The biggest dog on America’s firearms porch is Smith & Wesson. The historic handgun maker topped the list of domestic gun producers in 2007, the latest year for which BATF figures are available, with over half a million guns. (Smith & Wesson is no longer just a handgun maker, of course, since it now produces AR-style and bolt-action rifles.) The exact number of “meatball” emblazoned guns was 523,554.

The Massachusetts-based company barely edged out Remington Arms which came in second in firearms production in 2007 with 521,833 guns. Needless to say, this reflects only Big Green’s production and not that of its nest-mates in the Freedom Group Inc. such as Bushmaster and H&R.

Trailing in third place, the equivalent of several laps behind, came Sturm, Ruger & Co. with 463,996 guns. Mossberg nudged Remington out of the top spot in shotgun production, 250,211 against Big Green’s 238,245. This latter number must have stung— it’s nearly a 20 percent decline from the previous year.

However, Remington held on to the top rifle maker spot with 283,588, a 7 percent decline from the previous year but still strong enough to hold Marlin at bay, which came in second with 227,855. Ruger was the third leading rifle producer with 222,902, up nearly 14 percent from 2006.

In handguns, Smith & Wesson cruised to a commanding lead with better than a two-to-one lead over second place Ruger. Smith cranked out 498,878 handguns to Ruger’s 238,615. Surprisingly, SIG came in third with its U.S.-based factory producing 111,653 pistols.

Overall, U.S. firearms production was the strongest in over a decade with 3.9 million guns made, the highest total since 1995. Handgun production at 1.6 million guns led the gain with a 15 percent uptick over 2006 which itself was a 30 percent jump over 2005.

Rifle production, also at 1.6 million guns, was remarkable because, for the first time since 1998, it was eclipsed by handguns. Traditionally, the U.S. firearms industry produces more handguns than rifles, but that trend has been reversed since 1998— until 2007 when handguns recaptured the lead.

Source:  Shootingindustry.com