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New to the market from Canik is the single action version of its TP9, called the TP9SA and imported into the US by Century Arms. An MSRP of about $399 gets you two, 18-round magazines and all of the other kit seen above. I got a little trigger time on it at the SHOT Show range day, and I must say . . .

I was impressed. It was accurate, soft-shooting, ergonomic, and the trigger was truly excellent. Right up there in the realm of the VP9 and PPQ. It ran smoothly and reliably for me despite being good and dirty. Of course, I only put two mags through it. Hopefully a full TTAG review will come later, but I have high hopes. Particularly at this price with some premium features and an excellent trigger, it should be a market success.

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47 COMMENTS

  1. I always liked the P99/SW99. The original TP9 didn’t do it for me, but I like the looks of this — it’s the distant cousin once removed of the PPQ.

    • They won’t. The 45 is too slow and not flat shooting. There are a couple more modern rounds that blows it away with less to the same recoil. 10mm for instance.

  2. I’ve had one for several weeks and I’ve run about 500 rds through it. Had a few stovepipes around 400 rds, but a little CLP and it was back up and running. Trigger pull averaged 4 lbs, break is reasonably crisp (for a striker fired gun), and reset is short. Out of the box, fit and finish is ok, you might want to trim flashing off the polymer part, the feed ramp and trigger bar could also use some polishing. I’d like to add a FO front sight and a novak style rear sight, but even Walther PPQ aftermarket accessories are hard to find including OWB competition holsters. I’m not a fan of polymer or striker fired pistols, but this gun is OK mostly because of the trigger. Plan on running in it 3 gun this year.

  3. I’ve been impressed with the TP9SA. I got one in for a friend and customer of mine who let me tinker with it while he was away over the holidays. Our particular pistol has a shockingly light 3.5lb break which is very consistent, with a ho-hum amount of overtravel and a pleasantly short, tactile reset. Aside from some feed ramp polish, there’s not a lot I could recommend to do to this critter. More or less Canik took all the things I would’ve done to perform a serious trigger job on the TP9’s single action and made it into a standalone model.

  4. From what I’ve read thus gun retains the decocker buttons on the slide. If this is single action only, what happens if you have a round in the chamber and hit the decocker? Do you have to rack the slide again?

    • Yes, you need to rack the slide at least a small distance (less than an inch) to reset the sear. I’m not really sure why they left the decocker on there aside from some groups being extremely paranoid about dry firing during disassembly. Kind of like the yellow lever in the M&P that most people probably don’t bother using since you can just dry fire it.

    • A press check will cock it again. The decocker is kinda silly on a striker fired gun, but internet lore has it that it was a requirement by the Turkish military who carry condition 3 / Israeli style.

  5. Own one and I’m loving it so far. It is giving my Apex M&P9 a run for it’s money. The decocker is moot since it takes a very firm press to use. I’m doubtful it will be decocked on accident.

    So far I’ve run 300 rounds of steel case ammo with no issues. This was straight from the FFL with no cleaning or lube.

    The thing is honestly a tack diver.

  6. Canik makes great quality guns for a great price, a friend had a TP9 and it was flawless. I bought a Stingray-C a few months after that…it is a hefty steel CZ doppelganger and a very low bore axis due to how the slide rides on the outside enveloping the frame lower. Felt recoil is basically more like the slow backwards push you might feel with a .45 ACP only not as strong obviously…opposite of snappy.

  7. I just bought one yesterday and am loving it so far. The trigger is the real standout feature for me. Absolutely LOVE the new SA trigger! I wish the mag release was ambidextrous (I’m right handed, but my son is left handed) and that you could slingshot the slide after inserting a new mag, but those are little nitpicks that really don’t matter… at least not nearly as much as reliability, accuracy, and ergonomics. The real test will be at the range later today. Unfortunately, since they’ve only been on the market for about a month or so, there is hardly any aftermarket support yet. Even finding extra magazines or holsters for it is nearly impossible. Does anyone know if the holsters for the Walther P99 will work for the TP9sa, or is the shape / size of the slide and trigger guard different enough to make them incompatible? Or does anybody know of any holsters made specifically for the TP9sa? I need a left handed one for my son. Thanks in advance.

  8. I’ve only had mine two weeks with 400 rounds through it. The trigger really is that good. Mine has absolutely no creep before the break and the take up is just slight spring pressure on the trigger. For someone looking for a range gun this thing is hard to beat. As long as it holds up over time these things will make a name for themselves. I wish Canik would at least offer the grip inserts for sale at some point so I can stipple mine some. I need to find someone with a 3D printer 🙂

    • Well, the Hogue holster works well, but it’s not a whole lot better than the Canik version that ships with the gun… except for the fact that the Hogue holster has a body-side thumb release button instead of the stupid Serpa style outside, trigger finger release button. Those make it too easy for your trigger finger to accidentally hit the trigger when drawing under stress. The body side thumb release is much smarter in my opinion. The Hogue holster is not as form fitting as the Canik, but for some reason there is less wobble or shake when it is locked in place. Also, the polymer material is much smoother and cleaner (less manufacturing imperfections).

      Overall, it is not a huge upgrade over the stock holster, but definitely better, and the biggest thing for me was that they have a left-handed version!

      I’m going to end up having a custom kydex holster made for it as well since that will allow the firearm to sit much closer to my body and not protrude out as much.

      But I thought you other left-handers would like to know where you can get a decent holster for your new firearm. Hogue is the only option that I am aware of so far, but hopefully more manufacturers will start supporting the TP9sa with aftermarket parts soon.

      • Hey I was looking for that left handed holster but didn’t find it witch on did you get the Walter p99Q

  9. I was also having a really hard time finding a place that sells extra TP9sa magazines. I called Century Arms (the company that imports the handguns into the US) and they didm’t have them. But I found a small shop that DOES have them: Apex Gun Parts in Colorado 719-481-2050 They were very nice and great to work with. $26.75 per mag and they are the actual Mec Gar magazines that come with the gun. I’ve heard conflicting rumors that you can modify the Beretta 92 magazines to work in the TP9sa, but you have to dremel a new catch hole because the Beretta’s is about 3/8″ to high or low for the TP9sa. I don’t like the idea of jerry-rigging a tool that my life might depend on. And even if you only use it at the range, if you cut the hole less than perfect, it could jiggle around or require and extra firm pounding to get it to sit right without falling out. I’d prefer to get the real thing. So give Apex a call if you need extra magazines.

  10. Also, one of my other handguns is the CZ75 SP01 and since the magazines for the CZ and the TP9sa are almost identical in their outer dimensions, the TP9sa magazines work great in the mag pouches I have for the CZ. In case anyone else needs some mag pouches for their TP9sa and want to know which ones will work, they fit perfectly in the ASA Defense M1000 double mag pouch. I think they have since changed their name to IMI Defense and updated that model and are calling it the IMI-Z2030 – MP03, but it looks identical to mine. Here’s the link: http://www.imidefense.com/black-polymer-product/IMI-Z2030.html Enjoy!

  11. I live in NY (unfortunately) and magazine restrictions make anything that holds more than 10 rounds illegal to buy or own for non law enforcement personnel (stupidity). Do they make 10 round magazines for this weapon yet or is the magazine restriction going to prevent this weapon from being shipped or sold to ALL states with magazine restrictions?

    • I seen ten round mags online but don’t think you can order them with the gun. And on ebay you can get a mag block for ten rounds I think they were around 16 dollars a peice so if you can order the gun then take it home and put the blocks in you’d be good to go. But I don’t know if you can buy a gun that can hold over ten rounds not sure how yours states laws work.

  12. UPDATE: Last weekend we went down to Front Sight for their four-day defensive handgun course. My teenage son used the TP9sa and put about 700 rounds through it. It performed flawlessly. We were using cheap aluminum cased Federal 9mm ammo from Walmart and only had three malfunctions. Two FTF (primer was struck solid, but no bang) and one weird FTE where the primer cap popped out and got caught in the ejection port, keeping it from closing all the way. Other than ammo caused errors, the gun was suburb! Very accurate up to 25 yards and reliable so far.

    One of the instructors asked to shoot it a bit to try it out since he wasn’t familiar with it. Said he was really impressed with the trigger… one of the best polymer framed striker fire triggers he’s shot.

    I had a gunsmith build up a larger slide release lever. It turned out awesome… looks like it came that way from the factory and makes it much easier to operate, especially with larger hands or gloves on. Also, I put the Hogue grip sleeve on there and really like that too. It makes the grip fill up my hand better and gives it a tacky, rubberized, non-slip surface.

    All in all, I’m super happy with this firearm, especially considering the price point.

  13. I just picked up TP9SA earlier today. Write this off as poor trigger technique on my part, but i notice that if my finger is even a bit high on the trigger, the safety will often fail to disengage.

    i bought this to be another range toy so its not a major issue for me, but could be something in a duty situation.

    • I picked one up last night, and the employee pointed that out: there’s a protrusion on the back of the safety switch inside the trigger that will contact the frame inside the trigger guard if your finger is pressing the trigger above the fulcrum point of the safety lever. He indicated that it will wear in and smooth out as it gets used to the point where it won’t contact the frame.

      I suppose you could take a small flat file and file away some of the material, but I think it’d be better over all to retrain your muscle memory to press the trigger squarely on the safety lever.

      • I too realize this problem that if I have my finger just a little high up that it will fail to disengage the safety and cause the trigger to lock and not be able to fire unless your finger is pressing the safety blade on the trigger down directly. I looked it over and also realized that there’s a protrusion on the back of the safety switch inside the trigger that will contact the frame inside the trigger guard if your finger is pressing the trigger above the fulcrum point of the safety lever, as you have stated. I personally find this to be a problem and do not like it, in a stressful situation I don’t want to have to worry that my finger needs to be placed in a certain position in order for it to work. Do you think filing the protrusion on the back of the safety would be a good idea? Do you think it will effect the safety at all?

    • That’s fixable by shaving a little polymer from the frame just below the back of the trigger. Had that exact same problem with my TP9SA.

      • Since I cannot edit my post above I added this “reply” to explain how I modified the polymer without removing the trigger.

        (1) Use a very sharp fine tipped knife to shave about 1/32″ from the polymer at the back of the trigger opening.
        (2) Then tear a strip of fine emery paper 1/4″ x 6″. Feed that strip through the back of the trigger opening and out the top of the frame. Now use the strip with a “shoe shine motion” to smooth the polymer that was shaved in the first step. Work carefully, if you remove to much polymer, the trigger safety won’t work.

  14. can someone tell me how to get the pin back in the mag catch button. took it out to reverse it.
    is there a tool? a secret?
    also. I am left handed , is there a way to get a left handed holster. that would be very very nice. Thank you for your time

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