SCCY Best Semi-auto pistol under $300

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SCCY CPX-4 Is the Perfect Lady Defense Firearm Made In the USA

Questions are one of the things which come with writing about firearms knives and such. When asked, “What is the right firearm for me to buy?” I normally ask them a question right back. “What are you going to use this firearm for?” I tell them a firearm is a tool which can be used as a weapon. Just like screwdrivers and hammers are tools but are used as weapons. Once I establish they are wanting a firearm to protect themselves, I ask, “In what type of environment do you believe you will possibly need a firearm?” I then ask if they want to protect their home, RV or themselves while out in public?

Taking in consideration the experience of the interested party, their body strength, physique and projected desire, I will make a recommendation. If this person has little or no experience with firearms, I strongly suggest they take a series of training courses with the firearm they do choose. If I am told they likely will not commit to monthly or at lease bi-yearly shooting of this firearm then the recommendation will shift to a much simpler firearm which anything with apposing thumbs could at least fire.

Ladies, not all, tell me they normally have problems loading a semi-auto pistol. They find the slide is too hard to charge the firearms with a live round. I then say how about a revolver? They say I want more “bullets” than five or six. I then say, well we are back to a semi-auto pistol. Having these questions asked of me several times a week, I went searching for a semi-auto in something bigger than a .32 acp.

SCCY Firearms have been around since 2003 when they introduced the CPX series of 9mm firearms. I had shot the SCCY CPX-1 9mm and found them to be reliable. Being light weight, small and very concealable I liked them for CCW. Light weight would make for some recoil which causes some shooters issues. On a hunch, I contacted the nice people at SCCY for a sample of their CPX-4 in .380 acp. At that time, they had a few left in pink. I felt pink would go well with my concept of a lady shooter. If you ladies want a pink SCCY of any caliber, you are out of luck. SCCY does not sell CPX-4 with a pink module. There are two colors, at this writing, on their website, green and purple for the CPX-1, CPX-2 and CPX-3 models. However, ladies, they do have some very cool limited custom slides for the CPX-4. Check on the link below.

Once I received the SCCY CPX-4 I planned to take Kari and Rob to the range to test and evaluate this .380 acp. As life goes, Covid-19 became a big problem. Either one or the other was exposed and went into a 10-day self-quarantine. Then the worst and coldest February in Oklahoma since 1899 shut us down. Finely, we scheduled a time to go shoot the SCCY CPX-4 in a huge pasture where no one was underfoot. Yes, it rained and we fought the mud, but we arrived at the impromptu range. The OKC Gun Club is way too busy on Saturdays, even though ammo is worth its weight in gold.

Test and Evaluation

At the impromptu range Kari, Rob and I used a huge brush pile for a backstop. The nearest house was two miles away. I set up the target frame and placed a person size silhouette thereon. I looked over the SCCY CPX-4, feeling it in my hand then switching it to my other hand. This semi-auto double stacked double action only pistol felt very comfortable in my medium sized hands. The quality and workmanship are excellent. For me the slide was easy to pull back to load a round. All SCCY pistols are very easy to field strip for cleaning and lubrication as was this one. We then loaded up the two mags with Winchester .380 acp 95gr. full-metal jacketed flat-point ammo. I had Winchester and Browning ammo, but they are both made by Winchester.

Straight out of the box I test fired ten rounds from the SCCY which comes with two 10 round magazines. The rounds went where I shot. So, this is good. I then turned over the SCCY CPX-4 to Kari. She loaded a fresh magazine struggling with loading of the live rounds. New magazines are tight. Kari shot all ten rounds at about 12 feet. In getting use to this pistol the first five round were low and one way down in the right leg close to…you know a very critical spot for a man to be shot. Rob did notice this. On the second and third magazine Kari tightened up her shots to the eight and nine rings near the nine-o’clock level. The SCCY is a double action only semi-auto pistol so when an inexperienced shooter pulls through the double action shot, it is harder to keep the rounds going where one would want until you get use to the action. I could see Kari was getting use to the action as she was improving every magazine full.

Kari was very impressed with the SCCY CPX-4 in .380 acp. She liked the fact this model has a thumb safety. She liked the double stack magazines which will give her 10+1 in the pistol. The extra magazine was very welcomed too. She expressed she liked the handling and feel of this pistol. She was very comfortable and pleased with the reliability as we experience only one misfeed near the beginning of the testing. As she continued to fire this pistol, I noticed she had less and less trouble with loading the magazines. Loading the magazine to ten rounds was not too hard but the tenth round was tight. This last round loaded struggle will ease after multiple loadings. In the video Kari misunderstood my question and expressed struggling with loading the magazine and not loading a live round into the chamber. She had no problem chambering a live round.

Conclusion

Gun fights, statistically take place within ten feet, most at four feet or less. For pointing and shooting the SCCY CPX-4 is perfect. The SCCY CPX-4 is not a target pistol nor a plinker. One could use this pistol as a zombie can killer for fun. It is not a combat pistol as in my mind, a pistol built for combat would be of at least 9mm velocity and better if it was of a .357 SIG, 40 caliber, 10mm, or .45 acp caliber. The .380 acp is a decent size round but a little light for my liking. But it serves those who don’t want the recoil of the 9mm and up. The Winchester/Browning ammo functioned well with one failure to feed, a fault of the pistol magazine and not the ammo. After the one failure to feed, we never experience any further problems throughout the afternoon. Meaning the two magazines are good to go.

The SCCY was built to meet the needs of a citizen who wants to protect themselves and their families but not break the bank in doing so. For this reason, I believe due to the high quality, dependability and price point of right at or less than $300 at an honest gun shop, the SCCY CPX-4 is the best semi-auto .380 acp pistol on planet earth.