Categories
100-gr 2.0 9mm Alien Gear Canik Cloak Tuck frangible Hevi Shot holster N8 Tactical subcompact TP9 Elite

More Testing – holsters for the TP9 Elite Subcompact

So, I received the holster shell for the Canik TP9 Elite SC on Saturday.  

I installed it on my Alien Gear Cloak Tuck 2.0 holster base, although I hat to mess around with the mounting screws and bushings to customize the fit.  As well, I used blue thread locker on the screws.  I’ve been carrying the handgun in this holster half the day.  It carries well with this holster.  It doesn’t protect from the grip texture, though, but I installed rubber Talon Grip tape on the grips on Saturday, as well, so the texture doesn’t beat up my skin.

I’ve yet to give the N8 Tactical holster a try.  Maybe soon.

Also, I want to give the holster that came with the handgun another try, soon, too.

I found that I’ve another box of Hevi Shot 100-gr frangible 9mm ammo.  I shot most of a box (of 50) from the TP9 SC.  I think I may attempt to use this ammo as SD/HD ammo.  It shoots flat and doesn’t jam the handgun.

UPDATE:

I’ve been giving the Alien Gear holster a try, carrying it around the house.  It carries well but the included Canik holster works surprisingly well.  I still do not know which I’ll use.  I suppose I can use all three over a long time span and report on my findings.  So, with that being said, I’ll be carrying with the Alien Gear first!

Alien Gear Cloak Tuck 2.0 with TP9 Elite SC shell
TP9 Elite SC in the included holster provided by Canik
TP9 Elite SC in the N8 Tactical OT2 holster
Alien Gear Cloak Tuck 2.0 with TP9 Elite, IWB

Categories
9mm Canik Elite Shooting Sports range visit SP2022 TP9SA

A Range Report: Shooting The Canik TP9SA And Sig SP2022!

I took the TP9SA to the range this weekend.  It shot well!  I’m very impressed.

Some notes:

  1. This is the first striker-fired gun I’ve ever shot.
  2. I shot 108 rounds of Remington UMC 115-grain (megabox).
  3. I was shooting from a distance of 10 yards.
  4. There was one stovepipe that occurred when firing the first magazine.
  5. There was one failure to feed that occurred when firing the second magazine.
  6. The trigger is great!  It feels hyper-sensitive.  Reset is loud and tactile enough for me to know when it resets, without issue.
  7. I shot with the larger of the two backstraps…I honestly can’t tell which of the two fit better in my hand, though
  8. A lot of my shots were to the left of the bulls-eye (my left, when aiming).  At first, I thought the rear sight needed to be drifted, so I used Kentucky windage and aimed maybe 1-1.5″ to the right of the bulls-eye and I hit the bulls-eye.  I decided to stick with using the proper sight picture because I know from my prior range visits that I needed to work on trigger pull and finger placement.  Well, the last magazine was very good…I placed a good bit of my rounds in the bulls-eye while using the same sight picture I’d been using the whole session.
  9. Instead of continuing to become familiar with the TP9SA and work on muscle memory with this gun, I switched guns and shot with the SP2022 the last 20 minutes of the session.  This was a bad idea, as the next 20 minutes, my rounds were all over the place.  Next time, I’m only coming with one gun.

I’ve some video footage of the range session, but only of my SP2022. The video is here:

The target is far enough away to where you can’t see a damned thing…sorry about that.  I’ll work it out on the next visit.  I supposed I could lower the FOV setting on the camera, as well as move the target up a bit (in good/bad guy situations with handguns, 10 yards is a bit excessive as far as self defense goes, IMO).

Another thing I did was to test the 9mm Federal HST JHP I have, just to ensure it didn’t jam…I saved it for the last 5 minutes of the session, as I wanted to shoot them while the gun was dirty.  I shot 10 JHPs without issue.  As well, I was only able to shoot them through the SP2022.  I’ve 10 left…I’ll shoot those through the Canik on my next range visit.   The Canik cleaned up pretty well.  There’s quite a bit of barrel wear at the ejection port, though…just the paint coating, though.  It’s not a huge deal, although my SP2022 has more rounds through it and has NO outside barrel wear.  I did lube the Canik VERY well before the range session (with TW25B)…the rails looked good.  There was a tiny bit of wear on the underside of the slide itself, though, and I’ve no idea what caused it, but I’ll be sure to apply some grease to that area before the next visit.

The feed ramp already has what looks to be copper on it, where the bullets contact it while being fed into the ramp.  I’ll leave the ramp alone, though…as long as the gun functions properly, I’m happy.

I’m looking forward to the next range visit with this gun!

Categories
Canik SA TP9SA Triune Triune Shooting Sports

I Bought A Canik TP9SA, My First Striker-Fired Gun

A few things:

  • This is the TP9SA.
  • Bought it locally ($369) at a place called Triune Shooting Sports.  Was in and out within half an hour, I think.  Staff was professional and moved with purpose…I did not have to beg them to see the gun.
  • No, it isn’t the FDE I wanted.  I’ll see if I can get the TP9v2 in FDE or OD Green. UPDATE:  Black and FDE are the only colors offered for this particular model of Canik.
  • There are two variants of the TP9 SA:  9mm and .40 caliber.  This is the 9mm version. The .40 cal version hasn’t yet reached the U.S.
  • The trigger is NICE, with a NICE audible and tactile reset!
  • The slide racks back nicely…there’s a very smooth, mechanical feel to it that’s different than my SP2022.
  • It comes with two 18-round mags.  I need 2-3 more.  UPDATE: since I now have two of these Caniks, I have 4 mags.
  • The fit is great.  The finish is good (not great).  This is a duty-type of gun, though…if you want great fit/finish, get a $1000 gun instead.
  • The sights are contrast sights, not night sights.  I’m OK with that, since night sights would jack up the pricing.
  • The grip and stipling is very good…not aggressive but not lacking.
  • The gun wasn’t dirty out of the case like my SP2022 was.  I cleaned it anyways, to get rid of the packing grease and get it lubed up with CLP and TW25B grease.
  • If you don’t like the decocker, don’t use it.  There’s one guy on YouTube that removed his (WTH?).  The main reason for having the decocker is that you can use it to disable the striker before tearing down the gun…no need to pull the trigger.  I imagine this was also a cost-saving measure…they use the same slide mechanics as the TP9 so that they wouldn’t have to develop a whole new slide just for the TP9SA.
  • I’ll visit the range tonight so that I can begin the break-in process.

Update (4/11/2015):  I got this back in Feb but I don’t think I posted about it —

Categories
9mm magazines polymer Sig Sauer SP2022 trigger

I’m the New Owner of a Used Sig SP2022!

I thought I’d only get one magazine (the ad said only one was included), but I ended up with two!  That’s a huge deal, as they are expensive.  And I just got two new mags for this gun, too!  Now, if I’d paid attention to the ad pictures, I’d have seen that there were two mags in the pictures (one in the gun and one in a clear plastic bag).   What else?  It has the round-in-chamber indicator on top of the gun, which is pretty damned cool (I’ll keep visually checking the chamber, though).  I also swapped out the installed backstrap for the bigger one…it feels much better.  The grips are difficult to remove (needs a big screwdriver and some leverage).  I wonder if I should lube the mount area…

I cleaned it (surprisingly, it was filthy…like it had been shot a few times and not cleaned…it’s supposed to be new…WTF) and found that this example has a metal recoil spring guide.  There are many videos stating that this was plastic and people were replacing them with aftermarket metal guides.  I’ve no idea how this affects the limited warranty that covers new Sig products.  Based on the fact that the gun had obviously been fired and because it has a metal recoil spring guide, the gun is more than likely not new.  It’s not a huge deal, but it was misrepresented nonetheless.

I bought 100 rounds of American Eagle FMJ 9mm rounds ($17 a box at the gun shop).  I also bought a box of 20 Federal HST JHP 9mm ($28??!).  9mm is cheaper than .45ACP, that’s for sure!  ðŸ™‚

I loaded up two magazines to begin the break-in period…they’re stiff as hell.  The other two mags are empty.  I’ll rotate the rounds from one to the other…I don’t want all my ammo in the mags.  They hold 15 rounds apiece, so that would be a significant amount of my ammo.

This gun is sweet!  It’s different than my Equinox.  The Equinox looks and feels (and IS) expensive.  The SP feels more…practical.  It actually fits my hands better…the grip is fantastic, even if it’s plastic (yes, this is a polymer gun).  The trigger even feels a bit better, although I haven’t compared reset between the two.  My wife prefers the feel of the Equinox (the feel of money…LOL) over the SP.  I like both of them in different ways.

I plan to visit the range tomorrow and maybe even Sunday and Monday, just to get some practice in.