(courtesy Kentucky Gun Company)

TTAG’s gun guy has reviewed both of these guns. Click here to read Nick’s 4.5-star review of the SIG SAUER MPX-9. Click here to read Nick’s 3-star review of the CZ Scorpion EVO 3. Or, how about the direct MPX vs. Scorpion comparo piece by Nick and Jeremy here? And now the question: if you had to choose one of these pistols for emergency home defense – both equipped with an ATF-approved SB Tactical brace – which gun would you grab? And if you were facing this same dilemma at the gun store ahead of that fateful encounter, and that “extra” $460 was something of a stretch, would you make it? [h/t mister3d]

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78 COMMENTS

  2. SIG, because SIG.

    It would join a 226, two 229s, a 239, a 232 and a 320 already in the safe.

    Actually, I want the MPX with the MP5-style sliding butt stock.

  3. In the book No Easy Day it seemed the Navy Seal author preferred an M-4 over a machine pistol for CQB. I always thought it was interesting one of the favorite weapons of Navy Seals in Vietnam for CQB was an Ithaca 37.

    • These semi-auto submachine gun variants can’t compete with a shotgun or intermediate-caliber carbine. The one thing these designs have going for them is automatic fire. These semi-auto pistol caliber carbines don’t have that and are worthless for defending life against men trying to kill you, sold to people who don’t understand the tremendous difference in effectiveness between a handgun cartridge and one designed for a long gun. Cheaper ammo and cheaper guns, sure. If you’re plinking or on the range, have at it. But I can’t take very seriously anyone who would recommend a gun the size of a long gun for self defense with the terminal effectiveness of a pistol. Get the memo: 5.56mm (or 5.45mm) recoil is manageable. There is no need to go with less, and you can get good SMG-sized 5.56mm guns how. An M4 is plenty compact for CQB, and an AR-15 about the same size works well. If you’re really concerned about size or you want to put on a sound suppressor and stay compact, good bullpups are on the market now. The Tavor, and perhaps in the not-too-distant future the X95 (the Micro Tavor, selected as the standard-issue weapon of the Israeli Defense Forces in 2009). You actually have the muzzle closer to your body with a bullpup than you do with a handgun, and you can aim and fire it one-handed due to the rear-heavy balance. With the X95 on the market, 22.8″ overall length with a 13″ 5.56mm barrel, why on earth would anyone want a submachine gun for practical purposes? Only if they don’t understand that well-designed rifle and shotgun rounds have a fairly good likelihood of immediately taking someone out of the fight, but even with the most state-of-the-art handgun ammunition you need to pray the aggressor loses the will to fight, because it is highly unlikely the he will immediately be physically unable to continue trying to kill you. Your best bet is that he turns tail and flees, or stops fighting for psychological reasons like fear. A determined attacker will almost certainly keep coming. LAPD officer Stacey Lim took a .357 Magnum through the heart. In her words, it hit her “just left center of my chest, it went through my chest and out my back, nicked my diaphragm, my liver, my intestine, shattered my spleen, put a hole in the base of my heart, and left a tennis-ball-sized hole in my back as it exited. It knocked me back into my car door.” Not only did she survive the encounter, she stayed conscious long enough to fight back and kill her attacker. She said that upon being shot, “I think I was just more mad than hurt at the time, I figured ‘I could feel it later.’ ” Get a gun that fire ammunition with stopping power. Especially in a semi-auto, not a full-auto SMG bullet hose, it may come down to just one or two rounds on target and you’ll want each shot to do serious damage in order to end the danger as quickly as possible.

      • These pistol caliber carbines are for guys who have been nursing MP5 fantasies since the 1980s. For most real-world scenarios where lives are on the line, they are far from the most practical choice. For home defense, get a relatively short shotgun or rifle and take some good training classes if you want to be able to fight effectively if the situation ever demands it.

      • Yeah, I agree. I’ll take my SR-556 with my Aimpoint over either. I’ve done plenty of real world building clearing with the M4/AR platform and I’ve never had an issue with maneuverability.

        I honestly would rather use my Glock 17 than either of those for HD

  4. The MPX! Because metal and because the Evo is harder to rack since its direct blow back.

    If I got one it’d be because I want my wife to be able to shoot it too and the Evo’s charging handle is too stiff for someone like her.

    • Has she tried? I think it’s pretty easy to rack. The bolt weighs like 1.4 lbs and there’s plenty of room for travel, so the spring isn’t as stiff as you might assume. It isn’t as stiff as a blowback pistol (e.g. high point or whatever)

        • The SIG is recoil operated. The EVO is blowback. The SIG may eventually be available in .40 S&W and .357 SIG.

        • Longer sight radius, familiarity of controls in the US market, caliber options, larger magazine capacity (at least for now), looks like the grip can be changed as well.

        • 30 round mags are available for the CZ. controls are a training thing, and the CZ has ambi everything just like the MPX. I’ll give you the slightly longer sight radius and the grip, but is that really worth $400 more?

        • Gotta say, I’d choose blowback in this sort of setup every single time. Ultimate reliability. With the mass of the Scorp’s bolt (like 1.4 lbs), there’s less gas and sound coming out of the ejection port than on any other blowback gun I’ve ever shot.

          …and it’s still shipping from the factory with 20-round magazines, but the 30-rounders have been available for a while. They’re $19.95 full MSRP in comparison to the MPX’s $65 mags.

          The intuitive controls are better than the controls on an AR, IMHO. Safety is in the same spot, but the mag release is awesome, the bolt release is awesome, and the non-reciprocating, forward charging handle (that can also be locked back and then dropped MP-5 style) is awesome.

          The grip is replaceable, although there are no aftermarket options for that yet. One cool feature is that it’s on a rail that allows it to slide forwards/rearwards for adjusting your reach distance to the trigger.

          I actually removed the [truly excellent] iron sights from the Scorp a couple months ago. They’re backup sights…the gun is meant for a red dot or a scope like any other rifle. The Scorp & the MPX are both really just “pistols” for legal reasons and neither is practical to shoot in that sort of configuration.

  7. Like the top commenter said, that’s an awfully big gun to shoot a comparatively small cartridge in semi-auto mode. Given the choice between the two, here in June 2015 I’d be happy ponying up the cash for the MPX over the CZ so that I could get factory 30-round mags. Unless there’s 30-rounders for the Evo that I’m not aware of?

  9. Scorpion due to the price. I actually want both to be honest, as SIG and CZs are my favorite pistols.The prices on the posters are MSRPS? I paid 800 OTB for the Scorpion with brace kit and brace. and the SIP MPX with the folding stock and brace was 1100

  11. I’d go with the sig just because it reminds me more of one of my AR variants. But I would wait for the next gen. Sig has a little bit of a reputation for having issues with first gen products.

    Not taking a swipe at sig, but some people have just had issues with their first gen weapons.

  12. Can you split the difference in the cash value, give me the cash so I can finish my Areo Precision build and then I submit an essay on it?

  13. If money, and CA, were not an issue I’d grab one of the Getz 10mm MP5 clones. Because MP5, and because 10mm.

  15. Defiantly would go with the CZ here. I always suggest going with calibers that start the number 4 when you’re dealing with a gun that might be used for self defense. But a firearm like this is really going to just be a range toy. So I’ll go with the CZ.

  17. I’d take the CZ.

    I own a Sig 716 rifle. I’m all too familiar with their proprietary parts, lack of aftermarket support, and less-than-accomodating customer service.

    I do love my 716, but what it is out of the box is all it can ever be.

    I, personally, will never, ever buy another Sig product ever again.

  18. I wouldn’t want to use either, but based on the dueling TTAG reviews, if I had to choose one it would be the SIG.

  19. I’ll take the CZ with a foolproof blowback and it’s monster ejector.

    I assume it didn’t take CZ an extra 2+ years to get theirs working like Sig had to.

  20. Give me a carbine stock and a 16″ barrel and I’ll take the Skorpion. If that’s no-go then I’ll just take my Uzi carbine.

  22. I’d take the CZ, but you can keep the silly arm brace thing. Gimme a stock for it, and I’d happily pay the $200 SBR tax.

  23. I’d have the EVO 3 just because of the HK charge handle slap though I think I would have to replace the selector switch so it doesn’t dig into my hand. But I really like the tech behind the MPX. The idea of a PCC in 357 SIG sounds really cool.

  24. Given my experiences with SIG as of late I would not buy any more, which pains me to say because I’ve always been a fan of their classic series pistols. I’ll take the CZ.

  25. Anyone that picked the skorpion is a homo. Seriously. I’m sorry, but its true. And if you, indeed, are a homo, no offense. You’re excluded Jeremy…unless you’re a homo. In which case, my point stands and rock on with your homo self.

    • I’d rather buy a gun that works, vrs one I have to beta test for a year before they admit there is flaws. The MPX is already going down that path. This, coming from a homo.

    • I’m not a homo. I’m a lizard, and I can turn the exact same shade of charcoal gray as the Skorpion. So you won’t even see it. 😀

  26. I wanted the Scorpion, until I saw Jeremy’s pic of it suppressed. It just doesn’t look right, to me anyway. So the MPX is my choice now.

  27. I have and enjoy the CZ Scorpion. If I want to shoot an AR I’ll shoot my regular AR that cost me half as much as the Sig would.

  28. With regard to typical 3 br home defense. What can either do that a Glock 17 and a 33 rd mag cant ? Stick with da 12 ga or AR/AK and sd hollowpoint ammo . Nice range toys ill admit.

  29. Neither!!! Those are really heavy pistols.
    300 AAC Blackout from a 9″ SBR with a Sig silencer.
    A pistol round is still just that.

    • Would you really get much more muzzle energy from a subsonic .300 BLK round than you’d get from a 9mm +P round? 9mm out of an eight-inch barrel like these two “pistols” is going to gain a fair bit of velocity with the right ammo.

        • Fair my butt. It is what it is. The subsonic have more energy and more devastating wound channels han 9mm or 45. That’s why so many people have harvested deer with subs.
          Barnes 110 gr tac-tx or the new 78 gr Lehigh defense round would be loaded in 40 round pmag.
          Absolutely devastating.
          That combination and minus silencer iton par with pricing with the Sig Sauer model.
          I ask you why would you want a pistol?

        • Unless you are reloading Outlaw State Bullets or some other exotic projectile, or head shooting everything, subs are like shooting a deer with a field tip arrow. Little hole in, little hole out. A 30cal hunting bullet is designed to expand at high velocity. A pistol round may not carry as much energy at 100yds, as a subsonic rifle round does, but either way, there is no devastating wound channel. And since I shoot around 50 deer a year(MLD program) with a suppressed .308 and subs(175gr SMK, head shots), I’d say I know what I’m talking about.

  30. CZ.

    In fact, I’m planning on it being the next gun I buy. They only downer is they aren’t yet releasing the folding stock for it…all they said was that it will be available in the “summer”…not very specific. 🙁

  31. Same answer as always: Since I’m apparently a gun grabber, I grab them all. None for you.

  32. Never really understood the appeal of pistols like this or AR/AK pistols, and then I had an epiphany. I live in Cook County which has an assault weapons ban. But with the passage of concealed carry in Illinois also came preemption of local ordinances on handguns. If it wasn’t for the ATF’s backflip on the SIG brace, these pistols would be my ticket to lawfully owning a carbine … of sorts.

  33. Already picked the CZ. It sits by my beadside wearing a Silencerco Octane, EOTech XPS2, TLR-1 HL and Magpul AFG. One of the best and most natural feeling guns in I have ever held.

    I wanted the MPX until I saw the charging handle location. Total deal breaker. If it weren’t for them putting that in the worst possible place I would have one.

  34. Well, either one costs far more than I’d realistically be willing to pay for them, but if money were no object and I had to choose from those two, I’d take the one with the 30 round magazine and 8″ barrel.

  36. KelTec sub 2000 – 33 rd Glockazines, 147gr Golden Sabers, less than half the price of the Skorpion, and for cool factor you can slap the charging handle like an MP5.

  37. I’m never going to be able to afford either one, so I’ll say neither. Both look fun to shoot though.

  38. The Getz MP10 is roller locked to control high power rounds with a gas system, like the MG42 did. A .400 corbon has 10mm power in a 45 package. It would make an excellent carbine round for flat shooting. A .357 sig would do the same in a 9mm frame. Heavy bolts are reliable, but the weight cycling compromises full auto fire. This is why the M16 and AK74control so well on full auto. Gas piston ARs have a piston cycling and applying torque to the weapon, a factor in control. A roller lock weapon with quick change barrels could be converted to and from an SBR quickly, but probably face legality issues. Roller lock induces no torque, like an HK PSG. A blowback system handles recoil, with some torque. The best answer is an SMG and a carbine chambered for .357 sig that take the same mags. A carbine and pistol chambered for the FN 5.7 would be great, too. How would we get the lethality of the 1:12 twist with the .556 caliber 55 grain round? Time for the firearms engineers and physicists to decide.

  39. CZ to give them a try, already own a sig AR and like to test out new manufacturers products.

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