Glock engineer discusses the 43

Is this real?

no, but it is funny.

Cornmastah wrote:no, but it is funny.

Yeah, it's hilarious! LOVE the guy without teeth!

I have the distinct challenge of driving by Adco Firearms on a twice daily basis.  Damn, I need to deal with this dude via the postal system, every time, and I mean EVERY time I stop in, I hurt myself. The other day, a customer there is looking at a tiny Glock and curiosity gets the best of me, I have to ask, is that a 42 or 43. Expecting the answer to be 42, I really felt safe asking the question. Response comes back it's a 43 and we have 2 in stock! Well, let me just say, they had 2 in stock. Their inventory is now depleted! Damn gun stores!

The other customer didn't care for the extended base pad so we swapped mags. He now has two flat base pads, mine are both extended.

Took it to the range a couple times over the weekend and put a couple hundred trouble free rounds of Freedom Munitions down the pipe. I was very pleasantly surprised, the recoil characteristics were much better than that of the SIG P938, much more mild and easier to get back on target quickly.

The firing line was established at 10 yards when I arrived at the range, a bit further than I was hoping for my first run with the gun, but I made do. I was able to get quite a few shots into a 4" group, but there were many that were about 8" to 12" low, I attribute that to struggling finding a good grip for the gun. I am confident that will settle out with more shooting of the gun.

I didn't spend a lot of time analyzing the trigger, I will do some dry fire this evening after cleaning the gun, but it felt pretty typical of a Glock, a bit of takeup, a quick break, a little over travel and fairly short reset. I like Glock triggers, so this felt pretty natural to me.

The size of the gun, looking at it from the side profile, is the same as my Glock 26 and 33, as in identical. Being a single stack, of course, it is substantially thinner. I have to compare it to the Glock 30 and 30S, I have a feeling it will be similar in profile there, as well. It is a bit larger than the Glock 42, but for some strange reason, the Glock 42 feels a bit better in my hand. I haven't quite figured out why that is yet, the 42 just feels really good in my hand.

I've been carrying the Kahr PM9 for a few years now as a deep concealment carry. The SIG P938 took that spot for about a year and has lost favor in my eye since a confidence shattering failure I experienced with it. The Glock 43, with the 9mm chambering, just might take the place of the PM9. It is, however, a bit larger, ever so slightly, than the PM9, making it a bit less desirable as a pocket carry. But ankle or AIWB might just be the ticket for me. We shall see.

Overall, I am very pleased with the handgun. Next up, I'll run 50 to 100 defensive rounds through it to make certain they will feed. I'll probably run a mix of Ranger T's, HST's, Golden Sabers and Gold Dots, just to see if there is any issue with any of them. I'll probably even run some +P and +P+ loads to determine capability. My P938 choked on the +P+ loads, but ran the +P's just fine.

I have a feeling Glock will sell a lot of these. I don't know if this was the strategy but if so, I think it would be pretty sly. They knew the market was clamoring for a 9mm single stack, but they wanted to come out with a 380 in the US market, also. Coming out with the 9mm single stack before the 380 most likely would have crippled any sales potential for the 380. Coming out first with the 380, a lot of the pent up market desire was satisfied, albeit temporarily, created by the 9mm single stack absence. When the 9mm came out, people will buy it, regardless of already purchasing the 380. I'm certainly not saying that was their strategy, I have no clue, but curious if it may have been something like that.

Nice gun, I give it a thumbs up!

I am still fighting the urge to go pick one of these up. I need another Glock like I need a hole drilled in my head.

Yet, there's something VERY logical about this pistol that keeps calling me.

I really want to hold one and see the size comparisons between the glock and the shield, xds, etc...

I think the Glock is smaller, but not by a huge amount.

The 43 continues to delight, very happy with the purchase.  500 rounds down the pipe and just a joy.  There was a minor hiccup, however, I am a bit baffled by.  Shooting standard pressure ammo, no issues what so ever.  Ran some HST +P 147 gr and Hornady Critical Duty +P 135 gr and experienced an odd situation.  With both mags, I experienced slide lock back with rounds still in the chamber.  Some think my thumb is hitting the slide release lever, which very well may be the case.  I find it odd that it only has happened with the +P rounds.  I will continue testing and try to determine the cause, most likely shooter induced, just unusual.  I've had the issue with the slide not locking back on empty due to thumb placement, but never before this scenario.

I was shooting some Critical Duty in my Shield and noted that the recoil was notably snappier, and the rounds hit higher. ?Could this be related to the amount of recoil couple with thumb.