It seems that every time we start taking about unique, interesting and useful firearms in the U.S., we are also forced to discuss the irritating, irrational and unnecessary legal pitfalls that surround gun ownership. The two most referenced laws, 18 U.S.C. 922r and the National Firearms Act (NFA), can also be the most complicated to understand. It is these laws that prevent the importation of foreign made guns in their natural form. Today, we’ll discuss the Swiss-made B&T TP9 and the efforts to restore this unique personal defense weapon (PDW)/pistol to near its original form.

As designed, the B&T MP9/TP9 was made to be a compact pistol with an integrated vertical fore grip and folding wire stock. Unfortunately, both of these features prevent its importation in this original form, excluding government and law enforcement customers.

The folding stock makes the TP9 a short barreled rifle that is subject to 922r importation regulations – each gun is judge by a point system to determine if it is a firearm that falls into the “sporting” purpose clause. Importers or individuals can replace certain foreign made parts with U.S. made parts as a workaround to achieve

The integrated VFG is a separate issue, making the firearm any Any Other Weapon (AOW) rather than a pistol if the stock as removed. Again, NFA items can only be imported for government/law enforcement use only.

B&T TPN-N Comes To The US:

The TP9 as originally designed with a VFG.

Because of *cough* complicated *cough* U.S. laws, B&T was forced to reengineer the TP9 for ATF approval for importation, removing the VFG in exchange for anaccessory rail. Then, with the removal of the stock, the TP9 was approved for importation as a pistol.

B&T TP9 Pistol

However, most buyers opt to follow the ATF Form 1 application process to make a SBR, allowing them to add the folding stock and a VFG. The problem with the latter option is that adding a VFG to the accessory rail is not a return to its original design – it’s a workaround for the U.S. TP9 models.

Responding to consumer requests, B&T has redesigned the polymer frame and internals with a complicated milling process that includes a small nub that can be used to mount a VFG after the NFA application process is complete. The manufacturing process is complex, making each VFG dimensionally specific to each TP9. But the result is a TP9 nearly identical to foreign versions.

U.S. TP9 Redesign – Green is polymer, silver is steel and purple is aluminum.

Here are some mock-ups of the new design. The tight tolerances between the two parts make the seams almost invisible:

The new U.S. TP9 will also see a lever selector rather than a crossbolt-style safety on previous versions.

In all, the process to design and build the new U.S. TP9 took about a year and was the result of B&T listening to what customers want. Althought the new version is in production now and should be ready for orders in January, the current model will continue to be made available to distributors and dealers.

EU TP9-N

The “wire” stock fits perfectly into a pocket on the VFG making gripping both with the support hand comfortable.

And I’d like to give a shout out to my friends at AR15.com who maintain a comprehensive set of threads on both the TP9 and the APC line of B&T guns.

I’m planning on picking up the new TP9 and B&T made TP9 silencer when they become available and hope to have a detailed review here at TFB within a few months (you know, the pesky NFA process).