I know I'm beating a dead horse, but if *I* were in charge at Glock, I would do this:
1. Discontinue the 43
2. Introduce a 43XS (43X-Short) that is essentially a 43X, with a two finger grip and a magazine that holds 6-7 rounds. In the box comes with 2 short mags and a regular 43X/48 10-round mag.
3. Discontinue a whole slew of obsolete guns, regardless of California roster.
If you mean Gen3's they're still massive sellers outside the USOriginally Posted by RAM Engineer
Welcome to Africa, bring a hardhat.
I was mainly thinking of stuff like .45 GAP, .357 SIG, integral compensated guns, the confusing mess of G30 variants (pick one and go with it!), Gen4 9mms, Gen3 .40s., etc, etc.
Don't tell my pistols that. They run great with factory +2s, on G17, G22 & G23 mags for years.
The nines run great with magpul mags & brass/nickel.
For our 43, got a Pearce +1 on one mag, Vickers Tango Down +2 (w/ extra power spring it came with) on another. Both are perfectly reliable.
Bonus is the Vickers TD forms a perfect grip extension as well.
Right? At one point I had all the Glock models safely tucked away in my head. Now I feel like a need a decoder ring like I did for the 3rd Gen Smiths.
I also wonder how many of those guns are just in the catalog, but not in production.
I was into 10mm Auto before it sold out and went mainstream, but these days I'm here for the revolver and epidemiology information.
Hey! I love my Gen4 9mms! But I agree with killing the .40s.
Unfortunately, I think the only thing that really discontinues guns is lack of sales.
I wish SiG would discontinue SiG, but I don't think that will happen anytime soon.
"True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost." -Arthur Ashe
#3 doesnt really bother me much (I tend to just forget the obsolete and obscure guns dont even exist)
But on #1 and #2 I have a thread up on GlockTalk which has been gaining a bit of traction, and a few Glock fudds who are like "what, you don't think G43X was the answer to P365?"
No, it wasn't.
The 43 is the red-headed step child (Yes, I said it) - on a carry pistol I want to carry with reliable FACTORY mags, not adding aftermarket parts and extensions which can be used legally against me in deadly force use, or, can fail. Glock took the time to make the frame on the 43X a *tiny* bit wider, and took the time to re-engineer that mag to be longer and hold 10 rounds -
The only thing they are missing at this point is updating the actual pistol that had a chance to compete with the P365. They need to redo the 43, call it 43C (compact) or 43S (short) and have it take 8 rounds with a flush mag, 10 round 43X mags as backup, and you will finally have a *viable* contender to the P365, even if its 2 rounds shorter in flush mag and backup mag, the fact that its a Glock and it comes close, will absolutely close the sales gap, IMHO.
New 43 slide to be updated with front serrations (they already make it, with the Lipsey's Vickers G43, just need a new roll mark), and a spacer for the 10 round mags so it fills the gap when installed on the pistol.
Come on Glock, do some real updating for once and give us a true update and not these full length options (G45, G19X, G43X is same length as a G19 etc)
When the 43 came out, it competed with the Shield, albeit down a round - now that years have gone by, its glaringly obsolete in today's market and as much hate as Sig can get, they are forcing the other companies to do something to innovate in the CCW market, and Glock should have a way to answer them in a similar pistol profile (when you hold the P365 and the G43X side by side its glaringly obvious they don't compete in size at all)
And FYI- I am a Glock guy through and through, have 3 of them, buying a 19Gen5 MOS soon - if they did those updates to the 43 I would buy it tomorrow - but spending the same amount of money a P365 costs ($380 blue label, add night sights) to have no reliable factory higher capacity option, its not worth it - if the G43 dropped to Shield prices, sure I'd probably get one just to have, but at this point, especially at retail level, anyone who *doesn't* have a single stack 9mm, is not rushing to buy a 43.
Last edited by ricky_bobby; 07-23-2019 at 09:07 AM.
I took my 43 out Friday for the first time in a while. I really enjoyed shooting it. I think I enjoyed it too much. After shooting a little over 200 rounds my hands still hurt and it’s Tuesday. I think I need to remember my 43 is like an air weight. I should shoot 50 or so rounds and then move to something larger.
Thanks, CTX44, for the write-up. My days of high-round-count testing and evaluation are long past*, so I appreciate it when others do the heavy lifting. I realize, of course, the need to personally, thoroughly function-test any individual weapon that I own, but anything that I cannot reasonably believe to be boringly reliable, out of the box, is not likely to be on my shopping list.
*Short version: Gettin’ old; shootin’ hurts; some guns hurt more than others.
Retar’d LE. Kinesthetic dufus.
Don’t tread on volcanos!
I work for an agency that issues the G43 as a backup and deep cover UC gun. So each qual day I get to see 24 of them on the line. Just to make the qual go faster, and easier to grip, almost every one uses a mag with some sort of extension. Without fail, there will be multiple failures up and down the line. Most are mag related. I have several magazines with TD vickers +2s, and a couple ETS 9 rounders. My experience over the years mirrors most others here- as long as I use factory 6 round mags (much preferred with the factory “pinky extension”) it works well. When I start using mags with extensions it’s hit or miss. The ETS 9 round mags feed reliably, but fail to lock the slide on empty about 50% of the time. I will only carry a 43 with a 6 round mag.
I recently acquired a black slide 43X. This is a totally different animal. Shoots well, and much easier to control at speed. I love that I can do an actual speed reload. Time will tell how it holds up long term. But first impression is that I’d be comfortable carrying the 43X as a primary off duty. I’ve never really been happy only carrying the 43.
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