Holsters for Canik Firearms
Turkey has a long, storied, and well-documented tradition of producing some excellent firearms. Long known to create great and elegant sporting shotguns and many less-expensive guns, which have proven to be not only budget-friendly but exceedingly reliable and of very high quality. Canik is an up and coming manufacturer of a single primary firearm model, a very high-quality striker action 9mm pistol, a clear challenger to the status quo and some of the biggest names in the business.
A Prominent Parent
Foreign battle rifles have long been popular with American sportsmen. From the great CETME to the German G3 to the notorious AK-47 (and it's many numerous varieties), American gunners love to mount up that foreign iron and throw some lead downrange. But how, exactly, are we to get those surplus firearms from wherever they have found themselves to be and into the hands of firearm enthusiasts?
Century International Arms was the conclusion to this question: the world needed a middleman. When you consider that some of the weapons in their collection have had nearly 40 million units produced (the Mosin Nagant), there is clearly no shortage of them available in the world. What has been missing is an effective conduit in the transfer.
The desire to purchase surplus military weapons has been around for a long time. Century International Arms was an early riser, getting its start all the way back in 1961 when Mr. William Sucher, a typewriter repairman, took a surplus Enfield in exchange for work done. He did not need the rifle, so he posted an ad in the local newspaper and ended up getting more interest in that item than typewriters, so he sought out caches of surplus war rifles to sell at a profit, and the rest is history.
Canik TP9
If the TP9 looks a little bit familiar, that's because it should. It's a clone. There, now it's out in the open. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Walther should be flattered because it is a very nice clone of a very good firearm. Okay, clone is not a fair term because it is not entirely accurate; it is actually an unlicensed replica of the excellent P99, with a few minor changes. When you take a look at it, the lineage is obviously that of the Walther.
This is absolutely nothing new under the sun; the world-renowned and undisputedly excellent CZ-75 is a direct knockoff of the fabulous Browning Hi-Power, which is obvious to even a novice gunner.
There are a few noteworthy differences between the Walther, and it's more miserly offspring. Most significant is the increase in magazine capacity between the two, with the TP9 boasting an outstanding 18+1 capacity in the full-size pistol and the typical 10+1 found in most other subcompacts. Also, the grip ergonomics are a little different, and as is the safety configuration.
Thus far, Canik has stayed true to a single caliber, the most popular handgun caliber in the world (9x19mm). This may or may not change down the road, but for now, it is a fairly budget-friendly design based on an excellent design and tremendous pedigree. With controls that are familiar and common, good ergonomics, excellent magazine capacity, and available standard with a slew of options (including red dot sights and threaded barrels), the Canik TP9 series of pistols are worth a second look.
