Reason for Glock 42/43 and S&W Shield having staggered mags?

[prolapse07ink]

Just wondering if there are some not so obvious benefits to the way Glock and S&W designed there "single stack" mags. You would think for small carry pistols they would want to make them as slim as possible like most other single stack magazines like the XDS, kahrs etc...

[T2C]

The magazine is staggered to squeeze in one or two more rounds.

[Will545]

The magazine is staggered to squeeze in one or two more rounds.

That doesn't make sense. lc9 and xds are both shorter than a shield and hold the same number of rounds in their mags. cm9/pm9 are the same height as a g43 and hold the same amount of rounds. A lot of pocket autos smaller than a g42 that hold same capacity. The staggered mags are not allowing higher capacity over true single stack mags.

[echo5whiskey]

That doesn't make sense. lc9 and xds are both shorter than a shield and hold the same number of rounds in their mags. cm9/pm9 are the same height as a g43 and hold the same amount of rounds. A lot of pocket autos smaller than a g42 that hold same capacity. The staggered mags are not allowing higher capacity over true single stack mags.

Are you comparing the size of the pistols or the size of the mags? There are other issues than could come in to play such as grip angle and gun design. I personally don't own any of the pistols mentioned here, or I'd do it myself.

[T2C]

That doesn't make sense. lc9 and xds are both shorter than a shield and hold the same number of rounds in their mags. cm9/pm9 are the same height as a g43 and hold the same amount of rounds. A lot of pocket autos smaller than a g42 that hold same capacity. The staggered mags are not allowing higher capacity over true single stack mags.

Why are they staggered?

[Will545]

Why are they staggered?

I don't know.