Building the Glock 43X, correctly, once.

This is not a parts list with affiliate links stapled to it. It's the full record of a two-year, 6,400-round build: what I bought, what I got wrong, what I'd buy again, and what I'd tell you to skip if you called me instead of reading this.

Read it in order the first time. After that, use the parts list and the checklists — they're built to be printed and carried.

This guide assumes you own or are about to own a Glock 43X MOS and you intend to carry it, not collect it.

• New carriers who want one correct path instead of forty forum opinions
• Experienced shooters upgrading from a subcompact to a slim full-grip pistol
• Anyone who has been burned buying parts in the wrong order
• People who want honest tradeoffs, not sponsored enthusiasm

Three rules govern every decision in this build.

• Reliability first. A part that makes the gun 3% faster and 1% less reliable is a downgrade on a carry gun.
• Buy capability, not jewelry — in that order. Magazines, sights, light, holster. Then everything else.
• Every part must earn its place under a t-shirt. If it doesn't get carried, it doesn't count.

I spent roughly $600 on holsters and several hundred more on parts I later removed, all because there was no single honest resource that explained the order of operations.

This guide is the document I wish I'd had. Everything in it has been carried, shot, cleaned, and in a few cases removed and sold at a loss so you don't repeat it.

These are the practices generally accepted across the armorer and competition community. Where a manufacturer's instructions disagree with anything here, the manufacturer wins.

• Clear the gun. Then clear it again out loud. Then remove all ammunition from the room.
• Degrease every threaded interface before applying threadlocker. Blue (medium-strength) only — never red on a firearm fastener you intend to remove.
• Optic screws: many optic makers now specify Vibra-Tite VC-3 or a nylon patch instead of liquid Loctite. Follow the optic's manual, not the internet.
• Torque to the manufacturer's spec with an inch-pound driver — 'snug' is not a spec, and over-torquing an optic screw into a slide is the most common way people ruin a $500 slide.
• Verify optic screw length before you tighten anything: a screw that bottoms out in the slide, or one that protrudes into the striker channel, is a gun that will not run.
• Threadlocker belongs on screws only. Never on pins, never on the striker channel, never inside the frame.
• Witness-mark screws with a paint pen so you can see movement at a glance.
• Function-check with your actual carry ammo after every change — a minimum of 50 rounds, and most instructors will tell you 200 before you trust a carry gun.
• Re-torque everything at the 500-round mark and at every deep clean.
• If a step needs force, stop. Frame rails, the trigger housing pin, and the mag release channel are all easy to damage and cheap to have a gunsmith handle.

Two years of AIWB carry, realistically 7 to 8 hours a day on most days — work days, errands, range trips. Not a 24/7 claim, because that is not how normal life works. In a t-shirt and jeans this build disappears with the claw and wedge tuned. Seated in a car is the hardest position, and the light body is what you feel, not the muzzle.

Summer is the honest test. With the rubber Talon wrap and a light undershirt there's no abrasion, and the wedge keeps the grip rotated in. Winter is trivial by comparison.

What I'd change: on the hottest weeks I pull the magwell. It's the only part that consistently prints when I bend.

The gun is the cheapest part of being armed. The expensive parts are training, ammunition, and the discipline to carry the thing every single day even when it's inconvenient.

Build the pistol once, correctly, then spend the rest of your money on rounds downrange and reps in your living room. That's the whole secret, and it's why this guide ends with drills instead of parts.

If this saved you money or a mistake, the best thank-you is a comment on the video and a share with someone starting out.