EDC Budget Gun Review – Sccy CPX-2 9mm

About a month ago, one of my best friends at work hit me up about purchasing his backup weapon, the Sccy CPX-2 , which is a 9mm. I normally would not have a need for this pistol, and would not have purchased it on my own. I already have a backup/off duty gun that I really enjoy. And I do not have any firearms in 9mm. (For pistol I stock .40 cal, .380, and some .357.)

But I knew he needed the money, and he was offering me a VERY fair price. So I purchased it from him thinking I would keep it until he wanted to buy it back. When I mentioned that to him a few days later, he replied that when he did eventually buy a new backup gun, he would go with something different.

So I am now the proud, permanent owner of a Sccy CPX-2.

At this point, I started thinking that maybe I could trade it in for something else. I could at least get out of it what I had in it.

I also wondered if it wouldn’t make a decent weapon for someone in my group. We don’t have any 9mm ammo, but what if we came across some if things went really bad? 100 rounds of 9mm ammo isn’t that expensive, and it might be a pistol I could give to a family member if “things go south”.

Either way, I decided to do a review on this pistol for folks who might want an EDC pistol without breaking the bank. The MSRP on the gun is $319, which means from a reputable dealer you could probably find it for around $250-$270. A used one might be even cheaper.

The pistol I bought had not really even been broken in. I think my partner had put maybe 100 rounds through it. I had put maybe 5 through it when I shot it, and a few of our buddies put maybe 15-20 rounds through it total. So all in all, less than 150 rounds. (Not even broke in!) I considered it “Like new, in the box”.

The CPX-2 comes with two, 10 round double stack magazines. Each magazine has the flared base for your pinky finger, as well as the flat base for easier concealment. You can change them out based upon your preference.

The CPX-2 model does not have a safety, though the CPX-1 model does. There were some complaints about the safety with the CPX-1 model. So the safety was discontinued, and the CPX-2 model was born.
This pistol has a polymer grip with a stainless steel slide. The barrel is 3.1 inches while the pistol has an overall length of 5.7 inches, about 1 inch wide, and weighs about 15 oz. There is a nitride colored model and a dark black finished model.

Every carry/conceal pistol I have owned has been a single stack .380. So the grip on the CPX-2 was a bit wider than I am used to. But I also carry a Glock 23. So compared to that the grip, the Sccy was not bad at all. With the flared magazine plate, the grip fit nicely in my hand.

The CPX-2’s three dot sights were easy to visually acquire. I have never been a fan of subdued sights, so the gun got bonus points for having full sights.

If I found one thing about the CPX-2 that did not appeal to me was the double action trigger. I’d say the trigger is about 9 lbs. or so, and has a LONG reset. Basically, think of the reset of a revolver. There is a noticeable “click” when the trigger resets however. But if you “short stroke” the trigger, it won’t go BANG .

The CPX-2 is a double action only, hammer fired pistol. The recoil of the pistol was a bit more than what I first expected, but it was not too bad.

I decided to run it through a bit of a test, so I picked up two boxes of ammo for it. I purchased a box of Remington UMC 115 grain jacketed rounds, and a box TulAmmo 9mm in steel case. I wanted to see how the Sccy would handle different types of ammo. So with the 100 rounds, I headed out to the range.

I got to the range and decided to try the steel cased ammo first. I wondered if the first magazine was a bit stiff as I had a hard time loading the steel cased ammo. In the second magazine I could only load 9.

From the first shot, I could tell I was going to have problems. At 20 yards, my first shot was a bit low. I would of have adjusted my sight picture on my second shot, but there was no second shot. After one round I had a failure to feed.

I had to drop the magazine, and realized that the steel case rounds were shaking loose inside the magazine because the magazine wasn’t pushing the other rounds up into place. I reset the round, racked the slide and had the exact same issue.

I pulled 4 rounds out of the mag, reloaded the mag into the pistol and racked the slide. BANG! Finally! But the shot was still a bit low. So I moved up to the 15 yard line and emptied the magazine.

I loaded the other magazine and decided to try a few head shots. The first three shots were no problem. Then CLICK…CLICK. I thought maybe I was short stroking the trigger reset. But it wasn’t resetting.

I was even taking my finger completely off the trigger, but no reset. I began tapping the trigger to get it to reset. I felt it reset, and BANG! But immediately after I had the same reset issues.

I continued to fiddle with the trigger to get it to reset. As you can tell from the picture below, I had two shots go high because I was focusing more on the trigger reset than I was the sight picture.

After 19 steel cased rounds, I was done with that. I switched to the brass ammo. I hoped that my problems were because of the steel case.

I loaded both magazines with the brass, and the magazines had no issues. They seemed to like the brass ammo more. But at 20 yards I still had a some bullet drop.  My head shots were hitting a bit low.

With the second magazine, the first few head shots hit. Then once again, CLICK…..CLICK. More trigger reset problems. Even with my finger completely off the trigger it would not always reset. Two more missed shots because I was jacking with the trigger. The pistol went off once accidentally while I was trying to get the trigger to reset. Apparently it had reset but I did not realize it.

I loaded one more magazine, but the issues continued.

In total I put 19 steel cased rounds and 30 brass cased rounds through the Sccy. At that point I was done! I could have researched and investigated the issue. I could have determined if there was an easy way to fix it. It might have been something like the trigger’s torsion spring has slipped out of place. But for a gun with less than 200 rounds through it, it should work flawlessly. If it doesn’t, I don’t trust it.

Final Verdict

I was hoping that I could give this gun a great review. Maybe even an “ok” review. It is American made pistol. It is also inexpensive, and I know many preppers are on a tight budget. Finding a decent gun for a decent price is always something I want to pass along to others. But alas, I cannot recommend this gun under any circumstances. I would not trust this gun with my life.

The problems with steel ammo I could forgive. The accuracy issues were concerning. But the trigger reset problems were the fatal flaw for me. Shot placement was a huge issue because I kept having to mess with the trigger. And at one point the trigger reset and the gun went off while I was still trying to get the trigger to reset.

At this point, I will be trading it in for something else. I should be able to get out of it what I paid.

Although I wasn’t a big fan of the trigger pull, my recommendation is to spend a bit more and get a Smith and Wesson Bodyguard if you are wanting a reliable EDC gun. The extra money will be worth it, trust me!

My best friend and I are still best friends. I was happy to be able to help him out. But as always, I question his choice in firearms. You get what you pay for.

Stay safe out there!

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