Description
The Glock 48 9mm Slimline Rail is the pistol that solved a problem the G19 could not. It matches the G19 almost exactly in length and height, so it shoots and points the same way, but the slide is only 0.87 inches wide instead of an inch. That quarter inch is precisely where a pistol prints through a shirt, which is why the 48 converted so many people who had given up on carrying a compact.
Glock 48 9mm Slimline Rail Size and Concealment
At 7.28 inches long and 5.04 inches tall, the G48 gives up nothing in sight radius or grip length to the G19. What it gives up is width and about three ounces. The 4.17 inch barrel is actually slightly longer than the G19 barrel, so velocity is not the compromise either. This variant also carries the Glock Slim mounting rail under the dust cover, so a light can be fitted, which earlier Slimline pistols could not accept.
Slimline Design
The Slimline family exists because Glock’s double stack magazines set a floor on how thin a grip can be. Going to a single stack column removes several millimetres across the widest part of the pistol, which is the part that prints through a shirt. The grip also carries a built in beavertail, so the web of the hand sits high without the slide biting on recoil, and the magazine catch is reversible for left handed shooters.
The barrel is a Glock Marksman Barrel, using the enhanced polygonal rifling profile and tighter crown Glock introduced with Gen5. On a short barrelled carry pistol that matters more than it might seem, because there is less sight radius to work with and less room for error in the bore.
Safe Action and Handling
The Safe Action system is unchanged from the rest of the line: three passive, independently operating mechanical safeties that disengage in sequence as the trigger is pressed and reset automatically when it is released. There is no manual safety lever to find under stress and no decocker. Trigger pull is around 5.4 pounds, slightly lighter than the standard duty guns, which suits a pistol meant to be fired quickly at close range.
Magazines and Capacity
The G48 feeds from Glock slim magazines shared with the G43X, and that commonality is worth understanding at purchase. The flush fitting factory magazine holds ten rounds. Extended aftermarket magazines from Shield Arms and others take the same pistol to fifteen, which is where the higher capacity listings come from, and some of those conversions also call for a metal magazine catch to handle steel magazine bodies. Buyers planning to run extended magazines should budget for the catch as well.
Specifications
- Model: G48
- Caliber: 9x19mm Luger
- Capacity: 15+1 with extended magazine, 10 round standard
- Barrel: 4.17 in., Glock Marksman Barrel
- Action: Striker fired, Safe Action
- Overall length: 7.28 in.
- Height with magazine: 5.04 in.
- Width: 0.87 in. slide width
- Weight without magazine: 18.48 oz
- Trigger pull: approximately 5.4 lbs
- Sights: Fixed
- UPC: 764503073380
Why Buyers Choose the Glock 48 9mm Slimline Rail
Most concealment gains cost something obvious: a shorter grip that leaves fingers hanging, a stubby barrel that costs velocity and sight radius, or a capacity drop into single digits. The G48 gives up width alone. Fitted with extended magazines it carries fifteen rounds, which is within one of a G19, in a package that hides considerably better.
The platform argument applies here as much as anywhere. Holsters, sights, magazines and parts for Glock slimline pistols are stocked everywhere, and the manual of arms is identical to every other Glock, so a carry gun and a range gun can share the same habits.
Who Should Buy It
The Glock 48 9mm Slimline Rail suits the concealed carrier who found a double stack compact just too thick, the shooter with smaller hands who struggles to reach the trigger on a wide grip, and anyone who wants a light mounted on a slim carry pistol.
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