The latest statistics from federal regulators point to a big jump in production for the most recent year available.
The current Annual Firearms Manufacturers and Export Report, released by the ATF late last month, covers the 2021 calendar year. The finalized AFMER is purposely a year behind to protect industry secrets and to allow for all of the data to be compiled. The total figures for 2021 amounted to 13,129,493 firearms of all types-- pistols, revolvers, shotguns, rifles, and miscellaneous.
When compared to the finalized 2020 year-end figures of 11,064,078, the latest figures represent a significant 18.7 percent increase.
Diving deeper into the overall totals for 2021, let us look at the largest manufacturers in terms of quantity in each category. Keep in mind this is just for modern small arms made in America and doesn't include imports from overseas or muzzleloaders.
Top 10 Pistol Producers
- Smith & Wesson (Columbia, Missouri) 1,648,885
- SIG Sauer (Newington, New Hampshire) 1,213,403
- Sturm, Ruger (Prescott AZ, Newport, NH & Mayodan NC) 1,058,080
- Glock Inc. (Smyrna, Georgia) 581,944
- Taurus Intl Mfg. (Bainbridge, Georgia) 290,780
- Kimber Mfg. Inc. (Troy, Alabama) 255,175
- SCCY Industries (Daytona Beach, Florida) 216,932
- Springfield (Geneseo, Illinois) 148,264
- FN America (Columbia, South Carolina) 132,205
- Beretta USA Corp (Gallatin, Tennessee) 129,965
Top 10 Revolver Producers
- Heritage Manufacturing (Bainbridge, Georgia) 492,584
- Sturm, Ruger (Newport, New Hampshire) 276,015
- Smith & Wesson (Columbia, Missouri) 232,357
- Colt's Manufacturing (West Hartford, Connecticut) 65,062
- North American Arms (Provo, Utah) 57,142
- Kimber Mfg. Inc. (Troy, Alabama) 16,975
- Standard Mfg. Co (New Britain, Connecticut) 11,602
- Automated Finishing Co (Attleboro, Massachusetts) 2,053
- Magnum Research (Pillager, Minnesota) 1,833
- Nighthawk Custom (Berryville, Arkansas) 1,110
Top 10 Rifle Producers
- Sturm, Ruger (Newport, NH & Mayodan NC) 735,857
- Springfield (Geneseo, Illinois) 442,486
- Smith & Wesson (Columbia, Missouri) 427,368
- Savage Arms (Westfield, Massachusetts) 392,880
- Henry Repeating Arms (Rice Lake, Wisconsin) 296,948
- Diamondback Firearms (Cocoa, Florida) 133,162
- Radical Firearms (Stafford, Texas) 99,954
- SIG Sauer (Newington, New Hampshire) 80,129
- Keystone Sporting Arms (Milton, Pennsylvania) 76,860
- Daniel Defense (Black Creek, Georgia) 76,729
Top 10 Shotgun Producers
- Maverick Arms (Eagle Pass, Texas) 292,944
- Legacy Sports (Reno, Nevada) 161,099
- KelTec (Cocoa, Florida) 46,737
- RemArms (Ilion, New York) 45,277
- Beretta USA (Gallatin, Tennessee) 24,210
- IWI US (Middletown, Pennsylvania) 15,965
- Henry Repeating Arms (Rice Lake, Wisconsin) 15,865
- Savage Arms (Westfield, Massachusetts) 13,352
- International Firearms Corp (Midwest City, Oklahoma) 11,423
- Standard Mfg. Co (New Britain, Connecticut) 9,435
Top 10 Misc Firearms Producers
This category, besides being a catch-all for everything that cannot be classified by the ATF as a pistol, rifle, revolver, or shotgun, gets its large numbers due to standalone receivers (which for instance can be assembled into rifles or pistols for instance) and non-shotgun "firearms" such as the Mossberg Shockwave and RemArms Tac-13/Tac-14.
- WM Anderson (Hebron, Kentucky) 471,787
- Aero Precision (Tacoma, Washington) 174,091
- Maverick Arms (Eagle Pass, Texas) 104,258
- Century Arms (Georgia, Vermont) 66,631
- Black Rain Ordnance (Neosho, Missouri) 62,343
- KE Arms (Phoenix, Arizona) 37,261
- Senga Engineering (Santa Ana, California) 23,324
- 3rd Gen Machine (Logan, Utah) 19,656
- RemArms (Ilion, New York) 16,516
- Noreen Firearms (Belgrade, Montana) 15,073
Banner image: A production worker testing a Smith & Wesson revolver. The publicly traded company was the number one pistol maker in terms of quantity in 2021 in addition to being the number three revolver and rifle maker. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
