Tanaka M9 Heavyweight

I've always been a fan of the M9.  Tanaka re-released the MGC M9 with some minor changes.  One fairly significant change was a switch to a 5mm cartridge system.  I think I can switch detonators and shoot MGC/KSC 9mm carts, though. I will try that some time in the future.

Pretty decent muzzle effects for this type of cartridge design, I think.  Reliable and surprisingly loud, as well.  Except for the darn tiny o-rings on the cartridge pistons, this model is enjoyable to shoot!  

I didn't like M9 until I got MGC one ;-)
Those o-rings are pure trouble, most flimsy part of the design I think.

I've seen them, but didn't know what was different? I will check into it! Thanks Cerwyn.

Your lucky to have that as i have never seen any for sale, i heard Tanaka had brought one out but no one ever seemed to be selling, you dont even see them come up 2nd hand.
The evolution round is a big improvement, the old style round was to powerful and broke most Tanaka guns after a few mags and as you note the seals get blown off and dont normally last more than 2 shots. The new evolution round is a little less powerful so gentler on the guns and the the piston is slightly redesigned so now the seal does not come off on every shot (you will still on occasion get one come off). You might prefer the power of the old round but it made all Tanaka guns delicate to shoot the new round is much better.

Nice video!

As claymore mentioned, those "evolution" series from Tanaka is meant to be less powerful (gentle to a gun) in order to avoid an easy breakage. I heard they change a spring rate as well. The latest "evo" from Tanaka is Beretta M92/M9. Tanaka is one of few maker which is good on firing, not so much worry on spare parts.

S

I first thought the breakage issues were only associated with the Glock series, but I see Tanaka has released a M9/92 model in the Evolution series. Does anyone have any knowledge of the first version Tanaka M9/92 breaking? The new version aesthetically is less appealing to me as it looks gray as opposed to the black color of the old model, which is more realistic.

I like this older model! I am going to try some of the evo carts in it to see what happens. It appears dimensionally that the carts will be the same - same deto, etc. Possibly as Shaz suggested different spring rates in the slide.

If anyone else has already experimented, please chime in!

Here's a little update on the Tanaka M9 HW.
I got a hold of some C-Tec W-cap carts for it.  These are 2x7mm caps.

Nice and loud!  Good muzzle flash - noticeably more than a single 5mm cap.


You will notice in the vid that I didn't space myself far enough from the wall as the carts were ejecting with more force than I expected, causing them to rebound into the shot and bounce off of the gun!  

Thank you for this great video! Very impressing and realistic.

This M9 kicks butt!

Any signs of extra wear to the carts from two 7 mm caps?

Hello friend!

The carts seem fine, but this was their first rodeo! The design reminds me of the Marushin PFC design, so the blowback pressure isn't as violent as it would be with the CP-HW piston design.

I don't imagine there will be any increased wear on the model either because of this same reason.

Time will tell! I hope to give them some good use in the near future and will report back if I notice any issues!

Thank you very much.
I think it is time to take my old MGC HW M9 out of its box this evening ...