SCCY, pronounced “sky,” is an American pistol company based in Daytona Beach, Florida, that manufactures 9mm and .380 Auto pistols with price tags that are sure to grab a customer’s attention. What’s better for the retailer is that once a SCCY has a customer’s attention, he or she will find a very well-made gun that offers you high margins, great customer service and a no-questions-asked warranty that stays with the pistol.

Joe Roebuck, a tool-and-die maker and mechanical design engineer started SCCY in 2003. He wasn’t a “gun guy” at the time, but the growing concealed carry market caught his attention, and he set out to apply his skills and produce cost-effective firearms as good as or even better than brand name products, all without a high cost to the retail buyer.

As surprising as it may sound, I think not being a gun guy was an important factor in freeing Roebuck to come up with a well-made and affordable pistol. Without the burden of nostalgia and legacy designs, he was better able to come up with new ideas that focused on being more cost effective using modern manufacturing technology and materials.

“The quality actually holds true,” said Kaityln Hemphill, the marketing manager for SCCY, adding that while these guns may be inexpensive, they’re not cheap. “[Roebuck] understands machining and what goes on behind the scenes to make a quality product. Our quality control is great on top of that and, without his unique background and knowledge, the SCCY brand would either be twice the price or half the quality.”

Cost saving features include CNC machining a heat-treated, aircraft-grade aluminum alloy receiver from bar stock that is then mounted in a molded Zytel polymer grip frame instead of machining the entire grip frame and receiver as one unit. Quality features that translate into longevity include a coil mainspring that is stretched instead of compressed to power the double-action-only concealed hammer, a double-nested recoil spring on a metal guide rod and a pivoting hook extractor. These are the kinds of design elements that generally don’t break or wear out easily. “[Dealers] don’t have to deal with returns similar to other big names,” Hemphill said.

Tactical Retailer recently received one of SCCY’s CPX-2 pistols to review. This is a “slick-slide” 9mm that comes with two 10-round magazines, spare magazine floorplates so that customers can choose between flat or extended, a clamshell-type trigger lock with two keys and a no-questions-asked warranty that stays with the gun no matter how many times its ownership changes hands. It’s a locked breech design with the barrel tilting on the takedown pin to lock and unlock the breech.

Slides are stainless steel with either non-reflective natural finish or scratch-resistant black nitride finish, and grips frames are available in nine different colors. “The colors sell,” Hemphill said. “At first, [dealers] just want the black and then they realize that if they get something else, they really do come off the shelf. They don’t have problems moving these products.” Suggested retail is $314.

SCCY also offers a similar CPX-1 9mm that differs in that it has a manual thumb safety and, at the time of this writing, had just introduced a CPX-3 chambered in .380 Auto.

Various experienced shooters who handled the CPX-2 liked the way it felt in the hand, though there were definite preferences for either the extended or flat floorplates depending on who was handling the gun. The preference was enough that it might be a good idea when stocking a SCCY to equip one of the magazines with the flat floorplate and the other with the extended one so customers can instantly try both.

Size-wise, this is no “pocket pistol,” but it’s no full size gun, either. At 5.7 inches long, it’s a compact carry size with sufficient number of rounds in a potent enough chambering to matter. According to SCCY, the CPX-2 fit holsters designed for the Glock 23, which adds an accessory selling opportunity.

Trigger pull is butter smooth and consistent, and at 9.5 pounds pull, it’s not overly heavy for a defensive pistol. Operationally, it’s a lot like a double-action-only revolver trigger in that there is no re-set; the trigger has to go fully forward to fire consecutive shots.

To evaluate reliability, we began by detail cleaning and lubricating the CPX-2, and then function fired it with 300 rounds of Aguila 124-grain full-metal-jacketed ammunition followed by 100 rounds of handloaded 124-grain cast bullet loads. This is a snappy little pistol, but not unmanageable. Ergonomic finger grooves in the front strap help shooters control the pistol and keep it from shifting in the hand under recoil. There’s what SCCY calls an “integral RE-COIL CUSHION” on the back‐strap, but truthfully, I think it’s more cosmetic than functional. There may be some shock dampening effect, but it is not compressible.

We also fired representative samples of different personal defense loads including Hornady 115-grain Critical Defense and Polycase Inceptor Preferred Defense that uses the innovative 65-grain ARX bullet. There were no malfunctions with any ammunition types, and we were pleased the see the Polycase load make fist-size, 10-shot groups at 10 yards when shot offhand. Elevation was perfect, though we had to adjust the steel rear sight slightly to the right to center our groups.

“From the standpoint of a knowledgeable consumer, the SCCY pistol is perceived as having the most bang for your buck,” says Hemphill of potential customers, though she did concede that those less knowledgeable could perceive SCCY as cheap based on the price point.

To help educate dealers and their staff, and in turn, customers for more sales, SCCY offers a “SCCY Day” program to dealers who have on-site ranges. As part of that program, SCCY representatives come to your store, let you test the guns and explain the benefits of SCCY pistols — all information you can pass on to customers. According to Hemphill, dealer outreach is very important because lack of brand knowledge is the only limiting factor.

Distribution is two-step, with SCCY currently reaching all legal customers across the U.S. through popular distributors. The company also has some international customers. According to Hemphill, dealer incentives at the moment are the profit margins. “We have better profit margins than other pistols and the customer service is well received,” she says.

For the future, SCCY plans to expand its current market with more caliber and action types. “We’ve got big plans,” says Hemphill. As for now, when it comes to making sales, offering dealers high margins and generally exceeding expectations, the American pistol company SCCY checks all the boxes.

For more information, go to www.sccy.com. Featured photo: SCCY uses modern manufacturing methods and materials to create well-made pistols with high margins for dealers.