Glock 43 vs S&W Shield 9mm Pistols

Smith & Wesson shield versus Glock 43 let's check it out comparing the model of 42 block to the M&P shield both of these are 9-millimeter pistols they're both single stack there's a lot of features that are similar they're both striker fire pistols they both have polymer frames really hard steel slides and really to be honest with you either one is a an excellent concealed carry choice because of the size and because of the reliability both of these handguns have been proven to be very reliable but we want to look at some of the differences and if you're kind of looking at one of the other we may be able to answer some questions but to be honest with you it's all going to be personal preference putting this gun in your hand taking it to the range and trying to decide which one suits you the best I put a picture of this on Instagram and talked about which would you choose the shield or the Glock and I was really surprised at how many people chose the shield over the Glock and I mean really it was predominantly the MMP shield now I'm a big Glock fan but I also enjoy Smith & Wesson M&P s so let's take a look let's see what we've got that are the differences and we'll go from there both of these firearms have been safety-checked one of the big differences right out of the gate is magazine capacity your standard shield carries seven in the magazine one in the chamber your Glock magazine carries six plus one of the chamber so advantage to Smith & Wesson for the extra round and with the extra magazines the Glock still only holds six even though the base pad has a finger rest right here the Smith & Wesson with the baseplate carries eight and one so advantage again Smith & Wesson now there are some kits that you can get to extend the magazine capacity of your Glock for sure but we're going to be looking at it right out of the box and with that being said you do get two magazines with each course stainless steel magazines with the Smith & Wesson polymer magazines with the Glock but the Glock magazines do have a steel lining inside now there are some external differences with the two pistols of these and Wesson has an 18-degree pistol grip which is really more in line with the 1911 one of the things about the Glock is especially guys that shoot the 1911 a lot is the way this is cut in the back and this little hump it kind of changes the grip angle here you can see a little bit of the difference how the Glock kind of comes in more naturally the Smith & Wesson is actually about a quarter of an inch thicker in length of grip or width of grip with the Smith though you're going to get a little bit higher bore axis but almost negligible which leads us to the sights and as you can see the Smith & Wesson has the three dot sights the Glock has the standard Glock sights with the frame in the back and then a white dot at the front Smith & Wesson sights are metal and the Glock 43 sights are polymer the serrations on the slide are dramatically different on the Glock they're more just straight they're a little bit deeper on the shield they do have these scalloped cuts really makes it a nice effect and they're angled to where you can get a better grip when you're pulling back on the pistol but with the Glock this is a really easy way as well the texturing on the Smith & Wesson is located right here toward the back strap and it kind of comes around and then of course right here at the front strap on the Glock it does have more of the Gen 4 type pyramids all along the sides back in front strap as well the trigger guard on the Smith is rounded off whereas on the Glock it is squared off now the weight on these pistols is quite a bit different of the 20.2 ounces on the Smith on the Glock 43 17.9 so you have just a little bit over a 2 ounce difference between the two and really the Smith & Wesson shield is just a little bit of a larger pistol as you can see here the grip kind of comes down a little bit farther and especially when we put the slide the slide but as far as the length between here and here it's really close the Glock probably has a little more length with this little beaver tail area right here but one of the big things about that grip is that it's really thin and to be honest with you when you're grabbing the shield it feels like you got it a little more in control of it in the hand than you do with the Glock now that's going to make the Glock a little more concealable but not a whole lot there's not a whole lot of difference but there is some difference right here with the grip which is going to give you less for your pinkie now I have fairly medium sized hands but with especially with people with large hands you're going to have your pinkie hanging off the end here whereas with the shield you'd have a better chance of having a little more of a grip but as you can see it's still getting close of course with the extended base plates that fixes that it feels more like shooting a full sized pistol the barrel on the Smith & Wesson is 3.1 inches while on the Glock it's three point three nine inches so a little bit of a longer barrel one of the advantages that Smith has is that the barrel is crowned not so on the Glock 43 and with a shield you're going to have a little more protection if the gun is ever dropped the barrel actually protrudes just a little bit past the slide and small nicks and things like that can affect accuracy as far as the controls of the pistol of course you've got your mag releases here and here the mag release on the Smith is a little bit lower and it's oval the Glock does come out a little bit more its squared off and really I have to adjust my grip a little bit more with the Glock Magali s-- the slide stops are pretty decent I mean they're very thin pretty similar the Smith is just a little bit larger but not much but now the takedown lever on the shield is pretty large even though it rides really flat with the Glock of course you have this small little catch here that you pull down on either side so that is going to make a little bit of a difference when disassembling but not really that much of a difference when shooting and with the function of the pistol one thing that Smith does offer is the frame safety that is right here and of course I opted without that my performance center shield does have it with the Glock this is the only way it comes it does not come with a frame mounted safety so if that's important to you you're not going to get that on the Glock 43 now we're going to check the trigger the triggers are considerably different with the Glock of course it has the little safety bar right here again we're going to check to make sure the gun is a lot this just is a straight pullback and about five and a half pounds reset right there typical block trigger not super crisp a little bit mushy with the Smith & Wesson shield of course with a double check this has a pivot in the trigger it's actually a two-piece and then it blocks here so it's a little bit different the mechanism is a little different as far as the trigger pull it's a little more gritty a little more stuff going on right here and then once you hit here just a nice little take up and shot but the Smith & Wesson trigger to me is not all that great I think with the Performance Center trigger they did input enhanced trigger that was much better than this but we didn't check reset pull the trigger resets right there it's not tactile in fact you don't feel it you hear a little something moving around in there so I think the Glock has a much better reset if you are really serious about reset disassembly between the two pistols is different we're going to remove magazine check to make sure the gun is unloaded first thing you do with the Glock is going to pull the trigger bring back your slide about a quarter of an inch bring down your tabs and the slide comes right off with the shield you have a little bit of a difference drop your magazine check make sure it's unloaded what you do bring your slide all the way back and lock it into position bring your tab or your takedown lever down now the one difference is there is a small lever in here that actually disables your striker and you have to push it down and then once you push it down you can release your slide release and it comes right off now that is the recommended way by Smith & Wesson but to be honest with you instead of doing that you can just pull the trigger and the slide will come off as well of course your recoil spring guide rod they are captive and then we're going to bring our barrel right out smithing lessons same thing captive gay bride barrel comes right out here you can see the two pistols themselves and there are some differences but there are a lot of similarities slide obviously same thing reassemble the Glocks off your barrel in guide rod bring it on to the slide to the frame you're back in business with the Smith drop your barrel in guide rod take your slide and return it on to the frame engage your slide stop bring your lever around and release your slide stop again when you put your magazine in it will take that lever and put it right back into the right place as far as the grouping goes courses Smith & Wesson right here in the center good solid group I was aiming for that top line the first group with the Glock you know I felt like I was rushing it I tightened it up a little bit the second go-around and just put it right there and really I did I felt like I was kind of just rushing through the Glock so I felt like that the accuracy on both of these is about the same and this is at 7 yards using federal premium American Eagle 115 grain Full Metal Jacket easy to see targets as far as on the range shooting them side-by-side the Smith & Wesson handled the recoil a little better than the Glock not really super noticeable but you could tell a little difference I think one of the things is is more perceived because of the smaller grip on the Glock whereas you have a little more thickness in the grip with the shield now one of the things though is the trigger pull was better on the Glock the Smith has a little more creep the reset is not as definite with the Glock had a really nice reset one advantage of the block though is when pulling the slide back it is a little bit easier with the Smith there's a little more tension with the recoil spring these are small single stack pistols so you're going to get more recoil than you will with a full-sized pistol now one advantage that the Glock 43 has is that it is more ambidextrous you can take your slide release and move it on the shield it's pretty much dedicated to the side it's on now a real notable difference between the two pistols is price typically your Glock 43 s they run around the four hundred and thirty four hundred and fifty dollar range the Smith & Wesson shield I've seen them as low as three hundred and nineteen dollars but typically they're running around the three hundred thirty dollar range so we're looking at pretty close to a hundred dollar difference between the two pistols which is very significant one big advantage that goes to the Smith & Wesson M&P shield is its warranty they carry a lifetime warranty on their pistols with the Glock you have a one-year warranty and you know but their customer service is great as far as my personal preference both guns are just high-quality either one is suitable I shoot a lot of different guns and there are certain things that I do like but to be honest with you I just like shooting so for me you know I think that there are some advantages to the Smith and there are some advantages to the Glock and I think again it's just your personal preference size is a little bit smaller on the Glock yet you're Luke losing a couple of rounds with the extended magazine and one round with the standard magazine a little bit larger on the Smith the grips a little bit different a little bit heavier on the Smith so to me it's a little more comfortable shooting steel sights polymer sights you know they're just some things like that that are small little differences that may or may not sway you into choosing which one guys on both of these guns so actually this is my wife's concealed carry but I will feel confident carrying either one of these pistols Smith & Wesson shield and the Glock 43 thumbs way up be strong be of good courage god bless america long live the Republic comparing the comparing the model 42 shield with six rounds even though it has a finger groove

Channel: sootch00

Views: 1,177,015

Rating: 4.8886113 out of 5

Keywords: Sootch00, Sootch, Gun, Firearm, shooting, review, Self defense, 9×19mm Parabellum, Smith & Wesson (Business Operation), Glock (Brand), Single stack 9mm, 9mm, G43, Shield, M&P, S&W, Glock, Polymer framed, Strikerfire, CCW, Concealed Carry, EDC, Subcompact pistol, Compact, Comparision, Walther CCP, Ruger LC9, XD

Id: H6CVf1TKZyE

Length: 14min 53sec (893 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 16 2015