SCCY CPX-2: Best Buy?

The SCCY CPX-2 is a popular pistol in the lower price range. For 200 bucks, people are able to snatch one of these babies. SCCY makes alot of these guns in house in Florida. They constantly upgrade the components to improve durability, reliability, and quality control. But the question today is if this pistol is the best gun for your money as alot of people have felt?

SIZE

The SCCY Pistols are an amazing size with a capacity that rivals the beloved Glock 26. The height is exactly 4" with the flush fitting magazine and the barrel is 3" long. This is a beautiful size for a double stack 9mm pistol IMO. This also is the smallest size you should get in order to balance shootability and durability. Also, this pistol comes in at an amazing 16oz, which some manufacturers find a challenge to beat of even meet.

CAPACITY

The capacity of the SCCY is said to be at 10, but I easily fit 11 in the magazine. This is incredible for the height of the pistol. A 4" height with an 11+1 capacity is nothing to sneeze at. It feels like a big capacity for a small gun, which it really is. Some people may disagree with me due to the presence of the P365 by Sig Sauer that recently came out. However, that pistol has constant issues while the SCCY pistol has proven to perform pretty well and it is getting better daily. Also, the SCCY pistol is slightly shorter by 1/4 of an inch but with a slightly thicker grip. The grip on the SCCY is only thicker because of the presence of a recoil cushion, which we will cover later on.

TRIGGER

The trigger on the SCCY pistols has always been a source of conflict for shooters. Even those who love the pistol will make comments about the trigger. These days, people make observations on trigger characteristics based on popular echoes throughout the gun community. Things like unsafely light triggers are a popular thing to worship and seek out. However, the SCCY pistols has a double action trigger due to having a hammer, and also to act as a safety to ensure that you ACTUALLY have clear intentions to shoot every shot. At times, people shoot more rounds than necessary and before their brain is able to register if they actually need to shoot more. I find that this is one of the characteristics of the SCCY pistols where there is not necessarily any right or wrong answer. Each person must decide for themselves what is important to them. I personally am fine with the trigger and it actually is just as easy to shoot as a revolver IMO.

SHOOTABILITY

The SCCY Pistols are a unique design that is built for effectiveness and comfort. The grip of the pistol features a "recoil cushion" which absorbs the shock from firing the pistol. It works off a principle similar to guitar strings or other forms of vibration. When there is sharp vibration put into a slightly flexible medium such as polymer, you are naturally going to get that shock to go through the frame and stop in your hand. On full size pistols, the frame is bigger and allows more of the shock to be distributed and absorbed by more of the hand. Conversely, on smaller and lighter pistols, they see more force and with less of a frame to absorb the shock on the way to your hand. Therefore your hand gets an immediate and sharp vibration that it can definitely feel. This is "felt recoil" and it sucks in small pistols. Metal frames tend to be dense and not transmit shock like polymer. The "recoil cushion" is basically an extension of the backstrap where the grip narrows at the back and directs the sharp vibrations through these thin pieces of polymer. After that, there is a wide piece that the palm is on at the rear of the grip, which then acts like a finger on a guitar string. It absorbs the vibration very efficiently and decreases the felt recoil massively compared to other pistols in this size class. I have found it to be very comfortable, and have seen women gravitate to the pistol above others in this size class for this reason. We all want a solid little gun that isn't going to be a burden to shoot, right?

DEPENDABILITY

Dependability is a combination of reliability and durability. Can you count on it to cycle your ammo and last through training and up to the unfortunate day you find yourself needing to use it? In my experience, this pistol is very reliable. Many have reported the earlier SCCY pistols to have issues, but the ratio of owners to reported issues is very low. Usually it is the loudest voices in the room that are heard. As far as durability, the SCCY CPX-2 has a few issues with things like frame pins walking out, which SCCY gladly replaces with over-sized ones. However the issue is apparently not common enough to justify making over-sized pins a standard for production. The ejector for me was the part that crapped out the most. I broke a total of 4 of them and found their service life to be only about 500 rounds at the time. On my first SCCY pistol, I had a bad extractor and it didn't become an issue until nearly 1,000 rounds. There were failures to eject with a failure rate of less than 5%, so not too bad. I purposely over-load my reloads in order to cause more stress on the pistols I test. I cracked the frame of the SCCY CPX-2 after about 4000 rounds, but only caused a slight fracture on the outside of the frame that didn't even make it all the way through. The pistol never gave me one issue in function, but it was bound to fail. 

WARRANTY

SCCY boasts that their warranty is "THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS." Their customer service is very reliable, fast, and friendly. They will gladly pass you to who you need to talk to and take care of you. They have shown me that they are indeed serious about providing the best service you will find in order to keep your gun running. Whether it is sending you parts or taking your pistol to fix it, you are looking at a small amount of time on the phone to get things in motion. I have rarely spent more than 5 minutes getting things squared away. If you have to send your pistol in, I have seen that you will get it back within the week if you send it out Monday. No one wants to go without for too long, which is why this is a nice touch.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I am not making this article to TELL you to buy this pistol. It is up to you if my experience steers you away from this pistol or gives you more confidence. Personally I am happy with this pistol as a daily carry and an occasional range run. I recommend using snap caps or a G-Sight laser trainer to practice with this pistol if you're interested in it. Even if you just want this pistol as a beater pistol or a trainer pistol to dry fire with. It would definitely help your shooting with other pistols if you can master this one. It really doesn't take much to get good with this pistol if you know what your doing. Anyways, I hope this article was helpful for you to make your decision.