Going in to SHOT Show, I thought I'd be excited about the Remington R51 and hate Glock for making the G42 in .380 instead of 9mm. Boy, was I wrong.
I was first in line to shoot the G42 at Media Day - well, after R. Lee Ermey and the Glock Shooting Team - and I was very, very impressed with how accurate and shootable the G42 is.
I know people will complain that it's larger than other .380s, but maybe that's just what the market needed. If it blended in with all the others, the only reason to buy it would be that it was a Glock, which is reason enough for some but not for all. As it is, a non-blowback .380 that's only a tad larger than a Kel-Tec P3AT but far easier to shoot is a unique option. In fact, it's worlds apart from other subcompact .380s in terms of ease of use and shooting. Small groups with the G42 are a matter of doing the exact same thing you'd do with a Glock 17 or Glock 19; small groups with my Kel-Tec are a matter of concentration, luck, and animal sacrifice.
The Glock 42 is really not that big, anyway.
Because these pistols are meant for personal defense, making it easier to put rounds on target faster is a very good thing. I'll grudgingly give Glock a thumbs up for making the Glock 42 the way they did.
