TTI and Glock43
Now that my first crossbow season is about over, I’m starting to turn back to firearms again, and have decided to focus on my carry guns for a little while.
As I’ve written before, the Glock 42 is my favorite carry gun – it fits into my life and my clothes, and I am comfortable shooting it, as I have put 1000+ BUG match rounds through it.
I’ve shot the Glock 43 in only a couple club BUG matches so far, but besides that, I haven’t really given it a work out or tried to make it “mine” yet. I’m trying to change that.
I’ve mentioned before that the 43 has considerably more muzzle flip than the 42. I get better performance if I exclusively use the pinky extension magazines from Glock, for more grip leverage. But I wanted to play with that some more.
To that end, I ordered a pair of Taran Tactical Innovations +2 base plates for it this week. TTI calls these “purple”, but they’re really more of a magenta.
http://tarantacticalinnovations.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=44_49_81&products_id=335
It’s a company founded by a man, not quilters, so I really can’t criticize. Most men can’t function out of the basic ROYGBIV colors of the rainbow anyway. But bottom line is I like the color pink/magenta/purple/whatever, so it worked for me.
As part of giving the 43 the maximum opportunity to work for me, I am also taking a refresher self-defense work shop after Christmas with this gun. I wanted to both play with the increased capacity, and see if the slightly longer grip surface of the TTI base plates helps me better control the muzzle flip.
The metallic pink/magenta/purple goodness arrived on Friday. A quibble with TTI – there were ZERO instructions. Thank goodness for YouTube searches. Note to companies like this – PLEASE do not assume that all of your customers are going to be handymen or the naturally mechanically inclined. I’m not a complete moron – Lord knows I made it through med school – but a couple of diagrams or sentences worth of instruction would have been helpful.
Then, I was stymied by my inability to budge the stubborn Glock original base plates. Back to YouTube I went, wherein I learned that one fellow accomplished this with a quite large appearing pipe wrench or something. Note to Glock – You know I am already a fan girl, you know I love you. BUT-you people are from Austria – aren’t you supposed to be like the Germans and the Swiss – all practical and efficient? WHAT is either practical or efficient about needing three hands, a screwdriver and a foot long wrench in order to remove a one inch baseplate from a three inch magazine?? ARGH
I do have a basic household tool box, but I lack a set of big enough pliers or vice grips to squeeze the little tabbies out of the way. There is also no “Mister” LateBloomer whose workshop I can raid. Fortunately a friend texted me a photo of the kind of wrench/pliers he uses for Glocks. This was much smaller than a foot long, and could be had at the hardware store for NOT a small fortune, thank goodness.
So instead of this installation being a quick Friday evening project, it turned into a Big Production TM, and I had to wait until the morning until the hardware store opened. I also didn’t really want to be wandering around Walmart at 11pm in my yoga pants and sweatshirt – that’s when the “People of Walmart” come out. (Never mind that this would make yours truly a “People” too – don’t even go there – it’s called budgeting and living within my means, mkay? And I have NEVER worn my tutu in public) LOL
But I digress.
Saturday morning dawned, and I headed to Lowe’s. The roads were icy for the first time all year, so I also picked up 80 lbs of driveway salt while I was there. I wandered around the pliers and wrenches until I found something that matched the photo my friend had texted me. I was dying for a sales guy to ask if he could help me find something. I desperately wanted to gauge the reaction to my reply that I was looking for something to work on handgun magazines with, but no joy. (I know, I’m easily entertained)
Bottom line, I found the exact tool I needed for about 12 bucks, did some Xmas shopping and proceeded home to finish my project – which went much smoother from there out. Here are the finished results.
I had about an hour of daylight left when I decided to range test the final product. I am very pleased so far. The Glock 43 felt much more stable in my hand with the extended basepads. The only disappointment so far is that with the new springs I can only get seven rounds in the magazine instead of eight (for +2). I’m going to store them compressed for awhile and see if that softens things up.
The defense class is in a week, so I’ll let you know how that goes with the modifications.
Comments are closed.
Sue G.
December 22, 2015 at 4:45 pmThank you for sharing your interesting experience. I'm not the greatest with add on gun techniques. I thought it was just me being almost 70 y/o. One more "old age issue". Plus, in the future, I may use this type of post on my blog.
Rob the Electrician
December 25, 2015 at 11:20 amI thought "C'mon, lovely Doc! Most guys can differentiate colors _other_ than ROYGBIV," Truth is, we just don't like calling out 'mauve' and 'lavender' but when I saw those, I had to agree, WOW! That ain't PURPLE!" I'ma gonna buy some good old BLACTICAL Baseplates for my G20 with the long barrel 😉 +2 or +3 in 10mm. Glock does not make a happy stick in 10mm 🙁
I'm by and large a Smith and Wesson man, like your M&P with the backstrap art! You have great taste, and a new Blog Fan!
Dr. LateBloomer
December 25, 2015 at 11:39 amHi Rob – Glad you like, and always glad to have a new fan :-)!
Unknown
December 27, 2015 at 10:50 pmLove your story. That would happen to me. But enquiring minds want to know where you got the holster with the Japanese cherry tree??
Dr. LateBloomer
December 27, 2015 at 10:54 pmAhh, yes, the holster can be yours too, from http://www.Gungoddess.com 🙂