I can't directly comment on the 40 S&W versions but my experience with the G34 vs the G17L was a bit different. I would recommend handling both first as this may be a matter of user preference. As excited as I was to get my 17L as kind of a dedicated 3 gun pistol coming from a year of shooting a G34 for production I ended up disappointed. For the 17l the extra velocity was awesome, recoil was soft, but the balance seemed to be lacking compared to the G34. Going from 5.3" to 6.02" the extra sight radius didn't seem to make a huge amount of difference. Hard to explain why but the 6" slide although soft seemed to have a bit more drama in recoil. Of course I'm sure this balance issue can be negated by an aftermarket slide/extra lightening cuts or different magwells/ weighted grip plugs but that is my experience with both pistols in a fairly "stock" form. YMMV