I was in the market for a small 9 mm for my wife a few years ago.

She liked my G-19, but it was “just a little too big” for her.
Took her to the range and grabbed a 43, and a 43X. She loved the 43X!
Now, since she has one, it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t have one to go along with hers. I got both of them for a very good price.


I’m somewhere around the 3000 round mark. I have a stainless guide rod, did the 50 Cent trigger job, and a Holosun EPS Carry.
I have a handful of the Glock 10rd magazines, then I found out about the Shield Mags….
Yup, sold! (My only regret is not getting more!)

The G-19 vs G-43X:
A smaller WML fits better on the G-19.
Outside of that, with the Shield Arms Mags, the G-43X is a smaller, lighter, and thinner version of the G-19. Fits better in an IWB, better concealment, and, well, it’s a Glock, so at the end of the day, it’s always going to go “BANG” when you pull the trigger.

I don’t know when the last time I actually carried the G-19! Don’t get me wrong, I still like it, especially with the stippling job and trigger/mag release reduction! But it’s not seeing much carry time.

The 43X is damn near as accurate with some practice. After a few trips to the range, I was a little skeptical at anything much past 20 yards. Zero problems hitting a silhouette at 50 yards with it!
(Im not doing 25yd / 50 yd bill drills like JL does, but with some practice, sub 6 seconds is doable!)

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:

trigger/mag release reduction!

What is this you speak of?

quote:

Originally posted by ruger357:

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:

trigger/mag release reduction!

What is this you speak of?

This magical process is:

https://glockparts.com/trigger-guard-undercut/

Here's the trigger guard reduction.
Im at work, and the G-19 is at home, I'll see if I cant shoot a pict of it and toss it on here. The Mag release reduction- the frame is slightly scalloped out and sanded smooth juuuust enough to give you a better access to the mag release. I like it a lot.

It was done by Kent (or Ken) at Polymer Refined.
Great guy to do business with, however, he closed up shop a few years back after he moved to a free state.

I was in the same boat with the 43X/48. I actually bought one because we authorized them for admin and plainclothes positions at work and I wanted to have an opinion on them. I was a 365 guy as far as the small, high capacity 9mm world went.

I ended up being immensely surprised by the 43X. I put an optic on mine (first a 407K and then an EPS Carry) and initially did the Shield Arms mags and then their magwell. My gun ran excellently and I found that I could shoot it probably 80-90% as well as a 19, keep the same capacity, and it carried better.

Ever the tinkerer, I bought a Parker Mountain Machine barrel and compensator for it, bringing it to 48 length. PMM warned that the Shield Arms mags were an issue with their comp and indeed they were, so I moved on to PSA Micro Dagger mags and those have been 100% reliable.

If I was buying today, I'd get the 48 over the 43X unless I was going to put a comp on it. The extra slide length, when carried AIWB, makes the gun less apt to tip out over the belt (think of the slide like the keel of a ship). The same thing can be accomplished by using a 48 holster with your 43X.

quote:

same thing can be accomplished by using a 48 holster with your 43X.

Yup, that's exactly what I do and it works perfectly

Today I struggled at the 50 quite a bit. Had trouble shooting anything clean in less than 10 seconds. Target I was using has a smaller A box but it was all on me.

Ran about 150 rounds through 43x and about 200 through big gun. Shot pretty much all of it on bill drills.

yep been thru that had the 43x and 48 with a ton of shield mags they all worked fine for me but some had issues with them, then I bought the 365 tac ops and within a couple of weeks sold the 43x and 48 now I have the 365 legion. just have no desire for the larger handguns, I have been looking at the fusion and have recently bought some 21 round mags, they do stick out a little but I kind of like the gangster look. the stock 17 rd just amaze me in such a small pistol.

Ran another couple hundred rounds through it today. Shot a bunch of 25 and 50 yard bill drills. Shot a cold Glock standard first thing from concealment and pocket reload. 23.54 with no penalty.