Skin That Smoke Wagon<\/strong><\/h3> It’s been said, by myself and many others, that one of the most important skills you can develop with a firearm is the draw stroke. You can’t fight with a gun until it’s in your hands, so learning how to smoothly and quickly present the pistol from a holster is a critical component of self-defense. This can be challenging with the Glock 43. Small pistols that are valued for their low profile and ease of concealment naturally have less grip area to securely grab onto during the draw stroke.\u00a0It’s very common for people to fumble the draw with these small guns, even during practice on a shooting range with no additional stress.<\/p>
Besides consistent practice and good technique<\/a>, the best way to mitigate these challenges is through careful holster selection. The first step of the draw stroke is to get a\u00a0full firing grip<\/em> on the gun with the dominant hand. Ideally, before you even start to remove the gun from the holster, you should have the same grip on it that you’ll have when it’s out at full extension and ready to fire. Whether you carry in a strong side belt holster or a 1 o’clock “appendix” holster, achieving a full firing grip is easy with a well designed holster, but\u00a0a poorly designed holster can\u00a0make it difficult, or even impossible.<\/p> ![\"Dark](\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/full-firing-grip.jpg\")
<\/a>A good holster design allows the shooter to achieve a full firing grip on the gun before drawing.<\/figcaption><\/figure> The key features to look at\u00a0are ride height and thumb clearance. Many holsters are designed with comfort and concealment as the primary considerations, with access being an afterthought. When the gun rides low, the grip may blend nicely into the belt line, but if there isn’t enough clearance for your fingers between the waistband and the\u00a0front strap of the grip,\u00a0it’ll be tough to get that full firing grip.<\/p>
Thumb clearance is often hindered by a sweat guard — the raised part of the holster that provides a buffer between the body and the back of the slide. Todd Green posted a good example<\/a>\u00a0of this earlier this week. A sweat guard doesn’t necessarily have to be problematic, but if it prevents the web of the hand from getting as high up on the back strap as possible, a full firing grip can’t be achieved until the gun is partly lifted out of the holster.<\/p> I carry the Glock 43 in an appendix inside the waistband holster from Dark Star Gear<\/a>. It has an adjustable ride height and a minimal sweat guard that keeps the rear sights from poking me in the gut\u00a0but\u00a0is strategically cut to allow a full firing grip. There are tons of holsters available for the Glock 43, but this is the kind of attention to detail you get when you buy a holster from someone who develops a design based on actual real world use and not comfort alone.<\/p> ![\"Glock](\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/G43-dark-star.jpg\")
<\/a>AIWB holster from Dark Star Gear. Note that the sweat guard doesn’t cover any part of the back strap.<\/figcaption><\/figure> High Visibility<\/strong><\/h3> Besides the small grip, another quirk\u00a0of the Glock 43 that could slow you down in a fight is\u00a0the factory sights that come with\u00a0the pistol. Like all other Glocks, the G43 ships with flimsy\u00a0plastic sights that have\u00a0a white dot painted on the front and a u-shaped white outline on the rear. Aside from their tendency to occasionally break off the slide with hard use, they really aren’t that much worse than the metal sights with three white dots that most other companies use as the default option, but that’s hardly a compliment<\/a>.<\/p> Contrary to what\u00a0Internet Experts\u00a0might tell you, seeing the sights is an\u00a0important component\u00a0of fighting effectively with a handgun. It’s true that under the stress of an attack, many people panic and forget to bring the gun to eye level and line up the sights. Sometimes they manage to hit the target anyway, and sometimes they don’t. But we also have many first-hand reports of gun fight survivors who distinctly recall using their sights in the heat of the moment, and, believe it or not, these folks tend to end up with a hit percentage much higher than average. According to some research, among the factors that separate the “spray and pray” shooters from the sight users are regular practice and high visibility sights<\/em>.<\/p> ![\"G43-sights\"](\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/G43-sights.jpg\")
<\/a>Glock 43 with Trijicon HD night sights.<\/figcaption><\/figure> The major problem with the factory sights on the G43 is the lack of\u00a0visibility.\u00a0There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for pistol sights, but if you’re in immediate danger and have to draw that pistol, you probably want sights that are easy to see. I don’t have a strong preference for what’s on the rear sight, but I like to see an obnoxiously bright color on the front sight — something I can’t possibly miss. I’ve got Trijicon HD night sights on my Glock 43, with a bright orange ring\u00a0on the front sight. There aren’t many lighting conditions in which night sights are actually all that helpful and I don’t consider them a “must-have” — the bright front sight and wide u-notch in the rear were\u00a0the selling points for me. If you don’t mind the factory sights being plastic, a similar effect can be achieved by blacking out the rear sight with a marker, and some fluorescent orange paint or nail polish on the front sight. A fiber optic front sight is another high visibility and cheaper alternative to night sights. In any case, if you can only afford to make one modification to your Glock 43, I recommend upgrading the sights.<\/p>
Trigger Warning<\/strong><\/h3> After improving the sights, many Glock 43 owners will be tempted to start tinkering with the trigger. Good trigger control is key for quick and accurate shooting,\u00a0but even experienced shooters with solid fundamental skills will be slowed down by a lousy trigger.<\/p>
There have been a variety of reactions to the quality of the trigger pull on the G43. This could be\u00a0due to differing personal tastes or variations in manufacturing, but I suspect it’s some combination of both. The trigger on my Glock 43 weighs in at about eight pounds with the uneven “squishy” quality that all Glocks seem to have. No matter how you look at it, that’s a heavy trigger when the gun itself weighs only one pound.<\/p>
<\/p>
![\"G43-shell-casings\"](\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/media\/G43-shell-casings.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>
<\/a>The key features to look at\u00a0are ride height and thumb clearance. Many holsters are designed with comfort and concealment as the primary considerations, with access being an afterthought. When the gun rides low, the grip may blend nicely into the belt line, but if there isn’t enough clearance for your fingers between the waistband and the\u00a0front strap of the grip,\u00a0it’ll be tough to get that full firing grip.<\/p>
Thumb clearance is often hindered by a sweat guard — the raised part of the holster that provides a buffer between the body and the back of the slide. Todd Green posted a good example<\/a>\u00a0of this earlier this week. A sweat guard doesn’t necessarily have to be problematic, but if it prevents the web of the hand from getting as high up on the back strap as possible, a full firing grip can’t be achieved until the gun is partly lifted out of the holster.<\/p> I carry the Glock 43 in an appendix inside the waistband holster from Dark Star Gear<\/a>. It has an adjustable ride height and a minimal sweat guard that keeps the rear sights from poking me in the gut\u00a0but\u00a0is strategically cut to allow a full firing grip. There are tons of holsters available for the Glock 43, but this is the kind of attention to detail you get when you buy a holster from someone who develops a design based on actual real world use and not comfort alone.<\/p> Besides the small grip, another quirk\u00a0of the Glock 43 that could slow you down in a fight is\u00a0the factory sights that come with\u00a0the pistol. Like all other Glocks, the G43 ships with flimsy\u00a0plastic sights that have\u00a0a white dot painted on the front and a u-shaped white outline on the rear. Aside from their tendency to occasionally break off the slide with hard use, they really aren’t that much worse than the metal sights with three white dots that most other companies use as the default option, but that’s hardly a compliment<\/a>.<\/p> Contrary to what\u00a0Internet Experts\u00a0might tell you, seeing the sights is an\u00a0important component\u00a0of fighting effectively with a handgun. It’s true that under the stress of an attack, many people panic and forget to bring the gun to eye level and line up the sights. Sometimes they manage to hit the target anyway, and sometimes they don’t. But we also have many first-hand reports of gun fight survivors who distinctly recall using their sights in the heat of the moment, and, believe it or not, these folks tend to end up with a hit percentage much higher than average. According to some research, among the factors that separate the “spray and pray” shooters from the sight users are regular practice and high visibility sights<\/em>.<\/p> The major problem with the factory sights on the G43 is the lack of\u00a0visibility.\u00a0There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for pistol sights, but if you’re in immediate danger and have to draw that pistol, you probably want sights that are easy to see. I don’t have a strong preference for what’s on the rear sight, but I like to see an obnoxiously bright color on the front sight — something I can’t possibly miss. I’ve got Trijicon HD night sights on my Glock 43, with a bright orange ring\u00a0on the front sight. There aren’t many lighting conditions in which night sights are actually all that helpful and I don’t consider them a “must-have” — the bright front sight and wide u-notch in the rear were\u00a0the selling points for me. If you don’t mind the factory sights being plastic, a similar effect can be achieved by blacking out the rear sight with a marker, and some fluorescent orange paint or nail polish on the front sight. A fiber optic front sight is another high visibility and cheaper alternative to night sights. In any case, if you can only afford to make one modification to your Glock 43, I recommend upgrading the sights.<\/p> After improving the sights, many Glock 43 owners will be tempted to start tinkering with the trigger. Good trigger control is key for quick and accurate shooting,\u00a0but even experienced shooters with solid fundamental skills will be slowed down by a lousy trigger.<\/p> There have been a variety of reactions to the quality of the trigger pull on the G43. This could be\u00a0due to differing personal tastes or variations in manufacturing, but I suspect it’s some combination of both. The trigger on my Glock 43 weighs in at about eight pounds with the uneven “squishy” quality that all Glocks seem to have. No matter how you look at it, that’s a heavy trigger when the gun itself weighs only one pound.<\/p> <\/p> <\/a>High Visibility<\/strong><\/h3>
<\/a>Trigger Warning<\/strong><\/h3>
<\/a><\/p>