Anyone with a CSX have their mags stick in the magwell when fully loaded?

[Nakanokalronin]

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.

 

[squidsix]

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.

 

[Nakanokalronin]

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.

 

[0849]

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.

 

[sigp220.45]

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.

 

[0849]

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.

Very Excellent Points,

 

[cnj]

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.

 

[Pistolfan59]

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.

 

[BC38]

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.

 

[LVSteve]

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.

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.

 

[Nakanokalronin]

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.

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.

 

[Nakanokalronin]

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 that does that. Comparing it to the factory magazine it is easy to see that the metal it is made from is thinner.

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.

 

[Nakanokalronin]

Very Excellent Points,

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.

 

[cnj]

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

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.

 

[squidsix]

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.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

No stripping required

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

.

 

[kingrj]

My mags stick when fully loaded...

 

[BLUEDOT37]

The problem is not the magazines...

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

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?

.

 

[Shadowman1433]

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

 

[BIGMAC116]

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.


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