It’s been a while since I wrote my detailed guide on the TP-9/P99 pistol in which I mentioned the striker springs being compatible with other common striker fired guns on the market. Since then range trips have been few and far between, but I have gotten the chance to test fire the TP-9 with two lighter weight springs to see if they’ll work at all. Initial testing looks pretty good though…
The long answer is I haven’t had enough rounds downrange or a batch of steel cased ammo like Tula or Wolf to test with. The former is important simply because you can’t get a solid determination of reliability from a single magazine worth of ammo; the latter because hard primers are the primary cause of failures to fire in tuned up striker guns. I’ve put two magazines (34 rounds) apiece through the pistol with Glock standard 5.5-pound and aftermarket 4.5-pound striker springs with no failures to fire. The primer dents aren’t shallow on the lighter spring either.
I plan to continue bringing the TP-9 to the range to fire a mag or two through it with the lighest possible spring until I have 150-200 rounds through it to give a fair summary of reliability. Hopefully in that time I’ll also be able to run a box of steel cased ammo through it to test harder primers as well and give a more complete opinion.
Comparing two common springs to the P99/TP9
Stay tuned for some more developments with TN Arms products, a range review of the TP-9, a writeup on DSA/Wiselite’s monster of a semi-auto RPD and a few other fun items coming down the pike!