I've had this issue since buying the CSX. Both the 10rd. and 12rd. magazine stick in the gun and don't ejected when fully loaded. The 10rd. mag will do it with 7 or more rounds and the 12rd. mag will do it with 11 or more rounds. Additionally, they both need a good smack to lock into the gun with the slide closed.

I had called S&W about this and they seemed to be aware of the issue since the CS woman on the phone put me on hold while she went to talk to someone. I was told to send both magazines in, but I said I wouldn't be able to use the firearm if I did. The woman then told me to send the 10rd. mag since it's the worse of the two. They sent me a FedEx shipping label and I sent it out the same day. Fast forward to yesterday when I received the new magazine in the mail and like I suspected, it's no different than the original magazine.

I just got off the phone with S&W customer service (could of been the same person as before). I told the CS woman that the new mag is no better than the first. I also mentioned again that other people are having the same problem with the mags including influencers who were sent the gun for testing and review. The woman on the phone said that if I read this issue on forums that it does not constitute being an issue with all of the guns that have been sold. She also mentioned that the people on forums panic about things like this as if it was a pandemic like covid 19. She 100% legitimately said this. When she didn't know what to say she would ask me if I wanted to send in the magazines for replacements. She did this four times. I told her what's the point unless a new magazine design is being developed. I asked to talk to someone else like in development or a manager that might know something more and as per usual she said there isn't anyone that would have more information. She then said that "when I feel comfortable sending in the magazines" to call back. From the second I mentioned the issue I was talked to like I was some delusional fool telling her an untrue story. I basically have to wait and guess when a re-design may or may not happen, then call back for a replacement.

Yes. The one I handled, the magazines would not drop free when loaded.
This is a no-go for me.
I have heard the argument “you will only need it to drop free when its empty” but in my real world experience with using handguns for actual preservation of life, dropping a magazine when there was a malfunction and replacing it with another one solved the problem and saved my skin.
So for me, if I press the mag release, I expect the magazine to depart the pistol.

What really gets me is the attitude from their customer service now. I've had to contact them about other guns weather it was getting new updated mag springs for my M&P 45, CS9 grips or sending in guns for issues and it's always been a decent experience. There's another person having similar mag issues over on Reddit that's getting the same type of attitude from a man over at S&W. Different customer service people, yet both are talking about forums and acting like it's some sort of conspiracy.

Interesting observation, thanks for posting. As i normally at the target range manually remove mags to avoid dropping in the dirt, however, I did check for mags dropping properly upon depressing mag release when I first got my CSX and do not recall experiencing any issues. I just tried both my 10 and 12 round mags and both drop just fine when fully loaded. Tried several times with both mags and no issues. I would add two thoughts, 1- will say that when I first got the CSX I field stripped it for a thorough cleaning and I typically give a very light spritz of quality lube in the inside of frame to ensure getting a bit of lube on mag catch area, trigger, hammer, etc. I wonder if a little of the lube overspray in the mag well made the difference in avoiding the issue you are reporting. 2nd- I think with the small grip it would be easy to let the palm of the hand interfere with mag dropping.

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DAV Life Member

Shouldn’t you strip the mag out in the event of a malfunction?

The gun was designed for the mags to drop free when empty. If its an absolute requirement for full mags to drop you need a different gun.

Much ado about nothing.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Very Excellent Points,

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DAV Life Member

I just fully loaded the 12 round mag for my CSX and inserted it into the gun. I then pressed the mag release button, ensuring my hand was not interfering with the mag in any way, and.......the mag did not drop free. I had to pull it out of the gun. I did not test the 10 round mag, but I assume it would be the same. The mag does drop free when empty. Clearly, at least in my case, the issue is that the mag "swells" or "bulges" when loaded beyond a certain point, causing difficulty inserting and getting the mag to seat, and also preventing it from freely sliding out of the gun when loaded. I could see how this might bother some folks, and now that I know about it, it might bug me a bit, but it really isn't an issue for me at this point. One of two things could correct the issue. Either Smith "relaxes" the tolerance between the mag and the magwell of the gun, or they improve the strength of the magazine sidewalls, so they do not swell so much when loaded. It's not really an issue for me, as this is one of the...strike that. The CSX is the ONLY new gun I have purchased over the last few years that has been 100% reliable through a break-in period of 250 rounds (so far), so overall, I'm pretty darn happy with it. Maybe Smith will redesign the mags, or maybe not. If this is truly an issue for someone, then I would suggest looking for another pistol.

I must have got a good one. I just checked it with both mags full and they fall right out when I hit the mag release. I'm very happy with it so far, it's functioned flawlessly.

Sounds like the mags are being made by Triple K or ProMag.
Seems to me that the issue may be that the sheet metal is too thin and "flexes" when the spring compression force gets too high.
I have a Beretta 21A Tomcat magazine made by ProMag that does exactly that. Comparing it to the factory magazine it is easy to see that the metal it is made from is thinner.

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Send lawyers, guns & money...

How many guns were so unreliable and what were they? You seem to be major league snake bit on the reliability front.

As for redesigning the magazines, it strikes me that S&W's only decent magazine designer retired or got run over by a bus a while back. Either that or they are farming out the design to the lowest bidder, some guy in a basement with a Win95 version of Microsoft Paint as his design tool. See the threads on the 380EZ.

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Release the Kraken

Yes you are supposed to strip out magazines. When they freely drop like they're supposed to weather loaded or empty, it allows plenty of room for dirt and debris inside the mag well. When they swell so much they're difficult to insert and don't drop free when brand new and clean even the smallest amount of dirt or debris could be a serious problem.

Every mag has dropped free when fully loaded from the hundreds of semi-autos that I've owned from dozens of manufactures (even S&W) except for the CSX. The 10rd mag swells with 7 rounds or more and the 12rd mag swells with 11rd's or more. Both magazines have resistance and stick in the grip when inserting or ejecting them. That's not normal, that's a flaw.

That's what I'm thinking, but I'm not sure if S&W will go to a thicker steel since it might reduce the capacity.

Except that it also makes the magazines more difficult to insert as well. I've owned hundreds of semi-autos and this is the only gun where the mags swell enough to stick when ejecting them from or inserting them into the magwell.

Just in the last 3 years, here are a few that come to mind at the moment: Steyr M9-A2, Ruger LCP Max, Ruger LCP II in 22lr, Smith 380EZ, Taurus Spectrum...there are more.

All this talk about stripping mags.
Thats cool. It indicates a malfunction has occurred. When one hasnt occurred, stripping a magazine from the pistol should not be necessary.
From personal experience:
Fired five rounds from a 15 round magazine. Click on the sixth trigger pull. Pressed the magazine release while pulling a new mag from the pouch, slammed the new mag home, dropped the slide, and kept shooting.
Later when the dust settled, I went to retrieve my dropped magazine, and the spring and follower were still in the bottom of the mag body and the 10 remaining rounds were rattling around in there loose. No amount of smacking that magazine caused the compressed spring to become un-stuck.
This was a Beretta M9. Tap/rack/bang (tap/rack/click?) would have resulted in my demise.
So when I get a click vice a bang, for the rest of my days, I will drop the magazine and replace it with a new one. In the CSX, I would have to remember that it is my only gun that doesnt drop the magazine when the button is pressed.
The CSX isnt nice enough to be an heirloom piece, and it isnt a target gun. It was built and marketed as a CCW pistol. This means it is for fighting. Not one other pistol in my entire collection with a frame mounted magazine release has this issue.
That means it is faulty.

FWIW, my son just verified his mag drops free on the CSX he recently bought.

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Waiting for the break of day

My mags stick when fully loaded...

When I posted this originally I did not have a CSX, now I do.

Bought mine new, as was my son's.

His is SN# SBC35xx & mine is SBC20xx, mfd in Dec-2021.

Forgot to check the date on his box but I'm assuming mine is older.

The problem is not the magazines, as I see it.

His magazines all drop freely from his CSX if fully loaded.

None of my (4) will drop freely from my CSX if loaded with more than (6) rounds.

His magazines will NOT drop freely from my CSX & my magazines WILL drop freely from his CSX if fully loaded.

The only logical conclusion then is that our CSXs' magwells are not the same exact dimensions, mine being tighter.

Sticky mags in the CSX is the pistol's fault.

I've not contacted S&W on this yet.

Has anyone gotten resolution on this problem from S&W?

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Waiting for the break of day

Have you checked the magazine followers? Others have shown this to be the problem when the follower is not connected to the magazine springs.

I’m thinking the older models (first run) are having this issue. Some report the mag followers aren’t attached to the spring, which creates less room in the mag body while loaded. That doesn’t seem to be the issue with yours. It would be interesting to use a micrometer in the mags and mag well on both guns.

Mine is a recent production and I don’t have those problems. My ten rounder is completely useless though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mine are okay.

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Waiting for the break of day

I have two CSX's and purchased three additional 12 round magazines from S&W. Have had zero problems with any of the magazines or either gun. No difficulties loading mags to stated capacity or inserting into the gun. They pop in and out freely whether loaded or not. No failure with either gun regardless of the ammo used.

I kind of zipped through this thread, so if I'm relating something already known, sorry for that.

Earlier, I got out my 10 round magazine for an experiment regarding some of the comments and difficulties described in previous posts. I happened to have a box of reloaded 9MM close by, so I began loading those into the 10 round mag. After 9 rounds, I had to resort to the MAGLULA Loader, no way could I get that tenth round in by hand strength alone. Next, I tried to seat the fully loaded 10 rounder into my CSX with the slide in battery. No way, no how, was that magazine going to seat! After thinking about it for awhile, I went back, picked up a fresh box of factory loads and proceeded to load ten rounds into the magazine without resorting to any mechanical load assistance! Then, sure enough, I was able to seat the magazine with the slide in battery!

Conclusion? The 10 round CSX magazine just barely has room for the ten rounds of factory spec ammunition. The reloads are just enough larger in diameter that they won't fit!

Anyone else experienced this?

Thanks for reading.

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

No issues here. It is a pain to top off the magazine but, it has no issues going in or coming out.

I'll agree they seem to have minimal space but not the latter.

When my son & I were doing the previously mentioned test I had also complained I could only get one less than the designated rounds in my mags.

So thinking Dad's looney toons he grabs some rounds & proceeds to max out the mags, but he couldn't do it again after unloading the mags.

I haven't wasted a lot of time on it but it appears that the rounds don't consistently like to sit in their assigned chairs but when they do you can get all of the rounds in.

Likely when the mag spring gets more use that may change but no amount of pushing will get the last round in if they're not stacked optimally.

I don't see that it should matter whether they're factory or reloads. It's a tapered round, the largest diameter of a 9x19 is the base & rim, neither of which changes between the two.

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PS: I just tried again & could only get 11 of 12 in using my UpLULA loader. I could clearly see thru the holes that they weren't stacked right. After banging the mag vertically on it's base firmly a couple times I was finally able to get the 12th round in.

LOL, I always tap newly loaded mags on the back of the mag to make sure all the rounds are to the rear of the mag. Now I have something else to add for the CSX mags.

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Waiting for the break of day

I sent an email to S&W about the issues I mentioned above.

On the sticky release of fully loaded magazines issue (which is obviously pistol related, not magazine) they said to request a RMA# & return it to them for inspection with no info indicating it being a known problem. (I'll look at fixing it myself)

On the difficult to get the last round in the magazine issue they said to disassemble/reassembled the magazines & see if that helps. (I had already done that to check the spring placement)

I also asked what size/dimensions are the sight dovetails & got no answer.

Lastly I asked if the recoil spring assembly was available for replacement purchase & they said not at this time but to check back later.

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Waiting for the break of day

.

I recently bought a new diamond grit file, 325 on one side & 1200 on the other, & took some time to finally work on this problem in my CSX.

To start I measured the width of an empty magazine & then it's width fully loaded. The difference was .007" wider at mid-magazine.

The magazines mainly contact the magwell's lateral walls in the middle of their width, as noted by the vertical scratches in their coated surface & as well as on the mags.

I removed the slide/barrel & the grips before I started filing, working from the bottom of the magwell.

After getting most of the black coating removed with the file I could see (& feel) that the now nearly bare metal walls had striations causing an unevenness in their surface.

At this point a fully loaded mag still wouldn't drop out freely but it took slightly less effort to pull it out than before so I was on the right track.

After I got the striations smoothed out on both sides (the left being slightly worse) I was pretty close to being done but the mag was still getting some resistance on the last bit of it's insertion.

I switched from the .900" wide file to a much narrower one to remove the last bit of metal near the upper reach of the magazine that was keeping it from falling completely free.

Probably took about an hour with all of the filing & checking.

After cleaning up the frame & reassembling everything now a fully loaded magazine flies out of the magwell when you press the mag release button, like it should have from the start.

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Waiting for the break of day

If I liked semi auto handguns I would positively buy the csx-would those who have one buy it again, what about the quality ; machine marks, fit/finish and how it stacks up to the Sig P938 if anyone knows???

Still having no problems. I have taken it to the range multiple times. I have to unload carry ammo to reload with range ammo. Never had a problem with the mag dropping free.