I’ve never found shorter slided guns to shoot better than they’re longer counterparts, G19 v G17, 229 v 226, commander v government, etc. That said, I’ve never tried a 19X or 45. I’ve seen enough now that is prompting me to do this comparison soon.
I don't think so.
When demonstrating the effect of slide differences between G19X/G45 and G17 to folks, or G43X and G48, I found a cadence or AMRAP drill of some sort to work, followed by a dispersion measurement. 3-5 runs give you a good picture. Start first with the 17 or 48 for a baseline. Then, a few rounds to acclimate to the 19X/45 or 43X, then run for record. Almost without exception, groups will come in smaller with the shorter slide. I don't remember the number off the top of my head, but it is visible. Feedback received from average-ish shooters will include words like "quicker, snappier, smoother, weird, different but I like it".
The last several times I loaned out G45s or G43Xs, I only got them back when the borrower's new pistol(s) arrived.
This was my experience when comparing the 48 and 43x. I originally bought a 48 because I just assumed it would be better. After a lot of side by side shooting it wasn’t even close. I bought the 43x and haven’t looked back. This is also why I’m really interested in the 45. Sounds like I need to go that direction.
I've shot the 19,17,45,19X back to back on a couple of drills for comparison a few times. Most commonly on the Gabe White drills. I always expect the 45 form to do better than the 19 because the bigger grip suits me better. My 45 and 19 scores are generally identical or as near as dammit. My 17 scores are always a noticable step better. Just my observation.
Same when I do 43X and 48 back to back.
For all intents and purposes the 45 and 17 are both "full size" pistols chambered in 9mm.
Any performance differences are due to personal preference in recoil characteristics not some inherent advantage in a pistol that's 7.95"OAL instead of one that's 7.44"OAL.
I could see the sight tracking difference come into play on pistols with actual recoil, but we're talking full grip full size 9mm's here...
Just because a different slide length may track differently, doesn’t necessarily make one better. The 19, 17 and 34 each behave slightly different for me with a red dot. For that matter the Gen 4 and 5 Glock pistols seem like completely different platforms to me. Part is what you get used to, some may be how they interface with your shooter style, and some may be just subjective impressions. I am petty skeptical when someone pronounces a particular variant as “best.”
At the end of the day, it is worth trying them for yourself. We can all have opinions and what feels or shoots best for US. But it really does depend on your grip, strength, eyes etc. I guess I have always preferred the shorter slide fuller grip. I had liked the p220 carry over the full-size as well.
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