Latest batch of Rival - S - How are they?

[Chutist]

Thinking about dipping a toe in the Canik waters.  Tracked some of the issues with the earlier Steel frame guns.  Noticed the guns disappeared for quite a while - no stock anywhere. Seeing them starting to pop up in stock now after several months.  Reading that they did some small updates / fixed.

 

Who's got one? How's it going so far? 

Edited April 4 by Chutist

[Joe D]

I bought one a couple of weeks ago. The recoil spring appears to be a little softer. Feels like a 16-17#. 

[Chutist]

I saw one demo where they tried to over insert the mag and have it drag on the underside of the slide and it would not.  Guess that was one of the issues....

 

I'm probably going to get one.  They seem to be popping up then selling out.  Guess I gotta be fast! LOL!!!

[southpaw6]

I should be able to pick up my Rival-S chrome Monday.  I super stoked. I’ll let you know if there’s any issues soon!

[dohboy]

I am new to Canik and I picked up a Rival-S Darkside. The sticker on the case had December XX, 2023. Would this date be considered one of the newer batches that had the issues resolved? 

[RickyBobbys2011]

I bought a brand new one recently. Ran brass with zero issues. Steel ammo has constant FTE. Same ammo ran fine in the Staccato P and CS we also were running that day. 

[dohboy]

Thanks for the info. I'm currently working up a load for it, and will run some factory brass casing ammo through it soon. 

 

[Chutist]

So I've got about 700 rounds and ZERO issues.  No failures of any type.  That shooting was an indoor range trip to sight in, 2 indoor matches and one outdoor match.  That was all with Winchester White Box.  Pretty hot ammo.  Mags were 3 stock and two with the Henning extensions.  The Hennings gave me 22 rounds reloadable with the factory spring(new) and follower.  

 

I'm going to start working down loads for lighter PF.  I'll start with softer factory stuff like Blazer 124.  Then some hand loads that just make PF.  I bought a Rune Tactical recoil spring kit, along with striker and other springs.  Ran great, so now I'll see if I can "break it".   

 

The Canik ME03 has been solid as well...surprisingly good.  I can't "perceive" any difference in the dot or "quality" of the sight picture at speed from my Holosun or Sig Max.  For HALF the price of the Holosun 507Comp delivered.  No wonder they are sold out everywhere...

 

Edited May 12 by Chutist

[maddmaxx1961]

I have had one for a couple of months now and never have had any problems with it. Shoots great…. My son has a early version and it has never had any problems either and we shoot a lot of ammo…

[TXMichael]

only have 400 rounds through mine so far only issue was failure to lock slide back one time, bought a color pack kit from Canik site so with the 2 aluminum base pads that come with the gun and 2 that come in the color pack and 2 from my TTI combat that gives me 6 total aluminum base pads the little bit of extra weight seems to make slide drop out without issue, shooting a match next week fingers crossed

 

[Signal7]

I just got a 2nd one (black), locally, brand new with a 5/2024 date on it.  The mag release catch is VERY tight and my brand new mags with extension aren't locking in to the magwell without really hitting them.

 

The used mags seat and latch fine, so I hope this is just a matter of the catch breaking in a bit.  I'll be doing all the mods on this one that I have on my chrome Rival-S as this will by my LO back up piece.

[DrewM]

I have a black Rival-S with a date of 4/4/24 on the case label.  Stock except for the LOK palm swell grips - it has a Canik M03 on it.  I'm up around 500+ rounds with zero issues so far (knock on wood) - cleaned twice -  stock everything, stock magazines - shooting 150gr Federal and 124gr Blazer brass.  

I was thinking of doing the Spring kit on it and maybe swap out the trigger, but it's running so well I'm kind of paranoid about doing anything to it.  The trigger is ok'ish, but slightly heavier than I'd like. 

Edited August 8 by DrewM

[robertg5322]

Got one with a 5/10/24 date on the sticker, recoil spring seemed to barely hold slide in battery. Put a 4 lb Glock striker spring and the reduced power recoil spring i got from the distributor for the TP9 SFX I bought a few years ago, now stays in battery fine. With TTI or Springer Precision extensions, the O Ring trick keeps the mags from impeding slide function fine. Just under a thousand rounds so far, runs good, no extraction issues, no feeding issues, no issues at all so far. 

[Signal7]

Continuing from above:  2nd Rival-S (black), dated 5/2024 (May 2024) and have done all the upgrades to match my chrome Rival-S, as I wanted a 2nd gun for backup purposes.  I shoot these in the LO division of USPSA.

 

Sprinco trigger spring + split ring, striker safety spring, freedomsmith trigger, (Wolff gunsprings) glock guide rod + glock 14# return spring, glock 6# striker spring.  CZ extra power spring for the extractor.  100% the same as my chrome Rival-S. 

 

Broke it in with 300'ish rounds, sighted the 507 Comp optic and shot a match with it last night.  400 flawless rounds thus far and zero issues.

 

They've changed the inside of the handle / magazine inner well as I have brand new mags with henning extension / mbx followers that will only seat when they are really hit hard when inserted.  This is with mags @ full capacity (23 rounds).  My older mags that are well worn and broken in work fine.  It appears they've done something to keep over-insertion from happening, at least that's what I can tell.

Edited August 16 by Signal7
Added info.

[scottjackson556]

I also have a 05/24 production date Rival. They had some over-insertion issues from earlier guns. I have Mec Gar branded older TP9 magazines and newer Canik magazines. Some of these have TF extensions. They have all been flawless and I cannot reproduce the over-insertion issue.

 

I have not had any malfunctions so far (around 1500 rounds). I mostly shoot Blazer 124 grain, but I'm going to try SuperVel 147 competition loads next.

 

Setup: 507 comp, Rune Tactical guide rod, 15# recoil spring, 6# striker spring, and 401optics plate.

 

I reached out to Nils, and he let me know that he is using the Rune Tactical guide rod with a 14# or 15# spring and a 6# striker spring. He also lightened the safety plunger spring; other than that, he said the gun was completely stock.

[Chutist]

1 hour ago, scottjackson556 said:

Setup: 507 comp, Rune Tactical guide rod, 15# recoil spring, 6# striker spring, and 401optics plate.

 

I reached out to Nils, and he let me know that he is using the Rune Tactical guide rod with a 14# or 15# spring and a 6# striker spring. He also lightened the safety plunger spring; other than that, he said the gun was completely stock.

I'm going to say this...I have no "proof".  I'm going to guess that the guide rod that Nils got was better finished than the one I got.  I've posted pictures here of it before.  I went straight to them because "that's what Nils had...".  I hindsight I'd go elsewhere.... I bought to the factory captured GR with the reduced power spring after and I think it's fine. Just my experience, your milage may very. 

 

With the factory GR - Mine ran for the most part on factory ammo.  But I'd get a failure to chamber from time to time.  One malfunction is one too many in a match and I lost confidence in the gun. Gun has to go bang EVERY time.  I make enough mistakes without "help".  I think the root of my troubles is the chamber and throating of the barrel are too tight.  Yup, I could send it out to be reamed.  But I've moved on...so anybody reading this can take it for what it is...  Really too bad, I like the feel of the gun and how it shoots.   

Edited August 15 by Chutist

[scottjackson556]

Interesting. I wouldn't say my guide rod has a spectacular finish, but it also came with all of their recoil springs/trigger kit for around $70. There are definitely better options out there. For example, a W-74 tungsten guide rod, I assume, would have a nicer finish, but the cost of the guide rod alone is the same as what I paid for the entire kit. 

 

I didn't know a factory-reduced power guide rod/spring combo existed. I wonder why he wouldn't just use that? Do you know what weight the factory unit is? I would not trust the platform if I had those issues either, but unfortunately, some guns are just lemons, I think.

 

This is a quote from Nils "Not sponsored by them but they make a solid product for cheap".

[Thomas918]

On 8/15/2024 at 2:32 PM, Chutist said:

I'm going to say this...I have no "proof".  I'm going to guess that the guide rod that Nils got was better finished than the one I got.  I've posted pictures here of it before.  I went straight to them because "that's what Nils had...".  I hindsight I'd go elsewhere.... I bought to the factory captured GR with the reduced power spring after and I think it's fine. Just my experience, your milage may very. 

 

With the factory GR - Mine ran for the most part on factory ammo.  But I'd get a failure to chamber from time to time.  One malfunction is one too many in a match and I lost confidence in the gun. Gun has to go bang EVERY time.  I make enough mistakes without "help".  I think the root of my troubles is the chamber and throating of the barrel are too tight.  Yup, I could send it out to be reamed.  But I've moved on...so anybody reading this can take it for what it is...  Really too bad, I like the feel of the gun and how it shoots.   

My newest rival-s has a lighter recoil spring for sure. Idk if the striker spring is different but it def helps slow the slide down when it goes back into battery. It may be different since they changed the recoil spring. On another note, my gun can run ammo out to 1.170(RN 147gr xtreme or berrys). I don’t do that because I’ve had mags hang up on rounds around 1.180 or thereabouts. My newest rival hasn’t had one malfunction since I’ve had it thankfully 

[apetrulis01]

I know this is a side note, but I have found the Canik Rival S to be more "jumpy" then other guns; to include Glocks. I could not run it faster or flatter than my Glock 17. 

 

Anything to tune the gun better to run flatter? 

 

Thanks,

Adam

[BradNC]

6 hours ago, apetrulis01 said:

I know this is a side note, but I have found the Canik Rival S to be more "jumpy" then other guns; to include Glocks. I could not run it faster or flatter than my Glock 17. 

 

Anything to tune the gun better to run flatter? 

 

Thanks,

Adam

 

Do you think this is due to the grip angle on the Glock vs the Canik (plus the lower bore axis in the Glock)?  I'm curious what you think since I've not shot a Glock. My "old" Canik TP9SFx was jumpy until I added ballast weight. But the Rival-S already has weight to it, so your observation is interesting.

Edited August 18 by BradNC

[apetrulis01]

2 hours ago, BradNC said:

 

Do you think this is due to the grip angle on the Glock vs the Canik (plus the lower bore axis in the Glock)?  I'm curious what you think since I've not shot a Glock. My "old" Canik TP9SFx was jumpy until I added ballast weight. But the Rival-S already has weight to it, so your observation is interesting.

I believe it is due to the higher bore axis for me. I shoot 1911 and 2011 great, so it is not the grip angle for me. 

[scottjackson556]

On 8/18/2024 at 7:52 AM, apetrulis01 said:

I know this is a side note, but I have found the Canik Rival S to be more "jumpy" then other guns; to include Glocks. I could not run it faster or flatter than my Glock 17. 

 

Anything to tune the gun better to run flatter? 

 

Thanks,

Adam

I do believe the Canik is a bit "snappier" then a Glock 17 from my experience. I put a #15 recoil spring in my gun and it did make a difference in the feel of the gun. Although I don't put much thought into the muzzle rise of the gun as long as my hits are tracking in the same area. I can run sub 2 bill drills with my Rival-S that are in a fist or so sized group even though the gun has more muzzle climb then a lower bore axis gun like a Glock. I wouldn't put too much thought into it unless you can't put doubles or longer strings of fire into a decently tight group at a closer distance (10 yards and in or so).