I think Glock will be the last manufacturer to do something like this.

Colt has used various manufacturer's rails and stocks for a long time and today's Colt is playing by different rules (for example, they lifted their extra "authorized dealer" requirements after being acquired).

Is it inevitable at least to some degree? Possibly.

Lipseys?

Lipseys for the Glocks? Seems doubtful, since they don't appear to offer or have a relationship with Shield Arms products. Besides I thought Glock does agency contracts directly, not using distributors like they do with civilian dealers. I would think that it would be simple enough for agency armorers to swap in the Shield Arms parts themselves, or even send guns to Shield Arms and have them do the mods. Glock may not like either practice but if they want to keep selling and supplying the base guns...

You're correct that Lipseys is not a Shield Arms vendor, but nothing would stop them from becoming one.

I'm not sure how very large agency contracts work with Glock. I assume direct and/or there is a person or team that manages relations with organizations like the FBI, DEA, etc. If you are a small or medium sized agency, you are dealing with a distributor.

The other wrinkle is that the 43X is going to be, for most personnel, an alternate gun for specific types of work. I think that the status quo of issuing a full-size or compact pistol would be maintained, so you're unlikely to see a big contract for "up to X guns." I could certainly be wrong about that.

I got home late from an extended trip, and found a package from Shield, waiting. New nickle mag, extra spring, current mag releases. I installed both current mag releases today (I thought I'd put steel in both, but last time I was home, checked: aluminum).

The two mag releases extend just slightly farther than the older ones, but are still low profile. The checkering on the thumb pas matches the pistol texture in size and number now, where the previous one didn't. Or, at least, the new one is closer, and looks more like it belongs on the pistol.

Both mag releases function fine.

The new magazine had to be hammered home to seat. The G43X and G48 both have the Shield metal mag well lip on them, which I do like, and all the other Shield mags that I have seat just fine, no effort, click into place, drop free, and fight snugly against the bottom of the mag well lip. Not so with the new nickle mag.

The new mag must be hammered home to seat, otherwise it appears to seat, but won't feed and drops free. It's got to be slapped into place to lock. I noticed some sprue left over on the base plate, and polished that off with some 1200 grit paper on a flat plate. Slightly better, but not enough. It took several tries on 150 grit, then finishing off with progressive to 1200, to get the mag to seat properly.

I removed the base plate, turned the upside-down and polished that, where the edge seats against the mag well lip.

This isn't a consequence of the mag well lip; it functions fine with all the other Shield mags, and they function just fine, original and newer. This nickel one was the first of the nickle finish I've purchased, and the latest generation. I'm a little annoyed that a 45 dollar magazine needs any maintenance to function, but it clearly wasn't going to work without it.

I also ordered a 10-coil (formerly "extra power) magazine spring, as all the original magazines came with a smaller spring that caused feed issue for some. I'd replaced all of those right off the bat with Shield's "extra power" spring, something that Shield should have done from the inception because the fault was theirs. In the case of this latest mag, I pulled the spring and compared it to the 10-coil that I just ordered; identical, same coils. Just making sure. The newer mags, as advertised, come with the spring that all the mags should have come with in the first place.

One of the two mag catches does scratch against the upper mag body as it's been seated. Not deeply, and it might just need to be dressed very lightly with a file, but I'm not worried about it at present.

I'll order more mags shortly, but probably not the nickle. I need sunglasses just to look at it.

Lets hope the new PSA 15 round mag is reliable. It doesn't require a special magazine catch and works with the stock polymer mag catch.

Palmetto State Armory is offering a 15 round magazine for the G43X/G48?

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
Palmetto State Armory is offering a 15 round magazine for the G43X/G48?

Yes. They introduced a micro dagger pistol at Shot Show which is a G43X clone. It is compatible with G43X magazines. The magazine they designed is metal like the Shield Arms but has polymer in the mag catch area. That’s what I have been able to find so far.

Pistol is a 3rd quarter release and priced at $299, so magazines should be affordable.

If the PSA mag works, they will put Shield Arms out of business.

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
Palmetto State Armory is offering a 15 round magazine for the G43X/G48?

Yes. They introduced a micro dagger pistol at Shot Show which is a G43X clone. It is compatible with G43X magazines. The magazine they designed is metal like the Shield Arms but has polymer in the mag catch area. That’s what I have been able to find so far.

Pistol is a 3rd quarter release and priced at $299, so magazines should be affordable.

If the PSA mag works, they will put Shield Arms out of business.

I’m actually going to get one to test, hopefully, in April before they are available to buy.

I’ll report back here too

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:

If the PSA mag works, they will put Shield Arms out of business.

I seriously doubt that. The S15 magazine is not Shield Arms only product

quote:

Originally posted by bubbatime:

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
Palmetto State Armory is offering a 15 round magazine for the G43X/G48?

Yes. They introduced a micro dagger pistol at Shot Show which is a G43X clone. It is compatible with G43X magazines. The magazine they designed is metal like the Shield Arms but has polymer in the mag catch area. That’s what I have been able to find so far.

Pistol is a 3rd quarter release and priced at $299, so magazines should be affordable.

If the PSA mag works, they will put Shield Arms out of business.

Very interesting. Thanks for the info.
On the other hand, the last thing I need is more aftermarket magazines to test with ammo that still costs too much.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
To me, having the feds sign off on them isn’t a big deal as far as “look at the cool guy toys”. It’s more these days from the perspectives of that now I know that federal agencies are no different than local agencies and it’s more of “hey we put a lot of your tax dollars into testing these things and they are idiot proof”

At least our tax dollars did something useful for a change.

An update on that S15 "Gen 2" silver electroless nickel magazine...after multiple passes on the flat plate, it still drops out of the weapon when cycled or dry fired, and there are two distinct clicks when locking in. The holes for the mag release are smaller than the first generation. The magazine, when inserted into a pistol, can be locked by slapping it home, when empty, but has to be really slammed home with rounds in the magazine.

At ten rounds in the magazine, inserting into the pistol and locking the mag in place with the release, the rounds rattle. This occurs with 10 or more rounds, never with less. When the mag is relesed, I can hear the rounds rattle in the mag just by shaking the mag. Load below 10 rounds, no rattle. Put ten rounds, no rattle, insert into the pistol, rattle...which remains after the magazine is removed.

It's not uncommon in a magazine for rounds to not stay perfectly aligned, when farther down in the magazine, and feed reliability doesn't become an issue until a given round reaches the feed lip, but the impression I have presently is that the follower is hanging up or tilting somehow, allowing this rattle (loose rounds) to occur. I think there should be adequate spring tension to prevent that. However, I will get the pistol to the range and see what the new mag does.

Correspondence with Shield arms first asked about my magazine well (mag well lip, actually, as the mag well is the big hole in the pistol grip, and goes all the way up...I'll call the metal lip attachment the mag well for ease of reference). Shield said that might be the problem. Remove the mag well, see how the new magazine locks in and functions. I did.

First, once the mag well is removed, especially the grip plug portion, it doesn't stay secure again; it has play. Bad.

Second, removing the mag well in both handguns (G48, G43X), I was able to lock in the first generation magazines and the new "Gen 2" without a problem. Shield suggests the mag well is the problem. (this is a trend...I seem to be bearing the cost of their research and devleopment, as I keep having to buy things to fix their products, over and over). So, they sold me a 75 dollar mag well for each pistol...knowing it's defective? Two defective mag wells producing the same identical problem? Amzaing coincidence. I don't believe in coincidences.

The problem occurs not with the first gneration mags. Those seat and feed fine, lock in fine. and work just fine. The "Gen 2" does not. Occam's razor: most likely the new magazine. The new magazine also requires very little pressure or movement on the magazine release to drop the magazine; the first generation magazines require more. Inspection reveals more engagement area and larger hole in the first gen mag.

Shield tells me that I can have them send first generation baseplates to replace the thicker one on the "Gen 2" magazine, or I can remove the mag wells and send them back for a refund (or replacement).

My problem: I bought first gen mags. Shield sold "extra power" springs for them...we had to order the springs that should have been in the magazines in the first place, to fix Shield's failure. So, I got ten or so mags, a bunch of springs, and installed the springs. Then Shield said we needed a metal mag release. No problem. Then shield said no, the one you bought wasnt' good, now purchase the steel one to replace the other one you bought. Ok. But wait, now we have "Gen 2" mags, shiny and bright, buy that. Except it doesn't lock into place. We can send you the first gen base plates to fix our second gen mags, and the mag wells you bought...maybe that needs a fix too....removal, or replacement. Everything I buy from them seems to need fixing, at my expense. I detect a trend.

quote:

Originally posted by sjames:
Really surprised to hear federal LE using these mags. I’ve had issues off and on, tried all kinds of stuff to have confidence in them, burned a bunch of ammo and time but have been wary the entire time.

I thought it was the mag catch interfering with the round stack as it rose up in the magazine body which would explain why Shield’s solution of new springs would work for a bit.

I couldn’t figure out why the issues were intermittent but this guy did:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6HuEk7SG1A4


Basically, the S15 positions the round in such a way that it doesn’t clear the slide unless the magazine rotates forward. This explains why the polymer mag shouldn’t be used. The mag see saws on the catch.

If your mags run in your gun, see if you have the same interference between slide and round as shown in this video. I did.

Bottom line: I’m out of the S15 game.

That was a good video. Curious to know if he had released the slide using the overhand method pulling the slide fully reward and letting it go if he would’ve gotten the same result.

Seems like the mag design is slightly out of spec at least with some specimens of 43X. I stuck with my G26.5 tried and true so I don’t have any skin in the game so to speak but it’s always good to see a worthwhile product come out such as these magazines if in fact they are ever perfected for use across the board with all individual G43X with reliability on par with OEM Glock magazines.

I think another variable that I don’t often hear mentioned is the tighter window of reliability in the G43, G43X, G48 especially as round counts increase and springs wear. Add to that self defense ammo. Add to that aftermarket magazines and in the case of the newer models lights and RDO.

I’d be very cautious to depend on one of these setups for defense until I’d run a couple thousand rounds of my preferred self defense ammo through a 43X with aftermarket magazines (or OEM) and any lights or RDO.

AIM has them on sale this weekend for $31.95, in case anyone looking.

If only finding a 43xMOS was as easy.

quote:

Originally posted by Voshterkoff:
If only finding a 43xMOS was as easy.

Prices are coming down. Saw a 48MOS for $488 this morning.

I’m after another 43x MOS too…when prices return to normal.