Glock Model 42: Best Defensive Pistol for Women?

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It may surprise you to find me recommending the Glock Model 42 Subcompact .380 Automatic as a women’s self-defense firearm. Glock, after all, is famously the choice of numerous law enforcement departments and TV and movie prop departments. But it shouldn’t be a surprise. Glock makes a range of handguns, including those big old 9mm models that are ubiquitous on both the big screen and the small screen. Just remember, it takes more than pastel grips to make a handgun fit for a lady! And the Glock 42 was designed specifically with personal protection in mind.

The Glock Model 42 Subcompact .380 Automatic checks almost all of the boxes you’d want in a personal protection weapon. It’s sleek for snag-free presentation, lightweight for concealed carry, the slide is easy to charge, as easy as possible to shoot accurately in a self-defense situation, and as safe as possible otherwise. There are reasons why it’s one of the most popular choices for those looking for personal protection in .380, male or female. There’s really only one “elephant in the room” when it comes to the Glock 42, but it’s easy to remedy. Whether you’re looking for concealed pocket carry, inside the waistband carry, handbag/briefcase carry, or nightstand duty, this baby must be in a holster! Period! This is because of the clever way the safety is designed. Don’t get me wrong, I love the design of the safety. In my humble opinion, the benefits of the design far outweigh the hassle of the holster. But you’ve got to have a holster!

The Glock Safe Action System

So how does this work and why does it mean you need a holster? Without boring you to tears with a discussion of the myriad approaches to firearms safety design, suffice to say that generally speaking, many semiautomatics have a manual safety lever located on the frame or slide within a finger’s reach of the trigger. But not all. Specifically, but again not all, “personal protection” models don’t have any sort of lever. This way, in a panic situation, you can just point and shoot, like a revolver. But you still need some sort of system to prevent accidental discharges.

So, if you don’t have a lever (and for some manufacturers, even if they do have a lever) the firing system will incorporate double-action trigger pulls. This can be done for only the first shot or for all shots. Most self-defense models that don’t have a safety lever will fire double-action-only for each and every shot. And that can translate into tough trigger pulls, increased perceived recoil, and reduced accuracy. Glock takes a completely different approach. The Glock 42 has the safety lever on the trigger. And it’s great! Every shot is single action, giving you the point and shoot ease of a revolver with a good trigger pull. The Glock Safe Action System consists of three integrated safety features: trigger safety; firing pin safety; and drop safety.

With the “trigger safety” lever located on the trigger, the trigger can’t move rearward to fire unless you have deliberately depressed both the lever and the trigger together. The “firing pin safety” blocks the firing pin from moving into the ready-to-fire position unless the trigger safety and the trigger have been depressed. As the trigger moves rearward the trigger bar pushes the firing pin safety up, clearing the firing channel. Then the trigger bar drops (that’s the “drop safety”) out of the way, releasing the firing pin and BANG!

Result? No need to fumble with a safety lever. No double-action-only shooting. Each shot is single-action smooth and since the trigger resets with only limited forward movement, you can shoot faster with less recoil and greater accuracy. I loved this! Great idea, right? Right! Unless, deep inside the recesses of your handbag or briefcase, a stray lipstick or pen or whatever gets jammed inside the trigger guard and depresses the trigger safety and trigger. And then BANG! That’s what happened to more than one off-duty female cop carrying her Glock in a purse along with a pen or lipstick before the word got out about the need for holsters that were long enough to cover the trigger and trigger safety. And by the way, this is not just a female issue!

There are many stories about off-duty male officers who tried to shove their Glock inside their waistband without a holster and BANG! The bullets usually grazed only one of their three legs. Ouch! And, Editor-in Chief Vincent DeNiro remembers when a local cop inserted his Glock into his holster, and it went off just missing his foot—the bottom gromet on his police rain jacket slipped inside the holster. When he inserted his Glock 17, the gromet went inside the trigger guard and pushed the trigger. Holsters are an easy fix for pockets, inside the waistband, and nightstands. Otherwise, especially for ladies, I recommend Galco for a concealed carry handbag, briefcase, day planner, or laptop case. My Galco handbag has a built-in holster that covers the trigger/trigger guard adequately. But you can’t go wrong with Galco. I’ve worn a Galco concealed carry handbag for nearly two decades and everyone thinks it’s an expensive Coach.

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The Basics of the Glock 42

The Glock 42 is a .380 caliber auto. In terms of stopping power, you may recall that in the past, I’ve written positive reviews for the Kel-Tec P-32 Auto and the Smith & Wesson M&P Bodyguard .38 Special Revolver. The Glock 42 fits snugly between the two. And speaking of other makers… You may have noticed that many manufactures give their models actual names that may or may not incorporate the caliber. Once again, Glock goes a different direction. Their naming convention is based chronologically by patent date. Caliber has nothing to do with it. So, the Glock Model 42 is a .380 caliber while, as examples, the Glock Model 43 is a 9mm and the Glock Model 44 is a .22.

Thanks to the safety system, each shot is single action with a super comfortable 5.4-pound trigger pull and the trigger resets quickly for rapid fire. This combination is great, but if you’re used to stronger trigger pulls, you may find yourself firing the next shot before you’re actually ready to do so. In other words, it can get away from you. So, be aware. ‘Nough said. Fully loaded, the Glock 42 holds seven rounds: six in the magazine itself plus one round in the chamber. The spring on the mag can be tight, but Glock seems to have anticipated weak hands, like mine, by including a mag loader.

Sleek, slim, and lightweight for concealed carry, the length of the Glock 42 is just shy of 6 inches. The overall width is just shy of an inch and the height (including the magazine) is just over 4 inches. It’s loaded weight is just over a pound. The magazine release button is purposely designed to be low profile to prevent inadvertently hitting it when drawing the pistol from a pocket or purse holster—6+1 found is much better than one round! The sights sit atop the slide, making them easy to see and use. The higher profile might be considered a snag hazard, except that we’ve already established that you’re only going to carry the Glock 42 in a holster, so no problem. There’s a small thumb rest molded into each side of the grips. Use it! It makes a difference in your accuracy.

I hated the grips. They have texturing that can abrade your palms as efficiently as a four-sided cheese grater, especially if, like me, you have small hands and not a lot of hand strength. I found that I was white knuckling the grips with the hotter ammo and the added recoil made the “cheese grater” effect worse. Luckily, there are inexpensive fixes available such as grip sleeves. The “grip/palm” issue aside, even as small and light as the Glock 42 is, the recoil wasn’t too bad—my palms hurt, but my arms and shoulders didn’t complain, even with higher velocity loads. In fact, because I don’t have a lot of hand strength, I needed those high velocity loads in order to increase the recoil to prevent jams caused by limp wristing.

A Word About Jams, Hand Strength, and “Limp-Wristing”

I had never shot a Glock 42 before I did the tests for this article. However, I’ve shot many .380’s and dozens of other caliber autos and revolvers. Sure, I’d get a jam once in a great while, but nothing like this. So, you can imagine my shock when I got a jam after almost every single shot. You see, when I test a firearm, I use a variety of ammunition with various velocities and bullet types. I always start with the ammo that I think will have the lowest possible recoil first and work my way up because of recoil’s adverse effect on accuracy. For me, that translates to lower velocity loads first. Everyone is different. Then as the tests went on and I shot higher velocity rounds, the jamming problem mysteriously went away. Why?

Ever heard of “limp-wristing?” Me neither until my husband, firearms expert Leroy Thompson, emptied a couple of magazines of various velocity loads and encountered no jamming issues whatsoever, explained it to me. Let me explain it you. For self-defense you want stopping power and for that you need accuracy. And we all know that recoil is the sworn enemy of accuracy. But we actually need a certain amount of recoil to make an automatic work. When you fire a semiautomatic pistol, the slide moves backward, ejecting the fired case. The force of the slide returning back into firing position moves the next round out of the magazine and into the chamber.

However, if you allow too much rearward movement in your wrists as the gun recoils—that’s the “limp-wristing” part­—the force of the slide’s backward movement may not be enough to eject the spent casing and you get a jam. For some reason, the design of the Glock 42 is such that, as weak handed as I am, I was able to shoot better at higher velocities with no jams and very little discernable difference in recoil! Go figure! I also put a couple of drops of oil on each rail, which reduced friction and also aided reliability.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, I heartly recommend the Glock Model 42 Subcompact .380 Automatic as a women’s self-defense firearm. I love that there’s no safety lever and I can still get single-action smoothness on every shot, along with the 5.4-pound trigger pull. The sights were easy to see and use, even for someone such like who is left-handed and right-eye dominant. And I appreciate the included magazine loader. I don’t consider the holster thing a big deal. So, I ask you, what more could you want in .380? Oh, yeah. Grip sleeves! 

Glock 42 Specs

• Caliber: .380 Auto
• Overall Length: 5.94 in. 
• Barrel Length: 3.25 in. 
• Weight: 13.76 oz. 
• Magazine Capacity: 6 rds. 
• Sights: Rear notch, Front post
• MSRP: $470
• Contact: Glock 

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