By Paul Lathrop | Contributing Editor
I had an occasion last week to amble into my local gun store to increase the size of the Lathrop family arsenal by one handgun.
My workhorse gun, a Gen 3 Glock 23 .40 caliber still works fine, however, my eyes are now feeling their years and the sights are getting a little hard to focus on.
When the young salesman greeted me, he asked what I was looking for. I told him that I was thinking of something more compact, and that would accept a red dot optic. He perked up immediately and pointed me towards the Glock model 43 x in the display case that came from the factory with a RMSc optic already installed, all for the bargain-basement price of $789.
Handling the gun in the showroom, it felt like a Glock, but a little thinner, and without the ridges for the fingers that I have grown accustomed to over the last several years. To make a long story a little shorter, my credit card took a hit for almost $1,000. After all, I needed extra mags and ammunition for it, and after a 10-minute delay for the form 4473 to clear while the FBI figured out how to process my paperwork, I walked out with my new pride and joy.
Earlier today was the new Glock’s first trip to the range. The magazines that come from the factory are 10 round single stack mags, however, there are aftermarket mags by Shield Arms and ProMag that have a 15 round capacity. Filling the factory mags is definitely something you will want a tool for. Despite having stuffed my mags for the G23 hundreds of times with just my thumbs for pressure to full capacity, when I got eight rounds into the ten round mag, I just couldn’t force any more bullets in with just thumb and finger pressure, so it was time to swallow my manly pride and ask my wife if I could borrow her Uplula tool for filling magazines.
As I took to the firing line, the very first thing I noticed was that the red dot was very bright at this indoor range, and when my sights were on target, the red dot showed up exactly at the center of my front sight.
Firing the 43x is very Glock-like. The recoil is about what you would expect from a Glock 19, even though the 43x is four and three-quarter ounces lighter than the 19. One thing that does help is the 3.41-inch barrel. There is barely any muzzle flip when firing, and the sights seem to want to come back on target all by themselves.
One glaring change is that the audible click and slight spring feel of the trigger as it hits the reset point is gone. You can still feel the point where the trigger resets, it is just far less pronounced than in its bigger brothers.
As far as shooting performance, the 43x put the rounds where the sights and red dot indicated they would go. Overall, the gun shoots better than I do.
I have to get used to the much slimmer frame. I find that my trigger finger has to be readjusted after I get a firing grip as with a lot less gun to go around, my trigger finger naturally wants to squeeze the trigger below the first joint, rather than in the pad where your fingerprint is, or even with the first joint just resting on the trigger.
I will say that the RMSc red dot does make finding where I am pointing the pistol a lot faster. For precision shots, I am on target and ready to fire a lot quicker than with iron sights.
Another bonus to the slimmer frame is the gun is very concealable. You will need a new holster, as it is the only Glock that comes in this size.
Will the 43x become my daily carry gun? Not right away. Although it is more concealable than my workhorse G23, the slim nature of the gun and the odd way my finger naturally lands to squeeze the trigger assures me that I need a lot of practice with it, and I would like to have a professional trainer work with it and me to be certain that in an emergency I can use it every bit as well as I can my old workhorse.
