At the 2025 SHOT Show, one of the pistols that drew attention was Canik’s Mete MC9 Prime. If you haven’t been keeping up with the market, you’ve missed the success of the Canik Mete MC9. The Prime version posseses just about every upscale upgrade a serious shooter could want. Allow a brief background before describing the details.
Canik Arms is a division of Samsun Yurt Savunma Sanayi (SYS), one of Turkey’s largest defense contractors. Like many gunmakers in the region, it makes CZ 75 clones, but the original TP9 — introduced in the U.S. around 2013 — gained real traction. The TP9 is a duty size, striker-fire 9mm pistol with a polymer frame that is priced affordably.
Canik introduced the Mete MC9, i.e., the “Micro-Compact 9mm,” in 2023. The MC9 uses the same TP9-pattern magazines, but both the slide and frame were slimmed to improve concealability and make it more comfortable to shoot, especially for those with smaller hands. The original Mete MC9 featured a short 3.18-inch barrel, and flush magazines held 12 rounds of 9mm. Subsequent versions included the MC9L (2024), which increased grip length and magazine capacity to 17 rounds, and the MC9LS (2025), which combined the longer grip with a 3.64-inch barrel.
U.S. Made
The Canik Mete MC9 Prime is fundamentally an MC9LS maximized to its fullest potential in both looks and performance — but let’s stop right there. This pistol is a product of Canik USA, and is the first and only MC9 manufactured in the United States — specifically West Palm Beach, Florida. It features a ported barrel, aluminum magazine well, improved trigger and trigger pull, upgraded sights and more. It was designed after several years of consumer feedback and recommendations. Two versions are available: The standard model sent to Guns & Ammo for evaluation, and another that includes a factory-installed Canik MeCanik M04 red-dot optic.
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If you’ve paid attention to the market, you know this is the same evolutionary arc seen with other pistols. An equivalent example would be SIG Sauer introducing the small P365 in 2018 and evolving it into the larger P365-XMacro. What you’ll find with the Mete MC9 Prime, though, is that it offers more or better features than most of its competitors, often at a comparable or better price.
The Slide Assembly
Up top, is a 3.64-inch barrel with four machined flats to reduce weight. The flats do not extend to the muzzle, though. The last .8 inches of barrel is round, and three small oval ports are cut into it at 10:30, 12 and 1:30 positions. The front sight has been moved back a little more than half-an-inch on the slide to make room for the vent holes and ports.
You might notice all the new cuts to the barrel before spotting the porting. Compared to the MC9LS, the Prime has increased slide serrations, and they are more aggressive and cut deeper into the slide. The side of the barrel’s chamber sports some decorative cuts designed to mimic the slide serrations. At the front of the slide, small slots on either side reveal the end of the barrel, primarily aesthetic treatments.
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Atop the slide, behind the front sight, is a rectangular cutout revealing the top flat of the barrel etched with the word “PRIME.” This isn’t a functional addition, but it provides another upscale detail to this pistol. Other than the orange dot on the front sight, the only other color you’ll see on this black gun is the gold anodized trigger safety lever, and the end result is classy — hence my assertion that this is Canik’s “black tie” carry gun.
The Prime is equipped with steel-bodied Night Fision day/night sights. The dovetailed front sight has a tritium insert around which is a bright orange circle. Between the two, the sight is visible in any light. The rear sight is serrated and has tritium inserts to either side of a standard square-shape notch.
The slide is cut for direct mounting of optics that use the Shield RMSc footprint, including Canik’s MeCanik M01 and M04 red dots. The M04 is an enclosed optic and should be shipping as you read this. If you decide to run irons, the slide cover plate is steel and matches the style of the slide.
Overall, the MC9 Prime measures 6.73-inches long, 5.43-inches tall, 1.16-inches wide, and weighs 23 1/2 ounces with an empty magazine and the external aluminum magwell attached. This seems a good spot to point out that the Prime ships as a package; you get the pistol, two 17-round magazines, three backstraps, the removable aluminum magazine well, a polymer G-Code inside-the-waistband (IWB)/outside-the-waistband (OWB) holster with belt clip and paddle, an adjustment tool, trigger lock, and cleaning rod. All of it fits into foam cutouts inside a nice Pelican-style lockable case.
When the striker is cocked, the back end of the stainless-steel striker, with a painted red dot, is visible at the rear of the slide. The trigger on this pistol is excellent. The trigger has a black aluminum body, is wide, and features a flat face. The pivoting safety lever is nearly the width of the trigger and has aggressive diamond texturing to keep a fingertip in place. The lever is gold anodized, and the trigger releases the striker at 90 degrees. The takeup is standard for a striker-fired gun, a bit long, but the let-off is relatively light and crisp with darn near no overtravel. Total pull weight on G&A’s sample was 4 1/2 pounds. Reset on the trigger was exceptional; it’s advertised as only being 1.3mm, and our sample seemed close to that. If you can’t shoot this gun fast, the problem is you.
Inside the slide, underneath the barrel, you’ll find a captive recoil system with two springs to help spread out and absorb the recoil. Most of the components of the trigger system are stainless steel for excellent corrosion resistance.
The Lower Half
Interestingly, if you look at the triggerguard, you’ll notice it’s roughly rectangular with a double undercut. The triggerguards of the original Mete MC9s were closer to square and had no undercut at all. This improved detail was first seen on the Canik Mete SF. Also seen on that gun — and brought to the Prime — is the integral flared magazine well. The polymer frame was nicely flared and beveled to speed and smooth reloading, even before Canik added the removable aluminum magazine well.
The grip texture on the original MC9 wasn’t that aggressive, and there was a lot of smooth real estate between the textured sections. This was a big complaint from shooters, so the Prime was aggressively textured anywhere you might touch it. The texture on the sides of the frame goes up all the way to the top with no gaps. The texture on the backstrap and frontstrap looks the same to the eye but is actually more aggressive to help lock your hand in place. There are also small textured pads on both sides of the frame above the front of the triggerguard for the thumb of your support hand. The front of the triggerguard was textured as well, for people like me who shoot with the index finger of their support hand wrapped around it.
At the front of the frame is a three-slot accessory rail for mounting lights. The slide release is bilateral, has long extended steel levers, and both levers work to release the slide. The magazine release is a steel rectangular button, vertically serrated. It’s reversible, but it takes a bit of work and probably a pair of needle-nose pliers to pop the spring in and out.
With the Prime, we get three backstraps. The one installed is a bit more arched and has a threaded hole at the base of it. The aluminum magwell slides onto the frame, and then a screw goes up through the magwell into the backstrap, securing it in place. A second backstrap is the same length and works the same way with the magwell, but it is not as arched. The third backstrap is meant to be used if you decide you don’t want the frame equipped with the aluminum magazine well.
I was had a standard Mete MC9L on hand to shoot alongside the Mete MC9 Prime. The MC9L does seem basic in comparison, and the slide/barrel ends right where the porting begins on the Prime. Both pistols were completely reliable and a lot of fun to shoot. Between the sights and the trigger, I could push the Prime harder and faster, and it didn’t care.
Is Porting Practical?
The interesting thing about porting and compensators is they work off pressure. Lighter bullets traveling fast and generate more pressure than heavier, slower bullets. Often with ports and comps, you’ll find that hot +P ammunition generates no more muzzle rise than standard pressure ammo because it better activates the comp. At the range, the ports had little effect when shooting 147-grain subsonic ammo, but I could see and feel the difference once I moved to using 115-grain bullets. When I tested SIM-X DefenseCore hypervelocity ammo — a 45-grain bullet moving at roughly 2,150 feet per second (fps) — the ports cut muzzle rise in half versus the MC9L.
The Takeaways
The Mete MC9 Prime still has “MC” in its name for “micro-compact.” However, based on dimensions, I don’t consider the Prime to be a micro, or even a subcompact pistol. It’s really a compact gun, one that handles and shoots like a full-size gun. It is harder to conceal than the original MC9, but companies are upsizing micro-compacts for a reason. If you shoot your carry gun regularly, you know that small guns are hard to shoot well and are not as fun. Being able to get your entire hand comfortably around the grip improves shooter performance. In a carry gun, everything is a compromise; you must decide what’s most important.
The Prime gives us everything we need in a carry gun, including a holster. That said, I’m aware of one accessory that some might consider a substantive upgrade: The brass backstrap for the MC9 L, LS and Prime from Taylor Freelance. It’s available in either natural brass or black, is nicely checkered, works with the aluminum magwell on the Prime and, more importantly, adds 3.1 ounces of weight to the back end of the gun. That weight really seems to change the handling of these guns — in a good way — completely eliminating the muzzle-heavy feel you get with many polymer-framed guns.
What I love is that Americans taking responsibility for their own protection are no longer relegated to five-shot snubnose revolvers or small autos with dubious reliability and poor trigger pulls. The typical carry gun in 2025 is eminently reliable and sports a double-digit magazine capacity — as a minimum! The Prime is far from “minimum” anything. Carry guns keep getting more capable, and while being easily concealable with the right holster, the made-in-America Canik Mete MC9 Prime offers 17-plus-1 capacity, a grip that won’t slip, a magwell, a great trigger pull, excellent sights and classy looks — all for a price that leaves room in your budget for ammo.
We sat down with Century Arms to discuss the Mete MC9 Prime in more detail, and what the company is looking to make in the future. If this gun caught your attention, give it a watch!
Canik Mete MC9 Prime
- Type: Recoil operated, striker fired, semiautomatic
- Cartridge: 9mm
- Capacity: 17+1 rds.
- Barrel: 3.64 in.
- Length: 6.73 in.
- Height: 5.42 in. (mag. inserted)
- Width: 1.16 in.
- Weight: 1 lb., 7.5 oz.
- Slide: Steel
- Finish: Nitride (steel)
- Grip: Polymer, inter. backstraps
- Sights: Night Fision day/night sights, tritium/orange (front), U-notch (rear)
- Trigger Pull: 4 lbs., 8 oz. (tested)
- Safety: Trigger lever, striker drop safety
- Price: $649
- Accessories: Two 17-round mags, three backstraps, magazine loader, trigger lock, holster, cleaning rod, lockable hard case
- Manufacturer: Canik USA, 561-908-7993, canikusa.com
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