Canik Prime Radian Gun Review

The Canik MC9 Prime Radian. Let’s check it out. (Available Here)

 

Alright guys, we have the Canik Mete MC9 Prime Radian.

Now, that’s a lot for a fairly small pistol. This is in the micro 9 line, but yet it’s very shootable, and that’s one of the things about the Prime. It’s been well received, and honestly, it’s more of a world-class handgun, even above the standard Canik line, which has been really well received, but with the Prime, this just gives you a ton of different features, and now adding the Radian, which is the ramjet barrel system, or the afterburner comp, and this makes it incredibly flat shooting.

We’re actually going to test it next to the original MC9 Prime, which did have a compensator built in, but we’re going to do head-to-head comparisons between the two, and we’re just going to look at a lot of the cool features at which this really takes it even more of a step above with the Prime, and we have the Canik Onyx that we’re using for our red dot sight, which those have been well received as well, so we have a very shootable handgun that just really mitigates recoil, and comps have become extremely popular with a lot of concealed carry options. If you don’t want the comp, they do make the MC9 that’s NC, which is no comp, but if you want a comp, and you want to really mitigate recoil, the MC9 Prime Radian is something to take a look at, and we really appreciate Canik for sending the Prime Radian for this review. All right guys, the Canik MC9 Prime Radian.

This is a series of handguns with the MC9, and to me, this has really been way above. In fact, again, this is honestly a world-class firearm, and with the Prime, when it first came out, we’re going to do some comparisons. We have the original model, then we have the no comp model.

We’re going to talk about the differences with felt recoil, and why you would want one, and why you might not want a comp gun. There are a lot of guys out there that do not like comps, but there is a growing number of people that are wanting to install comps on their firearms. Before we get started, let’s go ahead and drop our 17 round magazine, and this is a very thin gun.

I’ll tell you, we have Sig Sauer with the P365 to thank for that, and getting those small micro nine pistols with a decent round capacity, and then they took it to the next level. This is definitely one of those options where it started out small, and then they started expanding it, so it is still very concealable because it’s flat, and that’s what I like. I can conceal flat, even though the shortness of the grip, and the shortness of the slide help, but there’s something about this flatness.

Now, originally, of course, they had the MC9, and this has been a great gun, and they’ve had a number of variations of this handgun, and I mean, it’s very well made. Optics ready, has a rail system. I mean, you have 12 plus one, and it’s just been a great gun, but it is outclassed by the Prime.

Still a great gun, but the Prime really comes in with a lot of features that make this very shootable, and I think that’s one of the big things to consider because if you go with the tiny guns, they’re just not quite as controllable as more of a full-size gun, but yet again, easier to conceal because it’s thin, and I really think that the Prime came out of their collaboration with Terran Tactical and the TTI, but this is the first Prime, and it is ported. In fact, it’s also a 17-round magazine. Chamber’s empty, but it has a ported barrel with three ports, and this is effective, especially over a non-comped version, and this just helps to keep the muzzle flatter, and it gives you less recoil in your hand, but one of the things about compensators is that they can be a little finicky, but honestly, from what I’m finding, they’re mainly tuned, and there’s not really any problems.

There is some consideration that there may be more muzzle flash, but we have done night shooting with comps as well, and it’s very little. It’s not blinding, but it’s according to the comp, and then they came out with a non-comped or NC version, and we did a direct test with the non-comped version versus the comp. There were some differences between recoil, but honestly, the Prime just in itself is a very shootable handgun.

So we’re going to look at some differences with the new Radian and what the upgrades are, and we’re going to talk about that first. We’re going to kind of go over some of the details, but we have reviews on both of the earlier Primes. So first off, and it’s probably what everybody’s looking for, is the Radian comp, and this is actually called the afterburner.

And so it fits right here at the end of the slide, but one thing that’s different about the Radian is it’s part of the ramjet barrel system. This is actually the barrel continues to go through, and the comp fits over the barrel. Now I’m going to jump ahead of myself a little bit, and we’ll look at this when we do the full disassembly.

This is for cleaning and maintenance, but I need to do this to show you how this works. This is a ported barrel. It’s not just an added on threaded on compensator, and we have a tapered bolt that fits down into this little hole, and you can see how this actually fits.

And so this just goes over it, and while it is external, and it is a separate piece, it acts as a standard barrel cut with ports. So that’s one of the secrets of the Radian. And so then it has that chamber, and you can see those little sides, and it allows for really good recoil management.

Those gases are pouring out. And then you don’t have to have Loctite to put this on because it is a tapered pin, and it goes in. But I just wanted to go ahead and show that, and you’re going to need to know how to do this for field stripping and maintenance.

So the barrel is 3.83 inches in length. That includes the port, obviously, because the barrel comes all the way to the end. When it comes to the standard ported model, you have these three cuts in the slide, but again, it’s in the barrel.

They’re small, and then we have small little vents on either side, and then at the top. And so you’re going to just have more gas being able to be released to give you more recoil management. And of course, we’re going to look at all that when we get to the range.

The next big part of recoil management is the Radian back strap, and this is actually aluminum. And I’ll tell you guys, when I first took this out, I had not done a lot of research. I just wanted to shoot it.

I wanted to see how it felt. This really does mitigate recoil because it keeps your hand just locked in. It’s almost like slide serrations.

Now you do have two additional back straps that are very similar to the Kanek back straps, but this is from Radian, and it is really an upgrade. And then we have the upgraded mag well, which is additional as well on the pistol. This is flared a lot more than your standard mag well.

So it just allows those magazines to go in and go in very deep. So there’s very little hang off at the end, but you can see, I mean, it is really very much flared, but yet it’s not too big. It’s very minimal, and I like that for concealed carry.

And it does come in that kind of a bronze finish, which you have your mag release and your slide stops, which are on either side, they are ambidextrous. So it gives it a nice subdued two-tone look, but it’s not too garish. And also the flat face trigger, the pad is that same color.

So you have a theme going through there. Plus the slide serrations are deeper on the Radian model. You can see here with the original, I mean, these are really good slide serrations, but it just gets deeper and easier to be able to rack that slide if you need to.

And honestly, it’s a pretty tight recoil system because it only comes to about right here where the comp starts. So when you’re pulling this back, you can feel that it has a lot of strength in there, and it’s a pretty strong spring. With the original model, it’s a little bit less.

It’s not quite as difficult to pull back, but that keeps this very reliable. And honestly, the texturing seems just a touch more aggressive, and that could be my imagination, or it could be because we’ve used this one quite a bit and shot a lot of rounds through it. But we shot a lot the other day when we were taking this to the range.

I’ll tell you, with this back strap, it really kind of rides up and it gives you just a locking surface with your hand. And then you’ve got that texturing that goes all the way around it. And then with the mitigation of the recoil, this is a very easy gun to control.

And yet, it’s not any bigger than the standard Prime. And the Radian Magwell does have a small lip that comes out and allows you just to rest your finger on here. With the original, it is a lot more muted.

This is effective, and it works really well, but this has advantages. And you can see that the back strap actually comes out a little bit. Here, it’s more of a gradual slope.

And so the Radian gives you a little more deeper grip right next to your beaver tail, and that helps with felt recoil. But if you don’t like the Radian back strap, it does come with two standard Kanek back straps. Now, this is the Onyx C. It is RMSC footprint.

It is made by Kanek. You have your controls here, and of course, your standard windage and elevation. And then we do have a couple of small nubs for sights for backup.

It is an open emitter, and this is actually new. Even though they had one of the Onyx C, this is the upgraded version, and it has more of a matte finish to it. Again, this has three separate reticles, and we’re going to kind of take a look if we can get our camera to cooperate.

So here we have the two MOA dot. We hold down on the plus sign for about three seconds, and it changes. Now we have a 32 MOA circle with a two MOA dot.

And here we have just a 32 MOA circle. So it gives you three separate options, and it’s just pressing the plus button for about three seconds to change that out. There’s no color distortion that we could pick up.

It seemed to have true color. The sides are not fuzzy. I mean, this is really an excellent sight, and Kanek has been producing their mechanic sights for a while.

And we’ve tested quite a few of them, but this really held up very well. The sights are night vision, and they’re blacked out at the rear, and then you have an orange circle around tritium. So we have tritium sights.

It does co-witness with the sight, and according to whatever sights you put on. But with the Kanek, I mean, it really lined up. And we were able to shoot pretty accurately just with the sights, just testing it out.

But the Kanek sight, no distortion. It was very clear, and we shot a lot of rounds through it, and it held up well. Now with the Radian afterburner on here, your sight is going to be moved back just a touch.

It’s also double undercut, and so you’re going to have more of a natural point of aim. There is a small pad here at the front. There are pressure pads here, or little indexing pads where you can put your trigger finger, or you can bring your thumb up and rest it.

The slide stops are fairly extended, but they’re very close to the slide. We didn’t have any trouble with this holding the slide open on the last round. Now on the side it does say Kanek Prime Radian, and it does have the Radian symbol.

But this is a really thin gun. Again, excellent for concealed carry. And one of the problems with a very small handgun is that it is going to be typically a little more snappy.

And then you’ve got a shorter grip. It’s super thin. It’s easy to carry.

But when you get something with a little more grip, a little more barrel length, it’s going to just be more shootable, and you’re going to have more control over it. Now we have the cock striker indicator, which means that if we just pull that trigger, it disappears. It does not mean there’s not a round in the chamber.

It just means the striker’s cocked. And also we do have a loaded chamber indicator right here behind the barrel. Now while the 17 plus one round capacity is excellent for such a small handgun, you do get two mags with the pistol, and you get a loader.

Now guys, the trigger is a flat face trigger. It has a nice ample pad with serrations. And as you bring that down, you can watch in the back your safety goes.

So if this is inadvertently hit, it’s going to lock it into place. So as we bring this down, we go to a 90 degrees right here. A little tiny resistance right here, but on the other primes, I didn’t feel that.

Then we have a nice break. And I’ll tell you guys, the Canik trigger is some of the best polymer striker fire triggers out there. Reset is really fast, and it kind of pushes it out.

Now trigger pull weight with our Lyman trigger gauge from Brownells. Four pounds, 0.7 ounces. Three pounds, 10 ounces.

Weight on the Canik Prime Radian with the Onyx Red Dot Sight, 25.16 ounces. Big thank you to Fiocchi for sponsoring the ammo. All made in the USA.

One of the biggest suppliers of ammunition in the country. Also big thanks to the Maglula. Just making range day fast.

All right guys, Canik MC9. This is the Prime, and this is the Radian, which really takes it up another notch. Radian is known for being a highly effective compensator, and that just keeps the down.

Now the first Prime that came out had a comp barrel, comp slide, and it did effectively help with felt recoil over the NC, which is no comp. And we did a comparison between those, but we’re going to do a little comparison between the comp model and the Radian. But with these slide cuts, I mean they’re just so aggressive all over the slide.

The flat face trigger, the really great texturing on the grip, undercut, magwell. This thing is full featured. Canik came out with their Mete series, which was top notch, and then now they stepped it up to more of a world-class option, and for concealed carry.

And it’s super flat, holds 17 rounds. I mean it just shoots flat, and that trigger is exceptional. Now here we have the original Prime, and this does have a slide cut, and the barrel is ported.

So we’re going to just test it to see how much effectiveness that it gives compared to the Radian. Now it effectively keeps the muzzle down, but I can feel it in my hand, and I can feel it in my hand. There is more recoil coming back.

It does come up just a touch more than the Radian, but the Radian has really been developed to just mitigate that recoil. It traps those gases, it pushes them out, and then it just helps with shooting all the way around. Guys, there is nothing lacking on the Prime already, but put that Radian on there, it makes it extremely flat shooting, and just easier to get those second and third follow-up shots.

And this thing’s been uber reliable. Island Comp, you’ve got two ports. Man, it just keeps that muzzle flat.

And then add all the other parts of the Prime. Guys, this is one of the best concealed carry handguns out there. Super thin, a lot of features.

Mechanic just keeps raising the bar, and that makes other companies raise the bar as well. What do you think? I feel like the Prime Radian, I feel like I had a lot more control. This one seemed to come back in my hands a little more, kind of came up.

That one I felt like it was just steady, smooth shooting. Right. So I think I like that one a lot better.

They both shoot incredible though. I love the way these shoot, and I really like the trigger a lot. Yeah, great trigger.

Yeah. Well guys, the camera wasn’t on. This is our group.

Seth shot it. It’s five rounds. One, that first round, and then he just tightened it up.

But we were getting really good accuracy already. Guys, whenever you add a new optic to your firearm, you need to sight it in. And you can walk it in, you can bore sight it through the bore.

But the easiest way we found is the Sight-Rite 2.0 by Tactical Elites. It’s a green laser bore sighter. Put a collet on it that’ll fit the caliber, then we slide it into the end of the barrel, and then we turn on the green laser.

Check out Tactical Elites for the Sight-Rite 2.0, an excellent addition to your range time, and it’ll save you time and money. Now, we have the three Primes here. We have the non-comp version, the comped, and then we have the Radian.

Recoil difference with the non-comped, it actually shoots really well. It shoots flat, but it does have a little more muzzle flip, and there is a little bit coming back in your hand. As you move it up to the comped model, it gives you a little less felt recoil, but it keeps your muzzle in the down position.

There’s very little muzzle rise, and there’s less that comes back in your hand. When it comes to the Radian, this gives you considerably more recoil management. The muzzles flatter, and there is definitely less coming back into your hand.

So really, it gives you three complete different options. All right, for disassembly, we’re going to drop our magazine, check the chamber, gun’s empty. Now, with a canik, it’s a little different, and first thing we’re going to do is pull the trigger.

Now, bring back your slide just a touch, and grab both sides of this takedown tab, and move it forward, and it’ll stop, and then we’re just going to lift up the slide off of the frame. Very simple to do. We have a recoil spring.

It’s double captive, and it’s pretty short, and that has a lot to do with the way it fits right here into the afterburner compensator. And then we’re going to take our barrel, and we’re just going to lift it. Now, to disassemble this, I’m going to show you, and guys, this is for regular cleaning and maintenance, and so this is something you’re just going to need to know, because you want to be able to pull that barrel off, and you want to keep this clean.

Now, it does come with a Torx wrench. With it, we’re going to use a T9, because I like the handle, and this is a tapered pin. So, one great thing is you don’t have to have Loctite, and you don’t have to worry about this thing coming loose, because it’s actually a locking cam system.

And here you can see the tapered pin at the end. It’s just smooth, so this is not threaded. It’s only threaded on the end.

Now, the first time you take this off, you’re probably going to have to have a little soft mallet, and put some lubrication behind it, because when we shot it, I had to do that, but I’ve already done it now, so I can take this right off. And again, you can see how the barrel system works. I mean, this is really effective.

You have your chamber, but yet, you still have your barrel right there, so you’re not losing anything that you would when you thread on a compensator. It’s typically not as effective, but Radium makes very effective compensators, and this is considered the Ramjet barrel system, and this is the afterburner comp, but those two large ports definitely help to keep that recoil as low as possible. Now, we can just remove the barrel.

And again, you’ll notice those flats, and this just keeps the barrel weight down, and this is, again, not a Kanek barrel, but the Radium barrel. And guys, that’s all you need to do to field strip. For reassembly, we’re going to put our barrel back in.

We’re going to take our comp, go ahead and put it back on. It should slide right over. One thing I love about the comp is how it fits right to the slide.

Then we’re going to take our locking pin or our tapered pin. We’ll get it started a little bit, and then I’m just going to screw it right in. Again, you don’t have to have Loctite for this.

Next, we’re going to take our recoil spring and guide rod, and then you just set the slide, and there are some little slots right here, and that will go right into your guide rods, and then just bring it back, just like that. It’s really easy to reassemble. I’ll be honest, guys, when I first got this, I was really kind of looking at the comp itself and how to remove it, and it took some research to be able to figure it out, but it’s really easy once you know how to do it.

But again, you’ll probably have to use some sort of nylon mallet, and once you lubricate it, to bump it off if you’ve been shooting it. And let’s test for function, and we’re back in business. And guys, to keep all your firearms in shape, Otis Technologies is some of the best cleaning kits out there.

They do produce the Ripcord, and they have a whole system around it. They have a number of tools, of course, shooter’s choice. They have a number of different products, and they are suppliers to the U.S. military, and this is their little tactical compact kits.

And Otis Technology offers a 15% discount using SOOCH15, and we really appreciate Otis for being one of our channel sponsors. Guys, you get a really nice box, really thick with a handle. Open it up, close foam padding around the prime radian.

One thing I like about Canik is they do include a holster, and it has a little standoff. It’s an inside the waistband, and while this is not a tier one type holster, this is not bad, at least until you can get something else, or for that matter, you can use this. And it fits right there in the gun.

Extra magazine with loader. Here at the top, we have our back straps, and we have a small tool kit. This is a driver, and the tools are inside the grip.

Also, we have information and a lot of it just to get started, and you can download the manual. So Canik does a great job with their presentation. And also, you get a number of tools, whether it’s Torx wrenches, you get your cover plate for your optics, and you get extra screws and a small little lens cleaner.

Well, guys, MSRP for the standard Canik Prime Radian is $899.99. If you add the Onyx C Red Dot Sight, it’s $1079.99. Now for the original MC9 Prime, MSRP is $649.99. And of course, market price varies. So why would you go with the Radian Prime over their standard prime models? First off, you get the ramjet barrel system, which is excellent. It’s ported, and we’ve taken a look at it.

This is a really nice barrel system. And then you get the afterburner comp with two large ports, very effective recoil management. Also, you get a Radian back strap, which is very effective.

Guys, I’ve never seen anything like this, and it is almost like slide serrations, and yet it’s very comfortable in your hand. And then with the upgraded magwell, which makes this really easier to get mags in and out. It is ample and easy, and yet it’s not too large.

This is a good magwell for concealed carry. Plus the upgraded slide serrations that have been just a little bit deeper. But the prime model in itself has a lot of great features, and this carries all of those too.

The night vision sights, you have tritium. You have direct mount with your RMSC. I mean, it goes right on direct mount.

Ambidextrous controls, flat face trigger, 90 degrees, one of the best triggers out there. And the texturing is just excellent. So a great option, whether you go with the Radian, or you go with their earlier prime models, which these haven’t been out that long.

But there are some upgrades with the Radian, but the prime itself is just top notch. And Canik is really stepping things up, and it’s great to see. So guys, if you’re looking for a very concealable, yet very shootable handgun, and then you add the Radian system to it, that really just mitigates the recoil.

And that’ll give you more confidence if you ever have to pull the trigger. And with the Mete MC9 Prime Radian, this gives you kind of a total package. Now again, you’re really wanting something without the comp, then the NC is right there, and it’s an excellent handgun.

But if you really want to go all out, this is definitely something to take a look at. And a big thank you to Canik for sending the Mete MC9 Prime Radian for this review.

 

Be strong, be of good courage. God bless America. Long live the Republic.

 

-Don