Can We Just Celebrate Glock 43x Mag Availability These Days?
I was involved with Glock’s single-stack micro-compact guns (officially called their “Slimline” series) since the day they launched the .380 G42 at SHOT Show 2014.
The thing is, all the gun writers there had one thing in common when talking about it: why wasn’t it in 9mm?
Glock listened, and just 16 months later, debuted the 9mm G43 at the NRA Show in Nashville in April 2015. They couldn’t even wait til the next SHOT Show to fix their mistake!
Man, the G43 was something at the time.
And still is, compared to, say, a .38 snub nose, in this case, my classic Colt Agent. Lighter, slimmer, and faster to reload.
Drink in my Taran Tactical and Vickers-enhanced Glock 43. You see, you had to get the Taran extended base pads to reliably boost capacity beyond its standard six rounds. (All photos: Chris Eger)
The original G43’s feeding options: a standard OEM 6-rounder; an OEM 6-rounder with a Taran Tactical (TTI) +1 base plate; an OEM 6-rounder with a +2 Pearce extension; and OEM 6-rounders with TTI +3, +4, and +5 baseplates. Wow
After selling a million G43s (not an exaggeration; they did a press release about it) in just the first three years of its existence, the company addressed the complaint that it only held six (6) rounds in the magazine and at SHOT ’19 debuted the 10+1 capacity G43x and the slightly longer but same magazine-sized G48, giving everyone that bought the original G43 the frowns and everyone who was on the fence on the platform over its limited capacity a reason to get off said rail and head to the gun counter.
The G43x and G48, when they debuted in 2019, for some reason, had stainless slides. I was there and nobody understood why
While, yes, the standard Glock 43x magazines were reliable and kept the gun small enough for deep carry, or even pocket carry if you had a big enough pocket, they were still just 10-rounders.
This led Shield Arms in Montana to do the craziest thing, and cough up a steel-bodied (which could be thinner than Glock’s polymer mags) that would allow a 15-round flush-fit G43x/G48 magazine, the S15.
Boom:
Now it’s 3rd generation, Shield has worked out the bugs, though they typically need a steel magazine catch to work long term, as the polymer OEM catch wears out rapidly. Steel on polymer does that.
I love the 3rd Gen Shield S15s in the G43x and G48, and I’ve enjoyed them with my Aimpoint COA-equipped model…
…which goes far toward being one of the best carry pistols on the market.
For guys who were fine running an extended mag on the range on a budget, the ETS and ProMag options are around for 19-, 28-, and even 50-round examples, as witnessed over at The Mag Shack.
This year, finally blotting out its original Slimline mistakes from 2014, Glock debuted 15-round flush-fit mags for the G43x/G48. Like Shields, they are steel-bodied.
They should have sent Shield a thank-you letter for the idea and beta testing. Maybe a nice fruit basket.
But still, you have to love the developmental process, baby.
