I know I started the thread on altering a pistol. I know I have said I have never altered a pistol. Im also very picky about my pistols. Other than a 1911 Colt I only own Sigs, HKs and S&Ws. My S&Ws are either wheel guns or 3rd generation semi autos. I’m not as much a fan of the M&Ps yet.
I was in the gun store poking around on Sat night. I’m waffling back and forth on whether to buy an HK 45 or the HK USP 45. During my no decision making process I picked up a Canik TP9SF. I can pick it up for $379. Normally I would not buy this brand or alter a pistol. It felt nice and I have heard great things. I may buy this and put an optics on it just for range fun. Any thoughts about this gun…for the price? It feels weird straying from my normal brands especially for something not made in the US or Germany. My thoughts are I may as well tinker with something inexpensive if it’s just for range fun.

Canik makes some of my favorite striker pistols. Unquestionable to me is just how great their triggers are; better than any Walther striker, often considered the maker of striker-fired handguns that have the best trigger. To me it's evident that those folks have never shot a Canik.

The TP9SF is the first Canik I shot. Then almost immediately it became the first Canik I bought. I now own 6 Canik strikers, which sort of indicates how smitten I am with the brand, especially in regards of their pricing.

They all are excellent shooters, even including the micro 9 MC9 that's my most recent purchase. Specific to the TP9SF, its ergonomics is okay, but its ease at being to punch one ragged hole into a paper target is impressive, and a real confidence booster that I the shooter really isn't a total shooting klutz.

The only possible negative when it comes to Caniks centers around their importer, Century Arms. CA historically hasn't been known at being great at customer and product support. However they do seem to be taking their partnership with Canik seriously. I've been able to source replacement parts direct from CA, but they've also been seemingly terminally out of stock on some parts as well. For a long time finding spare mags was an extremely trying task, but CA seems to be improving as in the past 6 months or so I've able to find magazines at distributors in addition to sourcing from CA themselves to stock our shelves with.

Canik makes great stuff and I think they are the best of the Turkish-made pistols. They are basically clones of the Walther P99/PPQ/PDP series (Canik also copied Walther’s trigger mechanism). I disagree with monoblok though - in my experience, the Walthers have the better triggers.

^^^^Then we shall agree to disagree.

Agreed.

I have the TP Elite Compact. Great little pistol and it was priced right.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I have the TP Elite Compact. Great little pistol and it was priced right.

I have never been tempted by price on a pistol before. You get what you pay for. I just keep hearing great things about the Canik and they are priced just right to where it may be worth a shot for a range pistol. I have not shad an opportunity to shoot one yet but they feel like they are well made…and priced right. Made in Turkey is my only hang up.

I picked up one of the MC9 pistols, after shooting one at a local range. The range master states their rental Canik has had several thousand rounds through it without issue. The trigger is really nice for a stock gun.

I have experience with 5 Canik pistols, two of them I purchased. They have all been unfailingly reliable, remarkably accurate, with great ergonomics and triggers. They're not as simple as a Glock, but with thousands of rounds through them combined I'm very happy. The price is hard to beat, too.

I have an early SFX model, and it is the best striker trigger I have used. In part that's due to the short reset. I have tried one or two others which have come into the store and they were very good, but not as nice as the SFX. With so many models, it's not hard to believe some will be different.

Quality seems on par with top shelf names. I'd bet there are less aftermarket widgets and always will be, so buy a model with the size/features which you need now.