Kel Tec P17 Made in USA
Semi-automatic pistols dominate the handgun market in the United States. There are ten major manufacturers of revolvers in the United States, who made more than ten thousand revolvers each in 2021. 2021 is the latest year on record where the ATF has published the numbers of pistols made by United States manufacturers. There were only five major manufacturers of .22 caliber or smaller revolvers in 2021. There were 40 manufacturers in the USA who made over 10,000 pistols (handguns, not revolvers) in 2021. There were 16 who made over 10,000 .22 caliber or smaller pistols in 2021. This article will look at major manufacturers of .22 rimfire semi-automatic handguns.
A significant number of pistols are handgun variants of AR15 pattern rifles. The ATF numbers do not differentiate between centerfire and rimfire. The AR15 pattern pistols deserve an article of their own. Manufacturers whose major production of pistols are of AR15 pattern will not be included in this analysis. The four Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. licenses will be grouped together. Trailblazer Firearms LLC, makes the Lifecard .22 singleshot pistol. They made over 10,000 of the foldable pistols in 2021. The Lifecard will not be included in this analysis. This pares down the field to a manageable eight major manufacturers.
Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., has four licenses to manufacture firearms. Two of them are in Mayodan, North Carolina, one is in Newport, New Hampshire, and one is in Prescott, Arizona. The North Carolina licenses are reported as making 93,879 and 38,281.22 caliber or smaller pistols in 2021. The Prescott, AZ license is reported as making 60,393 .22 caliber or smaller pistols. The New Hampshire license is reported as producing 20,393 .22 caliber or smaller pistols. Total .22 semi-automatic pistols made by Ruger in 2021 = 212,946 .22 caliber or smaller semi-automatic pistols. The number includes production of the Ruger 5.7 centerfire pistols.
Kel Tec CNC in Cocoa, Florida, is reported as manufacturing 98,200 .22 caliber or smaller pistols in 2021. The number includes the very popular P17, the CP33, the PMR 30, and the PLR22. It may include the PLR16 5.56 centerfire pistol and some of the 5.7 P50 pistols, although the 5.7 centerfire pistols were not available for all of 2021.
Smith & Wesson Sales Company, Columbia, MO, is reported as making almost as many.22 caliber or smaller semi-automatic pistols as Kel Tec in 2021. S&W manufactured 94,852 semi-automatic .22 caliber pistols. These includes many classic designs.
Taurus International Manufacturing in Bainbridge, GA, is reported as manufacturing 89,995 .22 caliber or smaller semi-automatic pistols, in 2022. These are variations of the popular TX22 line.
Glock, Inc., Smyrna, GA. is reported as manufacturing 63,569 .22 caliber pistols. Glock only produces one model of .22 caliber semi-automatic, the G44.
Browning Arms Company, Morgan, UT, is reported to have made 35,591 .22 caliber or smaller pistols in 2021. Browning .22 caliber pistols are classic designs.
Phoenix Arms Co., Ontario, California, is reported as making 18,900 .22 caliber pistols in 2021. Most of these pistols are the HP22A, an inexpensive .22 with two manual safeties. The HP22A comes in two barrel lengths, 3 inches and 5 inches.
Beretta, USA, Gallatin, TN, is reported to have made 14,123 .22 or smaller caliber pistols in 2021. Beretta USA makes several versions of their famous tip-up semi-automatic .22s in the USA. Beretta is also making a .22 version of the famous M9 pistol.
There are numerous other manufactures of .22 or smaller caliber pistols in the USA. The top eight manufacturers made over 85% of them in 2022. Many of the smaller manufacturers make interesting and useful pistols. Many of the .22 caliber or smaller pistols of the remainder are in .223 or 5.56 centerfire.
The ATF reports a total of 737,374 .22 caliber or smaller pistols were manufactured in the USA in 2021. This is a little lower than the number of .22 or smaller revolvers made in the USA.
There are many fine .22 rimfire pistols which are imported into the United States. The ATF does not break out imports by caliber. Import numbers have not been reported since 2020.
©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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3 comments:
.22 or smaller? What is smaller than the .22? I went to the Ruger website and the smallest I found was the .22 semi. They have a revolver that fires .17HMR, but not a semi.
AIB/44
".22 caliber or smaller pistols" Other than pellet and BB guns, what caliber is smaller than a .22???
I couldn't find any when I did a quick search.
AIB/44
.22 or smaller is the ATF category. It may be some pistol, such as the Ruger Challenger, is made in a smaller caliber such as .17. I have not seen any either, but .22 or smaller is the official category.
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