The long awaited Glock single stack 9mm is finally here. After years of waiting for a pistol like this from Glock, it has finally arrived and it’s exactly what you should expect it to be; small but not too small, easy to shoot and boringly reliable.
When the first Glock 43 arrived from our distributor, we couldn’t wait to get it out to the range. We did what we usually do, and packed up about 200 rounds of Magtech 9mm ammo and hit the road.
First Impressions:
After we arrived at the range we took a minute to get familiar with the Glock 43 before shooting it. Even though we hadn’t held the Glock 43 before, it felt like an old friend. The controls were right where any Glock shooter would expect them to be and even though it’s smaller than any of the other 9mm Glocks, it feels very familiar.
The pistol ships with one flush fit magazine and one magazine with an extended baseplate that has room for the shooters pinky. The extended baseplate does not add any capacity to the magazine, so both of the magazines that the Glock 43 ships with hold 6 rounds. The decision to make the Glock 43 only hold 6 rounds, when much of the competition like the S&W Shield and Springfield Armory XDs hold 7 has been a point of contention among many people. Some folks feel that 6+1 capacity isn’t enough, and others seem to be okay with it, since it makes the Glock 43 a bit shorter in the grip than the competition.
The sights are the standard plastic Glock “ball in a basket” style that folks either love or hate. The trigger is what you would expect in a new Glock pistol and the G43 sports the Gen4 magazine release that is reversible for left handed shooters.
Shooting the Glock 43:
The first few magazines were spent just getting a feel for the new pistol and not really focusing on accuracy. After that, we moved back to the 35, 40, and 50 yard lines to get a feel for the accuracy of the Glock 43 at those longer ranges. We were shooting a C-zone target from RSR Steel and putting all of the rounds in a magazine on the target at 35 and 40 yards wasn’t too hard. However, neither of the shooters were able to get all 6 rounds on the target at 50 yards.
We shot the Glock 43 fast and slow, trying to see where its weaknesses may be, but it ate every round we put in it without a single malfunction. We were having so much fun shooting the 43, that before long we realized we had shot through all of the ammo that we brought for the test and had to scramble through our trunks to find some more 9mm to feed it. Thankfully, we found plenty more.
Here is a short video shooting at an RSR Steel C-Zone target from 40 yards away.
Accuracy:
When shooting the Glock 43 for accuracy, we were able to get good groups for a subcompact single-stack pistol that we had never shot before. It’s not mind-blowingly accurate, but it’s pretty good and we were happy with the accuracy:
7 yards:
One magazine from the Glock 43 at 7 yards.
10 yards:
One magazine from the Glock 43 at 10 yards.
How Does the Glock 43 Stack Up Against the Competition?
Well, here’s the part of the review everyone is wondering about: How the Glock 43 stacks up against the other single-stack 9mm pistols on the market.
Glock 43 vs. S&W Shield:
The S&W Shield and the Glock 43 are very similar pistols overall. They’re about the same size and while the Shield holds an extra round in the magazine, the Glock 43 has a reversible magazine release, so they are pretty evenly matched. We didn’t shoot a Shield side by side with the Glock 43, but going off memory, the recoil between the two is very similar.
Glock 43 vs. Glock 42
Last year we reviewed the Glock 42 after its release and we were pretty happy with it, other than some stovepipe issues. While the Glock 43 is a little bit bigger than the Glock 42, the two feel very similar in the hand.
Here are some more pictures of the Glock 43 with the usual suspects:
Glock 43 vs. Springfield Armory XDs
Glock 43 vs. Ruger LC9s
Conclusions:
The Glock 43 is a fantastic pistol. It’s the smallest 9mm Glock pistol to date and it’s a really nice pistol to shoot. The trouble is that it’s entering a crowded market with a bunch of other fantastic pistols. Therefore, it’s hard to point at anything that the Glock 43 has that really makes it stand out (other than just being a Glock).
We’re excited that it’s finally here, and if you’d like to get one, we currently have a waiting list at the shop, so email or give us a call! 919-803-4605 – info@carolinagunrunners.com
