It’s John Wick meets Canik! Taran Tactical Innovation (TTI) has teamed up with Canik to design this high-level production competition pistol.
TTI was started in 2011 by internationally renowned champion pistol competitor and trainer Taran Butler in California. The company makes top-shelf custom designs and has developed a following in the top end of IPSC and Action shooting competitions globally.
Its guns are extreme high-end, wonderful in every regard but costing well over $10-15,000 each!
TTI is also well known because it trained many of the actors to shoot in the John Wick movie series, among others. Keanu Reeves was an excellent student. His actual shooting ability in real life is exceptional (search around on YouTube and you will find examples) and it shows in the movies.
Taran Butler helped design and supply specific guns for the John Wick series as well as in a number of other well-known movies.
So how does a high-end US designer and trainer partner with a Turkish pistol maker?
In Taran Butler’s words, “I realised, that like me, Canik thrived on pushing the envelope. It was this realisation that led me to partnering with Canik to create what we believe is the next evolution of the Canik handgun.”
So now Canik has a high-level comp pistol with a medium-level price. When you factor in all the extra goodies in the kit, from three magazines to optics plates, tools, holster and very good secure case, the Canik TTI is exceptional value for the competitive shooter at just over $2K.
Basically, it comes with everything you need to go to a match except the ammunition.
It’s a great looking gun. It really catches the eye with the combination of black frame with Burnt Bronze finish on the steel slide, backstraps and extended magwell.
It stands out and when even a died-in-the-wool Fudd like me is impressed by the looks, you know it has got something special going on. I took it to a range and everyone loved the look.
And I almost had to pry it out of my daughters’ hand after she saw it.
The Canik TTI is a striker-fired polymer-framed semi-auto pistol, limited to 10 round magazine capacity by Australian regulations. As well as the extensive accessories I mentioned, it comes with a Taran Tactical/Canik “gold” Challenge Coin celebrating the partnership between TTI and Canik.
When I first saw the TTI Combat, it looked stylish and very futuristic and a bit flashy (to me) but at the same time it is very attractive and the Burnt Bronze colour is brilliant (smoke colour also available).
When I picked it up I was very impressed with the feel when I gripped it. It is amazingly comfortable in the hand and I seriously love the aggressive stippling on the grips, which was later borne out on the range. Never once did my hand shift during rapid strings of fire, yet even after 100-plus rounds in under an hour my hands were not uncomfortable. The TTI has about the best balance between “stickiness” and comfort I have come across.
In fact, it felt so good that I made a major error and got excited and took it to the range without cleaning and inspecting the gun closely (as I always tell everyone else to do!).
This resulted in several misfires (light primer strikes because it did not go into battery fully). I took the TTI back to the workbench, disassembled it completely and detail cleaned it. I found metal filings left in the internals of the slide and in the firing pin channel at time of manufacture, but after a good clean and oiling we put more than 500 rounds through the TTI and it was 100% reliable.
This thing runs beautifully. Please take the time to clean new guns before firing; it is surprising the gunk and lack of lubrication you will see.
Now that we had it running well, it was time to see how it really shot, and the first thing (other than the excellent feel in the hand) you notice is the trigger. It is a very wide, chequered, flat faced, aluminium trigger that breaks at exactly 90 degrees and is smooth. It’s exceptional for a striker-fired pistol and better than most triggers on any type of pistol.
There’s a 700-gram (1.5lb) first stage to the wall and then less than900g (2lb) to crisply break the shot. It is extremely consistent and the chequering and width of the trigger face really helped with both precision and speed under pressure. Great trigger!
The TTI has an unconventionally shaped slide release, and after I used it for a couple of mag changes, I began to see the wisdom of the design. It works very well and I was able to maintain a good grip on the gun when using it, saving time.
The extended magazine funnel (which easily removable if you don’t want to use it) works well and is not so huge as to be clumsy, it blends in and allows you to almost throw magazines at the gun from any angle and have it work, very fast and useful.
It combines with the slightly extended magazine release that is well chequered and has slightly rounded edges, so it allows you to drop magazines without ever shifting your grip. The empty magazines shoot out with authority to allow for rapid, reliable reloads every time.
The frame design allows for a high grip, which is further helped by the slight undercut on the trigger guard. This high grip keeps the gun flat in rapid fire but the biggest feature of the TTI is the fact that it is a ported gun, that is, the barrel has porting slots.
This is not merely a screw-on compensator to add weight. By porting the barrel, Canik reduces muzzle flip in this relatively lightweight pistol, aiding shot-to-shot recovery. I was amazed at the effectiveness — the gun shoots very flat. On firing, the TTI feels different in a very nice way, with quick recovery and seemingly less recoil than you would expect from a 9mm polymer-framed firearm.
One of the downsides of porting and compensators is they may be really hard to remove for routine cleaning. Canik and TTI have an innovative solution, supplying a punch that allows almost instant and simple removal of the compensator for cleaning.
The supplied iron sights are a drift-adjustable black rear sight combined with a green fibre-optic front sight that creates a fast, highly visible sight picture that is also useful for taking precision shots, as I found out when bench testing.
The TTI is also supplied with various optics plates. You can fit red dot-type optics in just a couple of minutes, making it very versatile for different levels of competition.
I was pleasantly surprised to see a second Canik firearm (after testing the Rival-S) shoot all three brands of test ammo into groups of the less than 2” (50mm) at 25 yards. I cannot stress enough how unusual this is, especially with striker-fired polymer guns.
Two of the three types of ammunition tested averaged under 2” (50mm) and the third was only just over that figure. The best accuracy performer was the bargain-basement Winchester white-box FMJ, not something you normally see.
The level of accuracy and the comfort level (thanks to porting) make this pistol useful outside purely speed-based competitions, as it is competitive in the more precise disciplines as well.
The TTI Combat is an innovative and interesting take on a modern striker-fired competition pistol, bringing what are normally very high-end features to the average shooter. Impressive accuracy, great handling and fast shot-to-shot recovery combined with the extensive inclusions in the kit make this a serious contender for anyone looking for a mid-priced pistol with top-shelf features.
I started out thinking it was a bit too flashy and brash for me, but by the end of the review I was wondering how I could justify buying this gun.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Manufacturer: Canik Arms, Turkiye
- Calibre: 9mm
- Action: Semi-automatic striker-fired
- Trigger: 1.7kg (3.7lb)
- Barrel: 121mm (4.74”) match-grade, ported, with spiral fluting
- Magazine: 3 x 10-shot double-stack
- Colour: Burnt Bronze (tested); Smoke also available
- Finish: Cerakote on slide, PVD on barrel
- Slide: Forged steel, optics ready
- Frame: Polymer with interchangeable grips
- Sights: Drift-adjustable rear; fibre-optic front
- Weight: 821 grams (29.3oz)
- Dimensions: Length, 200mm (7.85”); Height, 149mm (5.87”)
- Inclusions: Interchangeable grips, tools, holster, cleaning gear, optics plates, in carrying case
- RRP: $2199
- Distributor: Australian Sporting Agencies
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