I've owned and shot a Glock 19 Gen 5, Glock 26 Gen 5, a 43X and a 48. I'm not exactly a collector, so out of those four, I only have the Glock 48 left. All the others are sold.
I shot the Glock 19 through most of my training and USPSA (6,800 rounds). I carried it AOWB in both a Mitch Rosen Upper Limit, and later in a n RCS Perun. I bought the Glock 26 as a companion carry gun to the 19. I also carried it in a MR UL (and the same Perun) AOWB with an OEM +2 mag. There are many advantages to a Glock 26 as a BUG if you have larger Glocks. I liked everything about it except the shooting. I just didn't enjoy taking it to the range. And It was so wide and fat for it's capacity, I found might as well carry the 19. I sold it after 200 rounds and never looked back. Out of all my Glocks, I miss it the least.
I liked the Glock 43X from the start. I discounted reports of snappy recoil and started zeroing it in with aftermarket sights. I added an Overwatch trigger because I had one on my game gun. Then I started noticing it was smacking my hand pretty well with carry ammo (147 HST or GD 124+p). I added a Glockstore Tungsten Guide rod, but while I could tell the added 0.7 oz softened the recoil impulse, I never really warmed up to shooting it. So I traded it to have a brief affair with a P365XL. That didn't end well. So I traded *that* for a Glock 48.
Bottom line: I. Love. It.
I carry it AIWB in a Dark Star Gear Hitchhiker on a Graith Specialist belt, with an extra mag in a DSG Koala. I have Ameriglo sights and a Tau Industries Striker Control Device (I would not carry a Glock with out an SCD, period, full stop.) I have a set of Talon rubber grips on it that I'm 50/50 on.
Carried it all week, and for a trip in the car over to Orlando and back visiting family. This was my pocket dump at the hotel:
I've seen comparison pictures between a Commander length 1911 and the Glock 48. They look eerily the same. The feel is very flat, thin and concealable. I guess the longer sight radius of the 48 helps with sight alignment, but of course as with all Glocks you must have good Trigger Control. The G19 length barrel may help give rounds a bit more muzzle velocity, too, as I understand it, which can't be bad. Obviously the rest of the gun is identical to the Glock 43X.Although I am a pretty mundane shooter I find it accurate and controllable in recoil, with a perceptible softer "bump" with my normal carry ammo than the 43X. I don't know what it is, perhaps the added slide mass slows it down a touch, but I can feel it.
The potential future changeover to Shield 15 rounds magazines giving 15+1 make it a no brainer to get rid of my Glock 19.
It is a real pleasure to shoot and I enjoy the heck out of it.
I'm in the middle of transitioning to dots, having bought a Glock 34 MOS and Holosun 507c v2 to get going in USPSA. I will either mill my current 48 for a 507k or buy another Glock 48 MOS.