Gun Review: S&W CSX E-Series 9mm Micro-Compact [VIDEO]

Micro-compact pistols for concealed carry remain a best-selling category across the entire firearm market with hundreds of models to choose from…if you like strikers. Should you want an external hammer, you can count your options on your fingers. Looking for one that dips a toe into the same pond as the new wave of slim, light, double-stack jobs? You’re looking at it; the Smith & Wesson CSX E-Series.

Seen here is the CSX E-Series with 3.6-inch barrel and slide length to match. It’s also available with a 3.1-inch barrel, which unsurprisingly shortens the gun by exactly half an inch. Grip height, however, is what causes printing (visible sign of the gun hiding under your clothing), and both models are a squat 4.6 inches tall.

That’s a hammer! The CSX E-Series is single action only and is designed to be carried cocked-and-locked (there is no decocker).

Both the thumb safety and the slide stop are ambidextrous, mirrored in the true meaning of the word on both sides of the pistol. The safety is quite far back toward the web of the shooting hand as compared to where it typically is on a full-size pistol, but I found it easy and natural to sweep it off. At each end of the safety’s travel there’s a nice, sharp detent so it snicks right into place and stays there until you say otherwise.

Now that’s a kit! Before I dive into everything that’s included with the CSX E-Series (as long as you aren’t stuck in a 10-round mag ban state), let me just stick on the ambidextrous theme for a moment and point out that dumbbell shaped thing seen just above the magazine at bottom, left. That’s an included, right-side magazine release button. While the installed mag release isn’t ambidextrous, for lefties who prefer the button on the right side of their pistol they can swap the buttons out fairly easily.

If your governor allows you to buy the free state version of the CSX E-Series, it’ll come with a 12-, 15-, and 17-round magazine. That’s pretty cool.

It then also comes with grip extension options — spacers that slide down onto the magazine baseplate from the top — to seamlessly extend the grip along the length of the various magazines. One of these grip extensions is molded as a single piece with one of the replacement backstraps, which is something I don’t believe I’ve seen before. That makes it particularly seamless, but the use of that backstrap also means only the 15- and 17-round magazines will fit in the grip. There’s even an included extension that you’d now use on the 17-round magazine to extend the grip for it when used in conjunction with the built-in backstrap extension.

On the range, Dan and I came to the conclusion that the purpose of building the extension into the grip rather than doing it spacer-style on the magazine may be to facilitate faster, more reliable magazine changes. With no mag in the CSX E-Series, the shooter’s pinky will hang underneath the grip. Best case during a magazine change is that means you’re only gripping the pistol with two fingers, worst case is that means you ram your pinky into the grip along with the fresh magazine. Putting the grip extension on the gun rather than the magazine gives your pinky a home.

Two “normal” backstraps — large (installed) and small — are included with the CSX E-Series, as is a simple tool for swapping them out. While it’s a long process on some pistols, with the little Smith here you simply insert the tool into a hole on the heel of the gun and push, which unlocks the grip panel for removal. The new one clicks into place.

As you may have noticed, the CSX E-Series is optics-ready. A drift adjustable rear sight is held in place in part by the blanking plate, which maintains the clean lines of the gun should you run it old school style with iron sights. Remove the plate and the rear sight for an RMS footprint mounting area.

Up front is a white dot sight. Both sights and some of the top of the slide are serrated for glare reduction.

While the grip panels are polymer, the CSX E-Series’ frame is machined aluminum. In many ways the gun is a classic-meets-modern situation, really.

Likewise with the trigger. Although it’s a hammer-fired pistol with a manual thumb safety, the trigger still has a safety “dingus” lever on its face. In this case I very much like how the lever is wide and becomes one with the face of the trigger once it’s depressed. This means when you’re shooting you don’t even know it’s there, which is most assuredly not the case with all of the safety lever-equipped triggers.

Now, one thing you’d not only hope for but assume you’re going to get with a single action, hammer fired pistol — especially one like the E-Series that specifically touts an “enhanced trigger” on its short list of top features — would be a great trigger. The CSX E-Series does not have a great trigger. It barely has a good trigger. Perhaps by “enhanced” they meant aesthetics, as it is kinda cool looking.

To be fair, though, after some dry firing and some shooting the CSX E’s trigger actually smoothed out noticeably. On the range, the gritty, haulting takeup, which was the trigger’s real “ick factor,” was basically a non-issue after the first shot as the break is fairly crisp and clean and it was easy to ride the trigger’s pronounced reset in order to avoid repeating that takeup on subsequent shots. And, again, the takeup is smoothing out, so this bad boy may just benefit from a bit more of a break-in than I’ve given it.

On the range Dan and I both found the CSX E-Series to be a fast and very competent shooter. Its aluminum frame provides a different recoil impulse in the hand than a polymer frame does, and the little gun shoots softly and confidently, in part because of that. S&W’s sand-like texture on the grip panels is great, too, and the way the trigger slides rearwards is more 1911-style rather than pivoting/rocking. That contributes to a gun that shoots a lot better than you’d expect from a micro compact.

A nice beavertail at rear facilitates a high grip. In fact, it’s what I’d call perfect since the bottom of the slide leaves me with a light grease mark on the web of my hand but zero slide bite. That’s as high as a grip gets! Another factor that helps make a tiny, fairly light pistol shoot more like a larger gun.

Whether or not you’re in what I can only assume is the small cadre of concealed carriers who, in 2025, still demand an external hammer on their concealed carry gun, you’ll want to give the CSX E-Series a test drive. It’s a great little shooter and it sure comes with a lot of kit between the three magazines, grip extensions, grip panels, ambi controls, and more.

Specifications: Smith & Wesson CSX E-Series

Caliber: 9mm
Capacity: 12, 15, 17
Action: Single action hammer fired
Width: 1.12 in
Barrel Length: 3.6 in (also available with 3.1 in barrel)
Overall Length: 6.6 in (or 6.1 in on 3.1 in barrel model)
Height: 4.6 in
Weight: 23.5 oz (19.7 oz for 3.1 in barrel model)
Build: Aluminum frame with polymer grip inserts, steel slide and barrel
MSRP: $699 ($599 at Brownells)