the magazine release. For years many people carried handguns with a magazine disconnect (when no magazine was seated the trigger would not strike the firing pin) for a perceived gain in safety. I think a magazine release button is far easier to accidentally activate than this de-cocker button.
The Trigger
The magic of the TP9SA is all about the trigger for the simple fact that it is a true single action. Nearly all the striker fired polymer guns we are carrying and shooting these days are really in the double action category. Many manufacturers would dispute this claim saying their striker is under partial tension from the slide action, and they are correct; that is why they have no second strike capability. Still if the trigger action is providing any of the striker spring tension, the trigger is more than single action.
Not the case with the TP9SA. This is a true single action trigger. So what is the difference? Consistency. While a light trigger is nice and certainly lends itself to accurate shooting we can learn to shoot any trigger well as long as it is consistent. When a trigger registers a different weight with each pull varying by pounds it is very difficult to shoot well. This is where single action triggers shine. The trigger is doing less with each pull making consistency easier to achieve.
To give this some context look at ten trigger pulls on three different guns. First the Canik TP9SA, a single action striker fired gun. Then a Glock 23 Gen 3, one of the most universally known partial double action triggers. Just for comparison sake, we added a Para-Ordinance 14.45 1911. The 1911 trigger has an unfair advantage being both single action and a slide trigger, but this is for comparison purposes.
Canik TP9SA Glock 23 Para 14.45
Pounds Ounces Total Ounces Pounds Ounces Total Ounces Pounds Ounces Total Ounces
4 13.2 77.2 6 14.5 110.5 5 14 94
4 12.2 76.2 7 0 112 4 15.2 79.2
4 12.3 76.3 7 15 127 5 3.5 83.5
5 0 80 5 8 88 5 5.5 85.5
4 10.4 74.4 5 14.5 94.5 5 3 83
4 8.5 72.5 8 1 129 5 8 88
4 6.8 70.8 7 11 123 5 3 83
4 9.2 73.2 6 4 100 5 8 88
4 7.8 71.8 7 6.5 118.5 5 7 87
4 12.9 76.9 7 2 114 5 6 86
Pounds Pounds Pounds
4.683125 Average 74.93 6.978125 Average 111.65 5.3575 Average 85.72
StdDev 2.872494 StdDev 13.7781 StdDev 3.985474
0.575 MaxDev 9.2 2.5625 MaxDev 41 0.925 MaxDev 14.8
The Canik enjoys an immediate advantage with an average trigger weight of 4.68 pounds. That was even better than the 1911 with a 5.38 pound trigger. The Glock 23 says on the box it came in that it has a 5.5 pound trigger. I have found 6.98 pounds to be pretty average for a Glock with a factory trigger purported to be 5.5 pounds. The trouble with the Glock is that the trigger is doing much more during the pull.
The trigger weight is important, but not as important to accuracy as consistency. Remember, accuracy is about doing each action in the shooting process the same each time the trigger is pulled. This is where the Canik really shines. The Glock had a maximum deviation between the highest and lowest weight trigger pulls of 2.56 pounds versus 9.2 ounces for the Canik.
Even the 1911 showed a 14.8 ounce maximum deviation with a standard deviation more than an ounce greater than the Canik. Now you see why even people who hate the Canik for its price point and the de-cocker button are impressed with the trigger.
Still, accuracy is more than the statistics from a trigger pull gauge. This is where I stunned myself. This is my first magazine of 18+1 from the Canik at 15 yards:
The embarrassing part is that this was not an accuracy test or even a drill. This was the first try just to get used to the trigger and grip. With a start like that I expected shooting supported groups would be amazing, but five shot groups averaged 2.09 inches over ten strings. The TP series shines in grip ergonomics and trigger making it an excellent shooting gun. Speed and combat drills were fantastic but it never showed me tiny group accuracy. Given the choice I would take the gun that shoots well unsupported and moving over the bench rest tack driver.
Would I carry this gun?
The question that began this marathon of a review was whether I would carry the TP9SA. Yes. The gun has excellent ergonomics, points naturally has perfectly fine sights and an excellent trigger. Were I to carry the TP I would find a much better holster and feel perfectly confident. This gun has between 500 and 600 rounds through it without issue and I would not lose any sleep over the firing pin release button on the top of the slide. I don’t understand how this gun sells at the price point it does, but so far the TP9SA seems to be a steal in the quality and features of the gun you get for the price.
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