I've sold my two Shadow Systems CR920s (wonderful guns and never had any kind of FTF) because I've got my G43X set up, in my mind, perfectly and the SS pistols were superfluous.

Night Fision sights with a bright yellow front, 15 round PSA mag that works perfectly (but the cautious person I am, I carry a Glock OEM 10 rounder as my spare) and a small, lightweight Glock Store mag well which really facilitates rapid mag changes for me.

Here's my question: Do any of you carry a 43X (or similar) with one of the heavier guide rods the Glock Store (maybe someone else, too) sells? They go from somewhere around $80-$140 and are much heavier than the plastic OEM rod, allegedly decreasing the muzzle flip and making follow up shots quicker.

The cost is not an issue and if I were to buy one, the pure tungsten rod for $140 would probably get the nod. But I am unsure whether the heavy guide rod is really something worth spending any amount of money on for the self defense pistol.

Thanks,

Bob

I tossed a tungsten guide rod in my 43X. Shield mags, shield magwell, $.50 trigger job, Holosun RDS.
Probably 300 rounds before the new guide rod, easy 1500 after.
I know that it’s not “needed”, and the OEM ones work. Depending on how “sensitive” you are, you do notice a difference. I do. However, one of my friends, who is a range instructor, shockingly doesn’t notice the difference.

I have a Glock Store heavy tungsten unit in mine.
I apologize upfront if I don’t clearly answer your question, but here we go.
One of my sons was at my house and buying some stuff from the Glock store, yelled over to me do I want anything? I said I’ve got a couple thousand rounds on that 43X grab me a recoil spring assembly so I have it. I’m a firm believer in replacing RSA units as wear items on guns. I shoot quite a bit so try to replace them as a maintenance item.

So he says no problem and puts his order in. The next time he stopped by my house he said dad here’s that part for your Glock. I opened it up and it was the heavy unit. I actually set aside the factory standard RSA with the intent of the next time I was at the range switching them back-and-forth and seeing if it really made a difference, but I forgot all about it and never did it.

OK, fast forward to last weekend. A friend of mine asked if he could try my 43X because he was thinking about buying one. We both shot a few hundred rounds each on falling plates and he really liked it. Now what I did to mine was put an Apex trigger shoe in because the stock trigger was beating the piss out of my trigger finger, and I stippled the front & back straps.
Honestly the combination of the stippling and new trigger shoe contributed to the gun becoming more comfortable, but who knows, maybe the heavy RSA helped also…I really don’t know.

With that said, I’m going to go down into my shop and get the stock assembly and set it aside and the next time I go to the range I’m going to concentrate on switching them out and doing a test and I’ll let you know.

Thanks, looking forward to hearing how it works out.

Mine except for the mag well and night sights is stock and I have found it shoots quite softly. I use, usually, 124 grain standard pressure and Federal 9BPs which I've used for many years. No + pressure rounds so far and likely never.

Bob

Bob,

Hate to be that guy, but what problem does spending a C note actually solve? I’ve got a lot of time on the 43x and 48 and neither have recoil that need tamed by all the extra gadgetry.

I get that people accessorized guns as a hobby. And if that’s what you’re going for, cool go for it. But, from a practical shooting perspective a heavy guide rod is A) pretty useless on follow up shots, and B) doesn’t make sense taking a gun that’s slim and light weight and making it as heavy as a Glock 19.

I have been thinking all the things you just posted. Weight is the, for me, worst thing about concealed carry IWB or AIWB. The extra weight of the guide rod has been one of the things stopping me from spending my $. My gun, with the ammo I use is pretty soft. I have an extra five rounds of weight in my gun with the PSA mag-not a big deal, but it's there. Adding a few more ounces for little to no return seems like something I don't want to do.

I'm pretty close to scrapping the idea of a new guide rod and continuing to do as I have been doing. I was probably 75/25 in favor of scrapping the idea before I posted, but thought I'd ask here before making a final decision.

And I do appreciate all of you that took the time to assist me.

Bob

I have weighted guide rods in a couple guns, although not a 43X or 48. My experience is that they do tame down the feel of the gun, but it is not reflected in any quantifiable metric. In other words, I can't shoot them any faster or better, but I like the way they feel a little better. In the case of the polymer framed PDP, this included shooting two guns literally back to back.

For a smaller carry gun that is likely not really going to be shot a ton, it's hard to see it as worth it. On a gun that gets wrung out periodically, maybe, but it's unlikely something you're going to able to measure.

quote:

Originally posted by straightshooter1:
Do any of you carry a 43X (or similar) with one of the heavier guide rods the Glock Store (maybe someone else, too) sells? They go from somewhere around $80-$140 and are much heavier than the plastic OEM rod

Much heavier? Do these heavier guide rods you've been browsing publish their weights?

I have a tungsten weighted recoil spring assembly (RSA) for G43/43X. I got in a trade, b/c I would not have bought it otherwise. It weighs 32.50g vs 12.25g for OEM RSA. That's a difference of .714oz or comparable to the mass of four US nickels.

IME, I did not notice any appreciable benefit to the tungsten RSA. I do have a couple of DPM Recoil Reduction System RSAs and have had better luck w/ those. I would recommend the DPM over tungsten, and it costs the same or less than tungsten.