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Some reason I have always wanted the CS45 a nice little 45. I have a chance to buy one in great condition but I own a G36. I wonder if the CS45 will be just a safe queen though.

Money is tight but not so much so that I couldn't buy it since they are not around that often. So, I figured I'd get some opinions on this possible purchase??
 

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I say get it if you want it. I never shot one but they look like nice little guns. I have 4 compact 45 ACPs myself, not counting my Bond Arms Texas Defender derringer. Having several ACPs is a good idea IMO.
 

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Depends on what you mean by money being tight. I would rather have $500 in my savings for an emergency than an extra gun.
 

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I agree totally with having some savings for emergencies. Since I did/do when my local range shop had a CS45 at a good price I jumped at it. I don't have a G36 to compare it to, but it does compare favorably to the G30 to me.
 

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If you can afford it, buy it now. They are not being made anymore and it is a dependable and small .45acp pistol. I never hear anything bad about the "CS" series of Smiths and my CS9 is totally reliable.
 

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I agree that if money is tight for the family, an other gun is one of the last things that ought to drain money from the budget.

I own a CS45, one of the early production stainless models (they introduced the line with carbon steel slide models). Nice enough diminutive .45 pistol. It has a 3.25" barrel, versus the 4513TSW's 3.75" barrel & the G36's 3.78" barrel.

Capacity is the same, with the CS45 having a 6-rd magazine.

Speaking of magazines, though, you'll be limited to using the 6-rd magazine made specifically for the CS45, as the 6, 7 & 8-rd mags made for the other 3rd gen .45's lack the secondary set of dimples near the impressed P-lips which are used in the CS45 mags. These extra dimples are used to help prevent displacement of the top round under the greater recoil experienced in the CS45. They also make loading a bit tougher, offering more resistance to loading the rounds into the mag (as well as when manually unloading mags).

The older CS45's had plastic sights and a single side manual safety/decocking assembly. The later production models had steel low-mount Novak sights and an ambi assembly.

I'd offer the observation that using the CS45 requires pretty much the same attention to proper grip technique and grip stability (locked wrist/firm grip) as when shooting the G36, for most folks. I've seen instances where someone could induce a feeding stoppage by allowing their wrist to "break" or their grip to relax at the wrong moment. Then again, the smaller you go in .45 pistols in general, the less forgiving they are of shooter influences. ;)

I've often thought about picking up a G36 for my collection, but already having a 4513, CS45 & Colt OM, which are similar in overall size, as well as magazine capacity, has made the G36 seem a bit unnecessary. I have a 6-shot Colt Officers Model, too.

I've found the CS45's (and my CS9) to offer a surprising level of practical and inherent accuracy with a variety of factory ammunition.

The CS series of guns, like the TSW's, have been discontinued for commercial sales for a while. I heard they were still making an occasional run of them for LE agency orders (with a run of CS45's being mentioned in this regard a while back, before they moved the 3rd gen production to the Houlton plant). The CS40 was discontinued several years ago when the S&W decided it wasn't a profitable model (I was told that they sold less than 100 units in what became the last year of its production).

The CS9 & CS45, though, were always mentioned as selling well, even though the company never really did much in the way of advertising after their introduction. Unfortunately, it's too expensive to make the metal-framed 3rd gen guns compared to plastic framed guns. Even CNC cutters require more time to make a frame than popping one out of a mold every 85 seconds. ;)
 

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Speaking of magazines, though, you'll be limited to using the 6-rd magazine made specifically for the CS45, as the 6, 7 & 8-rd mags made for the other 3rd gen .45's lack the secondary set of dimples near the impressed P-lips which are used in the CS45 mags. .... ;)
Well I'll be da.... If I pay attention I can learn something new every day. Not that I din't believe you but I had to go rummage around and look through the safe. Sure enough there is more dimple in/on the CS 45 magazine. I have been lucky (or maybe it was the relatively light target ammo) the few times I have used a full size magazine in the CS 45.
 

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Well I'll be da.... If I pay attention I can learn something new every day. Not that I din't believe you but I had to go rummage around and look through the safe. Sure enough there is more dimple in/on the CS 45 magazine. I have been lucky (or maybe it was the relatively light target ammo) the few times I have used a full size magazine in the CS 45.
Yeah, I was told they discovered the need for the second set of dimples just before the CS45 was released. They had a local shop stamp the second set in the magazines that had already been produced, by hand, and then revised the new production magazines to have them included when the bodies were being laser cut and stamped.

The increased slide velocity and recoil forces acting on the little gun were such that the second set were felt beneficial to help keep the top round from being displaced under the lips. (For much the same reason the newer P90 magazines incorporated that small set of indentations in the edge of the mag lips when they went from the 7-rd .45 mag to the 8-rd mag. I was told by someone at the Ruger plant that they bumped up the weight of the P90 recoil spring and added the resistance of the indentations in the mag lips to better address recoil force issues when a number of their customer base seemed set on using +P loads in their P90's.)

I tried using my 6-rd 4513TSW mags in my CS45 back when my CS45 was new, and I experienced some erratic feeding stoppages where the next round under the lips would jump up & forward, or even out of the ejection port with the empty case of the round that had just been fired. Discussing it with the factory folks, I decided it was probably best to restrict my use of magazines to those they made specifically for the CS45 from then on.

This is an image of a 6-rd 4513TSW mag (for the original TSW model, but aside from the mag body length it's made just like the 7 & 8-rd mags at the lips, and uses the same spring, follower & butt plate catches) and a CS45 mag. The CS45 mag is on the right.



FWIW, I'd tend to think that the use of +P loads in the CS45 would make the use of the model-specific mag even more important, too.

Although the recommendation for mag & recoil spring replacement in the CS series is the same as in the other 3rd gen guns (meaning every 5K rounds or every 5y ears of use - being left loaded), due to the increased slide velocity and recoil in the little CS guns, and the single, short flat-wound recoil springs used in them, I tend to be pretty conservative in the replacement of the recoil springs. I usually replace them either every 800-1200 rounds, or annually, if I'm doing a lot of shooting with one or the other of them. I started ordering my recoil springs 10-12 at a time several years ago. ;)

As much as I like my CS45, though, I like my CS9 better. The grip is just enough smaller that it fits my hand as if made for me, and the controllability is very surprising, even when using the various +P & +P+ loads I've been issued. The overall size is pretty nice, too.

This is the CS9 alongside the G26:



This is the CS9 & CS45 alongside each other (the CS9 is the slightly smaller gun):

 

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I am even more confused now. I have an eight round magazine (yellow follower) with what looks like the same dimple and one with no dimple (red follower.) The dimple on the CS 45 magazine has both a vertical and a horizontal component. (Hopefully it comes through in these photos)

View attachment 219600
Metal
 

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S&W engineers have experimented with different aspects of their magazine bodies, springs, followers & butt catch plates over the years.

Look at your earlier version full-size mag bodies and you'll see they lack the newer rectangular impressions (Called P-lips, for "pressed", maybe? Dunno. Never asked.), although one of them had a small dimple similar to what is used in the standard size .40 mag bodies nowadays.

Think of it as a progression of revisions and improvements over the years.

The newest .45 mag bodies in the larger guns (using the 6, 7 & 8-rd mags) seem to do just fine with the current large, rectangular-shaped pressed indentations on each side to help hold the top round in position.

Apparently, though, they finally decided the smaller and harder recoiling CS45 required something more, so they seemingly looked back at their experience and added a second set at the bottom rear (overlapping) corner of the larger standard pressed lips.

BTW, over the years I've also noticed that as the small raised spot on the top of the current black nylon followers became worn down & through, the last round could have more potential to move forward under recoil in my 4513TSW, which lacks the secondary dimples. Immediately replacing the worn followers with new ones resolved the occasional occurrence.

Now, granted, I probably do more shooting with my .45's than most other non-competitive owners, being an instructor (and also having access to a free ammunition inventory), so I probably go through more recoil springs, mag springs & followers than a lot of other regular owners.
 
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