I have one PSA mag. So far I've put 250 rounds through it with no malfunctions. I like that you can continue to use OEM mags because you don't have to change the mag release
I've now put 500 rounds through it. No jams, but the slide wasn't locking back last time I went to the range. It turned out to be a piece of polymer hanging on the inside.
I have two of their mags. One has had 4 failures to feed and the other has well over a dozen through about 400 rounds. Definitely not going with the PSA mags. I think they are going to be like the shield arms mags were they will work great on some guns and other guns they won’t work at all. But that’s how it goes when buying third party mags for Glocks.
@@lubrew5862 I have since given up on these mags. My slide never locks back with my black mag and I constantly have failure to feed with the micro slick.
I had two, both don't lock the slide back reliably. I did order two more and will continue to test all four. That outcome will determine whether I keep my Glock 48.
For MY experience with the Shield Arms mags: i bought the weapon and the mags at the gun store and they installed the release for me. They were Gen 2. From the very first mag i had failure to feed issues. I had purchased 4 of them. All 4 had issues. So, you might say it's me, i'm a terrible shooter, limp wristing, bad grip blah blah. Well, this was at an indoor range with a few friends and they ALL the same issues. I even had the RSO try it since he was a very experienced shooter and trainer and he had the same probs. Talk about disappointing! When i reached out to Shield Arms, i was initially impressed with their follow-up. But, it soon became clear they were attempting to blame shift and drag their feet on honoring their warranty. They wanted detailed explanation, which i gave. Then they wanted pics of the mags, which i gave. Then it was pics of the gun from multiple angles which i gave. Then it was better pics in different light, which i gave. Then it was wanting me to take parts off the gun and try other parts, which i did not do. That was it for me. I told them i felt they were blame shifting and trying to weasel out of their own warranty by making me jump through many many hoops in the hopes i'd give up or they could somehow find a way not to just swap the damn things for me. Here's the thing: This is a very well known and established issue, yet they were acting like they'd never heard such a thing as failure to feed and the issues were mine. At that point i took the gun to my gunsmith and he put the stock release on and i went back to stock mags and that was that. The gun sits in my safe and I carry the X-Macro or Shield Plus. That's MY journey with Shield Arms as a regular guy, not a famous youtuber or "influencer" of any kind. Shady company, shady practices. Your experiences my differ. Good luck to you. BTW, this was for a 43x and the 15 round mags and their mag release professionally installed.
Thanks for the details. I really want to buy some but until the issues are gone I just can't justify the risk. I know damn well the factory mags work..
I have had 100% reliability with all four of my 15 rd. SA Gen2 mags in my 43X. From the start, I’ve used the SA steel mag catch. No reason for me to go Gen3 with these results. Great video!
This is the type of review that I've been looking for. I just ordered 3 of the 15 rounders for my 48, and I'm looking to get a few 20 rounders down the line. Hopefully these will hold up well!
Glad they’ve worked for you, I’ve tried the s15 for my 43x and the Z9 for my 43 and without a doubt Shield Arms has been atrocious. My 43x I’m back to the standard OEM 10 for sure mags and my G43 mags wear Taran Tactical +2 extensions and those have been flawless for both my 42 and 43’s. I was bummed as I had high hopes for the Shield Arms mags but there just not for me.
Me and my buddy has tons of gen 1 and gen 2 S15s in our g43x Gen 1 is borderline hot garbage I get mad when I am at a range and people looking at me failing like a typical glock fanboi that doesn't know what I am doing. Gen 2 works much better about 1 failure to load/eject every 2 boxes of ammo (1 in 200). Gen 3 is much better than gen 2 so far, but feels heavier, only had 2 failures over the past 1000 round. We have bone stock g43x with shield arms premium metal mag release with shield arms S15 mags, cleaning or not don't seem to matter. These are decent mags, but I will not count on these with my life, trading liability for capacity is just not my cup of tea. There are superior guns out there you don't have to do this trade all while being slimmer having more rounds and lighter than my g43x.
A lot of people ask why doesn’t Glock just release 15 rd mags for the 48. I think this could be the answer. If Shield Arms hasn't been able to figure this out in 3 generations, Glock could very well be having the same issues and they are not going to release anything that is just flawless from a reliability standpoint.
It would mean getting rid of the plastic coating on their Glock mags, which means swapping out the mag release to metal. There are other issues, although not insurmountable, they are why they haven’t changed. IDK, I like the OEM mags. The interchangeability always made up for any minor loss in ammo.
It's really pretty easy to answer. Glock makes firearms for M/P first, civilians are just a bonus. Their mags hold up so much better in the field than metal mags after being dropped and bumped and actually used to train. Glock made the choice that 10 for sure is better than 15 sometimes.
After 35 years and thousands of rounds through various Glock pistols, the Glock platform is my go-to defensive carry firearm. I love firearms of many types so not a "fanboy". But for serious purposes my experience has always brought me back to one Glosck or another over the years. NEVER had a mag related malfunction with stock Glock mags. I had high hopes for the S15 mags. On paper, they sound great after all. However, after a couple of mag related malfunctions with the S15 mags I'm a HARD no-go with them. And while the capacity advantage of the Shield mags looks awesome on paper, ANY decrease in reliability of my defensive firearms is unacceptable. I paid way too much for two S15 mags that are now just paperweights. Fine for range use, but who needs expensive mags for range use?? Good for stoppage clearance drills I suppose... I'd NEVER trust my life to ANY aftermarket Glock mag. Magazines are the heart of any semiautomatic firearm. Factory Glock mags are the most reliable I have ever used in any firearm in well over 45 years of shooting. In my experience, deviating from a proven design for unnecessary capacity considerations is just not worth it. There is a reason that Glock made the G48 with 10 rounds rather than 15... The tolerances and physics just aren't there in the 48 grip's dimensions for that capacity AND still provide 100% reliability. RELIABILITY is what Glock has been about for damn near 40 years... Change their designs at your own risk. In the real world, if you can't handle a situation with 10-11 rounds, do you really think 5 more will make a substantial difference? Are you willing to sacrifice the stock 100% reliability to gain the dubious advantages provided by the few additional rounds? Not me...
The reason the standard capacity is 10 rounds is just because Glock insists on using polymer magazines which have to be thicker to be durable. It’s why all Glocks tend to have a fatter grip than other pistols of the same caliber The reason the S15 mags have problems has more to do with shield arms being a smaller company with less QC than Glock
Glock literally stated they made the gun 10 rounds to be able to sell it in states like California no other reason. Especially since there are polymer mags that hold 15 rounds now, that was obviously never the issue. The metal s15 mags actually have little nubs on the back and a rib on the front so they fill up the mag wheel and don't rattle since they actually aren't even the size of the original mags they're slightly smaller
@@atAlyssabeth Gotta be fast! More like minutes than hours right now. I only grabbed 2 to be considerate. Plus, I can't even use them yet and being a new product, who knows how good they will be? Takes time to prove.
I’m a local match director for a IDPA club and shoot 10’s of thousands of rounds every year. I train at very reputable schools 2 to 3 times a year and can personally testify that the people I see running these mags have less than stellar reliability. I would never consider these magazines reliable enough to bet my life on. There is a very good reason that in their short life they are already on a generation 3 magazine. Not saying they won’t ever get it right but for now it would be a hard “no” on a recommendation.
@PPSChadwick just curious, I have a friend who bought some for his 43, i just havent seen many. I don't trust the shield mags for my 48 but I wish I could.
I have a G43X MOS with Shields Mag/Catch and s15 Magazine. I want 100% reliability. I solved the stove pipe issue myself. There are two issues that I found that can lead to FTF. Another informative video! TY!
Interesting observations, thanks for sharing. I've been using the 9 round mags for the 43, and have had no problems with them, however it's only a few hundred through each so far so it is early days yet. On first blush I'd think that the weight of the increased round count plus the spring pressure needed to move all 20 rounds puts too heavy a load against the flanges that hold the mag base. Bends in metal can prove to be a fatigue point, and perhaps the steel was also too thin in spite of the design parameters. Thicker steel and better heat treating may well have solved the issue, but I'd be leery of the +5 mag add-ons! I'll keep an eye on my 9 rounders and share any future issues (if there are any). Good luck with your SIG.
Never experienced any major failures with hundreds of rounds through four Gen2 and two Gen3 S15 magazines (with steel mag catch installed). The only minor issue experienced was periodic failure to lock slide after mag emptied; this 'issue' is due to spring strength and became increasingly prevalent with mag use. Shield Arms has a lifetime spring warranty, whereby you can send them your springs and they will replace them free of charge. Regardless of what I consider a good experience with the S15s, I have honestly never seen any threads or videos discussing failure or reliability issues with the OEM 10-round Glock 43X magazines. So, simply for piece of mind, I resorted back to OEM Glock for my (wife's) 43X . . . personally, I am an Sig guy.
I have about 1200 rounds evenly through two gen 2 S15s...Have not had any malfunctions. The only Glock malfunction I ever had was with my G22 with a failure to eject...broken extractor spring.
PSA dagger micro magazines are 15+1 with polymer layered in the front to be able to use with oem magazine release for glocks so theirs no need for you to swap anything out
The Gen 3 mags look a bit more appealing to me, partially due to Shield addressing the manufacturer issue, the feed location of the magazine itself, and the finish. Black nitride, applied correctly, is an incredible finish that continues to maintain its efficacy even if the black coating comes off. So, they look a bit more appealing now. That said, with the PSA mags out, the mag release no longer needs to be changed, so we'll see how reliability is with that first.
I think Shield arms designed the followers to tight, someone didn’t correctly scan them before and after production. I used a emery board to file the followers in my gen2 and recent gen3 where the followers made contact with feed lips empty. After that no more sticking followers and their slick as butter ZERO MALFUNCTIONS NOW. I only had to lightly file rounded corners and one side of follower, the mag tube and lips are fine. Glock factory magazines always work 100% out the box.
All good data. You might have said but was it a 48 or 43x? Not that it probably matters i think. Good luck ever getting the nickel, lol. I have about four of them for EDC but ive never been able to find them in stock again.
I had Falls on most of my Gen 1 mags with issues of the feed lips spreading due to cracks along the rear edge behind the lips. They replaced them with Gen 2’s.
Ive had gen 1 mags since 2020 and ive had no reliability isdues. The only problems were severe rusting issues and after about 500 rounds they stopped locking the slide of my Glock 48 to the rear after the final shot.
6 месяцев назад
My gen 2s did ok I replaced the guts with g19 parts on one for testing
I'm with the others here. If I need more than 10 rounds, I'll use any of my numerous double stack Glocks, or even my X-Macro, which has been solid for me.
I would not switch to Shield Arms because you have to switch the mag release too which means the OEM mags are no longer recommended. I am however interested in the PSA mags, have one on order but its taking a while to ship. I will test it, if it’s reliable it will be my primary mag and i will order another.
I posted some content about similar issues with my Gen 1 and 2 mags. Weird issues with failure to feed. I ran gen 1 mags for about a year in 2020, then gen 2s from 2021-22 before I switched over to the 365xl / macro. Overall I support the product and if they work for you, rock on. Just not for me.
The gen2 and gen1 magazines started failing on me consistently after being left loaded for several months. Shield said it was the mag release and sent me a new one for free, it made no difference. I believe the mag bodies swelled, they consistently fail during the last 3 rounds.
I had the Gen 2, absolute waste of money. Shield arms says they were out of spec and sent me Gen 3. No way in hell I'd trust my life to these, they've been flung in a drawer and I'm out $140 Also made a video on it as I was surprised how common issues are with them Great video 👍
is the gen3 QPQ Nitrocarburizing Surface Treatment finish better or the black nickel? I tried looking everywhere but I can't seem to figure out which is more durable
I thought I lucked out finding three of the nickel, Gen 2s last year, but they weren't consistent. There was the occasional failure to feed, but I wrote it off as a break-in period. I did swap to a different slide earlier this year, and they all ran 50 rounds just fine. Then I had someone try to break into my car one night, and since my 43X was what I had on me at the time, I thought I'd get some reassurances on the SA mags. First shot was followed by a failure to feed. Then the second shot. And then the rest of the 50 was a mixture of failure to feeds. I don't know what changed, but I was forever done with them after that.
@@mrgrump2534 As you can imagine, I went back to the OEM mags. I'd like to be optimistic about the PSA mags, but as you said: at least the reliability of the OEM mags at least makes the rounds they can carry more guaranteed (and maybe people will want to get rid of theirs for cheap if they want to keep trying the aftermarket mags 💁♂ ).
I have had failure to feeds out of gen 2, it takes a well cleaned gun to run perfectly. So they are not 100% comfortable with me. But I’m trying to work through it
Just one more reason I sold my 43X. It's OEM magazines for me and if Glock can't figure it out then I won't carry their product. Want to run a Shield Arms magazine? Gotta change out the Glock magazine catch too. I can carry my Shield Plus with factory 15 round magazines and my MC9 with 15 round factory magazines, and both are much nicer to shoot. I can even run a factory 18-20 round magazine in my MC9 at the range if I want to, and Glock can't figure out how to make a 15 round magazine for the overlength grip on the 43X and 48??? "Perfection" LOL
Depending on the clothes theres the ol back pocket, ankle wrap, and small pouches that attach to belts. There are pouches that are straight up and bulky or elastic that tightens it down and keeps it close to the body. Prepmedic makes decent videos on how to edc medical gear.
@@FilmFlam-8008 sure. The point there was shield arms magazines are not up to the reliability standards that Glock OEM mags are for carry or duty purposes.
There's definitely something to be said for not having to constantly load 10 round mags at a match or a class. I've been exclusively using my shield mags for classes and matches for the last two and a half years, while carrying the OEM magazines when I was still using the G48 for concealed carry.
@@tessahbooth New shooter here. So do u have the metal slide installed on your 48 and if so was it ok to use with your OEM mags for ccw bec u weren’t shooting them and therefore not tearing up your OEM mags?
@@ITFDBLA it is installed. Unfortunately you really shouldn’t use the OEM mags with the metal release. Not only will it tear up your OEM mags, but it will almost certainly cause malfunctions.
Thank-you for your excellent videos. (I’ve only recently followed them.) ANY MAGAZINE RELATED FAILURE IS UNACCEPTABLE. You are fighting for your Life. An equipment-related failure will kill you. The perceived advantage of 15 “maybe” rounds vs 10 reliable rounds is a poor decision. RELIABILITY IS KING!
I would not trust Shield Arms S15 mags with my life. Long story short, I bought 2 gen one S15s with their metal mag release, tried them in two guns, they would literally fall out after every couple of rounds. Threw them in the junk drawer for a couple of years, then emailed Shield Arms. They had me send them and and said they were "out of spec" and sent me gen 3 mags. The Gen 3 mags would jam every few rounds in both guns. Again emailed shield arms, again they had me mail them back, and again they were "out of spec". they sent me 2 more new gen 3s again! and guess what... they jam in both guns every few rounds. such a waste..
Never saw a reason for these, but I do like watching the reviews. From what I gather and have seen from people bringing them into class they are hit or miss, like any other aftermarket Glock mag which is why I only use Glock OEM for anything carried or actually going to be relied on. I've also seen more than a few Glock frames damaged by these mags when used long term on top of the other issues they can bring, so these are 100% unequivocally a hard pass for me. There's probably a very good reason Glock went with a 10 round magazine, even with the G44 they said anything more just wasn't reliable enough. Besides, 10 rounds or 10+1 rounds really isn't going to leave you as defenseless as the internet likes to tell you.
Not to give Fudds any arguments, but to be fair to the 43X/48, some real-world cases have proven low-round counts can still counter even rifle-armed threats; specifically Eli Dickens (10 rounds; 8 hits) and John Hurley (6 shots; 5 hits...before he was shot by the cops that were hiding from the shooter). My experience with the SA mags was just a sobering reminder to choose reliability over the appeal of a couple extra rounds
I really have a problem with Shield Arms knowing about entire production runs having poor heat treat but letting us all use them anyway. It's like they are saying it's not their fault their manufacturer screwed up. Yes it is! I have 5 Gen 1's with no issues but I don't have 1,000's of rounds through them. I just no longer trust the Company.
theirs nothing wrong with 10 rounds of 124 +p HST 9mm . I'd rather take 10 reliable rounds I know will go bang each & every time over 15 that may or may not go off . James Yeager was right - stick will OEM mags in your carry gun .
@@tessahbooth is it just more shootable than a 43x? I wouldn’t know cuz my favorite Glock is the g19x and I sometimes settle for my g19 for EDC as a comfort compromise 😅
James Yeager was right: Shield Arms mags are junk, and you should only use OEM mags for ANY gun that you want to be reliable in a life and death situation. And the real heart of this entire issue is that Glocks are not space efficient in their magazine design in anything smaller than the G19. The plastic magazine design is 40 years ago and it just doesn’t compete with all of the micro 9s out there now. Sig, Springfield, S&W, Mossberg, FN, Ruger, Canik, and even Taurus have Glock beat as far as space efficiency go. And it’s not just an extra round or two - it’s like 70-100% more rounds in the same size gun. The G43/G43X/G48 just aren’t competitive offerings as far as capacity goes. Hellcat holds 83% more rounds than the G43 (same size). Hellcat Pro holds 50% more rounds than the G43X (same size). Hellcat Pro holds 50% more rounds than the G48 (Hellcat Pro is shorter) and Sig P365 XMACRO holds 70% more rounds than the G48 (XMACRO is only slightly taller). The solution to this problem is simple: stop buying Glocks with antique magazine designs (G43 + 43X + 48) and then trying to remedy them with aftermarket mags. Just buy a modern gun.
Why would you ever use a mag that failed? I understand you've had better luck with gen 2/3 mags, but you still had issues with gen 2 mags. Even for training, I wouldn't use them. And I definitely wouldnt use themt for ccw. I actually had flawless performance from my gen 1 mags, but had multiple failures with my z9 mags, which soured me on the company and I sold them all. Good vid though.
Having more rounds in a single magazine makes taking classes and shooting matches a whole lot easier. I haven’t carried with my shield mags in over a year though. However, I never had any malfunctions with my S15’s, only the extended mags.
REPLACING THAT MAG? You know, that's certainly nice of them, and probably under warranty, but a real customer service department would have probably sent *two* mags, not just one replacement. You know, step up the game.
Only OEM magazines should be used in Glock pistols. All aftermarket mags are junk. Especially the Shield Arms magazines. They are all absolute garbage. If you want 15 rounds then carry a G19! I have been concealed carrying for 20 years. Only factory mags should be used.
Know someone who bought several for his 43x, and all 7 of them would not seat into the magazine well/catch properly... They would regularly just fall out of the gun while shooting. Sometimes they wouldnt even click into place. Needless to say, he sold the gun and the mags altogether lol It astounds me that glock fanboys sell their carry guns as 15+1 capacity counting on crappy third party mags to take up glock's slack in product development. What a joke!
You can't use just the S-15 magazines without replacing the polymer magazine release with the all metal Shield Arms magazine release. The metal SA magazines wear down the polymer magazine release. This is why the person you know was having their magazines falling out while shooting.
@@spydude38 even right out of the box? That does make sense in the long run, but brand new that kind of surprises me that it wouldn't work. Do they disclose that on the box somewhere?
It's disclosed on their website where you purchase the mags from. I haven't tried the stock mag release with the gen 3's, but when I tried it with past generations it causes a heap of malfunctions. The SA mags are not designed to be used with the stock magazine release.
All junk. Thought about the same thing long ago. Did tons of research, saw way too many negative reports, never tried them. 43x/48 the best thing to do is run OEM 10RD mags in then gun while in holster then run a Tyrant Design +4 on OEM mag for backup mag/mags.
I will NEVER buy anything from shield arms. I bought their 15 + 5 mag and it jammed every other shot. Sent it back and they replaced it for free but I had the same problem, sent that one back and had the same problem again, sent that one back and got a refund. Never again will I stray away from stock magazines. I even bought the steel mag catch/release so everything would run smooth. I do not recommend!
Glock sells more pistols than all other gun makers. Glock makes more money than all other gun makers. Glock makeover $30k each day. There is no reason for Glock to make what some people who think they should do.
Shield Arms magazines are absolute garbage no matter who tries to peddle them on a RU-vid sales pitch. No one should trust their life to these magazines.
@@tessahbooth Partially yes and partially no, in my own personal opinion. Did my comment somehow come across as me directing my "sales pitch" towards you specifically?
@@tessahbooth Let me ask you two questions: Knowing all the troubles the Shield Arms magazines have (from gen 1 to gen 2 to gen 3....just search RU-vid and you can see ALL the videos for ALL the generation problems), why would you even bother making a Shields Arms video in the first place? And secondly, didn't you stop carrying the G48 and moved to a different brand? So that makes it quite questionable why you, a content creator, makes a video on a known crappy/unsafe product, for a gun you don't even carry anymore. That's why I feel it's a partial sales pitch/partnership/sponsorship you have with Shield Arms. Again...all my own personal opinion and how it comes across to me.
@@JasonNortwich I have no interest in selling Shield Arms magazines. I gain absolutely nothing from doing that. I've made a lot of content with My Glock 48 in the past, and even after I stopped carrying it last year I continued competing with it up until about a month ago. I have people comment, or message me on a weekly basis asking for a detailed overview of my experience with their mags. Instead of writing up a detailed email, message, or comment on a weekly basis I decided to make an in depth video on it. I've put over 10,000 rounds through my shield mags, and this video details what that experience was like. As I made clear multiple times in this video, I have no interest in telling people whether or not they should use these mags, I'm simply providing a sample size of one. This was my completely honest overview after 10,000 rounds through three different generations of these magazines. I don't have a partnership, sponsorship, or relationship with Shield Arms. I'm very upfront with company relationships on this channel, as it's quite literally the law for me to disclose such things. I fronted the hundreds of dollars to invest in 5 of these magazines back in 2020. I had magazines warrantied by them in the past, and I received my gen 3's from them free of charge with no expectation from them that I would create content period, let alone a positive review.
What part of spending hundreds of my own dollars on a product, putting thousands of rounds through it, spending time and money on making a video, and posting it on the internet for free says "shill" to you?
@@charles17508 I actually don't act like that at all. If a video has sponsored product then I disclose that very clearly and explicitly. I've never been monetarily sponsored before. I have had product sponsored before, but again, I've always clearly disclosed that. Is your definition of shilling just recieving products? Is it only shilling when the video paints the product in a positive light? If so, I'd be glad to point you to videos of products I've received for "free" that I reviewed negatively. One can be objective even if they didn't pay for a product, and spent their own time and money actually testing it.
@tessahbooth and if not a shill than who cares and If you do have relationships with companies and get things from them than disclose relationships and say why they may sway or not the decision
