Shield Arms S15 Glock 43X/48 pre order open

[RJ]

Placed an order for two gen 2 mags and a steel mag catch direct from Shield last night at 5pm mountain time. Demand was quite high, there was a number of drop outs of the web site during the process, which took a couple hours off and on. They are no longer in stock, but available to back-order now apparently.

Will report back after testing in my G48.

My order of a Steel mag catch and 2 Gen 2 S15 magazines from Shield Arms was received today.



They are nicely finished in the hand and feel super slick. There is a slight amount of assembly oil on the inside. Still, I wiped them down with the recommended (by Shield) Eezox product, inside and out.

I was prepared for a struggle to remove the basepad, as is normal on Glock mags. I was pleasantly surprised they disassemble easily, in fact they remind me very much of HK P30/VP9 magazines, the way the retainer fits into the spring base and the basepad slides over the metal catches of the mag body.

These are the black oxide coated; the black and nickel electroless plated versions are not yet available with the Gen 2 S15 mags.

The follower is blue (gray? Not sure, I'm color blind slightly) and a similar shape as OEM. The basepads I received appear to be the "Gen 2" basepads (during the order rush it was stated some mags would come with Gen 1 basepads, I appear to have lucked out and gotten gen 2 pads. The only difference I'm aware of is a cosmetic blending of the basepad and a slight channel to aid removal.

The steel mag catch is recommended by Shield to go with the S15s. The finish on this part is superb. Removal of the plastic OEM catch and install of the steel was uneventful, requiring some dexterity with a 3/16" flat blade and a few desultory curses. I really like the square dimple texture on the mag catch surface, vs the striped texture on the OEM part.

The mags jump out of the magwell like candy bars at intermission (this also reminds me of HK mags.) I would guess the steel mag body has vastly less coefficient of friction of the plastic mag bodies. (For fun I did try an OEM 10 round mag, and it required manual action to strip. I have no plans to run the OEM mags at the moment, however).

I am really impressed so far.

I loaded up 15 rounds of AE 124 FMJ to let them both sit over night. I will hit the range soon to check them out.

[Tensaw]

RJ - Be advised (if my memory serves) Eezox is pretty highly carcinogenic and is easily absorbed through the skin. It is also a *great* rust inhibitor. I reserve the use of it for coating the inside of barrels.

[RJ]

RJ - Be advised (if my memory serves) Eezox is pretty highly carcinogenic and is easily absorbed through the skin. It is also a *great* rust inhibitor. I reserve the use of it for coating the inside of barrels.

Thanks for the tip, did not know. It's new to me as a product.

Edit: adding link to the SDS: https://www.eezox.com/s/EEZOX-SDS.pdf

[HCM]

RJ - Be advised (if my memory serves) Eezox is pretty highly carcinogenic and is easily absorbed through the skin. It is also a *great* rust inhibitor.

Yes on both counts so I only use it for rust prevention on items to be stored long term, only use it with disposable gloves and avoid using it as much as possible.

[Dorsai]

Does anyone else think it would be a neat idea if Shield made a 12 or 13 rd magazine and sold it with a template so you could cut a 43x frame to the same overall height of a 43?

[Bergeron]

Yep! However, the same market that would like a 12/13 rounder plus template would also want extensions for that 12/13 rounder to bring it to 48/43x length, I would bet.

[RJ]

Does anyone else think it would be a neat idea if Shield made a 12 or 13 rd magazine and sold it with a template so you could cut a 43x frame to the same overall height of a 43?

My prediction:

GLOCK announces the 43k, a shorter 43X, replacing the existing 43. The 43k will take G43X/48 10 rounders (and Shield 15 rounders of course), and come with a flat 6 round and extended 7 round mag.

Shield Arms will then leapfrog GLOCK by offering a G43k steel mag with 9 round capacity that fits in the space of the OEM, giving you a G43 size gun with 9+1.

Boom.

[RJ]

I loaded up 15 rounds of AE 124 FMJ to let them both sit over night. I will hit the range soon to check them out.

Shot 20 rounds of Federal HST and 87 AE 124 FMJ today. This included several mags shot with 15 loaded on a chambered round I.e. 15+1. I tried to induce a low-round count malfunction by shooting four mags loaded with 3,3, 2 and 2 rounds. Plus various other drills. Absolutely zero malfunctions.

To say I am pretty happy with these is a bit of an understatement.

[Super77]

My prediction:

GLOCK announces the 43k, a shorter 43X, replacing the existing 43. The 43k will take G43X/48 10 rounders (and Shield 15 rounders of course), and come with a flat 6 round and extended 7 round mag.

Shield Arms will then leapfrog GLOCK by offering a G43k steel mag with 9 round capacity that fits in the space of the OEM, giving you a G43 size gun with 9+1.

Boom.

I hope that's true, that would be a lot of fun.

To add to the discussion, I'm at 160 rounds (mixed 147gr and 124gr minor power factor reloads, 124gr +P NATO spec) with no hiccups. I'm running full 15 round S2 2 mags with one in the chamber. I'm getting my hopes up that this will be a reliable setup that really changes the game for EDC.

[RJ]

I hope that's true, that would be a lot of fun.

To add to the discussion, I'm at 160 rounds (mixed 147gr and 124gr minor power factor reloads, 124gr +P NATO spec) with no hiccups. I'm running full 15 round S2 2 mags with one in the chamber. I'm getting my hopes up that this will be a reliable setup that really changes the game for EDC.

Cool. Very interested in your results. I especially focused on 15+1 and low-round count scenarios. Have you run any magazines at 2 or 3 rounds, to check for fail to feed malfunctions at the end of a mag? Just curious.


And while I appreciate that the Shield Arms facebeast group is composed of enthusiasts, the number of posts by folks running these new gen 2 S15 mags without malfunction is very heartening. I will continue to run my two a couple more range visits before declaring victory however. I'm definitely on the bandwagon though, and plan to order at least two more in the electroless finish (I'm not far from the beach) when they are available for carry.