Range Report 7-14-15
Guns tested compared.
Glock 43 9mm with stock sights.
Smith and Wesson 340 with big dot night sights.
INTRODUCTION:
I recently purchased a Glock 43. I purchased this pistol to fill the role I used to use my Smith and Wesson 340 PD revolver for. That role being as a always gun. A gun that can be concealed in the hottest weather with the most restrictive clothing. IE something that can be dropped into a pocket and carried without needing a belt holster.
Before the Glock 43 the only gun size I would trust in this role was J frame Smith revolvers like the one tested. My reason for this was because over the years I have tried an assortment of .32 and .380 autos for this task and have found their reliability wanting and their ballistics wanting. The .38 special with +p loads in a J frame in my opinion is the lightest caliber option people should consider. The reason being the .38 with +p ammo is one of the few pocket pistol calibers that can reliably push a bullet 12 inches into ballistic gelatin while still providing marginal levels of bullet expansion. If you do carry something smaller like a .380 you have a choice between JHP rounds that will expand but will not penetrate 12 inches or using FMJ bullets that will penetrate deeply enough but with no expansion and tiny wound channels.
Anyway I wanted to compare these two firearms in terms of shoot ability. Myself and a friend ran through 4 simple drills at 10 yards. All of the drills started with the pistol in the low ready position to simply testing.
TESTING:
Drill 1.
Low ready start at the buzzer the shooter shot targets 1 through 3 with one round each using a two handed shooting stance. We each repeated this drill 3 times with each firearm. I threw out the worst run an averaged the two remaining for the results below.
Drill 2.
Strong hand/weapon hand only low ready start otherwise same as above.
Drill 3.
Weak hand/support hand only low ready start otherwise same as above.
Drill 4.
Two handed shooting stance, low ready start. Upon the buzzer the shooter would engage targets 1-3 with one round each and reload and repeat. Safariland Speed loaders were used with the revolver and the spare magazine with the Glock was used.
Results
Glock 43 Smith 340
Drill 1.
Greg 2.64 4.48 (Glock wins by 1.84 seconds)
Pat 3.01 2.96 (Smith wins by .05)
Drill 2.
Greg 3.61 5.22 (Glock wins by 1.61)
Pat 3.30 3.62 (Glock wins by .32)
Drill 3.
Greg 5.75 12.47 (Glock wins by 6.72)
Pat 3.68 8.81 (Glock wins by 5.13)
Drill 4 reload.
Greg 6.93 30.83 (Glock wins 23.90)
Pat 7.69 11.78 (Glock wins by 4.09)
During the testing on drill 2 and 3 there were some runs that were not recorded due to the shooter running out of ammunition due to misses before all the plates could be hit. The reload drill was better for me because Greg was not familiar with the speed loaders I used in this drill and I am more familiar with the J frame platform that he is. This was his first time shooting the Glock 43 and my second time. My first experience with the Glock 43 consisted of 10 rounds or so that I shot through a friends gun and became sold.
CONCLUSION:
Shoot ability:
The Glock was easier to shoot for a good margin especially when one handed shooting is required. The Glock is also far faster to reload. While it was not recorded above in the testing for fun we shot some steel targets out to 40 yards or so with the Glock 43 and could make hits easily not so much with the J frame. Advantage Glock
Terminal Performance (AKA stopping power which does not really exist with handguns)
As to the ballistic question I did not chronograph any ammo on test day but in the past I have found you can expect about 1200 fps with a .357 magnum 125 grain bullet from a 2 inch J frame and I have used my chronograph with +p 124 grain Federal HST in my previous Glock 26 with a velocity of 1125. However I did not carry full power magnums in my 340 as the recoil was very punishing. Instead I used Speer Gold dot .357 magnum 135 grain loads which is listed at 990 FPS. So potentially the .357 mag has the ballistic advantage but practically the 9mm has the advantage due to having far less recoil in the semi auto platform. Going to call this one a tie if you use .357 magnum loads and the 9mm a winner if you use reduced recoil .357 magnum loads or .38 special loads.
Reliability:
The Glock’s slide did fail to lock open on an empty magazine while Greg was firing with his support hand (weak hand). The Smith’s trigger did get more difficult to fire as the gun heated up and got dirty. Applications of oil solved this problem. Going to call this one a Tie.
Concealability:
The Smith does print slightly less in the pants pocket due to its more rounded shape. I have ordered a pocket holster for the Glock and will show photos later comparing both. The smith is also lighter being a Scandium framed revolver. Advantage Smith and Wesson 340.
Continuity of fire:
The Glock is a 7 shot pistol with the stock magazine and there are 2 shot extensions on the market now that make it into a 9 shooter. The Smith is a 5 shooter no matter what. I plan to carry the 43 with the flush magazine with a spare magazine using a 2 shot extension. That would give me 15 rounds total. With the J frame I carried just one spare speed loader or speed strip giving me 10 rounds total. Again advantage Glock here by a wide margin.
Versatility:
The Glock 43 with a 2 round magazine extension makes an very slim belt carry gun and with its standard 6 round magazine it’s also an acceptable pocket gun. The Smith in a belt holster in my opinion is just silly. Sorry advantage Glock.
Overall:
Glock wins and I will be selling my 340 Smith.
Anyone out there looking for a compact yet powerful concealment pocket pistol take a hard look at the Glock 43.
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