I had been a skeptic of Canik firearms for a number of years. Despite hearing nothing but good things about them I held back, watched, and waited. The earlier TP9 series had seemed pretty solid but missed the mark for me. Later iterations such as the TP9SF Elite started to draw my attention but there remained little details which kept them from landing home. Meanwhile, Caniks have continued to evolve and an extensive roster of handguns has taken form with the Mete and Rival series now leading the pack. It’s finally time to do a deep dive into a Canik, the first test subject being the 5″ barreled Mete SFx.
Any time something new hits the market I can’t help but have questions, doubly so depending upon the country of origin. Canik is based out of Turkey which, being honest, following a myriad of questionably made imported shotguns, did not put it under the best of lights. To Canik’s credit it both was not a shotgun and was not made specifically for export. These handguns do see service use and have undergone, and passed, NATO trials. What intrigued me more than anything though is the lineage’s DNA, which is where things get more interesting.
Rewind to a sidearm which had been popular but had never been common in America: The Walther P99. I’ve only ever seen one and it was during their “Final Edition” run, the originals which I’m much more partial to I have yet to find anywhere! This is the starting point though, the roots of a family tree with two parallel running trunks. On one side we have the Walther PPQ and PDP. On the other, the Canik TP9 and Mete.
As it turns out these lines of handguns are so similar as to share some parts compatibility. I’ve read stories and seen videos of people swapping entire uppers between certain models of Caniks and Walthers! So the Canik not only has familiar DNA, it happens to have quite a lot of the DNA of my favorite striker fired pistol. Starting with the TP9SF Elite more of the modern Walther features started making it into the design, most notably with the ambi slide release. This is now standard with all new Caniks with the Mete and Rival both having a few more evolutionary updates. The Mete in particular has different grip texturing and a deeper undercut trigger guard. Optics cut slides are now standard as well.
The Canik naming scheme takes some getting used to and I have to guess at all of these as they aren’t clearly explained on Canik’s website. It starts with the TP9 which I believe stands for Tactical Pistol 9mm. There’s the “SA” which I think is Single Action, an earlier model with a slide positioned striker decocker. There’s the “SF” which must stand for Striker-Fired. The “DA” which has a double action/single action trigger and slide positioned decocker. Then comes the “Elite” which offers some updates to the design. The “SC” is the sub-compact designation. So far, so good.
Next is the “Mete” line which translates to “Hero.” Now we have the “MC9” which must stand for Micro-Compact 9mm. The “SFT,” Striker-Fired Tactical I would guess. The “SFX,” the eXtended 5″ barrels. Then the “SFT PRO” and “SFX PRO” which have threaded barrels, some fancier milling in the slides and barrels, and flat triggers. Last are the “Rival” series which are more competition oriented. The Pro models can be seen as the link between the Mete and Rival lines as they share features from both.
Canik has also done quite a number of special limited edition runs under the “Signature Series” lines which range from weird and whimsical to apocalyptic.
There’s also the “SFX Rival-S” models which have all steel frames. These competition-geared guns are shockingly difficult to find out in the wild, let alone in stock… But I’ll be reviewing one soon! Spoiler: These guns have perfect balance when unloaded. I love them already.
The most recent addition is the “TTI Combat,” a joint effort with Taran Tactical with some extra goodies like a factory compensator.
Both the Mete and Rival series feature ambi slide catches, loaded chamber indicators, striker indicators, swappable backstraps, optics cut slides, accessory rails, and swappable magazine releases. The Rivals have more target oriented fiber optic front sights and blacked out rears while the Mete has a more combat-oriented three white dot arrangement with the front dot being more pronounced, a nice attention to detail which I quite like and serves these otherwise basic steel sights well.
Now, what about that parts compatibility with Walther? From my limited experience it looks like the PPQ and TP9 models show some commonality on one side while the PDP and Mete do on the other. Different neighboring branches to that same family tree. I can confirm the Mete upper and barrel will not fit a PPQ, there’s too much of a generational gap there. The Mete magazine does click very nicely into a PPQ but if you’re running anything more than the compact’s 15 rounder I wouldn’t recommend running them in your Walthers. Apparently if you don’t have a mag extension sleeve on these to fill in the gap you can damage the ejector on your Walther, or so I saw mentioned on gunmagwarehouse.com in relation to the 18 round PDP magazines.
Speaking of mags, they are quite close to Sig P226 mags and VERY close to Beretta 92 mags, both which will not lock into place without breaking out a Dremel. Ultimately though, I can’t recommend sharing mags across manufacturers with a Canik unless you really want to experiment. Oh well! The thought of running my supply of P226 or 92 mags in a Canik would have been an amazing selling point.
Finally getting back to the Mete SFx, first impressions were quite good all around. I can definitely feel the Walther-ness in these guns and in some ways I end up preferring various details from each. Walther for the grip texturing and slide catch texturing. Canik for the slide serrations and trigger. The Mete line also has this really cool thing where they include a punch in the box and that one tool will let you take apart pretty much everything on your new Canik with a few taps. Neat!
The real shocker for me was having the Mete in one hand and a PPQ in the other. In an unexpected plot twist…the Canik was better. The PPQ had more resistance at first, hitting a “false wall” throughout travel. The Mete’s is a consistent pull, albeit with that less than amazing plasticy feel. The actual release and reset seem the same between the two but for the full length of travel it goes to the Mete.
The trigger shoe is another area where I actually prefer The Canik over the Walther. It’s still curved on the Mete which is why I went with this model over the flat faced Rivals, though what makes it better than the Walther for me is that the SIDES are rounded as well. The Walthers are closer to right angles along the edges while both the Mete and TP9 triggers are better radiused. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like the Canik triggers will fit in Walthers.
Ah, but here is where the first sign of question pops up. Caniks may be NATO tested and highly regarded, but they are also the only modern firearm I’ve ever seen where the trigger is canted. You can feel it easily, the bottom of the trigger naturally sits closer to the left side of the guard. You can push it closer to true but it will put itself back to the left. Weird! It doesn’t seem to affect function at all, but those triggers definitely have a preference. My OCD is already screaming. Oh, and the drop safety on the Canik can easily be pressed fully inside the trigger which can create a small uncomfortable gap, something which I’ve not seen in any other striker fired gun.
There’s more, though more subtle and something far more inherent with polymer framed guns: The dust cover rail is also slightly off-center. Another left-leaning bias. This is a quirk which comes from the polymer cooling at different rates so I can’t knock Canik too much for it. Purely cosmetic, and something most people will never know or care about. But hey, OCD.
On a better note, Canik has some of the coolest presentations when you open the box (and a box which looks exactly like a stretched Walther PPQ box, I will add.) Two optics plates, a holster, a flush fit and +2 extended magazine with loader, an extended mag funnel, and space for several more odds and ends such as a third magazine and an optic. The fun stuff comes when you move the top foam panel aside. A large backstrap, cleaning brush and rod, the aforementioned push pin tool, and the coolest accessory I’ve ever seen: The Canik Tool. What looks like a small plastic model of a Canik is in fact a hex driver with various bits and extra screws hidden within the grip. It’s so cute! AND it’s functional!
I do so love when a gun manufacturer can have a bit of fun with their products.
Enough yammering, let’s shoot this darn thing!
Or…attempt to shoot it.
See, there is a well documented detail about the Caniks which I immediately ran into after taking the very first shot. Most countries which use 9x19mm (which is to say all of them except America I believe) are accustomed to using NATO-spec ammo, which is 124 grain ball loaded above luke-warm ranges. Around here, most of us go for the cheap stuff because we literally get more bang for the buck. I’m no exception here with my brand new box of 115 grain PMC which immediately proved to be far too weak to properly cycle the action. Canik seems aware of this issue as they sell factory lower power springs and guide rods, though why they don’t come pre-installed or with both spring weights provided along with all of the other goodies in the box I’m not sure.
Anyway, what resulted was brass ejecting so weakly as to almost form a pile beside my right foot with somewhere around a quarter to a third of every shot causing either a failure to clear the brass from the port in a timely fashion or a failure to chamber, all which can be attributed to having too stout of a spring for the ammo being used.
So, it’s a simple and not too costly fix. However, I won’t get this reduced power spring in time to drop in and run back to the range before this article gets posted. For those rounds which I was able to send downrange, the results were favorable. Maybe it’s psychosomatic but the five inch barrel and all of the gun’s weight riding up high it felt like it had some oomph even with the stiffer spring. With just a few shots I was feeling confident about its accuracy potential, only hindered by both being a yet unfamiliar gun to me and by having to clear stoppages. For whatever reason I think this issue is more pronounced in the 5″ barreled versions.
Side-stepping to the TP9SF Elite which we have as a rental gun here at the Range, every time I take it out I am shocked by how well I do with it. Did I really need another striker-fired nine? Nope. But the TP9SF Elite had planted a thought in the back of my head a few years ago and led to this moment, it was that good.
Much like the Walthers, the Caniks have a very solid and satisfying magazine lock-in. I am willing to bet the mags are made by Mec-Gar which makes OEM mags for lots of big names including Beretta and Sig, however with both the flush 18 round and extended 20 round I found the last round in each to be quite difficult to load despite using an Uplula loader. Unlike the Walther, the Canik’s slide catch seems a bit more subtle and I was having more difficulty releasing it with my thumb. Partly because it was new, but also partly due to having less texturing than the PPQs and PDPs.
To put a bow on this Tactical Turk review, I think Caniks provide a real value to the market but they still have some room for polish. The machining, fit and finish are already great. Iron out the trigger and dust cover cant, put a defined stop to the trigger safety’s travel, maybe make the slide release more pronounced, and definitely include a lower power recoil spring in the box. Other than the $30-ish spring swap though, everything else amounts to minor details in an otherwise attractive, functional, and very affordable package which comes standard with a number of goodies. With many different models and configurations available and a constant run of limited edition Signature Series guns for those wanting something a bit more unique, Caniks are worth looking into.
