For as long as I have been paying attention, every so often, someone will describe a product as “the Goldilocks of…” For you Gen Z people out there, that does not mean said product is akin to a little girl with blond hair that tresspasses in your house. Goldilocks; meaning “just right not too big, not too small, not too heavy, not too light, you get the drift. No, I should not have to explain that, but my experience with younger humans says otherwise.
And so, with all due caution, I am going to go out on a limb and say that the Canik MC9, in this case the “LS” version, might just be the true Goldilocks of EDC self-defense handguns. Allow me a moment to make my case.
Growing Pains
For as long as I have been paying attention to the gun world — and that’s a good four plus decades now — there has been the debate about what makes something a good concealed carry gun. During the 70s and 80s, you could count the number of reliable subcompact semi-auto pistols on one hand…minus your thumb. The J-frame or 2-inch, 5-shot revolver was the king of concealed carry. That wasn’t because they were the greatest solution, but because you could actually get all five shots off without a stoppage.
That could rarely be said of the pocket guns in .22LR .25, .32 and .380. I’m not kidding when I say you would be euphoric to get off a full magazine without a hiccup. To be fair, you could get on a waiting list for a Walther PPK or PPK/S if you had time and disposable income, but most didn’t.
When it came time to shoot the snubby revolvers, most guys did so begrudgingly. If they kept all five shots in a silhouette target from five yards they were happy. Good old Karl Malden shooting bad guys off of the rooftops of San Francisco with his compact Colt Detective Special was the exception to the rule.
Things didn’t get that much better with the pocket .380 craze of the 2000s. Every company was making one and some would fire a full magazine without a stoppage, but they were still very snappy and less than comfortable (painful) to shoot more than a few magazines through.
Our friends from Austria struck a chord with the G42 and G43 in .380 and 9mm respectively. Finally, subcompact pistols that could be relied upon to shoot round after round without stopping. With the 42 and 43, you now had pocket guns that were as reliable as DA revolvers, but held an extra one or two shots.
Soon, a lot of the gun guys were buying the “subcompact” GLOCKs for themselves and their spouses and adult daughters. Confidence was high, as they were now armed with semi-automatic pistols that were small enough to EDC and could also be relied upon to cycle.
We have been teaching our Martial Application of the Pistol course for some time and have had a number of shooters come with subcompact G43s and newer G43X. One of the greatest epiphanies that shooters come to grips with is that a professionally structured training course is far and away a different animal than a “trip to the range.”
Our experience has been that while the shooters “like” their subcompact pistols, when we start running shooting drills that require them to continuously load and run the slide, etc. they don’t feel so much like as they once did. After-action reports from our graduates commonly discuss upgrading to a bit larger of a pistol with more frame onto which to hold. The G48 and G19 are common choices.
Canik MC9LS
For those unfamiliar with the METE MC9 pistol, the standard MC9 pistol is essentially the same size as a G43, however, it has a 12-round flush fit magazine and comes with a 15-round extended mag. The MC9LS model has a bit longer slide and it has a longer frame that allows your pinky finger to make contact, not dangle.
As for factory specs, the MC9LS has an overall length of 6.73 inches, a 3.63 inch barrel, height of 5.45 inches and weighs 23.7 ounces empty. The pistol comes with two flush fit 17-round magazines. Yes, it is a 9x19mm pistol. The action is striker-fired. The slide and barrel are forged steel and the frame is polymer. The sights are made of steel, not plastic and the slide is optic-ready allowing the RMSc footprint sights to be mounted directly to the slide, no plates needed. You can get them in all black, all FDE, or a two-tone finish.
For comparison purposes, I laid my G48 on top of the MC9LS and for all intents and purposes, the guns are identical in size. As you would expect, the MC9LS, and all METE pistols, comes in a hard case as a kit with S, M, and L replaceable backstraps, a tool kit, mag loader, and an IWB holster (you can switch the belt loops and make it OWB). This holster might not be your favorite Gucci brand, but it is functional and works.
Range Time
Once more, the Canik MC9LS was monotonously reliable. All the 9mm ball, controlled expansion and FTM (fluid transfer monolithic) ammunition from Double Tap and Black Hills ammunition cycled without issue.
I found that the mag loader was indeed useful for inserting the last two cartridges into the 17-round magazines. Yes, if you have a full-sized METE pistol, the 18 and 20 round magazines will work in the MC9 series, they just stick out a bit.
Range drills included two-handed, single hand right and single hand left. No issues at all. I did rest my arms on my range bag and cheated a bit, but hits on an 8-inch steel plate were consistent, even when using the iron sights, no optic on this gun, yet.
The rear sight is rugged steel with a ledge so you can indeed one hand rack the slide off of your belt or holster if need be. Paying $600 for a pistol that has plastic sights seems rather silly in today’s world. But that might just be me.
Wrap Up
As for the MC9LS, you get a pistol that is slim like the G48, but holds seven more rounds and weighs just a bit less than a G17. Canik has a METE MC9L with a shorter slide that shaves a full ounce off of the weight. While there might not be such a thing as a “perfect” concealed carry or EDC pistol, the MC9LS comes as close to being a Goldilock gun as can be.
Paul G. Markel is a combat decorated United States Marine veteran. He is also the founder of Student the Gun University and has been teaching Small Arms & Tactics to military personnel, police officers, and citizens for over three decades.