Range Day and Smith & Wesson CSX Review

566 Views 26 Replies 14 Participants Last post by Workaholic, 1 d ago

ctr

Discussion Starter · 8 d ago

9

Started the day at the indoor range. Glock 43, Smith & Wesson 640, and a Smith & Wesson CSX.

G43 had one failure where the extractor failed to seat on the round chambering. Easy to fix. Mix of Federal 147 ball and Federal 124 HST. HST was more accurate, no surprise there. Wrote G48 on the targets, brain seizing up.

Sleeve Handwriting Art Pattern Font

Outerwear Neck Sleeve Organism Art

Federal HST 124...

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Smith & Wesson 640...

Outerwear Human Sleeve Organism Art

Neck Sleeve Handwriting Art Chest

Spent some time helping a young fella with a new S&W 442. His first revolver. Wasn't grouping. Showed proper grip, sight alignment for 25, 15, and inside 7 yards. Suggested he paint the front sight post. Got him lowered, on paper and grouping around 14 inches at 5 yards. Think he will stick with it and improve with practice.

CSX...

Sleeve Art T-shirt Magenta Pattern

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CSX with Federal 124 HST...

The CSX is an interesting pistol. Feels good, natural pointer, very accurate instinctive shooting. Funny trigger feel. Sometimes nice and light, other times heavy, heavy squeeze. Grip is like sandpaper, rough on the shooting hand.

Compact, compelling form factor. Recoil is not bad at all for such a small pistol.

Safety is too light in my opinion. Disengages too easily and no click in either direction. Slide cycles with safety engaged and disengaged. There is also a trigger safety which is ridiculous on a single action pistol in my opinion. Also the source of a problem.

The CSX ate everything, no failures. Until the end. Running Federal 124 HST the trigger went dead. Flopping loosely. The guide rod extending 1/4 inch forward of the slide. Slide will not cycle. Locked up tight with a live round in the chamber.

Will ship the CSX back to S&W for repair. With the live round chambered.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CARRY.

I would take a hard pass on the CSX. Thinking I will pickup another Glock, a G26 though will be fatter than the CSX.

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shipwreck

· #2 · 8 d ago

Sorry to hear that the CSX gave you issues.

Reactions: 2

oneshot

· #3 · 8 d ago

Looks like the pistols selected will get the job done.
As Shipwreck stated, sad to hear the CSX failed, I had heard about the crappy trigger, but held out hope for it.
Not something I would be interested in, Thanks for the review.

Reactions: 4

Bad Bob

· #4 · 8 d ago

ctr said:
Started the day at the indoor range. Glock 43, Smith & Wesson 640, and a Smith & Wesson CSX.

G43 had one failure where the extractor failed to seat on the round chambering. Easy to fix. Mix of Federal 147 ball and Federal 124 HST. HST was more accurate, no surprise there. Wrote G48 on the targets, brain seizing up.

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Federal HST 124...
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View attachment 411844

Smith & Wesson 640...
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View attachment 411846

Spent some time helping a young fella with a new S&W 442. His first revolver. Wasn't grouping. Showed proper grip, sight alignment for 25, 15, and inside 7 yards. Suggested he paint the front sight post. Got him lowered, on paper and grouping around 14 inches at 5 yards. Think he will stick with it and improve with practice.

CSX...
View attachment 411847
View attachment 411848

CSX with Federal 124 HST...
View attachment 411849

The CSX is an interesting pistol. Feels good, natural pointer, very accurate instinctive shooting. Funny trigger feel. Sometimes nice and light, other times heavy, heavy squeeze. Grip is like sandpaper, rough on the shooting hand.

Compact, compelling form factor. Recoil is not bad at all for such a small pistol.

Safety is too light in my opinion. Disengages too easily and no click in either direction. Slide cycles with safety engaged and disengaged. There is also a trigger safety which is ridiculous on a single action pistol in my opinion. Also the source of a problem.

The CSX ate everything, no failures. Until the end. Running Federal 124 HST the trigger went dead. Flopping loosely. The guide rod extending 1/4 inch forward of the slide. Slide will not cycle. Locked up tight with a live round in the chamber.

Will ship the CSX back to S&W for repair. With the live round chambered.

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CARRY.

I would take a hard pass on the CSX. Thinking I will pickup another Glock, a G26 though will be fatter than the CSX.

Sounds like the RSA broke.

Reactions: 2

ctr

Discussion Starter · #5 · 8 d ago

Bad Bob said:
Sounds like the RSA broke.

Likely. First one encountered where I can't get the slide to move.

My guess, S&W may have to destroy the pistol frame to disassemble.

Reactions: 2

Mike1956

· #6 · 7 d ago

At first glance, the CSX struck me as a stinker. Sorry that your experience so far validates that.

Reactions: 1

ctr

Discussion Starter · #7 · 7 d ago

Mike1956 said:
At first glance, the CSX struck me as a stinker. Sorry that your experience so far validates that.

Think it was a good idea perhaps poorly executed. Maybe the 2.0 version would have these features:

Steel frame
No trigger safety
Positive click safety
Standard M&P slide cuts for sights
Get rid of the plastic slide part(s)
Make a decent bottom plate for the extended magazine

The pistol has potential. Just not in the current configuration.

Reactions: 3

Bad Bob

· #8 · 7 d ago

ctr said:
Likely. First one encountered where I can't get the slide to move.

My guess, S&W may have to destroy the pistol frame to disassemble.

Nah, we had a Glock 27 do the same thing. It was a pain, but we got it apart.

Reactions: 2

Lefty_Red

· #9 · 7 d ago

I had one for about one hour. Glad I got it on a trade! Shot it and said, “nope not for me.” Shame, it felt good in hand.

WrongRecroom

· #10 · 7 d ago

CSX same the gun is well bad .

S&W needs to either drop the line or re do it as a custom shop model

It is prob the shortest gun I have owned .. My ffl who is a 1911 guy said gosh that is a terrible trigger and I got one of the ones with the bad triggers ( if you watch the reviews it seems like ever gun has a different trigger some ok some just bad) and the safty on mine I could not get it to off easy it was small and very stiff .. Yeah it did not stick around long

They need to drop or re do the whole line imop

Reactions: 1

ctr

Discussion Starter · #11 · 7 d ago

Bad Bob said:
Nah, we had a Glock 27 do the same thing. It was a pain, but we got it apart.

I have had to step on ejection levers of Ruger Mini's before. Tap slides with a mallet. This one won't move. Tried pushing down on the barrel shroud. Pushing forward, backward. Had a young strong fella try. Tapping forward with mallet. Tapping backward. Had to take some care around the muzzle due to live round. No joy.

Reactions: 2

10thmtn

· #12 · 7 d ago

I don't think I've seen one positive review of this pistol. Sorry for your experience.

Reactions: 4

ctr

Discussion Starter · #13 · 6 d ago

S&W wouldn't take the pistol back. Wanted me to visit a gunsmith on my dime. Screw that.

Put the pistol on the bench, placed a shop rag on top and began banging with a heavier mallet. Took 3 strikes to get back in battery. Slide still wouldn't move.

Rotated the pistol 90 degrees, repositioned rag and 2 hard strikes on the side midships to the recoil spring assembly. Slide moves, round ejected.

Disassembly noted unusual wear marks on the barrel near the shroud. Low round count too.

Going to replace the recoil spring assembly and sell this pos.

Three bad handguns in 9 months from Smith & Wesson. Forum rules don't permit my non Christian response.

Reactions: 4

WrongRecroom

· #14 · 6 d ago

ctr said:
S&W wouldn't take the pistol back. Wanted me to visit a gunsmith on my dime. Screw that.

Put the pistol on the bench, placed a shop rag on top and began banging with a heavier mallet. Took 3 strikes to get back in battery. Slide still wouldn't move.

Rotated the pistol 90 degrees, repositioned rag and 2 hard strikes on the side midships to the recoil spring assembly. Slide moves, round ejected.

Disassembly noted unusual wear marks on the barrel near the shroud. Low round count too.

Going to replace the recoil spring assembly and sell this pos.

Three bad handguns in 9 months from Smith & Wesson. Forum rules don't permit my non Christian response.

I am surprise that s&w would not fix it .. They been pretty good about repairs for me even on out of warranty stuff ...Maybe cause there was a live round stuck in the gun they would not legally be able to take it back ? And od to me saying take to a smith as this is a newer gun with limited to no spare parts out there

How odd

Reactions: 3

ctr

Discussion Starter · #15 · 6 d ago

WrongRecroom said:
I am surprise that s&w would not fix it .. They been pretty good about repairs for me even on out of warranty stuff ...Maybe cause there was a live round stuck in the gun they would not legally be able to take it back ? And od to me saying take to a smith as this is a newer gun with limited to no spare parts out there

How odd

They didn't want to deal with the live round. I wanted them to assume responsibility for any damage a gunsmith might do. Smith & Wesson is sending crap out the door lately.

Reactions: 1

10thmtn

· #16 · 6 d ago

ctr said:
They didn't want to deal with the live round. I wanted them to assume responsibility for any damage a gunsmith might do. Smith & Wesson is sending crap out the door lately.

I would imagine no shipper would ship a firearm with a live round in it, for obvious reasons.

That said, S&W should have offered to pay whatever a local gunsmith would charge to get the live round out. That's utter BS that they expected you to pay out of pocket.

S&W ain't what it used to be, for sure.

Reactions: 4

Deadman74

· #17 · 6 d ago

We are all beta testers for the manufacturers now

Reactions: 3

Tundra5.7

· #18 · 6 d ago

10thmtn said:
I would imagine no shipper would ship a firearm with a live round in it, for obvious reasons.

That said, S&W should have offered to pay whatever a local gunsmith would charge to get the live round out. That's utter BS that they expected you to pay out of pocket.

S&W ain't what it used to be, for sure.

I too doubt any shipping company would knowingly ship a loaded firearm. Surprised S&W did not offer to reimburse you for the gunsmithing fees to fix the pistol.

I handled a CSX last year when it came out. It was not for me and with all the issues it has experienced, I'm glad it wasn't.

Reactions: 1

WrongRecroom

· #19 · 6 d ago

Tundra5.7 said:
I too doubt any shipping company would knowingly ship a loaded firearm. Surprised S&W did not offer to reimburse you for the gunsmithing fees to fix the pistol.

I handled a CSX last year when it came out. It was not for me and with all the issues it has experienced, I'm glad it wasn't.

Yup pretty sure they haves rules that is a no no to ship ammo with a gun ( why glock had to take out there ammo tray in the first gun boxs as I recal) ... I mean esp if a live round is chamber in the gun ..But they should have offered to at least cover some of the fee to clear the gun )

And yeah S&W need to stop doing Colt stuff and putting out iffy guns no one ask for lol .

To be on my soap box all they have to do is do like Taurus is doing and ditch the internal lock in there wheel guns and they would prob be set for quite a while .

Reactions: 1

Joezilla

· #20 · 6 d ago

ctr said:
I would take a hard pass on the CSX. Thinking I will pickup another Glock, a G26 though will be fatter than the CSX.

The G26 will be my next purchase. Looking forward to it.

Joe

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