As most of you know, your Editor works in retail firearms sales. The position affords me the opportunity to see, play with and occasionally shoot different firearms. I recently had the opportunity to shoot a couple of new to me firearms. Today we’ll be talking about one of them, the Canik TP9sf.
So, what exactly is the TP9sf? It’s a polymer framed, striker fired 9mm pistol that is manufactured in Turkey. The pistol comes in a variety of configurations, with barrels ranging from 3.6 to 5.2 inches in length. It also comes in a couple of finishes, nitrided black, FDE and tungsten cerakote. The pistol I tested was the standard TP9sf with the black nitrided finish and a 4.4 inch barrel.
The overall dimensions go like this: the overall length is 7.55”, its 5.70” tall and 1.30” wide. It weighs 1.78 lbs. Those measurements put the TP9sf square in the middle of the pack for duty sized, polymer framed pistols. As you can see in the image below, the pistol comes in a fitted hard case with a bunch of accessories. Included are a kydex holster, two mags, a mag loader, a backstrap insert, and cleaning equipment. The retail for that gun at the store I work at is $389.99.
When these guns started showing up at my place of employ, my first impressions were that it was a decently made value priced import pistol. They fit my hand pretty well, seemed smooth and had a very nice trigger for a striker fired pistol.
There’s a reason for that nice trigger pull. The Canik employs a full cock striker. Most striker fired pistols have what’s called a three quarter cock striker. That means when you press the trigger you are bringing the striker to full cock before the sear releases. That is the reason why most striker fired pistols have a “mushy” trigger press. You can see that in the animation below.
The TP9sf and its full cock striker does not require the trigger stroke to fully cock the striker, making the trigger press smoother and crisper than what you’ll find on other striker fired pistols. The only issue I had with the Canik was the tail of the striker protrudes out of the back of the slide where it acts as a cocking indicator. My thoughts before shooting it were that it might be a distraction while shooting. That turned out not to be an issue.
At the range I loaded up some mags and got to shooting. I was using what 9mm ammo I had laying around. It was a mixture of 115 and 124 grain round nose FMJ from several manufacturers, 115 and 124 grain truncated cone from federal and 124 grain JHP from Hornady and Speer. There were a couple of feeding issues, but oddly it was with the round nose FMJ. I am putting that down to the pistol being new still.
As I noted above, the trigger is very good for a striker fired gun, It broke cleanly and consistently at around 4.5 pounds. That trigger made longer shots easy, and I reached out to about 100 meters and had first shot hits on a 6″ plate almost every time. The trigger reset is decent, with a tactile click. Recoil was a bit softer than I expected. That may be due to the low bore axis, as the closer you can get you hand to the barrel, the less felt recoil.
Speaking of accuracy, I managed to wring out 3-4″ groups at 25 meters fairly consistently. At 10 I was seeing 1-1.5″ groups. My best group at 25 was a neat little cloverleaf, and at 10 it was a single ragged hole. Keep in mind, these groups were with mixed ammo, flyers were inevitable.
I had a few minor complaints. The Warren Tactical sights are good, but were this my pistol, I’d swap them out for some sort of night sight. The red dot on the front blade just doesn’t stand out enough. And that striker/cocked indicator. It wasn’t as big a distraction as I had suspected. That said, it is the same color as the dot on the front sight, and I found myself looking at the striker instead of the front sight a couple of times during some movement drills. That, however, is a very quick fix. A bit of black marker will cover the red dot on the striker nicely.
Would I buy one? Maybe. The price is right, overall it’s a great value. It’s a well made pistol that shoots above its price point. It handles well, points naturally and has decent accuracy. There is a lot to like about the Canik TP9sf. I would recommend that if you happen to see one in your local shop, take a good hard look. It might surprise you.