Who Dominates the U.S. Firearm Industry?
You might be surprised. In 2012, the last year that specific information is available for, Mossberg and Remington account for over 95% of the shotguns made in the United States. That's 907,175 shotguns from Mossberg and Remington (2012) out of total domestic production of 949,010. Year after year, more people buy more Mossberg and Remington family shotgun product than all other brands combined. As far as "Made in USA," it is Mossberg and Remington over 95% of the time. In terms of importation of shotguns, the #1 country of origin is Turkey: 441,332 shotguns. No other country is close.
When it comes to importation of firearms overall into
the U.S., Turkey is in 4th place. Check out the numbers from 2012.
Firearms Imported into the United States
by Country of Manufacture 2012 (Source: United States International Trade
Commission)
Handguns Rifles Shotguns Total Firearms
Brazil 444,346 316,577 125,891 886,814
Austria 821,522 8,620 2,239 832,381
Germany 414,471 103,972 3,524 521,967
Turkey 35,997 475 441,332 477,804
Americans buy imported firearms made in Brazil and Austria
over all other countries. In handguns, Glock alone blows all the other
imports out of the water by no small margin.
However, “Made in the USA” is still the dominate choice, in
all three categories of firearms. The top country for importation of rifles
into the U.S. is Canada: 323,886 rifles. Although, that isn't a Canadian
company doing the manufacturing, it is Savage Arms manufacturing rimfire
rifles and importing them to themselves.
In pistols, Ruger alone made 861,357 pistols in 2012, exceeding Glock and having more than double the sales in the U.S. of German and Brazilian product. S & W made over 600,000 pistols. Sig Sauer made 532,575 pistols in Exeter, New Hampshire. As revolvers are counted separately, for 2012 you can add over 250,000 revolvers from Ruger to their handgun totals, and some 216,000 from S & W.
Remington made 393,811 rifles in Kentucky, 144,220 in Minnesota (DPMS Panther Arms), and 200,255 in New York. Savage and S & W both made over 302,000 rifles domestically. Ruger made over 534,000 rifles in New Hampshire. By units made in 2012, it is Sturm, Ruger & Company that leads the United States, with over 1,360,000 firearms made. The nation's leader in pistols and revolvers, their rifle sales are behind only Savage Arms (625,000 or so) and Remington.
Summary
Over 95% of the shotguns made in the U.S. are from Mossberg and Remington.
Of the 667,357 revolvers made in the U.S., most are Ruger and S &W.
Of the 3,487,883 pistols made in the U.S., Ruger makes more than any other company. The majority, around 2 million are from Ruger, S & W, and Sig Sauer.
Of the 3,168,206 rifles made in the U.S., Remington, Ruger, Savage, and S & W account for the largest portion. Ruger - New Hampshire produces the most, followed by Remington – Kentucky, Savage- Massachusetts, S & W - Massachusetts, and Remington - New York.
Copyright 2014 by Randy Wakeman. All Rights Reserved.
