Bigger, Longer, and Optics Cut: The Taurus GX4 XL

@TheGreatDeception S&W beat Glock to the punch with interchangeable backstraps, a single stack 380, and a single stack 9mm.

Glock is lucky that the M&P 1.0 had so many initial problems, the Bodyguard 380 sucks, and that there were still people that hadn't bought M&P Shields by the time that they made like competition.

But SIG? Everyone had to respond to the P365. SIG's success in bifurcating their handgun market in to high volume and high margin lines is something that S&W's been doing for years with their Performance Center line without as much success.

That being said, I don't know if anybody is as hardcore about enforcing MAP as Glock is. S&W and SIG sure aren't.

@Beju I truly, truly doubt Glock sees S&W as much as a threat, Glock got millions when Smith decided to produce a $200 G19 copy(the Sigma), plus Glock has dozens upon dozens of military contracts around the world for their handguns, incl. SOCOM, S&W has 0. S&W survives because they always price their product closer to a Ruger than a Glock or a Sig. Remember those $199 Shields Bud's was blowing out pre-Covid? Remember those $250 Sigma blowout sales from everyone from Bud's to Impact Guns? Anyone who claims Smith's polyer guns are as quality and reliable as Glock is living in la la land.

Walther & HK had interchangable backstraps well before Smith, Smith learned a lot when they were selling Walther and noticed the success of a single stack PPS, along came the Shield.

Glock sees Sig as a MUCH bigger threat than Sig. Look at the amount of new models Glock has released in the last decade (G42, G43, G43X, Gen 4FS Summer Special, G44 .22, Gen5, MOS models, etc. and now that Glock is pretty much maxing out their safe action pistol design, that is why they have been working on a .223/300BLK rifle since at least 2019, the patents can be found online. Sig is also securing various military/LE contracts, even outside the USA which is what Glock is known for, yes they're a threat.

@Beju The P320 was a meh product that mostly sat in the case while Glocks and M&Ps went out the door. Then Sig won the MHS contract because they were the low bidder and internet gun guys with names like HKfan just had to have the new "Army gun." It must be the best because the government bought it!!!. Meanwhile real gun guys like Eli Dicken just carry a stock pistol for a week or two and take down a rifle armed shooter amid the chaos from 40 yards.

@TheUnspoken It ends with a significantly thinner Glock 19 sized pistol. If Gaston could ditch the plastic mag while saving face & money we’d already have it.

@TheUnspoken I appreciate the humor in your timeline, but I see it less as fickleness than responding to varying needs. Many of us carry a micro when we need to, and a pistol that fills an adult male hand when we can.

Where do we go from here?

Ideally, SIG supports its newer and better modular platform, which (unlike the chunky P320) offers genuine potential to be a year-round, one-size-fits-most pistol.

@Wunder Nein The first time I handled a G48 it was when my buddy handed me his, and it was an ergonomic revelation to me. I like full size pistols but 17/19s have always felt like bricks, but the G48 fits just right.

My buddy's revelation was that Shield Arms mags existed. I agree with you 100% but suspect the 365 platform is more likely to dust Glock than that Gaston realizes no one cares about the polymer shell on his mags.

@TheUnspoken The next step is back to 40 oz carry pistols. /sarc.

The firearms industry is like any industry that produces durable goods. It must generate demand by creating shiny new objects. It isn't practical to make a 9mm pistol smaller than a P365 so any shiny new object must get bigger.

@Wunder Nein “ It ends with a significantly thinner Glock 19 sized pistol”

Arex delta m is 70% there

@Aono If Glock had gone with metal mags on the G43X/48, no customers would've cared.

If Glock ever releases a new G17/19/45 without backwards compatible magazines, I feel like the whining would be endless. Barring metal magazines being necessary for a national army contract, I can't see Glock doing it.

@Beju 100% agree, but then they shouldn't have to. Sig is basically laying out with their 365 line all the things Glock should do with the 43X/48 platform, to Wunder Nein's point.

48 moved up a bunch of spots in my "want" list after handling it. I was shocked how well it fit my mitts, and I'm one of those insufferable hipsters who can't get enough of HK and CZ.

@TheUnspoken I taught a young lady to shoot ... she showed up with an arm full of pistol boxes everyone had sold her as " THE BEST " for ladies. HOLY COW !!!

The last box and the BEST fit for her hand and size was a GLOCK 48 !!!
Fit her like a glove... she's a bit small.

She shot BETTER than I do with it, credit card size groups at 7 yards... and it fit me like a glove too !!! I bought one next gun show from an old buddy there... and I don't own any GLOCKS ... he just smiled...

Single stack 9 mm with 10 + 1 capacity ... I believe that'll work . Now where is that holster ???

@Aono " 17/19s have always felt like bricks" ...

Thus the reason most of us don't shoot them well. Ergonomics !!!

( Now I do love my 1911s ... )

@survivor50 I think the main reason people don't shoot full size Glocks well is that they really hard-require a good thumbs forward pinch grip in lieu of the natural beer can grip. You really have to train to shoot them well and that starts with a grip that works for the brick. Of course this doesn't help for one-handed shooting...

@Aono I got that ... but it's the HEIGHT of arrogance to tell pistol shooters of 50-60 years, that we now have to learn HOW to shoot " THIS " gun .

I'm no Miculik ... but I shoot pretty good with everything I pick up, and I shoot USPSA and IDPA with a variety of guns from several manufacturers. Then comes GLOCK BLOCKS and it's a SHOTGUN pattern ... Yeah ... there's a PROBLEM there somewhere... and I still love to use my 1911s in .45 and 9mm... and they work fine for me... and nearly everyone else.

The G-48 is the exception. I can ring steel at 100 with the little thing (See happy face > ) ... :-)

@survivor50 I mean, I'm not THAT offended that the Glock bricks drove the adoption of Bob Vogel's pinch grip. It took me a long time to "get" that grip in terms of how your pinkies twist apart and crank the base of your thumbs into the frame. Made me a much better handgun shooter when it finally clicked for me. Ultimately I think that everyone is a little different with regard to what shoots "naturally" for them. That said for me personally and probably for a great many people, grips other than Glocks work even better with the Vogel grip.

I'll never forget the first time I picked up a full size Tanfo 10mm frame and have it just melt into my hand compared to the 17/19. That's pretty much when I lost all interest in Glocks - until the 48.

@Aono DITTO ... and I own a double stack .45 that is WAAAAY too big for my RUBIO hand... still... I shoot it better than I ever thought I would... The SON tried it, and he's a tad smaller than ME... and he " ADOPTED " it for his EVERY DAY CARRY !!! And it works for him . I'll probably never get it back now...

@Aono Seeing HK P30s as low as six hundo lately has gotten me tempted to add one to the menagerie, but then I'd have to figure out on whether to get the V3 or V1.

@survivor50 Haha. When I picked up my Tanfo 10mm from the FFL the dealer asked if he could try it as he was himself on the lookout for a double stack 45 sized frame that fit his hands. He wasn't happy with it unfortunately.

My hands could have been the model for Mechanix L gloves, those fit like they were poured on and lots of people know how those gloves fit them. I think of that as basically average hand size (but maybe that's actually M? no idea). I'm saying that I SHOULDN'T have issues with the Glock bricks, but I just don't like them. It wasn't until I handled a Caracal that I realized that at the end of the day pure nominal hand size doesn't matter for squat. It's all about individual fitment. The Caracal had a hump that was downright painful. My favorite Striker is an Archon and that has a weird hump on the beavertail that they say is there to help squeeze your tendon, which sounds painful on paper - but in practice it happens to work fine for me. I think it's all individual.

@Beju Funny, I've been watching P30L prices drop as well because I really want one as a silencer host. My plan is to get a V3 then convert to LEM, while retaining the spurred hammer (decocker might as well be retained because it's pre-cut into the slide on V3 DA/SA).

You can't convert LEM to V3, only the other way around. I really like the idea of being able to manage the hammer on an LEM, and I also really want an LEM and not another DA/SA in the collection - go HK, go all the way, right? Will likely also go for the straight trigger and Lazy Wolf or Gray Guns package. Wright Armory Acro mount.

@Aono My Q-5 Match is a pretty good fit, and it works all the way out to the Rams at 100. It's my production Competition pistol .

NOW ... one of the guys convinced me the H&K VP 9 is a good deal ... I'll try before I buy ...

@survivor50 The VP9 is a joy. The only reason I don't have one yet is because I want a P30L as a silencer host first. She doesn't know this yet, but I'm waiting for B&T to come up with their rumored VP9 USW chassis so I can then get the SO a VP9, "because mag commonality."

Chess, not checkers

@Aono SO many TOYS ... so little time ...

@Aono If I ever got one, it would just be a range toy (realistically, I'm just going to keep carrying my P365XL most days, or Ruger LCR if I want to go lightweight/more concealable), so the DA/SA V3 probably makes more sense for me.

@Beju Yeah, this wouldn't be for carry but full time dedicated suppressed for me. I.E. life in the handgun safe and/or range fun.

@Aono Oh yeah, I've also got a P226 DAK for LE focused trigger weirdness. So like LEM, but with a crappy heavy reset!