Montana-Based Shield Arms Taking Glock 43X to the Next Level

Montana-based Shield Arms builds parts and accessories that turn a run-of-the-mill Glock 43X into a next-level everyday carry pistol.

The Glock 43X is an attractive platform because it comes with that Glock durability built in, but it is not without its shortcomings.

For starters, the 43X ships with a 1o-round magazine which means 10+1 rounds of ammo is the maximum a homeowner or concealed carrier can have at the ready for self-defense at any given time.

Secondly, because the 43X is a single stack pistol, the grip is narrow, and trying to quickly put in a full magazine after dropping an empty one can be tedious.

Shield Arms addressed these two issues by doing something outside the box–they designed higher-capacity metal magazines to replace the polymer 10-round Glock mags, and they designed an all-metal magwell to make tactical reloads a breeze.

Shield Arms’ flagship 43X magazine is the S15. It is a 15-round magazine that seats into a 43X pistol, mounting flush with the bottom of the grip, just as Glock’s 10-round magazine does. Also available are the S15 +2 (17 rounds) and the S15 + 5 (20 rounds).

Because the Shield Arms magazines are metal instead of polymer, they will eat at the mag release, which is polymer. Shield Arms overcame this concern by manufacturing a metal mag release that can be installed in place of the factory one in about five minutes. 

Taken all together, the Shield Arms magwell, mag release, and S15-series magazines transform the Glock 43X from a 10+1 round single stack pistol to an up t0 20+1 self-defense round machine.

And all the Shield Arms’ Glock 43X products are “Made in the U.S.A.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly: awrhawkins@breitbart.com.