The magazine release sports the same texture as the grips, and it’s a nice touch. Note the 2-dot rear sight with anti-glare serrations. The bilateral thumb safety lever is left-hand friendly. Notice the gun is on safe, but the hammer is down - something you can’t do with a 1911. The hammer is recessed into the slide, so not much is exposed. It’s a bit like an assisted opening knife - nudge the safety down and it will snap into the fire position. Flipping it from safe to fire, though, is easy. I tend to push in too hard, and on occasion, the safety gets hung-up on the bottom edge of the slide and won’t engage. I have large hands, and the thumb safety was a little difficult to nudge up with the side of my thumb. The controls are low profile, but mostly easy to manipulate.
All of the edges are beveled, and I couldn’t find a sharp edge on the gun. I saw no machining marks, even on the inside where most people don’t look. Overall, the fit and finish of the CSX is impeccable. The slide is dovetailed to accommodate both the front and rear sights, so if you don’t like the sights it ships with, you can easily change them.
Both front and rear sights have serrations to reduce glare. The sights are white 3-dot and made of metal. To top it off, an EZ-tab integrated into the rear of the slide makes it even easier to pull. The CSX slide serrations are smooth when being drawn from a holster, yet when pulling the slide, they feel aggressive and are easy to grab. They remind me of the scales on a snake or fish - rub them one way and it’s smooth as silk, but go the other way and they catch on your hand. Slide serrations are located rear and front. The magazine release can be swapped out for the included left-handed one. The thumb safety and slide catch are bilateral for right- and left-handed shooters. The CSX has an aluminum alloy frame with polymer grip inserts. The ejection port is chamfered to prevent snags when drawing from a holster and features a large, heavy-duty extractor for reliable case extraction from the chamber.
A loaded chamber indicator hole straddles where the slide meets the chamber hood. The top of the slide has serrations running lengthwise to cut down on glare and to help lead the eye to the front sight when acquiring a target. The slide is stainless steel with an Armornite finish. I’m happy to see S&W didn’t include one in the design of the CSX. Not only that, but it isn’t logical to go out of your way to buy a micro-compact carry gun and then make it larger and clunky with accessories. An accessory rail is an invitation to mount accessories, which, on a carry gun, can snag when drawn from the holster. The trigger guard is undercut to facilitate a high grip as well.Īnother noticeable feature - or lack thereof - is the absence of an accessory rail on the dustcover. It takes on even more importance with today’s modern practice of attaining as high of a grip as possible. The CSX sports a beavertail, which is important for a hammer-fired gun in preventing hammer bite and/or slide bite. Here it is with the extended 12-round magazine. The Smith & Wesson CSX is an all-metal, hammer-fired micro-9. The fine, rounded lines and smooth edges give it a grace that one could get lost in. However, with the palm swell grip installed, the CSX has an aesthetic that’s almost like a work of art. The aluminum alloy frame has a groove machined into it for the palm swell grip, so with the smaller backstrap installed, the groove is visible, giving the gun an “unfinished” look. One backstrap has a palm swell grip, the other is just the backstrap (a grip removal tool is included). The frame is constructed of aluminum alloy with a textured polymer front strap and interchangeable textured polymer back straps. In fact, it’s about an ounce lighter than the original Shield and only about an ounce heavier than the Shield 2.0, mostly because of the aluminum alloy frame. I was intrigued by it being all metal, and did I mention it looks sexy? Once I finally got one and picked it up, the first thought I had was that it felt very light - I was expecting it to be heavier considering that it’s all-metal. The CSX generated a lot of buzz when it was released, and it sure caught my eye. But that’s exactly what S&W did with the metal-framed, single-action, hammer-fired CSX. It’s not every day a major gun manufacturer introduces a new micro-compact carry gun that’s not striker-fired with a polymer frame. S&W flexed some old-school muscle at the 2022 SHOT Show when they introduced the new CSX micro-compact pistol. A modern take on old-school metal and hammer