Canik TP9

Caliber:9mm

Price: $300-$800+ (Depends on configuration. Can vary from basic to all tricked out.)

Canım BAŞKANIM ALLAH sizden razı olsun Sizi doğuran annenizden Allah binlerce defa razı olsun, Allahın rahmeti üzerinize olsun. Bugün biryerlere geldiysek sizin ve vatanına gerçekten canla başla bağlı olanların sayesinde. Size olan sevgimi, saygımı anlatmam mümkün değil sadece dua edebiliyorum. Herdaim sağlık, sıhhat ile kalın. SAYGIYLA SAYIN BAŞKANIM; RECEP TAYYİP ERDOĞAN!

Translation: The Canik TP9 is a budget handgun based off the Walther PP9 and cost around $100-200 less than the discontinued P99. Normally, Turkish firearms are generally of questionable quality. This is because generally Turkish firearms market can be broken down into two, the domestic market and the export market. Most Turkish companies primarily produce shotguns since those are some of the only legal firearms civilians can own in some countries in Europe and the Middle East. From what I heard, most of the exports are usually either defective firearms sold off to the international markets as a means to get a quick buck (hence why you might see some semi-auto shotguns being sold for less than $300). In the United States, since it's generally unknown where most of these shotguns are even manufactured from, alot of them get sold in bulk under strange imported names such as Panzer Arms, Tokarev, ATI, Dickinson, and even big names like Iver Johnson or Winchester. You are pretty much gambling whenever you pick up some of these shotguns as something that might potentially work or something that might not work at all or worst case scenario you end up getting a $300 hand grenade! I'm not here to talk about Turkish shotguns though.

Handguns are an entirely different breed entirely when it comes to the country of Turkey and specifically Canik. Since Turkey is supposed to be part of NATO, they get to produce some licensed copies of various firearms like the MP5, Browning Hi-Power, and various other kinds of guns. Canik in particular is once of these companies that primarily makes handguns for their police and military force and most often, these firearms are exported to other nations. Supposedly they are also SO 9001 certified (whatever that means lmao). In the US, Canik USA is kind of seen as either a budget brand or a competition brand with their more riced out features such as gucci triggers, optic ready mounts, supressor ready sights, etc. I'll be talking about the more basic model of the tp9 since this is what I got to try out for a previous range session for some impressions.

I can't attest to the longetivity of this firearm since I was only able to shoot about 50 rounds during my trials but I did not have any ammo hickups even with steel case ammo. The gun functions just like what you would expect a standard combat pistol would preform. The trigger is kind of nice actually though I can't really say what the pull weight is. It's certainly better than some OEM glock triggers and especially better than the S&W SD9VE trigger that I am accustomed to. This is one of the first firearms I tested where I wearing my new prescription and I was able to get some decent groupings at the 15-25 yard range. So overall, it's kind of a good pistol if I had to be honest.

But why pick something like a Canik over something like a (in terms of the price range of this firearm) S&W SD9VE, Taurus G3, P80 or PSA Glock clone? Canik's quality is considered by some owners to be a bit more high quality than some North/South American Brands like Taurus, SCCY. or Diamondback. I don't really see S&W SD9VEs in the stores anymore and generally they are pretty much on par if not slightly more expensive than the Canik TP9 standard models, and P80s and PSA are kind of new to the market so time will tell if they are still capable. If given the choice, I would still kind of prefer the Walther P99 over the Canik TP9 just because it's a more "luxury" pisotl but since you can't get those without going into the used market the TP9 is kind of the last of that kind of handgun format that isn't something like a CZ75 clone. A full size handgun that's combat capable priced around the same price range of some Taurus pistols with better quality control. Oh and I think they give you extra mags too which is nice since they aren't exactly the cheapest mags out there compared to something like Glock or S&W magazines. Canik may be a import Turkish firearm company but it's not like it's some super obscure brand these days. You'll find Caniks pretty much anywhere you can find Ruger, Taurus, etc.

Honestly the only con of getting a Canik over anything else is the fact you're probably funding the Turkish goverment and all of it's operations and potential operations to restore the Ottoman Empire 2.0. It may be a tier above buying something from Israel but it's still something to think about. Would I buy one....ehhh if I really needed a budget pistol...I already have some decent handguns. Maybe if I can find an optics ready model for less than $400 then I might consider getting one as a nice entry to optics ready handguns (or if I ever get serious about doing competition handgun shooting) then maybe but otherwise it's not something I would be interested in. They have nice triggers but I'm not a trigger snob so that's not going to be a selling point for me. Supposedly, the TP9 can take PPQ/P99/PDP magazines though don't trust me on that being true or not. Considering it's a clone...eh maybe..not sure. If it does though, that's pretty sweet ngl fr fr no cap bussin etc etc.