I’m not a huge Glock fan. I respect them as well-made firearms that are simple, reliable, and easy to use. What I really love about the Glock series of pistols is their inherent modularity. You can take a Glock and upgrade it to the moon and back. I recently got my hands on a Glock 43X and made some upgrades, including the Tyrant Designs magwell.
The TD Magwell adds a little extra length and width, but not much.
Magwells are pretty simple. They act like a funnel attached to the bottom of your grip, allowing for faster and more intuitive reloads. That’s the idea anyway. Like most things, especially in the gun world, sometimes they suck. Some magwells exist to funnel money from your pockets, not magazines, into your gun. Let’s find out if the Tyrant Designs magwell is worth the price of admission.
Breaking down the Tyrant Designs Magwell
My initial skepticism of the Tyrant Designs Magwell comes from the fact that it’s designed for a concealed carry firearm. Magwells often find a home on full-sized guns designed for competition, or maybe duty use. A magwell on a concealed carry pistol might be nothing more than a slick ornament with a pretty color.
The TD Magwell matches the Glock’s black frame perfectly.
Speaking of pretty colors, you can get your Tyrant Designs magwell in a wide variety of colors. Red, blue, grey, gold, aluminum, and black. I went with black. I’m not a big fan of bright colors on carry guns, and black matches the frame. Tyrant Designs mills these bad boys from aluminum and anodizes the finish onto the magwell.
It’s a fat-mouth lady looking for love.
Tyrant Designs claims the magwell will work with factory magazines with extensions, the Shield 15 magazines, and other aftermarket options. I can confirm they work with stock OEM magazines, magazines with Tyrant Designs extensions, and ETS Glock 43X/48 magazines without issue.
The Tyrant Designs Magwell adds just a little extra length to your pistol. At its longest point, the Tyrant Designs Magwell adds about a quarter-inch to the length of the grip. That extra quarter-inch does provide my big hands a nice little pinky rest, so I don’t necessarily hate the extra length. Weight-wise my scale reads it off as .40 of an ounce total.
Installing the Tyrant Designs Magwell
According to Tyrant Designs, their installation method is patented, and I could see why. It’s stupid simple and takes no time or effort. In the back, a screw fits into a soft grip plug. Loosen the screw from the plug with just a few rotations and then slide the plug into the hole and the magwell over the grip.
The install takes no time or effort.
Tighten the screw down, and you’re done. I expected more drama. Rarely do I find something advertised as easy to actually be easy. However, I’ve put it on, taken it off, put it on again, taken it off again, and it’s a non-issue. It pops on and off without any drama.
The TD Magwell acts as a minor pinky extension as well.
I tried my hardest to pry the Tyrant Designs Magwell off the bottom of my Glock 43X. I pried and pulled and fought with the damn thing to see if I could get it off the gun. It was yanked, pulled, pushed, and wiggled—and it never moved. The attachment system works well for being how simple it is.
Putting Work In
So is the Tyrant Designs Magwell worth a spit? Or does it just look cool? Well, to find out, I needed to get some reloads in. We grabbed a few different magazines, some 9mm ammo, and hit the ground running. A NeoMag was used for each reload and a shot timer for objective data.
OEM Mags, Mags with extensions, and ETS mags all work perfectly with the TD Magwell.
I started with the magwell off and warmed up a bit with slow but practiced reloads. After I felt good with the NeoMag, I popped the shot timer on and began chasing time. After five reloads, I popped the magwell on and did five more reloads.
The Tyrant Designs magwell works without issue with ETS Extended magazines.
Every five reloads, I swapped the configuration of the gun. As you warm up more and more, you are bound to get faster. If I did 20, no magwell reloads and then 20 magwell reloads, I could be faster with the magwell because I’ve already got twenty practice reloads in. Alternating having the magwell on and off allowed me to better gauge the speed of my reloads.
Averages Matter
After a few dozen reloads, I can comfortably declare that the Tyrant Designs magwell works and works well. When I averaged the times between reloads, it came down to a difference of almost three-quarters of a second in favor of the magwell. That seems like a Scott Bakula-style quantum leap, but the average is skewered.
The skewered average comes from a few fumbled reloads without the Tyrant Designs magwell. I’d slap the side of the Glock’s magazine well and goof up my reload. When the Tyrant Designs magwell was locked into place, I could goof it up, but the magwell funneled the magazine into the gun without causing me to slow down significantly.
Reloading is faster and more intuitive with an enlarged magwell.
If I wasn’t a goof, it wouldn’t matter, right? Well, everyone goofs up, and if something can help you reduce your human error, it might make the juice worth the squeeze. That’s why I like magazines that hold as many rounds as possible, it’s why I like red dots, and why I like compensators. These increase my ability to succeed.
What’s the best time I could accomplish outside of a somewhat skewed average? Well, I got those numbers too. Without the magwell, I had a hard time breaking the 2.5 second mark, with a 2.42 being my absolute fastest.
The Tyrant Designs magwell not only trims time off your reloads, but helps eliminate human error.
My overall fastest time with the Tyrant Designs magwell in place was 2.29 seconds, with the median in the 2.35-second range. Shaving off a little more than a tenth of a second is nice, but reducing human error is where I see the biggest benefit. I like that it can help compensate for my own faults and failures.
The Human Error
The Tyrant Designs magwell doesn’t suck, or even kind of suck. It’s a functional addition to your Glock 43X or Glock 48 pistol. If you want to speed up your reloads while reducing human error, then this simple addition can surely help. Popping it on takes no time at all, and while it adds a little length and weight, it won’t compromise concealment. (It also adds a nice edge to a pistol-whipping, just saying.)
Chest out a Tyrant Designs mag extension for a few extra rounds.
Does a magwell strike your fancy? Would you stick one on your concealed carry gun? If so, let us know below. Share your thoughts on the subject.
Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine Gunner, a lifelong firearms enthusiast, and now a regular guy who likes to shoot, write, and find ways to combine the two. He holds an NRA certification as a Basic Pistol Instructor and is the world’s Okayest firearm’s instructor.
Not all optics are cut out for every application. Some work great for concealed carry, some for range guns, some for duty pistols. In this video, Hilton Yam of 10-8 Performance reviews and ranks his favorite pistol optics for duty use. As a law enforcement veteran and tactical trainer, Yam has seen through pistol optic windows a few times and created a list of his favorite and least favorite red dots.
Like many of us, Yam started out shooting a Trijicon RMR, the first serious pistol-mounted red dot on the market. It more or less defined what red dots would be moving forward. It became so popular that all these years later, the RMR mounting footprint is the most common platform on the market. Almost all red dots offer an RMR-style mounting interface. Starting with that, let’s see Yam’s list of pistol-mounted red dot optics.
Yam starts with his basic criteria for what makes a good duty pistol optic:
•Rugged and reliable
•Low profile enough, particularly on the deck, to allow use of commonly available optic-height sights
•A common footprint – do you need to modify the slide for an uncommon mounting footprint, or does the optic have cross-compatibility?
•Should fit into common duty holsters without modification – some agencies don’t allow for modification
•Good battery life, typically at least one year as the measurable standard
•How easy is the battery to load in? Does it require removing the optic to change or can it be done from the top of side?
Trijicon RMR
Considered the gold standard of optics in its day, the Trijicon RMR has been surpassed in some areas.
Rugged, reliable, low profile enough to use common sights, the Trijicon RMR is the common footprint—the one that started it all. It fits most duty holsters because they are made around the RMR pattern. Battery life is more than one year. One major strike against the RMR is the bottom-loading battery compartment that requires removing the optic for replacement.
Leupold Delta Point Pro
The Leupold Delta Point Pro pistol optic has a couple of strikes against it.
Strike one: It is so tall that it requires unique sights and is incompatible with any of the sights that work with all the rest of the optics on the list. Good position of the battery right on top and easy to replace and service. Strike two: Only one button to toggle all the settings, which can be confusing and easy to get wrong. Ruggedness and reliability are spotty, based on field reports.
Aimpoint ACRO
The Aimpoint ACRO is optically accurate and durable with a side-load battery, but the battery life is lousy.
On full settings, the battery lasts around three weeks on the normal setting, which is way below the year threshold. It also does not fit into the Safariland ALS holster, so that’s a deal killer.
Trijicon SRO
Due to the forward structure, the SRO doesn’t fit into any duty holster.
Trijicon itself admits the SRO is not meant to be a duty optic because it does not survive the 6-foot drop test, but the oversized window and top-load battery make it appealing.
These check all the boxes with ruggedness, reliability, and great battery life with solar power boost, the common RMR footprint for 507C and 508T, and low profile for common sight compatibility. To offset the questions of reliability, Yam shows us the two he has mounted on his EDC and range guns.
The Envelope, Please…
What were Yam’s final results? Which ones did he like the best and least for a duty pistol? Find out here…
David Workman is an avid gun guy, a contributing writer to several major gun publications, and the author of Absolute Authority. A logophile since way back, Workman is a quickdraw punslinger and NRA RSO and Certified Pistol Instructor. He helps train new shooters on basic handgun skills and CCW requirements and is a strong advocate for training as much as practicable. “Real-world shootouts don’t happen at a box range.”
Another day, another Glock and another aftermarket company popping out Glock magazines. That’s not a complaint, just an observation. I think more mags and more Glocks are better than fewer Glocks and fewer mags. The late series of centerfire Glocks includes the G43X and G48 single stack firearms. The latest magazine to hit the streets is the G48 and G43X ETS Mags.
ETS made its name by producing affordable magazines for various platforms. They often provided extended magazine options for firearms that don’t traditionally have extendos as options. My G43X ETS Mags are just that, extended magazines for a single stack concealed carry piece.
The G48 slash G43X ETS Mags deliver 19 rounds of 9mm in a very curious and interesting magazine design. At the top, we get the single stack design we know and love from the G43X and G48 pistols, as the magazine reaches the portion where it extends from the grip. From there, it becomes more like a traditional double stack.
This single stack to double stack model isn’t that rare; it’s the same way Sig Sauer and Springfield Armory fit so many rounds in their compact magazines. It’s a bit odd to see the same thing applied to an extendo, but we know it’s effective.
Big, red, translucent, and it packs 19 rounds.
From tip to butt, the G43X magazines measure out to 6 and 3/4s inches. The magazine extends 2 and 7/8 inches below the grip itself. The design allows capacity to nearly be doubled situs slot gacor without having to double the length of the magazine itself. ETS designed the magazine with great efficiency.
As always, the magazines are made from an advanced polymer blend that’s resistant to cracking and breaking. It’s also resistant to chemicals and UV light. Unlike Glock OEM magazines, the ETS mags lack an internal layer of metal. This makes them non-magnetic in general, so they won’t work with NeoMag devices.
Oh, and they are clearly translucent. (Get it?) They come in clear and party time red.
Durability Testing —Do these things work?
That’s the big question most of you have. If you plan to use the G48 and G43X ETS magazines for anything beyond plinking, they need to be reliable and durable. I set out to find how much abuse one could take.
Let’s drop this big thing on a cinder block and see what happens.
First, I dropped it unloaded—just let it clack to the ground from shoulder height on a variety of surfaces. This included hard limestone ground, sand, and concrete bricks. I let it fall from the gun and dropped it on its sides and on its feed lips.
I dropped it so many times one of the bullets had some setback in the casing.
From there, I loaded the G43X ETS magazine with 19 rounds of brass-cased 9mm and repeated the tests with a loaded magazine. I remember some of the first-generation Glock ETS magazines would eject a ton if not all their rounds when dropped.
Sand is pretty brutal on anything gun-related.
Luckily that issue has been seemingly solved with the latest generations of ETS magazines, including these G48 and G43X ETS mags. I dropped it on its side, bottom, and tip, and only a single round would eject when the fully loaded mag hit the deck.
Shoot, Shoot, Shoot
After I dropped it, exposed it to sand, and generally beat the hell out of it, I figured it was time to see if the dang thing still cycled without issue. I popped it in the G43X, held my breath, and proceeded to squeeze the trigger as fast as possible.
Each and every round cycled without a single issue. The magazine-fed, so I decided to start the entire durability test over again. I dropped it, and dropped it, and loaded it, then dropped it again. By now, enough sand had squeezed itself in the magazine that it rattled around, and I felt the friction as I slid round after round into the gun.
Let’s shoot, shoot, shoot with the ETS magazines.
The follower ground along, and admittedly I felt more resistance as I loaded it. However, it loaded the 19 rounds without issue, and I let it loose once more. 18 of the 19 rounds fed, fired, and ejected without issue. The 19th didn’t raise quite high enough for the slide to catch it.
I gave the mag a healthy slap, the follower slammed upwards, and the final round fed and fired.
Is This Realistic?
My durability testing is a bit atypical and not necessarily realistic, but it proves the magazine can take some abuse and still function rather well. Like most things, it can’t eat a healthy diet of sand and limestone and be expected to function.
The G43X has a surprising amount of magazine options.
I stripped the magazine down and gave it a good wash with water to clean the sand out and let it dry. Unlike Glock OEM magazines, it’s not a hassle to take apart by any means. After it was cleaned and dried, I loaded it up with 19 rounds and fired a final string. It fled flawlessly once the sand was liberated like an oil-bearing middle eastern country.
Why an extendo for a concealed carry gun?
Here is the big question. What’s the practical purpose of an extendo like these G43X ETS magazines? There are lots of reasons for extendos. Number one, this is America, so if I want, I should have it. Second, extendos are just fun to shoot with. Neither of those reasons is necessarily practical, though.
It extends a few inches below the grip, so it’s not exactly suitable for concealed carry.
You don’t need a practical reason to own a G48 or G43X ETS magazine, but I can give you some. As always, more bullets are better than fewer bullets, especially when your firearm has tasks beyond concealed carry. For some people, one gun is all they have. It pulls double duty for concealed carry, home defense, and beyond.
In the home defense role, the 19 round G43X ETS magazine offers a heckuva lot of rounds for defensive purposes. The more you have in the gun, the better for home defense. Packing a reload isn’t likely when something goes bump in the night and a 19 round magazine grants you a good bit more firepower.
19 rounds beats the hell out of 10 rounds for defensive use.
Road Trippin’
Beyond home defense, an extended magazine like the G43X ETS magazine packs a punch for traveling. A long road trip will have you packing your G43X with its standard 10 round magazine but having an extended option for emergencies is far from crazy. When you spend the night in hotels and such a 19 round magazine opens up your defensive capabilities.
10, 14, and 19 rounds give the G43X lots of options.
Packing on the Rounds
The G48 and G43X ETS magazine is an awesome option for topping off your mag with a few extra rounds. A few extra being 9, or almost double the OEM magazine capacity. These mags can take a healthy amount of abuse and keep click-clacking, although be aware everything might need a little TLC here and there.
If you want to exercise your freedom, packing a few extra rounds for defensive purposes, or just reduce the need to reload, then G43X ETS mags keep you covered. Literally, they allow you to lay down cover fire if necessary.
Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine Gunner, a lifelong firearms enthusiast, and now a regular guy who likes to shoot, write, and find ways to combine the two. He holds an NRA certification as a Basic Pistol Instructor and is the world’s Okayest firearm’s instructor.
I’ve always loved shotguns and likely always will. I like to turn everything into a shotgun, and I’ve finally found a means to turn my everyday AR 15 into a shotgun. I’ve always wanted the ability to throw an upper on a standard rifle lower and call it a day. Obviously, that limits my caliber to a relatively small shotshell, and in the United States, that means 410 bore. My AR 410 dreams came true due to firearms importer Charles Daly.
Charles Daly imports firearms from all around the globe, and often some are quite interesting. Their shotguns and shotgun parts tend to come from Turkey, and I don’t doubt my AR 410 came from the same place. Let’s be clear, this is an upper only, and it’s designed for Mil-Spec AR 15 lower receivers.
My AR 410 upper has been tossed on a BCM lower setup I’ve had sitting around. It squeezed on without issue and locked right in place. The Charles Daly AR 410 comes with a buffer you are supposed to use with the upper. They advise that if you don’t, you can damage your gun, and in no uncertain terms, they will not cover any damage caused by using the wrong buffer.
Why?
Well, you might be asking why the heck do I need a 410 upper for my AR 15? Well, you likely don’t; I wanted it because I think it’s neat. AR 15 lowers are like bows, and the wide variety of uppers you can use are like different arrows.
My collection of uppers is much like a quiver of arrows. I have one for everything and every potential task. I didn’t have a specific need for a AR 410, but I sure wanted one. It seemed like it would be a fun pest eliminator that could decimate squirrels, rabbits, and other pests that plague my country-living lifestyle.
This Upper setup comes with a buffer and its drop-in and go installation.
It’s also a semi-auto option for a 410, and I didn’t have one of those. All of it was dirt cheap. The upper cost me a cool $230 at my local gun store. That’s cheaper than a dedicated semi-auto 410.
The AR 410 gives me a 410 shotgun with AR-like controls and, of course, AR modularity. I can strap on any number of stocks, pistol grips, triggers, sights, and more. AR ergonomics are already pretty freakin’ sweet, and keeping those ergonomics will be a plus for some. If you know how to shoot a AR 15, you’ll now know how to handle an AR scattergun.
The AR 410 delivers small game and pest control options for the modern shooter.
A 5.56 upper and a 410 upper gives you options for killing most game around the southeast United States. From small pests to deer and hogs, I’m covered with one gun.
To comply with NFA laws, the barrel is 19 inches long, so it’s a little longer than your standard carbine. The AR 410 upper comes equipped with a short quad rail for mounting lights, lasers, cup holders, and beyond. Along the top, we get an optics rail, and Charles Daly even included iron sights with the gun.
Predictably the AR 410 utilizes gas operation. You can’t exactly fit an inertia system into this thing. The manual also states the gun is equipped with a choke, but it most certainly isn’t. It’s not threaded for chokes by any means.
Quad rails are relatively old school these days but it still works for tacking lights on.
The AR 410 also features this weird barrel shroud thing. It’s slotted and capped at the end. This shroud is completely removable and reveals a skinny little barrel that looks a little silly. The barrel end is threaded, but I’m not sure of any shotgun compatible muzzle devices.
The weird barrel shroud makes the scrawny little barrel look a little less scrawny. It’s a push-up bra for the AR 410.
Other than that, it’s all AR 15. You get a stock standard upper receiver with a forward assist and dust cover. The charging handle is massive and beyond mil-spec for sure. It’s nice and chunky and easy to work with.
Look at that big chonkin’ charging handle.
Weight-wise this thing comes in at 4.9 pounds total. It’s a little chunky when compared to more modern upper receivers. The quad rail, 19-inch barrel, and barrel shroud certainly add a little heft to this big beast. However, it never feels tough to manage.
Ammo Compatibility
Semi-auto shotguns are notoriously ammo picky. As the gauge shrinks, they tend to get pickier. Most 12 gauge shotguns offer plenty of reliability, a good deal of 20 gauges do well, but 410 guns require a good deal of knowledge about your chosen load and shotgun.
Some 2.5-inch shells are longer than other 2.5 inch shells.
As you’d expect, the semi-auto AR 410 will do better with hotter loads. We’ll talk a little more on that later, but first, we need to address actual ammo compatibility. First and foremost, as a mag-fed gun, you are reliant on both the magazine and magwell to accommodate your chosen caliber. As such, you are stuck with 2.5-inch shells with the AR 410. No 3-inchers for you magnum boys.
Both of these are 2.5-inch shells, but only the shorter works in the magazine.
The thing about shotgun shells is that no two are ever the same. When we say 2.5 inches, we are talking about the pre-crimped measurement. When crimped, the shells are actually a good deal smaller. The 2.5-inch shells need to measure 2.29 inches or smaller to fit in the AR 410 magazine.
Oh Yeah — Let’s Talk Magazines
The Charles Daly AR 410 comes with a simple polymer 5 round magazine. Five rounds is for the birds and J-frame revolvers. The good news is you can find magazines that go into the 10 and 15 round capacities. This extends your capabilities a good deal, and who doesn’t want that?
The included five-round AR 410 mag keeps things legal for hunting, but five is never enough.
The included magazine is a polymer PMAG wanna-be. We get nice texturing, a robust follower, and a compact design. It also feeds quite well, and the five-round capacity does make it legal to hunt within my state. Although for birds, I’ll need to plug it to three rounds.
Scatter Lead Downrange
Let’s hit the range with our AR 410! I loaded up a small smattering of buckshot and slugs mixed with various birdshot types. Sadly the market is somewhat flooded, and most of my 410 buckshot is the 3-inch variety. I would’ve loved to try a wider variety of 410 buckshot and slugs, but right now, that’s tough to do.
Before I went to the range, I tossed an HS509T on the AR 410 and did a quick zero with buckshot loads. I love these little optics on shotguns and use the circle and dot reticle. The circle is for buckshot, and the dot is for slugs.
I did have a ton of birdshot to dispense, and as the cheapest type of ammunition, I figured most people would be shooting this more than anything else. I loaded up a pile of birdshot in the 1150 to 1250 FPS varieties.
Imagine my surprise when it all cycled relatively fine in the AR 410. The lighter 1150 didn’t present any more issues than the 1250 stuff. That being said, the gun is only about 95 percent reliable. I did get a fair amount of failure to ejects that slowly declined the more I shot. Most of the time, the gun ran perfectly fine with the occasional hiccup here and there.
With the 19-inch barrel, it’s a rifle-length upper but still feels compact. I’d normally find this unacceptable. However, I have a soft spot for the AR 410. I’m not using it for anything serious, so I don’t mind a few issues here or there. There aren’t enough jams or failures to be frustrating, and for how cheap the upper is I can’t hate it.
What About Buckshot and Slugs?
The higher quality Federal and Winchester buckshot ran without issue. The Federal slugs also ran flawlessly. As mentioned, the mixture of slugs and buckshot only totaled 20 rounds, but all 20 ran perfectly.
Patterning showed no surprise for a cylinder bore 410 at 15 yards. It’s good enough to take a moderate-sized game. If I was hunting anything larger than a coyote, I might prefer a big caliber just for the fact that I only get three 00 pellets in a 410 load.
The AR 410 is a blast to shoot.
I’d also not choose a 410 for home defense. If recoil sensitivity is a big issue, then the 20 gauge shotgun is a better choice for defensive use.
Recoil and Muzzle Rise
The recoil is roughly the same as a 5.56 round. It hardly moved, and my petite, recoil-sensitive wife found the gun pleasant to shoot. Muzzle rise was also minimal and easy to control when firing rapidly. My Holosun 509T’s red dot barely moved, even when I was firing rapidly. It stayed on target, and I could swap between targets quickly and efficiently with every load type.
Thumbs Up?
I like the little thing! It’s my pest obliterating beast that offers rapid follow-up shots for animals that tend to group together. When I hunt for rabbits or squirrels, I’m often getting several at a time, and being able to rapidly transition from target to target is nice and handy. Being able to hunt with a familiar platform makes it quite easy to transition controls, mount accessories, and customize the gun.
I wouldn’t use the AR 410 beyond small game hunting, pest killing, snake eliminating, and plinking. 410 doesn’t offer me the pellets or power I want from a shotgun, but it provides me with a compact and lightweight platform.
Besides, it’s damn fun to shoot.
Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine Gunner, a lifelong firearms enthusiast, and now a regular guy who likes to shoot, write, and find ways to combine the two. He holds an NRA certification as a Basic Pistol Instructor and is the world’s Okayest firearm’s instructor.
Have you ever looked at your magazine and thought, this thing needs more rounds? Well, if so, then your options are pretty limited, and outside of bending time and space, you might want to consider a magazine extension. Tyrant Designs makes magazine extensions for several different handguns including the Glock 43X and Glock 48 series. I recently got my hands on a Glock 43X and immediately set out to fix Glock “Perfection.” One upgrade I dived into was a Tyrant Designs magazine extension.
A little extra length, but it lets you tack four extra rounds to your mag — that makes it (at least in our opinion) a solid choice for Glock 48 or G43X accessory.
The Glock 43X offered me ten rounds of 9mm, but I’m greedy, so I wanted more, and I wanted it now! The Tyrant Designs magazine extension grants me +4 rounds. I’ve got near Glock 19 magazine capacity now, in a much smaller package.
The mag extension is made from aluminum, milled, and anodized in a wide variety of colors. Included with the Tyrant Designs magazine extension is a longer 10% power spring to accommodate the now longer magazine design.
The Tyrant Designs Magazine Extension is made entirely from aluminum.
At first glance, the Tyrant Designs magazine extension is well crafted and beautifully milled. The scalloped sides and textured rear allow for an easy and sure grip. The color is evenly applied, and the grey really pops.
Tyrant Designs magazine extension…on a concealed carry gun?
Yeah, I know. At first glance, it doesn’t make much sense. Why would I want a long magazine for a concealed carry gun? Won’t it just give me a Glock 19 sized rear end with a Glock 43 sized front? Yes, in fact, it does.
However, I’m not carrying the Glock 43X with the Tyrant Designs Magazine extension.
I’m carrying the Glock 43X with a standard OEM 10 round magazine and packing my extended model as a backup magazine. I can toss this thing in a NeoMag, a belt-mounted magazine pouch, or pretty much any other practicable spare magazine carry option as a backup.
Boom, it’s easy to pocket with the right carrier.
I figure if crap hits the fan hard enough that I need to reload, I might as well reload with as much ammo as possible, right? Fourteen rounds give me the fighting power of a much larger gun, and I’ll likely never need it, but I feel comfortable having it.
Outside of the extra ammunition it offers, I do find the longer magazines easier to draw when compared to the shorter and thinner OEM mags. That hunk of metal that makes up the Tyrant Designs magazine extension serves as a great grip for reloading.
Who doesn’t want a little extra girth and width?
The extra length and scalloped side provide a rock-solid grip.
The scalloped sides allow you to grip the magazine with a little slip-proof protection. They let you dig in nice and deep when gripping the magazine and allow you to spin it into action. My fat fingers have gripped a magazine minimally and sent it flying, and I gripped and ripped it. A little extra texture provides an awesome amount of grip to prevent people like me from being clumsy monkeys.
I still hate the Glock magazine base plate system. Why do they make removing a baseplate so difficult? Every other magazine in the world comes apart with ease, but Glock magazines like to be difficult.
Anyway, once I removed that snug little bastard, I installed the Tyrant Designs magazine extension. It snapped on relatively easily. It stays in place via a spring-loaded plunger. This design makes taking it apart much simpler than the stock Glock method.
Once installed you are ready to rock and roll.
The new +10% spring is a little tricky, but once you get a good grip on it, you can slide the magazine extension into place. Once locked in, the mag extension stays put and has zero wiggle to it. To remove it, press down on the plunger and press the magazine out.
Nothing too complicated, and you can easily revert back to an OEM stock magazine. OEM Glock magazines measure out to 4.25 inches, and the Tyrant Designs magazine extension measures out at about five and 3/16th inches.
We got our gun, our magazines, and our Tyrant Designs magazine extension in place. All that’s left is to hit the range and test my theory regarding this being a great spare mag option. I brought out my NeoMag spare mag holder and hit the reload work. Although, first, I needed to make sure the thing works.
Loaded down with some quality brass-cased Winchester White Box, I hit the ground running. I’ve been practicing some Jeff Cooper drills for an article I’m writing, and it seemed like a good time to see if the Tyrant Designs magazine extension worked. I needed to ensure it fed ammo reliably and didn’t degrade the boring nature of Glock reliability.
I ran through multiple incarnations of the Mozambique drill, the Dozier Drill, and the El Presidente without issue. The gun chugged along without issue and functioned just like it would normally. I was pleased by the mag extension’s performance and found it had zero effect on reliability.
Oh, and the Tyrant Designs magazine extension worked perfectly with the Tyrant Designs magwell. I mean, it better work, right? I was happy I didn’t need to remove the magwell to use the mag extension.
One for the gun, one as a spare.
Every time I hit the reload button, the magazine dropped like a rock. That extra weight helps that mag pop out. I’d imagine in a serious malfunction situation, that extra grip area would make ripping the magazine out possible.
The magazine with Tyrant Designs Magazine extension works! It works exceptionally well and fires and functions reliably. How does it work as a spare magazine? Well, it actually works well. With the NeoMag, I worked with both the stock OEM 10 round magazine, and my Tyrant Designs enhanced magazine.
Who doesn’t love an extra 4 rounds?
Without a doubt, the longer, magazine extension-equipped magazine works better for reloads. I can grab that thing like an animal and put it into action. The Tyrant Designs Magazine extension provides so much more gripping surface than the standard magazine. Better yet, the extra grip space makes it easy to retrieve and easy to slam home.
It’s almost an inch longer but conceals just as easily as the standard 10 round magazine. It disappears into my pocket without issue using the same NeoMag I use for my regular OEM magazine.
Gun, Knife, and Spare Mag make an EDC happy.
I think my theory has proven itself fruitful. The Tyrant Designs Glock 43 X magazine extension provides four more rounds and makes the magazine easier to retrieve and easier to reload. It’s a slight upgrade that gives you a little more go-juice when the fecal matter hits the fan. While we’re talking about Tyrant Designs, check out some of their other Glock 43X and Glock 48 gear, like the G48/G43X magwell, extended mag release, and universal 9mm T-comp compensator.
What do you guys think? Does a little extra ammo appeal to you? Let us know below.
Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine Gunner, a lifelong firearms enthusiast, and now a regular guy who likes to shoot, write, and find ways to combine the two. He holds an NRA certification as a Basic Pistol Instructor and is the world’s Okayest firearm’s instructor.
The term ‘budget optic’ often creates a reaction in me that is akin to what happens when I hear nails on a chalkboard. Budget optics usually suck, even though people will often defend them till they’re blue in the face. Optics from no-name companies on Amazon find themselves on rifles way too often. However, there are always exceptions to the rule, and the Bushnell TRS 25 seems to be one of those exceptions.
The TRS 25 is super cheap, but does it work?
The TRS 25 came out years ago and has since steadily proved itself to be the alpha when it comes to budget optics. I remember distinctly avoiding it purely due to its price tag. I assumed with such a low price, and it was just more junk. However, one way or another, my curiosity overwhelmed me. I kept seeing the TRS 25 pop up and hearing good things about it. So I finally purchased one.
It’s lived it’ss life mainly sitting on a 9mm PCC for several years now. I think I have a pretty good opinion on how the ole optic holds up.
Bushnell TRS 25 Specs
The TRS 25 falls into the realm of being a compact red dot. The objective lens is 25mms wide, and the whole package is only 2.5 inches long. Weight-wise you won’t feel anchored by the 3.6 ounces you’re strapping to your gun.
Bushnell includes a low mount integrated into the optic but adding a high mount is easy and gives you that AR-height co-witness that we all know and love. The Hi-Rise model makes this a one-and-done thing, but you can use any Picatinny rail riser if you so choose.
A cheap optic combined with a cheap magnifier gives a budget option for cheapo carbines.
The TRS 25 packs 11 brightness levels in its simplistic and old-school rotating brightness wheel. In the middle setting, it will last for 5,000 hours. Not too bad for an optic that utilizes a CR2032 battery.
To keep things versatile, you get a 3 MOA red dot that would make it a natural on centerfire and rimfire rifles as well as shotguns and even sport-style pistols like the Ruger MK series. The little 3 MOA dot works rather well for most firearms.
The TRS 25 looks like a million other bottom-barrel grade red dots. They all tend to have a similar design, but somehow the TRS 25 rises above that. Perhaps Bushnell was more demanding with their Chinese contractors, or they just put out the right specs to the right people.
The TRS 25 provides an efficient low cost option for shooters on a budget.
Budget red dots is a spectrum of red dots. Depending on who’s saying it can mean anything from the junk tier optics that cost anywhere from 30 to 60 dollars I mentioned previously to options from Holosun that cost a couple of hundred bucks. The TRS 25 sits anywhere from 80 to 120 bucks depending on the mount included.
The Dot
That 3 MOA red dot does do something different than most budget red dots. Most hit the 2 MOA mark, making them solely for rifles. That little extra size makes this dot a little more versatile. It’s not the crispest, clearest circular dot. It certainly has some rough edges to it when you compare it to a more expensive dot.
It’s tough to see the green hue, but it’s there in real life.
The 11 brightness settings are important to consider. Can a budget optic get bright enough to see during the day? I can tell you the TRS 25 certainly can. I live in the sunshine state, so my optics gotta get nice and bright. The TRS 25 works perfectly at high noon at settings 8, 9, and sometimes 10.
At the higher brightness levels, you’ll see some halo effect in the optic. Also, the wheel that controls the brightness level is a major hassle. It’s stiff and doesn’t move easily. To be fair, I’d prefer it to be stiff than loose. (There is a joke in there somewhere.)
To the Church of Steel and Lead
Mounted on my el-cheapo PCC, I’ve used the optic to put hundreds of rounds down range and for numerous range trips. It’s a fun gun beyond anything else and came from my early days of AR Tom Foolery when the purse strings were tight, and 9mm cost eight bucks a box. The TRS 25 is a very fitting red dot for this blue-collar build.
What you first notice when looking through the lens on the TRS 25 is a noticeable greenish hue to it. That is the reflective coating that allows you to see your red dot. The coating allows all light except red to pass through it, which captures the light emitted from the emitter and gives you a usable aiming point.
Going pew pew with the TRS 25.
The reason you see so much hue, especially compared to other dots, is that the coating is cheaper and likely applied a bit thicker. These coatings allow you to have a bright dot that uses less power.
The second thing you’ll notice is a big square sitting in the lower right quadrant. That is your emitter, and it’s glued in place. That’s kind of the norm with cheap optics. It may bother some—my TRS 25 even came with a warning letting you know what it is and that your dot isn’t broken and this glob was normal.
Zeroing requires a flat head tool or brass casing. It’s simple, and the dot moves 1 MOA per click. It’s not precise, but it’s also a red dot and a red dot range that’s precise enough. Once you got the dot on target, the fun can begin.
Through the Paces
I’ve put thousands of 9mm rounds downrange with the TRS 25, and admittedly, 9mm ain’t much of a challenge to the topic. However, its zero has never budged, and the optic has yet to fail me. If I turn it on and it doesn’t work, then I just gotta swap batteries, and I know it comes right back to life.
For you kind folks, I tossed it on a more potently powerful boomstick in the form of a 12 gauge pump-action shotgun. I wanted to see if that emitter would flutter, the dot fail, and if the zero would falter. We couldn’t do it with just birdshot, so I loaded up some standard Federal Buckshot into a Sentry 12 shotgun and let it loose.
Can it stand up to the 12 gauge recoil?
I made sure to focus on the dot to see if it would flicker off between shots. That’s often a clear sight of poor battery connection. In 20 rounds of buckshot, it remained on. My shoulder might’ve been feeling it, but the TRS 25 soldiered through.
I popped it back on the PCC and let it fly. The zero held without issue. Not too bad, but next, I strapped it to my ASP Red Gun and dropped it. I dropped it from shoulder height and I dropped it on both sides and the top a few times.
Bye-bye little fella.
That emitter must be tough because it held zero once I tossed it back on my PCC. It’s a sturdy little optic.
Downsides of the TRS 25
The TRS 25 is a robust, durable red dot option that provides a truly budget-friendly experience. As such, it often functions well above its price point. Most optics priced this low wouldn’t stand drops, falls, or even rough recoil. Mine has been in use for years without an issue and for several thousand rounds. (Admittedly, most were 9mm from a rifle.)
A post drop TRS 25
The optic does have a couple of downsides related to the dot. If you move it up and down and left to right rapidly, you’ll see the dot ‘stretch’ a bit, kind of like a cheap laser pointer. It’s not a huge deal, but a little distracting when transitioning from target to target.
It also does have that halo effect on bright settings that’s just a little annoying. If you can get past those flaws, you’ll find a great little optic. I wouldn’t use it for duty use, but for home defense and range use, it’s a great little dot.
Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine Gunner, a lifelong firearms enthusiast, and now a regular guy who likes to shoot, write, and find ways to combine the two. He holds an NRA certification as a Basic Pistol Instructor and is the world’s Okayest firearm’s instructor.
The Glock 48 is the pistol many gun owners have been waiting on for some time. It’s a Slimline 9mm — not technically a single-stack, but close to it — sized to more comfortably fit a wider range of shooter’s hands and maintain the expectations of Glock durability. The gun officially launched in 2019 alongside the Glock 43X, which is slightly shorter, and has ended up with a lot of fans. In this video, the guys at Practically Tactical take their first shots with a two-tone Glock 48 and offer their first impressions.
Nick and Jeff of Practically Tactical talk about the Glock 48. (Photo Credit: Practically Tactical)
Glock 48 Basics
Nick and Jeff get started discussing the general details and basic points of the Glock 48. They point out that its dimensions are similar to those of the Glock 19, just in Slimline width, and that Glock has a solid reputation backing it up.
This gun’s overall weight is 20.74 ounces empty and 25.12 ounces with the standard 10 +1 magazine loaded. While it was launched at the same time as the 43X, the 48 model has a slightly longer barrel (the 43X’s barrel length is 3.41 inches and the 48’s barrel is 4.17 inches long). That little bit of extra length is exactly what some shooters prefer, whether for balance or accuracy reasons.
Love at first shot? You’ll have to watch the Practically Tactical video to find out. (Photo Credit: Practically Tactical)
First Shots
The Glock 48 delivers some things as expected, like the Glock factory trigger, but the ergonomics of the gun seem to fit many shooter’s hands better than the double-stack models do. The match-grade Marksman Barrel performs as promised by nailing tighter, more precise groups than many older generation Glocks. And if you’re at all disappointed in its 10 +1 capacity with the standard factory magazines there are other options out there including a truly extended 19 +1 capacity magazine from ETS. Tyrant Designs +4 magazine extensions are also an option for greater capacity without making the gun impossible to conceal.
Live Fire
One of the great things about the video is that you get to see not one but three shooters try out the Glock 48 for the first time. That means different hand sizes, varying stances, and a trio of opinions. Check out the video below:
Glock 48 for Concealed Carry?
There are quite a few upsides to using the Glock 48 as your EDC (EveryDay Carry), including:
•Capacity
•Concealability
•Durability (Glocks are proven to be extremely tough guns.)
•Caliber (9mm is pretty much the current gold standard for self-defense calibers.)
•Precision (This gun isn’t only accurate, it’s beautifully precise.)
•Longevity (You’ll get serious life out of the barrel.)
•Ergonomics
Get Hands-On!
It’s always a good idea to get your own hands-on time with a gun. If at all possible, check out the Glock 48 as a rental at a range near you (or find a friend who has one you can run at the range). And if you don’t normally enjoy Glocks due to how thick they are, this one might surprise you. Try it out before you form an opinion, just like the guys at Practically Tactical did.
The Glock 48 has a lot of things to recommend it. (Photo Credit: Practically Tactical)
Kat Ainsworth Stevens is a long-time outdoor writer, official OGC (Original Gun Cognoscenti), and author of Handgun Hunting: a Comprehensive Guide to Choosing and Using the Right Firearms for Big and Small Game. Der Teufel Katze has written for a number of industry publications (print and online) and edited some of the others, so chances are you’ve seen or read her work before, somewhere. A woman of eclectic background and habits, Kat has been carrying concealed for over two decades, used to be a farrier, and worked for a long time in emergency veterinary medicine. She prefers big bores, enjoys K9 Search & Rescue, and has a Master’s Degree in Pitiless Snarkastic Delivery.
I’ve always loved shotguns and likely always will. I like to turn everything into a shotgun, and I’ve finally found a means to turn my everyday AR 15 into a shotgun. I’ve always wanted the ability to throw an upper on a standard rifle lower and call it a day. Obviously, that limits my caliber to a relatively small shotshell, and in the United States, that means 410 bore. My AR 410 dreams came true due to firearms importer Charles Daly.
Charles Daly imports firearms from all around the globe, and often some are quite interesting. Their shotguns and shotgun parts tend to come from Turkey, and I don’t doubt my AR 410 came from the same place. Let’s be clear, this is an upper only, and it’s designed for Mil-Spec AR 15 lower receivers.
My AR 410 upper has been tossed on a BCM lower setup I’ve had sitting around. It squeezed on without issue and locked right in place. The Charles Daly AR 410 comes with a buffer you are supposed to use with the upper. They advise that if you don’t, you can damage your gun, and in no uncertain terms, they will not cover any damage caused by using the wrong buffer.
Why?
Well, you might be asking why the heck do I need a 410 upper for my AR 15? Well, you likely don’t; I wanted it because I think it’s neat. AR 15 lowers are like bows, and the wide variety of uppers you can use are like different arrows.
My collection of uppers is much like a quiver of arrows. I have one for everything and every potential task. I didn’t have a specific need for a AR 410, but I sure wanted one. It seemed like it would be a fun pest eliminator that could decimate squirrels, rabbits, and other pests that plague my country-living lifestyle.
This Upper setup comes with a buffer and its drop-in and go installation.
It’s also a semi-auto option for a 410, and I didn’t have one of those. All of it was dirt cheap. The upper cost me a cool $230 at my local gun store. That’s cheaper than a dedicated semi-auto 410.
The AR 410 gives me a 410 shotgun with AR-like controls and, of course, AR modularity. I can strap on any number of stocks, pistol grips, triggers, sights, and more. AR ergonomics are already pretty freakin’ sweet, and keeping those ergonomics will be a plus for some. If you know how to shoot a AR 15, you’ll now know how to handle an AR scattergun.
The AR 410 delivers small game and pest control options for the modern shooter.
A 5.56 upper and a 410 upper gives you options for killing most game around the southeast United States. From small pests to deer and hogs, I’m covered with one gun.
Breaking Down the AR 410 Upper
To comply with NFA laws, the barrel is 19 inches long, so it’s a little longer than your standard carbine. The AR 410 upper comes equipped with a short quad rail for mounting lights, lasers, cup holders, and beyond. Along the top, we get an optics rail, and Charles Daly even included iron sights with the gun.
Predictably the AR 410 utilizes gas operation. You can’t exactly fit an inertia system into this thing. The manual also states the gun is equipped with a choke, but it most certainly isn’t. It’s not threaded for chokes by any means.
Quad rails are relatively old school these days but it still works for tacking lights on.
The AR 410 also features this weird barrel shroud thing. It’s slotted and capped at the end. This shroud is completely removable and reveals a skinny little barrel that looks a little silly. The barrel end is threaded, but I’m not sure of any shotgun compatible muzzle devices.
The weird barrel shroud makes the scrawny little barrel look a little less scrawny. It’s a push-up bra for the AR 410.
Other than that, it’s all AR 15. You get a stock standard upper receiver with a forward assist and dust cover. The charging handle is massive and beyond mil-spec for sure. It’s nice and chunky and easy to work with.
Look at that big chonkin’ charging handle.
Weight-wise this thing comes in at 4.9 pounds total. It’s a little chunky when compared to more modern upper receivers. The quad rail, 19-inch barrel, and barrel shroud certainly add a little heft to this big beast. However, it never feels tough to manage.
Ammo Compatibility
Semi-auto shotguns are notoriously ammo picky. As the gauge shrinks, they tend to get pickier. Most 12 gauge shotguns offer plenty of reliability, a good deal of 20 gauges do well, but 410 guns require a good deal of knowledge about your chosen load and shotgun.
Some 2.5-inch shells are longer than other 2.5 inch shells.
As you’d expect, the semi-auto AR 410 will do better with hotter loads. We’ll talk a little more on that later, but first, we need to address actual ammo compatibility. First and foremost, as a mag-fed gun, you are reliant on both the magazine and magwell to accommodate your chosen caliber. As such, you are stuck with 2.5-inch shells with the AR 410. No 3-inchers for you magnum boys.
Both of these are 2.5-inch shells, but only the shorter works in the magazine.
The thing about shotgun shells is that no two are ever the same. When we say 2.5 inches, we are talking about the pre-crimped measurement. When crimped, the shells are actually a good deal smaller. The 2.5-inch shells need to measure 2.29 inches or smaller to fit in the AR 410 magazine.
Oh Yeah — Let’s Talk Magazines
The Charles Daly AR 410 comes with a simple polymer 5 round magazine. Five rounds is for the birds and J-frame revolvers. The good news is you can find magazines that go into the 10 and 15 round capacities. This extends your capabilities a good deal, and who doesn’t want that?
The included five-round AR 410 mag keeps things legal for hunting, but five is never enough.
The included magazine is a polymer PMAG wanna-be. We get nice texturing, a robust follower, and a compact design. It also feeds quite well, and the five-round capacity does make it legal to hunt within my state. Although for birds, I’ll need to plug it to three rounds.
Scatter Lead Downrange
Let’s hit the range with our AR 410! I loaded up a small smattering of buckshot and slugs mixed with various birdshot types. Sadly the market is somewhat flooded, and most of my 410 buckshot is the 3-inch variety. I would’ve loved to try a wider variety of 410 buckshot and slugs, but right now, that’s tough to do.
Before I went to the range, I tossed an HS509T on the AR 410 and did a quick zero with buckshot loads. I love these little optics on shotguns and use the circle and dot reticle. The circle is for buckshot, and the dot is for slugs.
I did have a ton of birdshot to dispense, and as the cheapest type of ammunition, I figured most people would be shooting this more than anything else. I loaded up a pile of birdshot in the 1150 to 1250 FPS varieties.
Imagine my surprise when it all cycled relatively fine in the AR 410. The lighter 1150 didn’t present any more issues than the 1250 stuff. That being said, the gun is only about 95 percent reliable. I did get a fair amount of failure to ejects that slowly declined the more I shot. Most of the time, the gun ran perfectly fine with the occasional hiccup here and there.
With the 19-inch barrel, it’s a rifle-length upper but still feels compact. I’d normally find this unacceptable. However, I have a soft spot for the AR 410. I’m not using it for anything serious, so I don’t mind a few issues here or there. There aren’t enough jams or failures to be frustrating, and for how cheap the upper is I can’t hate it.
What About Buckshot and Slugs?
The higher quality Federal and Winchester buckshot ran without issue. The Federal slugs also ran flawlessly. As mentioned, the mixture of slugs and buckshot only totaled 20 rounds, but all 20 ran perfectly.
Patterning showed no surprise for a cylinder bore 410 at 15 yards. It’s good enough to take a moderate-sized game. If I was hunting anything larger than a coyote, I might prefer a big caliber just for the fact that I only get three 00 pellets in a 410 load.
The AR 410 is a blast to shoot.
I’d also not choose a 410 for home defense. If recoil sensitivity is a big issue, then the 20 gauge shotgun is a better choice for defensive use.
Recoil and Muzzle Rise
The recoil is roughly the same as a 5.56 round. It hardly moved, and my petite, recoil-sensitive wife found the gun pleasant to shoot. Muzzle rise was also minimal and easy to control when firing rapidly. My Holosun 509T’s red dot barely moved, even when I was firing rapidly. It stayed on target, and I could swap between targets quickly and efficiently with every load type.
Thumbs Up?
I like the little thing! It’s my pest obliterating beast that offers rapid follow-up shots for animals that tend to group together. When I hunt for rabbits or squirrels, I’m often getting several at a time, and being able to rapidly transition from target to target is nice and handy. Being able to hunt with a familiar platform makes it quite easy to transition controls, mount accessories, and customize the gun.
I wouldn’t use the AR 410 beyond small game hunting, pest killing, snake eliminating, and plinking. 410 doesn’t offer me the pellets or power I want from a shotgun, but it provides me with a compact and lightweight platform.
Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine Gunner, a lifelong firearms enthusiast, and now a regular guy who likes to shoot, write, and find ways to combine the two. He holds an NRA certification as a Basic Pistol Instructor and is the world’s Okayest firearm’s instructor.
2018 was the year of the SIG P365. It premiered, had a few faults, was promptly fixed, and went on to be one of the best selling carry guns of 2018. Its popularity continued well into 2019. After the advent of the P365, the concept of the micro-compact carry gun was drastically changed. For some time the P365, with its remarkably small size and ten-round capacity initially had no real challengers. That changed in September 209, and the challenge came from Springfield Armory in the Hellcat pistol. Comparisons were an obvious immediate demand and both continue to occupy a special place in the concealed carry world. This naturally made us want to stack the two against each other. So who comes up in a P365 vs Hellcat contest?
Comparing the Hellcat and SIG P365. Which micro compact is better?
P365 vs Hellcat Specs
The P365 and Hellcat both offer doublestack capacity in a package the size of a single stack. You are getting ten rounds at a minimum in a gun that looks like it should hold six. This impressive feat is a combination of managing gun and magazine size. The guns display many other comparisons and contrasts as well.
Both guns are quite small. The SIG P365 is just a hair lighter at 17.8 ounces when compared to Springfield’s 17.9 with the flush-fitting magazine. The P365 is also a shorter gun but has a longer barrel. The SIG is 58 inches long with a 3.1-inch long barrel. The Hellcat is 6 inches overall with a 3-inch barrel.
The SIG P365 is a little taller at 4.3 inches compared to Hellcat’s 4-inch height. The SIG is 1 inch thick, and the Hellcat’s grip is 1 inch wide at the grip.
The Hellcat is slightly more efficient when it comes to ammunition capacity. The flush-fit magazine for the Hellcat holds 11 rounds while the SIG P365 flush magazine holds ten rounds. One more round doesn’t seem like much, but hey, it’s 10% more ammo.
SIG also has 12 and 15-round magazines, but neither is a flush fit. The Hellcat also comes with slightly extended 13-round magazines, whereas the SIG comes with two 10-round magazines. I personally appreciate that Springfield includes the 13 round magazine with the Hellcat.
P365 vs Hellcat: Sights
Both guns come with Night/Day sights that are absolutely outstanding. SIG uses its own XRAY3 sights, and the Hellcat is equipped with tritium U Dot sights. I’ve been using the SIG sights for almost two years now, but I’m still faster with the U Dot Sights.
The Hellcat tritium U Dot sight on is on the left, vs the P365 XRAY3 sight on the right.
The U Dot sights are honestly my favorite part of the Hellcat. I’m leaning towards equipping a few other guns with these awesome sights. I find it quick and easy to get the dot dropped in the middle of the white U on the rear sight and get on target. If we were just doing a P365 vs Hellcat sights article, the Hellcat would win.
The XRAY3 sights are traditional three-dot night sights with a high viz front sight as well. I can get on target and shoot rapidly with these sights too. Both guns feature excellent sights, but I prefer the U Dot sights.
How they Handle – Ergonomics Differences
Grip Texture and Shape
The grip texture of both guns is similar. Both are light enough not to chafe when carried but deep enough to give a good solid grip. The Hellcat’s texture goes a bit higher than the P365’s, which is nice. The extended baseplates of both guns are also textured to engage the pinky in the grip.
I can’t reasonably say one is better than the other.
When it comes to grip shape and how it feels in hand the P365 feels more comfortable to me. I appreciate it’s round design. The Hellcat is plenty comfortable but has a boxier design overall. The boxier design does lead to a slightly wider magwell, which allows for more intuitive reloads.
Serrations
Both guns have forward and rear serrations. They have a few differences. The P365’s serrations are deeper and have very squared ledges. The Hellcat’s serrations go over the top of the slide, and I like that as well. Again, no major differences that constitute a win or fail in this portion of the comparison.
The Hellcat has slide serrations that go over the top.
Controls
The guns are similar in the fact that they lack any manual safety. The Hellcat has a finger safety on the trigger, which will please those who prefer that feature. The SIG’s trigger is round, and the Hellcat has a flat-faced trigger.
Both guns have reversible magazine releases. The Hellcat is more button-like and is a little bigger. It’s easier to reach, and it’s slightly extended. It also feels more responsive and easier to drop magazines from.
P365 vs Hellcat – Note the differences in magazine releases.
I noticed the difference when I was running any drill that required a reload. I was surprised when running the El Presidente drill at how quick and easy reloads with the Hellcat are.
The SIG P365’s triangular’s magazine release is easy to reach and accessible. It just feels spongier and requires more force to press and eject the magazine.
Both guns have a slide lock that’s basically useless with my hands. My thumbs sit on it and prevent it from engaging the slide after the last round is fired. The controls are similar enough, but the Hellcat’s magazine release is better overall.
Slight Differences
One thing I did notice is that the SIG P365 is easier to rack than the Hellcat. The Hellcat has a much stiffer recoil spring. Another interesting factor is the fact that inserting a fully loaded magazine into the Hellcat is easier than inserting a fully loaded magazine into the SIG when the slide is forward. The SIG takes a little smack, and the Hellcat does not.
SIG’s mag cutouts make it easier to grip the magazine.
The SIG’s grip has two scalloped cut-outs that also allow you to grip the magazine easily. These cut out are well suited for when the magazine doesn’t drop free, and it needs some five finger convincing.
Shooting Impressions
This is where we make our money, how does each gun handle? As far as small guns, both are comfortable to shoot. The recoil isn’t slappy, and neither has any slide bite. The guns are comfortable and fun to fire.
Shooting the Hellcat.
Recoil wise, the SIG P365 seems to have less recoil and muzzle flip. The Hellcat seems to be a bit snappier and slower to get back on target. In fairness, this could very well be due to familiarity, as I have years worth of P365 experience. I’ve shot the P365 a lot more than the Hellcat, but to be fair, I’ve been shooting the Hellcat exclusively for almost two weeks and put a ton of lead out.
Shooting the P365.
The SIG P365’s trigger is also smoother and more refined. Its pull is noticeably lighter than the Hellcat’s trigger. The Hellcat has a nice short pull but it slightly stiffer.
Both are excellent triggers, but the P365 is better, in my opinion. When I started shooting the P365 today, I was used to the Hellcat’s trigger. I was a little startled when I cracked off the first round. I was not expecting such a quick and smooth break.
What About Accuracy?
I kind of hate accuracy testing because it’s so dependent on the shooter. However, in my testing and experience, the P365 is more accurate at longer ranges. In my P365 Vs Hellcat testing, I backed off to 25 yards and fired three round strings. I fired several, and these are my best groups from both.
My best grouping with the P365 at 25 yards.
Every time I fired a group, the P365 was tighter and closer to my point of aim. I seem to fall into the habit of throwing shots to the left a bit with the Hellcat. This seems to happen when I first start shooting for the day. It straightens out eventually, but it is always more pronounced at longer ranges.
My best grouping with the Hellcat at 25 yards.
The SIG P365’s sights are certainly better suited for long-range firing. The U Dot sights are better suited for close-range shooting and speed. In practice, I found the Hellcat’s sights to be better-suited for shooting from the draw. It was easier to line them up and drop the dot into the white U and pull the trigger.
Rarely could I beat my Hellcat’s draw-and-fire time with the SIG at ranges 10 yards and closer. That said, even when I was close and shooting, the SIG’s groups were often smaller. In fact, I landed two shots in one hole from a draw-and-fire drill at 10 yards. I couldn’t repeat that performance with the Hellcat. However, I could still land effective shots with the Hellcat much quicker. Up to .10 seconds faster. Here are 3 shots from the draw with the Hellcat.
Reliability wise, both guns are top-notch performers. I would trust both of them with my life.
Differences Worth Noting
Before we finish up, I want to bring up three differences that are worth noting. The first two are rather important and interesting, the third is kind of important, and the last is just neat.
The P365 has a chassis system, just like the P320. This allows you to swap grip modules with ease. This is why I could drop the chassis into a metal frame from Icarus Precision and rock and roll. I can’t do that with the Hellcat.
The Hellcat comes in two flavors, standard, and OSP. The OSP is optics-ready. SIG does not offer the P365 standard in an optics-ready design and reserves the optics-ready version for the P365 XL.
The Hellcat also comes with a standard Picatinny rail. This allows you to attach lights and lasers without having to buy proprietary designs. The SIG has a proprietary rail, but as you can see, there are some lights and lasers available for it.
Lastly, the Hellcat has a built-in standoff device under the barrel. If you drive this weapon into someone’s gut, the slide will not come out of battery, and you can keep shooting. It’s a neat feature we rarely see in guns. I may never use it, but I like the idea of having it.
Notice the Stand-Off device on the Hellcat.
Which One?
The differences are minute, and if you said I could only have one, I’d stick with the P365. There are a few reasons. I do like the trigger more, and the grip is more comfortable, but I also have almost two years of P365 shooting and ownership. I have tons of magazines, accessories, and holsters to go with it.
If I didn’t have this time and money invested in the gun, the choice would be quite a bit harder. The Hellcat OSP model, in particular, is really attractive to me. I could see myself being attracted to an ultra-small, relatively high capacity carry gun that’s equipped with a red dot.
Luckily, this is America, and I can happily own both.
Which would you choose from our P365 Vs Hellcat competition? Have you tried both yet?
On the Clock: Sig P365 XL versus Springfield Hellcat
Whether you’re interested in competition shooting or just want to see a potential carry gun put through its paces in a different setting, a shoot-off running through match stages is a good way to do it. In this video review, Karl at InRange TV runs the Sig P365 XL and the Springfield Hellcat through six stages of a somewhat enlarged backup gun (BUG) match. To try to keep things balanced, Karl alternates guns in each stage, rotating them so he begins each stage with the gun he used to end the prior stage.
How do the guns fare? Is there a clear winner? Let’s find out.
Karl from InRange TV tested the Sig P365 XL and Springfield Hellcat by running them through half a dozen stages from a backup gun match. (Photo Credit: InRange TV)
The Side-by-Side Rundown
It is true the two pistols have a lot in common, something Karl touches on before getting into the shooting.
He says, “These guns are very similar in terms of overall size… With the Hellcat, with the smaller magazine, the flush magazine, you have 11 plus 1 [and] with the extended magazine you have 13 plus 1. And with the Sig [P365] XL you have 12 plus 1 and 15 plus 1. So you get a couple extra rounds with the P365 XL. With both of them if you put in the larger magazine you get a more comfortable grip…it kind of makes the gun seem more like a full-sized pistol in your hand [and] gives you a little extra there so your pinkie…isn’t dropping off. But really, when you put the flush magazine in, these guns are very similar in size.”
Trigger time, and lots of it, is the only way to find out how well a gun works for you. (Photo Credit: InRange TV)
Karl then moves on to compare their size directly: “If we put the Hellcat on top of the P365XL you can see the XL is bigger — a smidgen in the front — but overall minimally so, even with the dot. …these are, in my opinion, size comparable guns.”
Portions of the video show the shoot-off as a split-screen so you can compare the live-fire in real-time. (Photo Credit: InRange TV)
You can find out how the two guns performed in the six BUG stages in the video below.
Shooting Matches and Self-Defense
There is some debate in the gun world regarding whether competition shooting like these match stages is a good or bad idea from a self-defense perspective. Like anything in life, there are pros and cons to consider. But when you get right down to it, shooting stages like these timed BUG stages teach you to handle adrenaline and encourage accuracy and speed while moving. Of course, hit factor matters; you’re never going to win a match if you don’t get hits on target and in the correct zone.
Consider doing some competition shooting to supplement your self-defense training. Being a well-rounded shooter is a good thing and running your carry gun in various scenarios is an excellent idea as well.
The Winner
Tests like this are always going to be subjective and depend on the skills and hand size of the shooter involved. There are a few things to look for when you’re searching for a carry gun like these:
•Capacity
•Concealability
•Durability
•Reliability
•Ergonomics
It’s important to note that Karl does mention he has spent extensive time shooting both the Hellcat and P365 XL far beyond the stages you see in the video, meaning he’s put more time and energy into this than just a few stages. In the end, he feels that both guns performed well and each would serve gun owners nicely as an everyday carry (EDC) choice. To find out which one works best for you, hit your local range and try them out.
Two of the more popular compact pistols to be released in recent years are the Sig P365 and Springfield Hellcat, which were launched in 2017 and 2019, respectively. There’s a lot of curiosity among gun owners regarding which model is better than the other and although those answers tend to be subjective, we all do our best to answer them. In the video below, James Reeves of TFBTV takes a closer look, contrasting and comparing the Sig P365 vs Hellcat to see which he prefers.
James Reeves of TFBTV considers which gun he likes more, the SIG P365 or the Springfield Hellcat. (Photo Credit: TFBTV)
As Reeves notes in the video there have been some bumps along the way for Sig Sauer and Springfield Armory both. Even so, the companies have done well and each leads a loyal—and extensive—fan base. In the video Reeves discusses the similarities between the two pistols, his own experience with them, and why he feels one of them wins the pistol face-off (you’ll have to watch the video to find out which pistol he likes best).
Sig P365
Reeves mentions the proven reliability of the P365 as a huge pro of the gun. (Photo Credit: TFBTV)
The Sig P365 was launched in 2017 and immediately won concealed carriers over for its compact size and good capacity. Since its launch, Sig has also launched the P365 XL, a slightly larger gun that’s a better fit for some shooters. The P365 remains the original and retains its popularity. After all, what’s not to love about a concealable pistol with greater capacity than similar-sized guns?
Reeves enjoys his P365’s reliability — it sounds like he had one failure during the first 2,000 rounds which he attributes to lack of cleaning — and feels it’s a versatile pistol with excellent durability.
Springfield Hellcat
Reeves said the Hellcat is an ergonomically excellent pistol and mentions it can hold one more round than the P365. (Photo Credit: TFBTV)
The Springfield Hellcat came out in 2019 and was met with a lot of interest and love. It’s slightly larger than the P365 but has other similar features like the aggressive grip texturing, 9mm chambering, and better capacity than many compact pistols. It’s designed for fantastic ergonomics and durability and Reeves feels it is the best gun Springfield has ever made.
As Reeves admits in the video, deciding between two guns depends on the shooter and their needs. It gets even more challenging when you’re dealing with two pistols with nearly identical dimensions. How do you decide? Consider reliability, durability, fit, and function.
So, which gun is best? You’ll have to watch the TFBTV video to find out (or go to your local range and get your hands on the guns yourself).
Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine Gunner, a lifelong firearms enthusiast, and now a regular guy who likes to shoot, write, and find ways to combine the two. He holds an NRA certification as a Basic Pistol Instructor and is the world’s Okayest firearm’s instructor.
When you conjure up images of World War II firearms, nothing is quite as judi slot onlinerecognizable as the M1 Carbine. Chris Baker of Lucky Gunner Ammo took a deep dive into the M1 Carbine in a four-part YouTube series and knew he had to have one for himself.
Like many other historical firearms, not very many have survived their time in service and the subsequent decades in retirement all too well. While there is a multitude of post-war set-ups and aftermarket accessory options, the main problem might be finding the right setup for you.
Admittedly, Baker is a shooter and not a collector so he wasn’t as concerned about matching serial numbers or having all original parts. Thankfully for him, there are companies out there that sell M1 Carbine full sets (not to be confused with the Garand) and components to build your own.
There is no real doubt why the M1 Carbine is one of the most loved WWII firearms.
The one Chris was able to acquire was, as he put it, a rescue project. It was built off the Fulton Armory receiver but had some major issues like an incorrectly installed and worn-out barrel and a bad rear-sight. He was able to pick up replacement parts and deliver it to a trusted gunsmith for a fix-up, including refinishing the stock. In a completely blasphemous turn, he installed an optic rail and Swampfox Justice red dot sight, but we’ll try not to hold that against him.
Then came the fun of taking the newly refurbished rifle to the range and test it out. Sadly, he ran into the common problems of reliability issues, which was a quick fix to tighten the gas piston nut, and the last round would fail to feed in each magazine.
Chris took his M1 Carbine to the range and tested out the different combinations of magazines and followers. He found no real difference in speed between the KCI followers and the GI-issued ones.
He was using his 30 round KCI Magazines, so he figured the problem was the follower. He thought he would install the original GI mag follower in his KCI mags but would lose the hold-open feature with the follower. (There were 30 round GI issued mags that showed up in the last year of the war that had a modified follower shelf that would hold open the bolt, but Chris’s 15 round GI mags didn’t have that feature.) He did a speed test with the different magazine and follower combinations and found no real advantage one way or another in regards to the hold-open feature.
He put GI followers in his KCI magazines. At $5 a pop, it was a more affordable option.
He wrapped up his review by announcing his pick for the worst accessory you can have for your M1 Carbine. Drumroll…..jungle clips that hold two 30 round magazines together. While used in the field by a lot of soldiers, they aren’t really feasible for modern non-soldier shooters. His reasoning is that the vibrations from the recoil jostled the lower magazine free if the shooter didn’t use tape or other items to keep them together.
M1 Carbine Review: Key Takeaways
•Finding a pristine M1 Carbine from WWII is tough, but there are good post-war options like the model from Fulton Armory.
•Main issues you’re encounter: reliably function and the piston nut coming loose.
•Only the 30-round GI-issued magazine has a hold-open follower in the magazines. But you can swap out GI followers to cheaper post-war magazines.
All in all, this M1 carbine review is a concise, quick watch.
Patti Miller
Patti Miller is one of the most awesome females in the tactical/firearm (or any) industry. Imagine a tall, hawt, dangerous Laura Ingalls Wilder type with cool hair and a suppressed blaster and you’ll be getting the idea. What’s interesting is that in addition to being a willing brawler and intrepid adventuress, she’s also an Ent/Ogier level gardener and a truly badass baker.
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