My wife and I checked out a G42 at Shooter's Outpost in Hooksett, NH last weekend.  We liked the small, slim size and very light weight.  I carry a Shield regularly, and those saying the G42 isn't small enough by comparison haven't held them side by side.  It is considerably less bulky and much, much lighter.  My wife has been considering taking up CCW, and finding a pistol that is small enough to be practical in that role, without having excessively snappy recoil, has been a challenge.  She has very small hands and wrists and finds even relatively large, heavy blowback .380's to be too snappy.  For example, she had a Sig P230 for many years, but never felt comfortable enough with it, both from a recoil point of view and a manual of arms comfort level to even consider carrying it.

Enter the Shield.  I thought that might be the answer.  It works great for me as a smaller/slimmer alternative when a mid-size Glock isn't concealable.  She tried it, wanted to like it, but it's just a bit too much for her in the recoil department.  It's the absolute upper limit of what she can fire semi-accurately, and her performance fades quickly with it from recoil-induced fatigue.  That would pretty much rule out doing classes with it, which she'll need to do in order to become serious about CCW.

So today we had a chance to try a rental G42 at the Manchester Firing Line indoor range.  Again I was impressed by the small size and lack of bulk.  I was able to compare it side by side with my Shield and it is definitely a less bulky pistol.  I don't consider the Shield a truly viable pocket pistol, but the G42 probably is.  My wife's first impression was that the size was "perfect" for her.  It fits her small hands well.  In her hands it looks kind of like a G19 does in mine.

Her regular range pistol is a G17.  She shoots that pretty well, but can get fatigued with it because it's a fairly big, heavy gun.  It's a lot for her to hold on to.  She does have some trouble getting mags fully loaded with it.  But because of her familiarity with it, she was instantly comfortable handling the G42.  She loaded up the mag herself with no issues, and commented that she was surprised how easy it was for her to load the mags.  She was, however, disappointed to see the mag only holds 6 rounds.

Her first shot at 5 yards was a little low left, but then the next 5 were tightly clustered in the 2.5" square we were using as a target.  I was frankly astounded.  When she pays attention to fundamentals she can shoot well, but it usually takes a mag or two for her to get in the groove and really shoot her best.  She was immediately "on" with this little pistol.  I was more impressed considering she hasn't fired a pistol in probably 6-7 months due to my health issues.  Another positive I noticed was her cadence of fire.  There was no "resetting" or "starting over" between shots, which she sometimes has to do with her G17.  I could tell she was just immediately comfortable.  Probably close to 2 shots per second, punching the center out of the target.  She doesn't shoot her G17 that well cold, and I don't think I've seen her shoot a .22 that well!

I tried it next, and actually didn't shoot it that well.  Typical Glock push to the left and not much of a group.  I had a difficult time holding the pistol in a way that was comfortable and gave me the proper trigger control I'm used to with bigger Glocks.  I tried my Shield right after and noticed two things.  I'm much more accurate with it, and it has easily 2x the recoil.  My next mag with the G42 was better.  A definite group, with some, but a bit less, of the leftward push.  

She shot it some more, and continued to do well.  She also tried the Shield, and shot it fine, but didn't like the recoil or amount of time it took her to reset and feel comfortable for an accurate second shot.  

Conclusions - The G42 is exactly what I thought it was.  It's a very nearly perfect pistol for woman with small hands and recoil sensitivity.  A more seasoned female shooter might be better off with a Shield.  I'm better off with a Shield or G19.  Probably most other guys would be too.  But we are sold on the G42 as a perfect first CCW for her.  We'll be picking one up next weekend at SOP.  She liked everything about it except the low magazine capacity.  The size is perfect, the lack of recoil is perfect, and with her coming from a Glock background, there will be a minimum of manual of arms training necessary (basically just the very slightly different trigger feel).  In its niche, this little gun is a home run.

Awesome!

How much was it to rent the G42? I've been thinking about swinging by there and checking it out. Have you been to collectible arms in Merrimack? Very very nice guys there, excellent prices too.

I actually didn't look at the bill to see.  We were there with another couple for about 1.5-2 hours.  The total bill was 120 + change.  My buddy covered it for us, so I never saw the itemized bill.

The website lists $20 for a semi-auto pistol rental.  You also have to use their factory ammo with rental guns.  So it was probably about $40 for the gun and a box of .380.  With one 6 rd mag a 50 round box does take a while to go through.

My buddy also shot the G42. He came to similar conclusions about it.  He carries either a P250 or a Shield.  For his own use, he preferred the Shield over the G42, for pretty much the same reasons I do.

Haven't been to Collectible Arms.  I have a long-time relationship with the owners of SOP/MFLR, so I generally do most of my local business with them.  I'll have to check it out though.

OP, did the gun experience any malfunctions?  What ammo were you running thru it?  Thanks.

Nice review!

What is the "typical Glock push left"?  When I started shooting mine, I was shooting to the left.  I had to go through quite a few rounds to get where I wanted to be.

If that is typical for Glocks, I'm wondering what techniques are commonly used to overcome it.

Thanks!

OP thank you for the review. Initially I had no intention of even looking at the G42, but now I will have to check into one for my daughter.

Not the OP but have 2, WWB, Aguila HP's, Rem. UMC, Hydra Shocks, Golden saber, Corbon HP's, zero malfunctions, bulk of ammo was WWB & Aguila.

I'm a man.  A 6'3" 220 lb man.  I have many handguns of many makes, models, calibers and sizes.  And....I love my g42.  Its not JUST for women, its a hell of a lotta fun for guys to shoot too.  Its a joy to carry.  And I shoot it well.  I recently shot a 100% score on my department qual course with it.

So...please don't overlook this fine little handgun just because its a 380 or just because someone says "its a perfect girl gun".

Bottom line glocks shooting left or low left can be summarized as not properly applying fundamental pistol marksmanship principles.
Way too many people these days start with the heavy long pull triggers on modern combat guns and have a long learning curve overcoming multiple issues such as proper grip stance trigger control and sight alignment . Starting with a full size target type gun will allow a much better ability to develop basic skills before moving to smaller guns.
Bottom line the smaller the gun the harder it is to shoot well, and more errors in technique like bad trigger control or sight alignment become more magnified with the small guns.

It ran 100% with 3 different shooters.  It was a range rental and therefore well broken in.  MFLR requires you to use their Fiocchi factory ammo (FMJ).  

Because of the way the Glock trigger works, it is common to push shots to the left (if you're a right hand shooter).  It takes a little familiarization for many people (me included) to get the right trigger finger placement and straight to the rear stroke to avoid it.  I'm pretty much immune to it now with full-size (G17) Glocks, and only do it a little under rapid fire with mid-size (G19).  I had a bit of an issue with it on the G42 because the thing is so small and the trigger reach so short.  Once I realized what the problem was I could correct for it, for the most part.  With more practice it I'm sure it will go away completely.  As another poster said, it's just about making sure you apply the fundamentals properly.  In this case a straight to the rear trigger pull.  It is harder to do on smaller guns, and can be harder to diagnose what you're doing wrong.

My wife picked up her very own G42 today at Shooter's Outpost.  $399 OTD.  She's excited.  She'll be doing a class this summer at Sig, so now we have to find extra mags and holsters.

Thanks for the info!  I put pinky extensions on my G42 last night and will be shooting it this weekend.  I think that should help a bit.  Love the way this gun feels and shoots!

That's a great price, btw, on the 42!