While I have little skill and less talent and my opinion should absolutely be taken with a grain of salt I do like to try to give back to the forum when I can with whatever knowledge and experiences I can provide.

As always I like to preface things by saying I am NOT law enforcement, military, security, OGA secret squirrel type or any kind of door kicker, nor do I have any desire to visit violence on anybody and would be happy to live my entire life without doing so. I am a high drag, low speed regular dude who has simply been lucky enough to shoot a lot of different firearms in my life.

So with all that said on to the Glock 48 MOS. I had a free rental at my local range the other day so I figured what the hell and rented a G48 and here are my basic high level thoughts.

THE GUN - Glock 48 MOS with a Vortex Defender red dot on top. My thoughts are on a scale of 1-5 and of course are derived from a sample of ONE and just my personal opinions and observations.



VALUE-2
Honestly I don't feel like the slim Glocks are that great of a value. They are not cheap, yet only come with 2 magazines, have very little grip texture and come with all the other normal Glock cost cutting. I don't say this as a Glock hater in any way and I still feel "normal" Glocks provide a decent value in the market. I just feel the slim line guns are priced a little too high.

TRIGGER-2
Now keep in mind I am really a DA/SA guy and so NO striker trigger is BAD!!! to me. I am comparing the 48's trigger to others in its peer group. The trigger was fairly heavy in comparison to even other Glocks, fairly gritty and just didn't feel all that great. Full size Glocks have better triggers, most of the peers in this group seem to have better triggers. My HellCat Pro has a much better trigger, although with a longer reset. The 48 still has a good reset. None of this is to say the gun is hard to shoot, its not but trigger for trigger there are much better bang switches out there IMO.

ERGOS-3
Honestly the gun feels pretty good, especially for a Glock. The controls are familiar and easy to use and it has all the good and bad of a Glock in tidier package. The slim size really does make a Glock feel actually good though. The biggest let down here is just how smooth the grip is all around. Normally this isn't a huge deal for me but on a small thin gun more texture would be helpful and this Glock is SUPER SMOOTH all around. There needs to be more of a middle ground between ease of carry and ease of shooting. Other guns in this class do it better IMO.

RELIABILITY/DURABILITY-5
Its a Glock, It shot like a Glock and was 100% reliable in the 50 rounds I shot through it. It never felt like it was having a hard time cycling or having the slide slow down on anything etc. This was also a rental gun and fairly dirty. I cannot speak to the long term durability/reliability of the slimline guns but nothing jumped out at me as a negative here. The magazine, like most Glock mags seemed very good. I would assume these smaller Glocks would have a lower lifespan than their full sized brethren just due to slide velocity/battering/size but nothing felt fragile .

RECOIL-4
The 48 is a very pleasant gun to shoot. It handles recoil better than my HellCat Pro and really was very pleasurable to shoot. It's still a very thin single stack and its not going to shoot as soft as a Glock 19 but honestly its not that far off from a 19.

ACCURACY-5
Red dot aside the gun seemed like it was quite accurate, especially for its size and role. Now keep in mind I am NOT skilled or talented and this was the first box of ammo I have through a Glock 43x/48 but once I figured out my trigger finger placement it was fairly easy to put rounds right where you like. Now keep in mind I am again speaking of accuracy within its peer group not vs something like a CZ Shadow or Walther Match.

CARRYABILITY-4
I know, I know people complain about the HUGE Glock 19 sized grip on these guns. The reality is its a super thin and light gun that would absolutely disappear with even a modicum of care taken. Is it a P365? No, is it some gigantic PITA to carry ABSOLUTELY NOT. It would be a joy to carry while also being easy to shoot and draw.

EFFICIENCY-2
Wow Glock is usually the size to pew leader but here they have really dropped the ball so to speak. Now do I personally think 10+1 rounds of 9mm is some death sentence of a penalty box? HELL NO. This is very capable self defensive platform and carrying an extra mag would be trivial given how small and light they are. All that said in 2023.....it is what it is and it simply doesn't compete in this regard. I am fully aware of the Shield Arms and Dagger magazines but, for me personally, I would stick to stock 10 round mags. YMMV of course.

IRON SIGHTS-2
They are dovetail protectors nothing more nothing less. I actually don't hate the Glock style of sights with the "ball in basket" bright white outline but plastic sights are a travesty on a defensive gun.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS
-The Vortex red dot was fine. It did what it was supposed to do, came up on target easily and appeared to have been sighted in.

-One benefit of a pistol dot is its ability to give you very obvious feedback as to what you are doing with the trigger or hold so while I can generally take or leave dots it was nice to do a little dry fire to get a general feel for the gun and what I was doing before running some live rounds.

-Most Glocks I have to use more trigger finger. For whatever reason I had to use just the pad of my finger on this 48. Once I did that I stopped dropping my rounds low and left and started getting into a groove. All in all the gun is easy to shoot once you get your grip/trigger down (Like any gun)

-This is another gun that I think would make a great do it all piece. Its big enough to shoot well, has the ability to run a light and or dot and is still super easy to carry/conceal when needed. Honestly its biggest failing IMO is the grip texture, even more so then the 10 round mags which while I think are a bit of a failing vs. the competition I don't think they would hinder you in the VAST amount of defensive situations.

FINAL THOUGHTS
I know some of my scores or thoughts might seem harsh, and that I may have disliked the 48. The reality is, however, that I actually quite liked it. Its got its failings and has room for improvement and I don't think it is a class leader but it is a very solid, do it all, defensive handgun and there is a part of me that wouldn't mind picking one up as a "50 state" gun for those times I am carrying in a capacity restricted locale. At the end of the day this is the single stack Glock 19 so may people wanted for so long and had Glock done this pre "Micro 9" era everybody would be gushing over it, but times and technology change and here we are.

Take care, shoot safe and I hope my opinions of various firearms provide at least a data point to anybody looking even if they are just the opinions of some unskilled idjit on the net.

Till next time.
Chris

Like the G48 so much I bought two of them. Light, flat, accurate and reliable.

Picked up the Glock 48 MOS and felt quite different than the traditional Glocks.
Actually felt real nice, now I need to find that “You will buy a Glock” thread.
The G48 MOS Slimline is a nice gun and now is my first Glock.

Great review and an honest assessment.

I purchased a G48, but like every other Glock I’ve ever owned… I sold it. It has all the Glock faults without being better than the sum of its parts like most Glocks.

You are right; if the gun had been produced 10 years earlier, it would be legendary.

Excellent and thorough writeup, thanks for taking the time to post your observations!

I'm pretty intrigued by these slimline pistols. I have handled a G48 and liked the feel, and have shot a P365 Macro and really liked it (MUCH moreso than that standard 365). There's a part of me that would really like to try something in this form factor....but then there's the practical part that says how much of an increase in comfort would I really see over my current carry gun (P320 Carry or P220 Compact), what would I be sacrificing in shootability (I shoot my P320s best with large grip modules, so it stands to reason that there would be some sacrifice here), and would any difference even come close to justifying the investment?

My thoughts seeing the picture, and my unsolicited advice.... don't take it the wrong way, I'm trying to help you get more enjoyment while becoming a better shooter. Stop wasting ammo. Buy a couple more targets (or even better, blank printer paper). See what/how you're actually doing.


I like the 48. I just don't have any real task for it. Where to pick one to get for free though, that would be my choice.

quote:

Originally posted by cas:
My thoughts seeing the picture, and my unsolicited advice.... don't take it the wrong way, I'm trying to help you get more enjoyment while becoming a better shooter. Stop wasting ammo. Buy a couple more targets (or even better, blank printer paper). See what/how you're actually doing.


I like the 48. I just don't have any real task for it. Where to pick one to get for free though, that would be my choice.

Thanks much. I do shoot different targets, different shot strings, transitions etc. but when I log my shooting I have just over the years come to measure my own shooting by being able to put a box into an area ROUGHLY the size of my hand at 10-12 yards. So the target you see is my normal sort of benchmark that I am able to go back through pictures to compare gun to gun or progression. Its not the only way I shoot its just become the way I sort of log different guns/trips.

I do appreciate the input, however.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Excellent and thorough writeup, thanks for taking the time to post your observations!

I'm pretty intrigued by these slimline pistols. I have handled a G48 and liked the feel, and have shot a P365 Macro and really liked it (MUCH moreso than that standard 365). There's a part of me that would really like to try something in this form factor....but then there's the practical part that says how much of an increase in comfort would I really see over my current carry gun (P320 Carry or P220 Compact), what would I be sacrificing in shootability (I shoot my P320s best with large grip modules, so it stands to reason that there would be some sacrifice here), and would any difference even come close to justifying the investment?

So, while keeping in mind I have never had to carry a firearm professionally, I learned 15-20 years ago that a "Glock 19 esqe sized" gun was my sweet spot. I don't find this size envelope difficult to carry or conceal and most guns in this class shoot well for me. My normal go to handgun for a long time has been the HK P2000.

That said I am gun guy so I am always wanting to play with new toys, try new techniques or tech. You know.....OOOO SHINY!!! .

May take on the current crop of slim line pistols is that, at least in the size envelope of the X-Macro/Hellcat Pro/G48 they don't give up a ton in terms of features, capacity and capability vs. a standard compact while absolutely being more comfortable/easier to conceal.

Now mother physics will not be trifled with, however and a super thin, light gun will shift more in the hand laterally, have a bit more muzzle flip and have more perceived recoil vs. a thicker standard compact. They simply require more effort to shoot well. Not in a gigantic way but physics is physics.

My personal observation is that if one is comfortable with a given platform/size (P320 compact in your case) I don't think there is any NEED to buy one of these. I still generally carry my P2000 the vast majority of the time.

If one, however, is looking for a one gun do it all solution and is willing to put in the time its hard to beat these larger thin micro 9s. When it comes to carrying they are kind of like carrying with cheat mode enabled.

I very much like my Hellcat Pro and carrying it is a dream but it hasn't supplanted everything else and is still a bit of secondary/tertiary choice for me as I am comfortable with the P2000 in size, shootability, manual of arms etc.

Long answer short if you are looking to fill a NEED then you probably don't need a slim 9 like one of these.

If you are looking to fill a niche or want or gun guy new shiny you should totally get one of these. They are all kind of awesome and absolutely do a tone of things really well.

Take care, shoot safe......oooooo new shiny...
Chris

They are nice guns and have a great feel. I wound up giving it to my son as he shot it better than I did.

Man….you shot that group 12/19/73. Over 50 years ago. They had the Glock 48 at the rental range for all these years and kept it from every one, even Glock :

Nice shooting BTW.

This was an excellent and honest review.I am a Glock SlimLine fan. i treasure my 48 and my 42. A bit of difference in our perceptions.