Pushing the TP9SFX..Open Gun

[reconrover]

So..I decided to see if I could up the game and keep it all lowing cost. Freedomsmith trigger needed some

clearancing for full arc, easily done, HUGE difference.  I put in a 1lb lighter recoil spring, pretty sure I can easily go 2lbs lighter.  I tried 1lb lighter striker spring..no go, too many light strikes, back to stock.  Taylor freelance +4 base pads, Wasatch comp, fixed optic mount, and *thumb rest [generic]*.    Kept factory barrel for now, 

[Weapon]

Try a 6.5lb Ghost Glock 17 striker spring. I have been running one of those in my SFx and Rival Dark Side  for years with no problems. You will probably want to swap out the block plunger spring and the trigger return spring as well if you want a really light trigger. If you play around with the springs and polish this and that, you should be able to get the FS trigger down to 2.0lbs or less with no light strikes (assuming you want to go that low). 
 

As for recoil springs, keep in mind the recoil spring has to fight the striker spring when the slide is closing. You will get to a point where the striker spring vs a light recoil spring will keep the slide from returning to battery. Thanks to the striker indicator on the back of the Canik’s slide, you can see exactly where the striker spring is fully compressed. Dry fire it and then watch the striker indicator on the back of the slide as you slowly close the slide. A lot of 1/8” out of battery problems are due to a heavier striker spring vs. a light RSA.
 

Speaking of the striker/firing pin indicator, it’s a good idea to check the slide backplate and make sure there are no polymer or metal burrs around that hole in the backplate. One of my first Caniks had a weird little burr there that caused several headaches until I found it and removed it. It still looked like it the pin was rubbing there so I ended up enlarging that hole by about a thousandth or two just to make sure there was no drag on the pin. That’s likely not a problem on newer Caniks as the one on my Rival already looks slightly larger (and smoother) than the one I bored out but it’s still worth checking. 

 

[reconrover]

Thanks man, so little info on the upgrades other than off the shelf info.  I’ll put several of your ideas into action!  Injust ordered a buffer wheel so I can get several trigger bars done.  I did the plunger spring, seems to smooth things out, also did the upgraded trigger return spring as well.
 

any thoughts on aftermarket barrels that are actually worth it? 

[BradNC]

I fully enjoy my TP9SFx after optimizing it to my liking (FS trigger, Sprinco RSA, LokGrip backstrap weight, trigger&plunger polishing, magwell, etc). But there's something I have not seen anyone mention. Here's the story that might apply to your SFx (mine is apparently an old specimen). I tried several times to run a lighter recoil spring with a light striker spring and plunger spring, etc - like everyone else says they do. I could NOT eliminate light primer strikes when using a 6-7lb striker spring!  No way. As a result I could not get lighter recoils springs to work right like lots of folks do. Well, about this time I got interested in Sprinco's RSA (I use a light/laser as muzzle ballast so no need for the W74 tungsten ballast guide rod). I emailed and asked Sprinco if their system would work with the STOCK striker spring. In response Alan Dugger (Sprinco owner) and I talked (great customer service!). He said Canik's striker spring is about a 16lb spring and there's no way his RSA would work with that. He also said I must have a freak TP9SFx since my attempts using 6-7lb striker springs couldn't work. That made me study a replacement striker assembly I had bought in reserve. I found that my stock striker shape near the firing pin was NOT the same contour as the replacement (a MIM part I think). So I put the replacement striker in, first with a 7lb Glock spring, then with a 6lb Wolff striker spring, and VOILA it all works now using 6-7lb striker springs and lighter recoil springs! (I use the Sprinco RSA now.)  Canik had originally used a poorly shaped striker, and to make it work with their slides it NEEDED a mega-power striker spring! I actually suspect this is the origin of their super-power striker springs, or if the origin was to work with stiff Russian ammo their spring choice allowed them to overlook a poorly shaped striker tip at the same time. Either way the solution was the new striker shape.

 

All's been well after that, including Sprinco's RSA, etc. So it all works well together now. I view my TP9SFx as a DIY gun - you get the parts but it's up to you to make it work well. BTW, I just added Canik's threaded/fluted barrel and had to gunsmith that to get it to fit correctly with my slide. The chamber hood "lug" was made too long, so I had to file off about 1-2mm of metal. I think Canik did this to make it work with any slide that's produced, but it does require metal work, no question on that.

[Weapon]

It has been so long since I have seen a Canik with an MIM striker that I had just about forgotten about the change over that occurred from MIM to machined. The older MIM ones were prone to wearing down and/or tip breakage (likely due in part to the crazy striker springs they were still using at the time). After those problems started popping up, they changed over to a machined striker and, so far as I know, those solved all of the problems with breakage. The original one in my SFx never broke as I ran it with a several lighter striker springs until I figured out which one would work (there was zero aftermarket for them back then) but I still upgraded it when they came out with the new ones.
 

Luckily, they are easy to tell apart. The top one is machined, the bottom one is one of the old original MIM models:

 

[BradNC]

Interesting. The new one I put in is NOT black in color, but it's definitely slightly different from the one that came in my TP9SFx. No broken tip or anything on the original, but a sufficiently different contour on the large section adjoining the firing pin tip. So probably the replacement I got is not the MIM piece as you showed (although it does not look like a typically machined part with sharply defined edges/corners, etc). The one I have that works looks most like the top piece. I honestly think the problem has to do with the angle of the cut after the firing pin, and that has to mate with the machining inside the slide's striker channel (that I can't study very easily!) Maybe I have a freak slide with machining error inside the striker channel's breach end.

[lroy]

Are you trying to shoot major out of this?

[jlewis39]

On 12/19/2023 at 11:59 AM, BradNC said:

I fully enjoy my TP9SFx after optimizing it to my liking...Here's the story that might apply to your SFx (mine is apparently an old specimen)....

 

Apologies in advance for slightly derailing this thread a tiny bit:

 

If I may ask, what year was your SFx produced, as you state that your SFx is "apparently an old specimen?"

 

I have two SFx, one from 2020 and the other from 2021.  Thus far, I've kept them stock, mainly using them for Limited and LO (with some local indoor league stuff thrown into the mix).  However, I've been reading through this thread with much interest.

 

Thanks!

[BradNC]

I bought mine in approx Oct 2020 from BassPro. But it could be a specimen that was produced before that and was laying around, I don't know. The reason I suspect mine is older is that it was plagued with the inability to use lighter striker springs that others were benefitting from (and lighter recoils springs that require the lighter striker spring to work, etc) -- until I replaced the original striker assembly. In its stock configuration it worked fine after break-in, it was just that it could not be ungraded with lighter/appropriate recoil springs (e.g., the Sprinco recoils spring system, etc). Plus it had a lot of slide-to-frame slop that others didn't seem to mention. All added together I think it is an older specimen. (Don't know if you saw another post of mine recently, but I bought a new TP9SFx fluted&threaded barrel from Canik that I had to file to fit correctly in my slide...)