"
Where have you been all my life?" - William Holden to Audrey Hepburn,
Sabrina (1954)
Okay, it was chilly but sunny and still at the Albuquerque City range (5950' above sea level) this morning - 28°F when I began, 34°F when I left. Five other guys shooting - mellow. Took the CSX and a couple .22 revolvers; I didn't mess with chronographing - I had an old school friend come into town unexpectedly, made lunch plans with her for today and didn't want to waste time.
Shot at 10 yards, mostly offhand (modified Weaver), some one-hand (strong and weak), a few off bags to get used to the trigger but I found that I shot as well standing as seated and just went with that for the most part. I used gloves at first and then took them off when it started warming up. I put gloves on between relays to warm my hands (the shade over the firing line had the Southern European part of my blood asserting itself in a way that I remembered from childhood - brr).
I ran 115-gr FMJs (100 rnds WWB), 147-gr FMJs (
50, well
49 rounds AE), 147-gr JHPs (Gold Dots and WWB) and 124-gr +P Winchester Hex Vents. Based on a decent amount of experience shooting and chronographing 9x19 in 3" guns, I told myself I'd only go for the 124s if they were
notably more accurate than the 147s. (They weren't.
)
Getting to my lead-in quote: Wow, this is a nice design! I like the straight-faced-but-with-safety-paddle trigger on the ambi-saftied pistol. I love that the slide runs while the safety is on - this is like the P938, and it truly makes me feel better loading and unloading these guns. The gun suits me a lot better than the P938 (which I liked), though: in the first place, I can (and did) switch around the magazine release so that it's not facing outward while I carry (remember I'm a lefty) - on a concealed carry gun having the magazine safe from inadvertent drops is essential for me. Now, I'm not sure I've heard any reviewer say this, but you know how some guns just
feel really right? (I think a lot of the success of the J-frame snub and the PPK can be attributed to this phenomenon.) Well, the CSX
feels right to me. The same way a PPK
feels good (but with more rounds and power, utter reliability and more fun to shoot) in the hand. Uncle Mas was 100% correct when he extrapolated the CSX would fit my hands well - it does. In fact, not to be weird, but it feels like it was made for my hands - at least while gripping/shooting (I add this disclaimer because it's still a little weird for me to activate the Southpaw-friendly starboard-side low-profile slide stop with my left thumb while shooting with my strong-side left hand - I know what I need to do to practice, but you want it to go not stop, right?
).
It's difficult to catalog all the things that just
work for me in gripping this bar-of-used-soap-rounded pistol because they're everywhere: a giant help is the stippling on the front strap, but the delightfully undercut (and smoothed) trigger guard and the ambi-sided-funneled approach to the trigger stand out, too. (Oh, I'm using the as-installed-at-the-factory palmswell stippled backstrap - fits my weird hollow palms just so.) The safety is right where it should be (for me) and I found it unthinkingly intuitive to disengage and simple to engage with either hand. The finish of the gun is just right: satiny but not slick, and seriously hard to mark or dirty. The balance is great - as our friend Mas has said, there's just not a lot of difference between the 12-round and the 10-round mag in this regard, but I do prefer the 12. And as many have said, the gun shoots like it's a full-sized gun - by that I mean the ergonomics of the thing throw all the recoil into the slide action and the curvy little frame just sits right where it's at without leaping around.
As you've read, magazines are difficult to load. I used a Maglula to load both magazines to capacity and they are still extremely stiff on the last round.
As with several small guns I've shot lately, I found this one shot as well for me offhand (two-handed, of course) as off the bags. The single-action trigger was just fine - I knew when it was going to break after the first ten or so shots. It's not a target trigger, but (again, as other have said) it's clear that there's a metal frame - there's no bendy/flexy kinda mush in it - just kind of a really short roll (which, honestly, feels a bit like a very-light, very short DA revolver). I did not find this gun to have overtravel of note. On the subject of the false reset perception that can be imparted by the (first generation - which my gun has - but now modified in later guns) firing pin safety, it tricked me twice in course of the rounds I shot - and I was making some effort to not fall victim to it. As other have noted, this is a training issue - believe it or not, I think I like the CSX enough to make an effort to unlearn the habits I've gotten into with other guns.
Reliability was flawless . . .
except for one round, which hung up on feeding. I tap-racked-reset-shot and then picked up the ejected round to see what was up - and what was up was that Federal had fouled up on loading the round. The lip of the case was bent inward during the loading of the bullet and the whole thing was crimped just like that - there's no way this should have made it out of quality control.
Not the gun's fault that this wouldn't feed.
Anyhow, I've droned on enough. I finished, had lunch with my friend, went home and cleaned the gun. It cleaned up pretty easily. Put it back together, used the Maglula to load 147-gr Gold Dots into both mags, stuck in a chamber round and put it into an IWB holster (fits Kahr PM leather if you have any around - I have lots). Turns out it carries like a Chiefs Special - but, whoa, there are a lot more rounds on board and reloads are a lot faster!). I really,
really like the CSX. And I've got another 12-rounder on the way.
It's remarkably well engineered; hope to have it out at the range tomorrow.
