Crunching the past 30 years of production, the total number of detachable magazines in the U.S. is pushing 10 figures – with the majority capable of holding over 10 rounds. 

Using independent research and a direct survey of firearm and magazine manufacturers, combined with annual reports to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the latest four-page report on the subject yields a figure of some 963,772,000 pistol and rifle magazines produced between 1990 and 2021. Of those, approximately 74 percent, or 717 million magazines, have a capacity of 11+ rounds. 

Drilling down into the figures further, some 209,145,000 pistol mags are in the 11+ capacity category, leaving the remainder to be rifle mags, with an estimated 448,369,000 of those having a 30-round capacity or higher. 

As to the source, the study estimates that some 29 percent of the magazines were provided "in the box" with each newly manufactured firearm and the other 71 percent were distributed to the consumer market as an aftermarket accessory. 

The data, compiled by the trade group of the American firearms industry, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, reveals that, by far, magazines with a capacity of over 10 rounds are the national standard. 

"The data establishes that law-abiding gun owners overwhelmingly choose magazines that have a capacity to hold more than 10  rounds for lawful purposes including self-defense, target shooting, and hunting,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President & General Counsel.

Importantly, the 1991-2021 study period does not include the thousands of magazines produced and distributed in the past three years, or legacy pre-1989 magazines that are still in circulation. Many of these are in the 11+ round category.

The AR-15 and AR-18/180 were long distributed from the 1960s onward with 20 and 30-round standard capacity magazines. An older rifle, the Winchester 1907 series, had 15 and 20-round magazines commercially available as far back as the 1920s. Meanwhile, in terms of handguns, the Browning Hi-Power, which dates to 1935, shipped with standard 13-round mags and the S&W 59 arrived on the market in 1967 with 15-round mags. 

Currently, 14 states and the District of Columbia have some sort of arbitrary magazine-capacity restrictions in place that range from 10 to 20 rounds of ammunition, policies that seem an outlier to the data. 

As for our thoughts: 
 

Banner image: Assorted AR magazines, spanning from 30 to 60 rounds in capacity, with an FN-15 Guardian rifle. (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)