Reviewing the Glock 43

It’s been a long time coming. Customers, Glock loyalists and employees at Glock US have begged the Austrian gun maker to produce a small, single stack 9mm pistol for years. They got their hopes up last year as the annual SHOT show approached and word leaked the mini 9 was on its way, but instead of a 9mm pistol we got a .380 ACP, the Glock 42. Surely, everyone thought, this year Glock would follow up with a 9mm sub compact, and sure enough, at the NRA Annual Meeting in early April, they did. It’s called the Glock 43.

You might say Glock has come late to the party. After all, the firearms market is awash in small 9mm pistols designed for concealed carry, perhaps the most popular pistols being sold in recent years. On the other hand, consider that Glock sells every pistol they make and the company has a backlog of orders, so why bother making a new model? Well, new products drive sales and you can bet Glock will sell every G43 they can produce, so late or not, Glock has a winner on their hands.

The G43 is a mini Glock, but not the tiniest, as the G42 is a bit smaller in all dimensions. If you understand Glocks you know everything you need to know about this small version. Aside from an enlarged magazine release and a coil spring actuating the slide stop, the G43 seems a scaled down version of other Glocks I am familiar with. It ships in the usual plastic carrying case with a bore brush, cleaning rod, magazine loading tool and two magazines, one with a flat baseplate and the other with an extended baseplate to provide a place for the pinky to rest. The magazines hold six rounds giving the pistol a capacity of 7 if a round is carried in the chamber. The little pistol weighs 16.1 ounces bare, 17.9 with either of the magazines and 20.9 ounces with 7 rounds of 9mm ammunition. Barrel length is 3.39” and the width of the tiny pistol is a smidge over one inch. While the trigger pull is advertised at 5.5 pounds the pull on my sample is heavier than other out-of-the-box Glocks I have handled in recent years. Measuring exact trigger pull weights on Glocks is difficult because I find my Lyman electronic trigger gizmo gives vastly different readings depending upon where the bar for the strain gauge is placed on the trigger. When I put it in the center of the trigger the average came out to 9 pounds, 3 ounces while placing it on the tip of the trigger gave me a reading averaging just a bit over 7 pounds. Either way, it is a heavier trigger than you might be used to in your bigger Glocks but that may not be such a bad thing for a pistol that’s going to be tossed into purses and pockets and carried stuffed into a waistband. Before you get after me for not stating the obvious – that all pistols need to be carried in properly fitted holsters – we also have to be honest and admit some people may neglect this important safety consideration and a heavier trigger that is not as likely to be activated accidentally or through mishandling of the pistol may not be such a bad thing.

Takedown of the baby Glock for field stripping and cleaning is exactly the same as for every other Glock pistol. It’s completely safe and easy to do but dangerous as hell if steps are skipped. Here’s how to do it right: Unload the pistol. This means first removing the magazine and, with the pistol pointed in a safe direction, pulling the slide back to remove any ammunition from the chamber. Lock the slide to the rear by pushing up on the slide lock. Carefully check the chamber and magazine well – both physically and visually – to ensure the pistol is unloaded. Let the slide go forward and, with the pistol pointed in a safe direction, NOT AT YOUR HAND OR ANY LIVING THING, pull the trigger to unlock the action. The slide may now be retracted slightly and the slide lock pulled down. The slide is removed forward off the frame and the recoil spring lifted up from the rear and removed. The barrel is removed from the slide by lifting up the chamber end and lifting it out. No further disassembly is required for routine maintenance.

In the past few years I have had the opportunity to shoot most of the small 9s on the market. Some of the lightest ones are hard to control and a few are downright painful to shoot when fired with defensive ammunition. Not so the G43, which I found entirely controllable and comfortable to shoot with everything from ball to +P hollow points.  Perhaps it’s the basic design of the Glock with the frame absorbing much of the recoil energy, the double recoil springs and the bore line sitting so low in the hand, along with the extra weight of the G43 (compared to the lightweights), but it shoots surprisingly well. I fired Hornady’s excellent Critical Defense and Critical Duty ammo as well as a selection of Double Tap standard velocity and +P ammo, the most interesting being a 77 grain hollow point load at an advertised velocity of an astounding 1475 feet per second. Much to my surprise this load was mild shooting and shot to point of aim at 15 yards. During a couple of shooting sessions I failed to notice any difficulty managing the G43 trigger – it’s a Glock and it feels like a Glock and shoots like a Glock – being completely unremarkable and without undue drama. I guess the trigger wasn’t an issue, as I, and a couple of other shooters, had no difficulty hitting anything we cared to shoot at with the little pistol.

The G43 packs light in a well-designed holster and two of the best are made by Galco Gunleather. These holsters allow me to pack the G43 discreetly while still allowing for a quick presentation of the pistol. The first is their excellent Summer Comfort inside-the-waistband (IWB) holster. The Summer Comfort is Galco’s take on the classic IWB that many consider the best, most comfortable and quickest IWB holster ever made. The other holster is Galco’s excellent Stinger, an outstanding concealment belt holster for small revolvers and pistols. Both of these holsters hold the gun securely without the need for retention snaps and straps and are very fast. Galco’s Mike Barham tells me G43 holsters are selling as fast as they can make them, an indication of how interest in the newest Glock is driving business throughout the industry.

Manufacturers are scrambling to create accessories for the G43 and, as it turns out, LaserMax had a weapon light ready to go because they had designed it for the G42 last year and it just so happens to fit the G43 as well. Fitting on the dust cover and front of the trigger guard the LaserMax unit looks like it’s a part of the pistol when installed. Delivering 115 lumens of light in a wide pattern the light provides plenty of light for identifying a threat in every room and hallway in my house and I appreciate the way the switch is located to rest under my trigger finger when I’m keeping my finger off the trigger and alongside the frame. The light can be switched to a strobe function but I would like to see a green laser incorporated into the light housing. And, since holsters are hard to find for light-equipped pistols, LaserMax includes a pocket holster in the package with the light. Pretty smart, I think.

The Glock 43 9mm pistol is likely to end up being Glock’s top seller if they can manage to build enough of them to meet demand (made right here in the USA, by the way). If you’re already a Glock-person I need not explain this but for those of you who aren’t, you really should take a look at this pistol. As a general purpose pistol for those with small hands or as a concealed carry defensive pistol for anybody, the newest Glock has a lot going for it.

For further information: Visit www.us.glock.com

About the Author: Ed Head is a regular on Shooting Gallery, Gun Stories and Down Range TV. He has worked for almost 30 years in law enforcement, first in the United States Air Force and then with the United States Border Patrol, retiring as a Field Operations Supervisor. During his Border Patrol career, Ed worked in a variety of patrol, investigative and training capacities. Ed has an extensive background as a firearms instructor, having trained thousands, ranging from beginners to police, military and special operations personnel. Having taught at Gunsite for 20 years, Ed first trained there under the world famous shooting school’s founder, Jeff Cooper, then later ran the school as the operations manager for more than five years. Ed lives in Chino Valley, Arizona, where he continues to teach and write.