Canik SFx Rival Review: Best Affordable Competition?

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Canik SFx Rival Specs & Features

Specs

• Caliber: 9mm
• Barrel Length: 5″
• Overall Length: 8.1″
• Height: 5.7″
• Width: 1.41″
• Frame Material: Synthetic
• Rear Sight: Adjustable
• Finish Color: Rival Grey or Rival Dark Side
• Magazine Capacity: 18+1
• Comes With: Holster, 2 Mags, Mag Loader, 2 Aluminum Magazine Base Plates, Canik Punch & Tool Kit, External Mag Well, Cleaning Kit, Optics Plates, 3 Grip Back Straps, 3 Magazine Release Extentions, Gun Lock and Manual

Features

• Optics Ready
• Adjustable Fiber Optic Sights
• Modular Setup
• Lightened 90-degree diamond cut aluminum flat trigger

Competitive shooting has exploded in popularity over the past few years, and many are looking to test their skills under the timer and pressure of an audience.

Some shooters are searching for a dedicated gun for competitive shooting, leading Canik to design a gun to help users push their way toward the top. With almost every major firearms manufacturer offering some form of a competition-style gun, Canik aimed to set itself apart by providing everything a shooter would need right out of the box.

This pursuit led to the creation of the SFX Rival, but is this gun worth your time and hard-earned money?

We set out to test the accuracy, speed, reliability, and overall value of the SFX Rival on the range.

So, keep reading!

How We Tested the Canik SFx Rival

For this review, we set up the SFx Rival with the accessories needed to squeeze out every ounce of shooting performance. We mounted a C&H Precision Competition Red Dot using the included optics plate. This allowed us to test the accuracy of the gun, firing 10-round groups starting at 7 yards.

We shot 500 rounds of AAC 115g, Blazer 115g, Magtech 124g, and Federal HST 147g to ensure proper reliability and accuracy. And we tested with a ransom test at 7 yards to better gauge accuracy before walking our shots back 10 yards at a time all the way out to 100 yards.

Canik SFx Rival Background

Canik shook up the striker-fired pistol scene when it originally introduced the TP line of pistols in 2012. The TP series was met with wide applause, bringing a reliable firearm with an excellent trigger at a budget price. 

After evolving with ever-increasing buyer demands, Canik released the METE series of pistols, coming optics ready from the factory and further improving the trigger feel and design. While the METE series focused on tactical and concealed carry applications, the Rival series slightly diverged.

The SFx Rival is the latest evolution, boasting an industry-leading competition trigger, 18+1 capacity, optics ready, holster, and multiple other customizable ergonomic features. 

Who Is the Canik SFx Rival For?

The SFx Rival is an excellent choice for the shooter looking to buy a dedicated competition shooting gun with everything they need right out of the box.

It comes in at an exceptionally low price, considering the outstanding factory trigger and all the features the gun includes.

Ergonomics: Fit & Feel

When I first picked up the SFx Rival, I was warmly reminded of a pistol from days past, the Walther P99.

With the high bore axis, striker indicator, and long lever-style slide catch, I couldn’t help but feel the SFx Rival was the competition upgrade of one of the first guns that ushered me into the world of pistol shooting.

The texturing of the frame is certainly a step in the right direction for a competition shooting gun. Its side and front panels have an aggressive sandpaper-type texture, aiding in maintaining grip placement during long strings of fire.

While the side and front texturing certainly is nice, I wish it continued higher toward the top of the frame. Even with my smaller hands, I found most of my support hand thumb contacting bare plastic rather than the nice texturing afforded to the lower portion of my hand.

Every Rival SFx’s rear frame features removal backstraps, allowing the user to tailor the grip size to their preference. One complement of the frame ergonomics is the double undercut paired with the included magwell. This double undercut allows for a higher, more comfortable firing hand position and locks my support hand pointer finger into place.

The magwell, combined with the longer 18+1 grip, gives my support hand pinky just enough space to nudge right in. The upward pressure from the magwell, through my pinky, into my support hand pointer finger locks into the double undercut for a rock-solid support hand placement.

When conducting a reload with the SFx Rival, you’ll notice the gun includes three different height magazine releases.

Having the correct height magazine release for your hand size will allow you to reload the gun faster and get back up onto target without breaking your firing hand grip. This magazine release is reversible, and the already installed right and left slides slide lock lever allows for a quick setup that is left-handed friendly.

As every competitive shooter knows, many stages you encounter will begin with an unloaded start. When the timer goes off, your gun may be in your holster unloaded or even on a table unloaded.

Most high-level competitive shooters load their gun by racking the front of the slide, allowing their support hand to be in a better position to quickly build the master two-handed grip. Canik designers definitely considered this technique when creating the front slide serrations.

At the front of the muzzle, you will find a series of extremely deep and aggressive front serrations. This will allow you to have positive control over the slide as you manipulate it, whether for a quick press check or loading the gun into battery at the beginning of a stage. These serrations are continued, to a less aggressive degree, on the rear of the slide.

A very nice attention to detail with the SFx Rival’s optic plates is the continuation of the rear serration texture along the optic plate. The design of the plates sits deep into the slide but is much taller than your traditional optics mounting plate. Ridges along the slides of the optic plate perfectly align with the rear slide serrations, allowing for positive control of the slide during manipulation.

Overall, it is easy to tell a lot of thought went into every aspect of the ergonomic design of the SFx Rival.

How Does the SFx Rival Shoot?

Of all the great features of the SFx Rival, the trigger sets this gun apart. I have fired almost every striker-fired gun from each major manufacturer; the SFx Rival has, without a doubt, the best trigger I have ever used on a factory striker-fired gun.

The shoe has a large, flat face with a wide trigger safety that engages easily. When you begin to apply pressure to the trigger, you will note a distinct wall measuring right at 90 degrees. As you apply pressure, you will notice the distinct lack of “creep” — additional trigger movement before the gun fires.

The striker drops, and the gun fires immediately after the pressure at the wall of the trigger is broken. This pressure is very light to overcome, weighing in at an average of 3 lb 14.5 oz across five readings using our Lyman Electronic Digital Trigger Pull Gauge.

Having a trigger of this caliber is massively advantageous for competitive shooting. Not only does it allow you to run the trigger extremely quickly on closer, open targets, but it also allows you to engage farther distance or lower percentage shots with much greater confidence. I effortlessly connected shots that would be much more difficult with most other striker-fired triggers.

To push the limits and truly test my abilities with the gun, we fired rounds at a C-zone steel target out to 100 yards. I hit every shot from 10 to 40 yards on my first attempt. At 50 yards, I experienced what some call “flinches,” yanking my first shot off target. I quickly followed up with two hits.

We continued walking back, and when I applied the correct fundamentals, I hit my first shot at 75 and 100 yards. This is quite a feat with a pistol, and the trigger on the SFx Rival made it much easier.

We shot right over 500 rounds through the SFx Rival during our testing. Using four different types of ammunition, testing 10 shot groups for accuracy at 7 yards. AAC 115g, Blazer 115g, Magtech 124g, and Federal HST 147g all ran flawlessly with no malfunctions.

Accuracy performance with each ammo type was exceptional, and the gun 100% will be as accurate as the shooter using it.

What Makes the SFx Rival Unique?

If I haven’t raved about it enough already, the trigger on the SFx Rival is in a league of its own. The fact that it comes in a gun that includes a holster, five optic plates, adjustable backstraps, and three adjustable magazine releases for under $700 is an insane value.

This package literally gives you everything you need, except mag pouches and a belt, to go shoot a match. Throw your favorite optic on the included plates or use the excellent fiber optic front/blacked-out rear sights, and you’re set to start shooting.

By the Numbers

Reliability: 5/5

The gun experienced 0 malfunctions.

Ergonomics: 4/5

Its grip texture could be higher up the frame.

Accuracy: 5/5

1-1.1inch 10-round groups at 7 yards, 100-yard hit on steel

Customization: 4/5

Includes almost everything you need in the box

Value: 5/5

Great performing gun with many accessories and features for a great price

Overall: 4.5/5

Upgrades & Accessories

Not a lot to recommend here based on the fact that you get so much already with the SFx Rival, but we have a few extras we recommend.

We also suggest a good pair of hearing pro, especially if you’re spending time training and competing. Since we’ve tested a lot of ears and eyes over the years, we’ve combined our expertise to create our very own brand! We offer electronic…

And a Bluetooth version!

You’ll also want to take advantage of the optics plates that come with the Rival. We ran the C&H Precision Comp Pistol Dot.

Final Verdict

The Canik Rival SFx is an excellent combination of value and performance. I hope every manufacturer follows Canik’s lead with the sheer number of accessories included while not cutting corners with performance upgrades.

If you have hit a plateau with your current gun and are looking for one that will help you maximize your shooting performance, the SFx Rival might be the one for you. I truly enjoyed every round I fired through it and wished every striker-fired gun came with the trigger from the SFx Rival.

What do you think of the Canik SFx Rival? Let us know in the comments below. For more competition guns, check out our list of the Best Target Pistols.