It seems that recently, I have reviewed an unusual number of 9mm pistols. From micro- to duty-sized, the 9mm juggernaut is still rolling. I’ve looked at several brands of pistols with barrel lengths from a paltry three-plus inches up to a duty-sized 5 inches. Generally, I have been impressed with them, some more than others.
I just picked up another interesting pistol – they’re all interesting, in some respects – that has a four-inch barrel and uses 15-round magazines. These numbers are common… the guns that sport them have typically been designed in response to the Austrian elephant in the room, the Glock 19. This is not exactly news. There’s nothing wrong with building guns that take advantage of some characteristics introduced by one of the most successful pistols ever built – I get it. Nothing wrong at all.
So, when I saw the PX-9 in a couple of online reviews and checked its specs on the Tisas website, I was impressed. I contacted my folks at SDS Arms in Knoxville, Tennessee, and arranged to get one for a review. I picked it up and was not prepared for what I saw when I opened its hard-shell case…
There was, to put it in a phrase that we use here in Redneck Acres, a whole crap-ton of s(tuff) in it. For a street price of $320, you get, in addition to the gun and two Sig P228-pattern, 15-round magazines with a loader:
- two extra backstraps;
- a punch pin to install the backstraps;
- four extra grip panel inserts;
- an extended magazine well;
- a cleaning jag-tipped plastic rod;
- a brass cleaning brush;
- a plate for helping mount a red dot, with screws;
- a minimalist holster, right-handed;
- the omnipresent lock
You can customize this pistol to your heart’s content, all from the box it came in.
The Gun
We have here a compact 9mm with two magazines, as noted above. Let’s look at it in a bit more detail.
First, the specifications from its web page…
- Action Type: Semi-Auto
- Operation: Striker-Fired
- Caliber: 9MM
- Frame/Receiver – Slide Finish: Polymer – QPQ Tenifer
- Sights: Fixed Rear Black/ Front Fiber Optic (Glock compatible)
- Optics Ready/Cut: RMR footprint
- Capacity (w/ Included Mags): 15+1
- Barrel Length: 3.5″
- Threaded: No
- Barrel Finish: QPQ Tenifer
- OAL: 6.6″
- Height: 5.35″
- Width: 1.3″
- Weight (Unloaded): 23 oz
Features
– Superb Ergonomics. The gun fits my hand very well
– Interchangeable Grip Panels and Back Strap allow for 27 Grip Configurations. It should fit your hand, too!
– Sig 228 Pattern Magazines. If you own that pistol, you can swap mags back and forth.
– Co-Witness with Most Optics. This is a great feature that not all pistols share.
– Flat Tactical Trigger with Tactile Reset. I measured the trigger at 5 pounds, 4 ounces, with very little take-up and no creep.
– QPQ Finish Barrel. The barrel finish should be tough and wear very well.
– 1 yr Warranty/Lifetime Service Plan. Here’s what that means: They will warrant their firearms to be free from defects in performance and workmanship for one year from the original retail purchase date. If you have a problem that is directly attributable to the quality of the product, please contact them.
Their Lifetime Service Plan will repair any defect in material or workmanship for the lifetime of the firearm. The Lifetime Service Plan will begin after the 1-year warranty has expired. The Lifetime Service Plan covers material defects and does not include wear items such as cosmetics, grips, magazines, recoil springs, or sights. This Lifetime Service Plan is offered in addition to the 1-year warranty and is not an extension of the warranty.
So now you know.
Photos
Let’s take a closer look.
First, sights. You have a green fiber optic front (with an extra rod) and a serrated rear notch that are Glock-17-compatible.
Another nice feature is the cocked striker indicator. You can see at a glance if you need to rack the slide or not.
A very clear sight picture.
Now, the grip. As stated, you get six grip panels and three backstraps. That’s nice, for a $300 gun.
Here I show the large backstrap and the mag well installed. I also swapped grip panels but didn’t see any markings on them. The gun fits now, and the mags are easy to insert.
Below we have the slide – very clean; the barrel and recoil spring, and the feed ramp. The polish job on the ramp reminds me of Springfield Armory’s feed ramp polish jobs – you can almost see yourself in them.
(You can’t really see how well polished this ramp is, but it is shiny.)
Next, the frame. Again, everything is clean, and you have longer frame rails up front than is usual on many pistols.
Here is the trigger, takedown lever, and finger pad. The trigger was decent… it broke at just over 5 pounds and had some take-up but minimal creep before you hit the “wall”.
Lastly, you won’t forget where the gun comes from or what caliber it is…
Comparisons
I happened to have a couple of other similarly-sized 9mms, and I thought I’d take a few photos to show how this one compares with a Canik MC9L and a Springfield Echelon 4.0. The Canik and the Echelon have a marginally longer barrel, but they’re close, and you can get an idea of comparative size. These pics are not meant to “prove” anything… I had the guns, so I thought I’d compare them. You can find my reviews of both of these other guns elsewhere on this site if you’re curious about them.
(top down) Echelon, PX-9 Carry, MC9L
(L-R) MC9L, PX-9 Carry, Echelon
(top down: MC9L, PX-9 Carry, Echelon)
Cleaning The PX-9 Carry
The PX-9 comes apart very easily. Instead of Glock-style tabs, you have a takedown lever. Here’s the drill…
- Remove the magazine and make sure the gun is empty.
- Lock the slide back.
- Rotate the takedown lever clockwise 90 degrees.
- Pull the trigger and release the slide.
- Pull it off the front of the frame. Separate the barrel and spring, then clean.
To put things together, reverse this process. When you’ve got the slide back on the frame, lock it back, rotate the takedown lever back up, and release the slide. Test for function.
Target Time
I am enjoying shooting the PX-9, so I had to grab at least one target to show here. The gun is fun to shoot, which I can’t say about all the guns I review.
I tried three brands of 9mm ammo, all 115-grain FMJ. Black Hills Ammunition supplied some of their excellent 9mm ammo in that loading (they make six different 9mm loads), plus I added some Fiocchi Range Dynamics and PMC. I like to shoot 5- or 10-shot groups with a defensive pistol; what you see here are 10-shot groups.
The target shown here was shot at 15 yards and was typical of the accuracy the gun displayed overall. I only had two hiccups, failures to feed, but I attributed that to a dry gun. There was no oil evident at all on or in the gun, which likely caused the stoppages. I know this to be the case, as at a later session, I had oiled the gun and it performed fine. I typically will look a gun over before I shoot it, but I’ve never had a “dry gun” not function properly. Evidently, this sample is oil- (or lack-of-oil) sensitive. At any rate, it ended up working fine, and its 5-pound, four-ounce trigger showed little take-up and almost zero creep before the striker fell. Speaking of the striker, you have a cocked-striker indicator at the rear of the slide, a red-tipped rod that is visible when the gun is cocked. That saves guesswork.
Conclusion
The sub-compact and compact markets for 9mm striker-fired pistols are huge, as we all know. It seems that every week, someone brings out yet another one to compete with what’s already there. But it’s a bit rare to find guns that are both well-built and sport a good price.
The Tisas PX-9 family fits squarely into this market. The guns are made of high-quality materials, are well-fitted and finished, and they function properly. All of this is accomplished at a very reasonable price point. If you are looking to add a compact 9mm to your carry rotation, consider the PX-9. This optics-ready carry model is just about the perfect size for concealed carry… add a red dot and a good holster to have a reliable weapon at your side. Plus, it won’t break the bank. There’s a lot to like in this customizable pistol.
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