Editor’s Review: Glock 43 / 43X

Fifteen years ago if you wanted a super small handgun in a “full size” caliber with a capacity over 10 rounds, you were buying a Glock Model 26. As the search for the “perfect” concealed carry / off-duty / pocket gun evolved and manufacturers tried to answer the consumer demands, slimmer and smaller guns with less capacity were design. Perhaps one of the smallest was the Glock Model 42 chambered in .380ACP and having a six-round magazine capacity. (Editor’s Note: Plenty of people complain about the ‘lack of power’ in a .380ACP round, but none of those critical people have volunteered to stand as targets for testing the round.)

Not long after the Glock 42 (G42) was released, Glock came out with the Model 43; not much bigger than the G42 but chambered for 9mm and holding the same 6+1 rounds. Some of the same folks who criticized the .380ACP as an insufficiently powered round for self-defense criticized the Glock 43 (G43) as not having enough capacity. For some of us who have been in law enforcement seemingly forever (over 37 years now), there was a time when carrying a 5-shot revolver and not having any backup rounds was considered acceptable. So having a semi-auto with seven rounds in it (6+1) and a backup magazine of six more was, by comparison, nearly triple what used to be carried “back in the day.”

The questions were: Would it be accurate enough? And would there be plenty of holsters available for it?  We’ll get to the accurate question in a minute. As to holsters… the challenge would be functional quality holsters in all of the varieties that would be desired. As compact as the G43 is, it would end up being carried in pockets, IWB appendix, IWB hip, in shoulder holsters and more. Knowing or anticipating how popular this little 9mm would be, the holster industry answered up in a big way. Well known holster companies like Blackhawk, DeSantis, Safariland, Alien Gear and others had holsters ready and waiting as soon as they knew the G43 was on its way. In addition to the big names, a lot of the kydex-based holster makers came out with holsters as well; companies like Outlaw Holsters, Bravo Concealment, Kinetic Concealment and others. There was no shortage of methods to securely carry your G43 if you procured one.

As to accuracy… We took the “little” gun out to the range and put a couple hundred rounds of various types of ammo through it. Even though its barrel is ‘only’ about 3.5” long (3.41” to be precise) we had no problem regularly shooting sub-2” groups free hand at 15 yards. Thankfully we had three of the six-round magazines available so we weren’t constantly working our thumbs to stuff magazines. It still got old. That inspired some online research and we discovered +1 and +2 magazine floorplates readily available for it. Not only that, we discovered an entire industry built around aftermarket upgrades and modifications for the gun so many people were critical of as too small or of too small a capacity to be a good self-defense gun.

On our test weapon we ended up with Strike Industries’ Extended Magazine Plates which added two rounds per magazine and plenty of room for a full grip. Now that “little” gun was an 8+1 weapon with an 8-round backup magazine. 17 rounds of 9mm was better than this author ever had available back in the days of carrying a revolver (when I might have had ten rounds of .38Spl when I was off-duty). Other modifications made to the weapon included Talon wrap around grips and a Vickers Tactical Extended Magazine Release. As a final upgrade, since our test weapon didn’t had standard sights, we procured a Streamlight TLR-6 light and laser combo and mounted that. The small unit produces 100 lumens of light and has a red laser that is adjustable for elevation and windage.

Now… with all those changes, we needed to look for another holster. A quick search revealed that several manufacturers made holsters for this configuration: Alien Gear, Crossbreed, WeThePeople and others had appropriate holsters. Test firing with the light/laser affixed revealed no malfunctions – other than the shooter occasionally neglecting good basic marksmanship skills due to being distracted by the magic red dot.

After the Glock 43 proved so popular and then Glock came out with the Glock 19X (essentially a Glock 19 slide assembly on top of a Glock 17 slide), it was only a matter of time before Glock produced a G43 length slide assembly on top of a longer and wider grip frame.  Sure enough, the Glock 43X was born. With the same slide and barrel length as the Glock 43, the frame was long enough to hold ten rounds of 9mm per magazine. The magazine, interestingly enough, was neither single stack nor double stack, but just staggered enough to get the rounds into the frame length. Sporting a total capacity of 10+1 and with backup magazines holding 10 rounds, that off-duty gun was now fed with 21 rounds of 9mm.

The G43X fit in all the same holsters as the G43 did and the extra weight of two rounds (as compared to the extended G43 magazines) or four rounds (compared to the standard G43 magazines) wasn’t noticeable. The additional roughly ½” of grip length did present some minor difference in concealment profiles, but anyone who has carried concealed for any length of time can easily adapt to a ½” difference; and that ½” is well worth it for a standard magazine capacity increase of four rounds from G43 to G43x.

Either of these handguns is available for very reasonable prices and there’s no doubt that the aftermarket accessories for them will continue to grow. Look for a future review of the Glock 48!