Last weekend, I was able to coon finger both the CS and latest model P at a big gun store in VA. I was underwhelmed by each. Like others have mentioned, the CS grip felt "cramped" to me, not sure what made it feel that way, since it's appreciably longer than the P365XL grip that I shoot a lot. Just felt "wrong." I HATED the mag well on the P, not comfortable at all for me.
After handling both, I really started to reevaluate my level of want/need for either, given the extremely steep price of admission to ownership. Maybe I'll just knucle under and get myself a G34 or 45/47/40-whatever full size pistol, mount my 507 COMP on it, and relearn how to shoot Glocks.
Or, get another S2 OR, AND a G34, AND another 507 COMP, AND a good chunk of 9mm training ammo...
I think the CS shoots bigger than it feels. That said, I think the new C will be very attractive.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
No doubt they shoot very nice but I came to a a similar conclusion after toying with them a bit. And I have had that “same” conclusion multiple times over the years so one would think I would just learn it! But of course not. But I started writing down my musings on this topic so I might revisit it whenever the wantsees crank up again.
So...
I picked my CS up and immediately took it to the range.
Initial impressions are as follows:
The gun is pretty small. It's smaller than a Glock 19 and fits my hand very, very well. The safeties are very well fit. They offer a positive snick every time they're activated and deactivated. The slide to frame fit is very tight. There is no movement of the bull barrel in the slide at the hood or the muzzle. Magazines go in and out with ease. This is going to be a very easy to reload gun minus the fact that my thumb is too short to reach the magazine catch without rotating the pistol. I have this issue with all 2011's. Overall fit and finish is very nice. Nothing feels cheap on this thing. I got the flat trigger shoe with the 4.5 lb trigger break. Trigger is crisp with no over travel and a very short reset.
Now, on to my firing impressions.
Like a dumbass. I loaded up a bunch of mags with Federal HST 147, Speer gold Dot 124 +P and Hornady 135 grain +p. I shot 200 rounds of this to break the gun in with only one issue that was not related to the gun. My followers are binding after putting 8 rounds into the mags. It seems like one of the "legs" of the follower is catching on the witness hole. This issue was occurring with ball ammo and the hollow points so I don't think its ammo specific.
The gun beat the ever loving shit out of my hand with this ammo. At one point, my buddy asked me if I was shooting a .50 cal. He looked up from where he was loading his mags and said "what the fuck are you shooting"? The blast coming off of that 3.5 inch barrel is absurd. The gun is comparatively loud as hell. It also kicks like a mule with that ammo. Maybe i'm spoiled but my 43X with PMM comp has way less recoil and muzzle climb. The one difference is that the 43X is harder to control due to how slim the grip is. It wants to twist in my hands. There was zero twisting with the CS and despite the gun feeling like a desert eagle, it tracked very well.
I ran another 200 rounds of 115 grain mixed brand ball through the gun. The gun quieted down and was way less harsh in the hand. It tracked equally as well with this ammo.
I had a Tenicor Certum waiting for me. The gun carries absurdly well in this thing and is super comfy.
Here's my negatives:
1. The gun seems REALLY harsh with defensive ammo. Unpleasantly so.
2. I can't seem to get along with the beavertail safety. The gun just...doesn't want to sit well in my hand. I am absolutely not used to having moving pieces on the rear of the gun in the beavertail area. I taped the grip safety down with hockey tape and the gun feels far more solid in my hand. Yes, I know, this is controversial and i'm not entirely happy with it either.
3. I don't understand why no one but Cheely can make a smooth transition from the beavertail, to safety to grip tang area. There are way too many angles and other assorted crap on the rear of these Staccatos that grind into your hand during extended firing sessions.
I'm having a bit of buyers remorse. This was a very expensive carry gun. I'm not sure there is any real performance benefit to this thing.
The reasons why I bought it are as follows:
1. Lust.
2. It's an excellent Appendix carry gun due to the thumb safety.
3. It's overall size and ammo capacity make it even more attractive.
4. I test fired an acquaintances gun with 115 grain ball and I was impressed. I should have known better.
Ken
BBI: ...”you better not forget the safe word because shit's about to get weird”...
revchuck38: ...”mo' ammo is mo' betta' unless you're swimming or on fire.”
Imo having shot a lot of stacattos owned by friends
They are great shooting guns but for defensive carry purposes they offer very little a g19 or p365 doesn't.
Have also see the thumb safety get flipped of a few guns when by buddies are carrying aiwb
The xc is a fun gun to shoot for super fast times but imo that doesn't matter for defensive shooting either.