#cpx-2

Sccy CPX-2 Review (2017)

First review here, my reviews are mainly coming from a standpoint of  “is it worth the money” for what you want the gun to do. This gun is clearly intended for carry purposes and fits into the realm of subcompacts albeit on the larger side of the spectrum.

So I started getting into concealed and open carrying recently so naturally I needed a good pistol to carry. While I have a pretty good selection of full size/combat pistols to open carry, I didn’t have any subcompacts to speak of since subcompacts aren’t typically range day guns. I tried carrying my Sig P320 Compact in 9mm, but that ultimately proved too large, and even the subcompact model is too bulky for me to be comfortable with.

So one day I was just perusing my base’s BX/PX gun section and saw one of their pistols there was on sale, a subcompact that wasn’t any of the name brands I’m used to seeing. The Sccy (pronounced sky, weird but alright) CPX-2 in 9mm. I fondled it a bit and found the trigger to be very acceptable and I was impressed with the general feel of quality and trigger it had especially for the price point. I did not buy it that day because I am very skeptical of cheap guns, and even moreso from brands I’ve never seen before. I’m sure you know the feeling.

So after some research into what they were and reading some reviews it seemed like an alright gun. Many weeks later I decided what the heck, why not? If it turned out to be crap I’m only out about 250 bucks. That’s very cheap on my budget considering all the other pieces I’ve bought before, so what’s 250 bucks?

I picked it up from the store and headed immediately to the range with the intention of not cleaning or lubricating it beforehand just to really be hard on it and see how it performed under dry conditions. I don’t normally do that for my guns but I wanted to try something different. If it performs well dry, it will perform well when it is properly maintained.

It came in a surprisingly very pretty and cool looking black cardboard box with red foiled graphics and set foam with cutouts for the gun, spare magazine, keys for the custom trigger lock, and various manuals and ads like in any gun case.

I bought the white frame and stainless slide because I thought it looked the best out of the colors they offered (if they had a deeper shade of blue I’d have bought that one). It felt very good in my hands, both with the flat floorplate and extended floorplate for the magazines which comes included so you can switch out both floorplates if you choose. It racks and releases easily unlike many subcompacts I’ve fired and handled. The magazine release was strong, well placed, and had positive feeling. Aesthetically, it just plain looks good. A lot of subcompacts you see are very to the point, blocky, small, and ugly. This gun does not sacrifice too much in the size department, has great curves, and above all fits well in the hand. Everything about it felt good and I was very excited to take it out to the range.

I took 150 rounds of various cheap target ammo with me and set up firing at 7, 10, and 20 yards (if I had 25 yards I would’ve gone further). The sights are your usual white 3 dot sights you’ll find on a lot of larger sized pistols which should be familiar with many shooters. The magazines hold 10 rounds each.

This pistol is a double action only which usually translates to long, heavy, and inaccurate triggers for some shooters. As I mentioned before, I was very impressed in store with how smooth and easy this trigger was and I still am. It may not be as light or smooth as say a Sig P250, but it definitely is better than a lot of even striker fired triggers out there (I’m looking at you Sigma and LC9 pistols). If you fire revolvers in double action on the regular, then this pistol will feel right at home with you.

Now here comes my first issue with this gun, or more specifically the magazines. They are made in-house by Sccy and it shows. They feel cheap and the black finish is already rubbing off even on the small amount of time I’ve used them for. The follower/spring is also excruciatingly difficult to push down and load once you get past 5 rounds. These magazines will tear up even the most calloused of thumbs. Trying to unload the magazines also left me unimpressed, as every other magazine I’ve ever used in any of my pistols the rounds almost jump out when you’re unloading them. With these, I had to wrestle them out almost as much as I had to wrestle them into the magazine. Sccy has some work to do on their magazines.

Now onto the shooting. Recoil was expected to be snappy as most subcompacts no matter what will be snappy. While the recoil was snappy, it wasn’t actually that bad and I could easily control it once I started getting a hang of it. Reacquiring a sight picture rapidly was no problem for me after getting used to it.

My first 30 rounds ended up being about 3 inches off center to the left at 10 yards but elevation was spot on. That can be fixed by adjusting the rear sight with the use of an allen wrench so no big deal there. I’d prefer if the sights were actually on point from the factory but I won’t fault them too much for that.

After some more rounds downrange, I was managing 3 to 3.5 inch groups at 20 yards, and putting holes in holes at 10 yards and under if I took my time. The accuracy definitely surprised me for such a cheap and small gun. I am quite pleased with it and feel it shoots above its price point. It’s not a match gun by any means, but it was never intended to be.

For malfunctions, I expected to see some considering this gun was being run completely dry out of the box. I encountered 4 failure to feed malfunctions, all of which happened on the last round in a magazine. The slide would lock open as if it was empty. Not terrible and certainly nothing that bothered me too much. As for feeding the rounds and slide operation, I could really feel the chunkiness of the slide as it tried to go forward without lubrication and sometimes it would actually stop a second and then go fully into battery with a very noticeable “ker-chunk”. Not unexpected either, as this is a problem that even high end pistols can have if you don’t maintain them properly. Overall, nothing stood out to me in operation.

I took it home very satisfied with how it performed and looked forward to cleaning it because we all clean our guns after a range trip right? I place ease of maintenance pretty high on my list of priorities for my guns as I was taught to shoot on Ruger Mark 2 target pistols and Ruger 10/22 rifles both of which can be a nightmare to disassemble and reassemble. Thankfully this gun’s takedown is quite simple, being a common link and tilting barrel design that’s been around for decades. It has a captive recoil spring as well which is handy and allows for very easy maintenance. But once I took a closer look at the field stripped gun I realized why this gun is so cheap to begin with.

Assembled fully, it is actually quite exposed. You can look down the side of where the bolt face meets the chamber and see through the gun easily. A large spring is visible from inside the mag well. Disassembled, the actual receiver itself is a small unit pinned in place like a Sig P320’s internal chassis is (but I doubt it is modular like the 320 is). There’s just not a lot going on mechanically with the gun. Simplicity makes it easier to produce I suppose. The slide, barrel, and recoil spring are all the standard fare we are used to seeing with linked tilting barrel actions. Nothing about the materials or manufacturing seemed especially noteworthy.

The gun cleaned up easily but then I had the realization that maybe white wasn’t the best color to pick the receiver frame in. Blasts from the barrel had stained the end of the frame ever so slightly and will only get darker with use. Not much I can do about that.