S&W CSX Range Report

R

Radny97

New member
Picked up a new Smith & Wesson CSX on Friday and finally got it to the range today to try it out.

Here’s my list of pros and cons:

Pros
- 100% reliable. Ran about 200 rounds through it. Five different brands of factory ammo, and three different handloads. 3 different kinds of hollow points. It ran 100% with zero hiccups or malfunctions.
-Trigger. Some of the online reviewers and YouTube reviews I’ve seen were critical of the trigger. I strongly disagree. The trigger is amazing. Light and crisp. Best trigger I’ve ever handled on a gun designed primarily for concealed carry.
- Ergos. For a micro nine the grip is pretty large and very comfortable. The texture on the grip is perfect. Recoil wasn’t too snappy for a gun this size and weight.
- Sights. I like the three dot combat sights for carry guns, and it shot to point of aim. Sights are large and easy to acquire.
- Safety. The safety is positive and perfectly positioned to ride the safety when shooting like a 1911. I love that you can cycle the slide without having to disengage the safety. Makes for very safe unholstering and unloading when putting it away after carrying it.
- Capacity is awesome obviously.
- I like that the manual says it is specifically rated for +P ammo.
- I don’t like to carry striker fired pistols because of how the slide usually extends at least an inch past the back of the grip. My preference for carry is to keep the back of the grip about even with my belt line. So that little to none of the gun is above the belt line. Striker fired guns usually have an inch of slide that extends past the back of the grip, which makes my style of carry more difficult. So I gravitate toward hammer fired guns like this.

Cons
- Slide bite. I have very large meaty hands and I hold my guns very high into the beaver tail. After 200 rounds of mostly really hot ammo, I definitely had some slide bite going on. Probably wouldn’t happen to most shooters. But I wouldn’t recommend this gun for long range sessions.
-Accuracy. Accuracy was poor. After shooting a few groups and not seeing the groups I’m used to, I set up a rest and sat down and shot two 20 round groups with two different kinds of ammo. I’m an experienced competition shooter capable of 2 inch groups at 25 yards with the right handgun. However, the best I could manage with the CSX was about 5 inches at 15 yards from a rest. That’s pretty bad accuracy. Probably sufficient for any carry gun, but it’s certainly not a tack driver.

Anyone else have experience or thoughts on the CSX?


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Thanks for the review. I saw it on YouTube, and it sounds interesting. Seems like it will be a hit with first time buyers who prefer a traditional type safety on a carry gun. I'd like to actually handle one, but as interesting as it sounds not sure it would replace the G26 as my small 9mm carry gun.
 
I'm waiting for them to eventually make a DA/SA version, then I'll buy one. If its half the gun my old S&W CS9 was, will be my new everyday go-to.
 
Thanks for the review. While I'm not just dying to get a CSX, I've been waiting for a range report from folks who aren't provided with guns and ammo to give one.
 
One of the scathing youtube reviews contradicts most of your pros, and another, your cons.
Not saying you're wrong, but the jury seems to be very much out, still.

Any insight into why it would need both a manual safety, and a trigger dongle? When one reviewer reported a 9# trigger, it appeared S&W was expecting people to not understand the peculiarities of single action.
 
RickB said:
One of the scathing youtube reviews contradicts most of your pros, and another, your cons.
Not saying you're wrong, but the jury seems to be very much out, still.

Any insight into why it would need both a manual safety, and a trigger dongle? When one reviewer reported a 9# trigger, it appeared S&W was expecting people to not understand the peculiarities of single action.
Click to expand...


Different strokes for different folks I guess. But it’s certainly not a 9 pound trigger. Mines closer to 5.5 pounds.
It’s close to a 1911 in operation. I think they essentially traded the grip safety for the trigger dingus. It’s a good trade imho. And this gun is designed to be carried cocked and locked, which I’m comfortable with.


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Thanks for the review. Matches some of the ones from friends at SHOT. A few felt that the safety was a little too thin. But you liked it?
 
MarkCO said:
Thanks for the review. Matches some of the ones from friends at SHOT. A few felt that the safety was a little too thin. But you liked it?
Click to expand...


Yes. It could be a little more positive to engage/disengage, but it’s fine.


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"from a rest" from someone else claiming to be a comp shooter capable of 2" from 25yrds?

So that accuracy wasn't easy to get, that makes it my number one item of interest.
 
S&W CSX Range Report

wild cat mccane said:
"from a rest" from someone else claiming to be a comp shooter capable of 2" from 25yrds?

So that accuracy wasn't easy to get, that makes it my number one item of interest.
Click to expand...


Gotcha. Yes it was doing 8 inch paper plate accuracy at 7 yards in rapid fire.


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The only current production gun that I know won't function and will self destruct is the Diamondback DB9. So I don't worry about much more than accuracy quickly.

If you didn't like the accuracy intuitively, are a way skilled shooter...I don't know. Your assessment of it went poorly in my book.

I said the same when Scootch made his glowing review of the Taurus GX4. Said he loved it, clearly couldn't anything with, but loved it. I was like...wait. How do you recommend if the gun isn't hitting anything for you

Thanks for the great information you put in this :)
 
How does the safety feel for being attached to the gun? It looks like it is connected on the small beaver tail? Looks flimsy in pics? That you didn't mention makes me think I'm wrong or that it isn't an issue.

$600 look normal for now?
 
Went to our range with my friend. He picked one up last week and was kind enough to wait for me. I brought 300 rounds of my own 9mm collection. Range loads and defensive Federal HST 124.

Shot all at 10 yards. Function was superb, accuracy was miserable.

I hope the sights are the culprit, because for an out of the box debut, we were disappointed. Very surprised.

Regards-------



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S&W CSX Range Report

wild cat mccane said:
How does the safety feel for being attached to the gun? It looks like it is connected on the small beaver tail? Looks flimsy in pics? That you didn't mention makes me think I'm wrong or that it isn't an issue.

$600 look normal for now?
Click to expand...


I got mine for $579
The safety is not flimsy. It’s metal. Appears to be steel. It could be more positive to engage/disengage but overall I liked the safety.


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My CSX will be arriving at my FFL tomorrow. To the person asking about why a trigger safety AND a thumb safety, if I had to guess logically, the thumb safety blocks the sear / hammer and the trigger tab is to block the trigger. I'll know tomorrow unless someone else with one in hand can tell us what's going on inside the frame.
 
A trigger dingus is a drop safe safety only. If a trigger moves rearward from a drop, the firing pin block has already correctly gotten out of the way.

A safety dingus stops the trigger from moving reward on a drop. That has always been true.

Why have both? Say the Sig P938. No dingus. The P938 has the hammer safety notch. If dropped, the hammer should stop there.

This is also true of the CSX in the S&W manual pdf, page 16: https://www.smith-wesson.com/product/csx

So the CSX actually has three safeties. A Sig P938 only has two.
 
@wild cat mccane

I owned a P238 and P938 and both safeties on both handguns actually disconnects the hammer from the sear and locks it back when engaged. You can actually see the hammer move.

I'm not sure if the safety on the CSX does the same thing, but having both a hammer/sear/striker safety and a trigger safety on a true SAO gun is fine. Someone completely disassembled the CSX and the hammer is very 1911 like. It has a small shelf that the sear sits against so the thumb safety is necessary if it blocks the sear/hammer. The trigger safety would be if it's dropped after the thumb safety is disengaged.

I'm sure they could of gone with a grip safety, but I'm also sure they know people would complain about it non-stop for no reason at all. Neither safety is unnecessary and the trigger tab is large and passive when firing. For those that have a hard time with the configuration of the CSX, there's plenty of other options out there.
 
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