Shield Arms Glock Upgrade

The Glock 43 has been a successful slim line 9mm handgun. Like all Glocks, it has proven reliable, which is the bottom line for personal defense. If a pistol cost more than the Glock, then be certain you are getting your money’s worth; if the pistol costs less, it’s possible corners have been cut somewhere. The Glock pistol is reliable asis and I don’t like to mess with success making me cautious concerning any type of modification to defense pistols.

I generally don’t recommend aftermarket triggers as they can be a liability on a defense gun for many reasons. Aftermarket sights area good thing, especially self luminous iron sights. The Glock 43X and Glock 48 introduced a ten-round factory magazine as an improvement over the original seven-round Glock 43. The new pistols also have a handfilling grip some prefer.

While ten rounds seems a good reserve for most defensive situations many concealed carry handgun carriers prefer a higher capacity pistol, however, most pistols housing fifteen round are much larger than the Glock 43X. Shield Arms (Shield Arms.com, has engineered an innovative and reliable system for upgrading the Glock 43X to a fifteen-round pistol in their patent-pending S15 Gen 2 magazine.

There are no grip frame or magazine well modifications necessary and these magazines are the same length as Glock’s standard ten rounders. These are steel magazines, not polymer containing a steel inner frame as the Glock ten-round magazines are. Factory Glock magazines are reliable and rugged in operation and there would have to be a compelling motivation for a modification or aftermarket part and the product would have to represent a genuine improvement. Some aftermarket parts are not reliable.

In this case, after considerable research field testing and interviews with several shooters I have found Shield Arms magazines reliable. The metal bar is the Shield Arms magazine release. There would appear to be sufficient offset that the metal magazine catch does not wear on the polymer frame.

While the Shield Arms magazines fit and operate without changing the magazine catch, the wearing of a metal magazine against a polymer magazine catch would not be ideal and probably give trouble eventually. Shield Arms offers the Standard S15 Mag Catch, a metal magazine catch that is well designed. I found it dimensionally exact, requiring no modification or file work to fit and function in the Glock 43X test gun. The first chore in this project was to replace the factory Glock polymer magazine catch.

The first step is to be certain the pistol is cleared of all ammunition. Remove the magazine, rack the slide and lock it to the rear, placing a finger tip in the chamber and viewing the magazine well to be certain the pistol is unloaded. Then lower the slide and field strip the pistol normally. Looking toward the magazine catch, a bright light is good to have as you look into the magazine well. Illumination is necessary although I suspect some Glock specialist may do this by feel.

There is a leveraged spring in the magazine housing that holds the magazine catch and provides power for the magazine catch to return to position after pressing the magazine catch to release the magazine. Removing the magazine catch isn’t difficult. Along hooked tool works well. Over the years I have made quite a few tools for express purposes. A tool that is simple and inexpensive is a dental pick; not a high grade tool that a Doctor of Dentistry would use but a simple drug store pick.

These things really get in some tight places. That or a hooked tool of some type works well. The spring is picked up and out of its notch in the magazine catch. Then you roll the catch out or wriggle it out to one side. This isn’t difficult. The Shield Arms magazine catch is aluminum rather than polymer and the fit is exact, fitting easily into the Glock frame. Replacing the wire spring is simple enough, however, it sometimes takes a bit of play to get the spring locked back in place.

Some I spoke with actually remove the magazine catch spring and then reinsert and re-hook the spring after fitting anew magazine catch. I think that with the small frame gun removing the spring is easiest. The new metal latch isn’t an extended type, which is all to the good when wearing a pistol concealed and close to the body. The Shield Arms magazine catch is well designed and positive in operation. The checkered control surface is positive in operation.

It seems that there is enough off set from the Glock polymer frame that wear of the metal catch on a polymer frame will not be a concern. I have noted that several high capacity magazines in compact and sub-compact pistols are very difficult to load to full capacity. The Shield Arms magazines feature strong springs but are not difficult to load to full capacity. I had on hand four magazines and tested them for fit and function, loading and unloading the pistol repeatably.

Function is good and the magazines area good fit. There is no problem in magazines locking in place. When the metal magazine catch is installed, however, the original Glock magazines stick a bit when released. They function normally and lock in place properly but when they are removed they do not drop free. Since the new magazines are the point in installing the metal magazine latch this isn’t really a drawback. The Shield Arms magazines were loaded with full metal jacketed ammunition.

I had four magazines, (three blue finish and one stainless finish) on hand, a reasonably large test sample. I had one difficulty, finding the stainless magazine would not accept more than thirteen cartridges. The pistol was fired quickly through all four magazines a total of 58 car-

After the firing test this one is covered in powder ash internally. The Shield Arms parts work well. tridges. The pistol and the Shield Arms magazines never failed to feed, chamber, fire, or eject. I also loaded a magazine with a mix of 115, 124, and 147 grain jacketed hollow point loads. Cycle reliabil- WOOX Outdoor Wholesale WOOX Outdoors is offering a Dealer Program for their catalog items.

They have no Minimum Order Quantity and items have a 30-35% margin based on the company’s Minimum Advertised Pricing with larger retailers eligible for additional discounts based on order quantity. ity is very important with different loads having a different recoil impulse and the pistol continued to function. The Glock 43 was also fitted with a Talon grip covering with good results. WOOX stock options combine the traditional look and feel of wood with modern design functionality.

Recently added is their new Mossberg 88/500/590 aftermarket furniture, including their buttstock, So far as I am able to determine the Shield Arms magazines and magazine catch conversion for the Glock 43X and Glock 48 are well designed and executed. I have confidence enough to adopt the modified pistol as part of my personal defense battery. The single magazine that did not accept fifteen rounds will be returned to the maker under warranty.

AG forend, stockless Shockwave-style club grip, with bundle purchase options available. For rifles, the Merica bolt-action chassis and stock from WOOX encompasses the classic look and feel of wood with increased utility. Handcrafted in Italy from genuine American Walnut and AA 7075 aircraft-grade aluminum, the rear stock has aggressive checkering on the grip, four quarter-inch spacers and a microcell butt pad, and a QD sling swivel.

The vented fore end of American walnut sports M-LOK rails located at the 3, 6 and 9 o’clock positions for mounting accessories geared to any application, from predator and big game hunting to competition shooting. Chassis op-