S&W no longer #1

F

FUD

Moderator
According to ATF data for 1998 (prior to the agreement & obviously prior to the boycotts), S&W fell to the #2 slot for the first time in histroy and Ruger is now the "World's Largest Handgun Maker". Numbers are as followed:

S&W --> 345,113 (1997) / 258,190 (1998)
Ruger --> 293,363 (1997) / 281,475 (1998)

What is alarming about this is that LESS guns are being sold & manufactured as both companies lost sales from 1997 to 1998. S&W, however, lost a lot more than Ruger lost thus putting Ruger into the #1 position.

Share what you know, learn what you don't -- FUD
fud-nra.gif
 
Be nice to know where the others (SIG, Glock, Taurus, whoever) rank. I keep reading that almost half of all new police sidearms are Glocks, so it would also be nice to see separate figures for military/police versus private purchase.

Anyway, congratulations to Bill Ruger.
 
David, you know, I keep hearing that too ... that Glock accounts for 50% of all police sales (I've even heard figures as high as "80% of all police sales") ... Yet, I constantly see LEOs with S&W's (bank in Florida, street corner in NJ, mall in CA, etc.) and rarely something different. If Glock makes such significant sales to LEO, then why don't we see more of them around. This really has me curious now.
 
Glocks comprise approximately 50% of the pistols on officer's hips around the Denver metro area, from what I have seen.
 
AZ DPS just went to sig's.Some local carry glocks but county carries mostly colt 1911's

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Age and deceit will overcome youth and speed.
I'm old and deceitful.
 
The higher numbers on Glocks are usually percetages of departments, not numbers of officers. Apparently lots of small departments use Glocks. The last number I saw was about 64% of departments, but because several great big ones don't use Glocks (L.A.) the absolute numbers are not so high.
 
I take no pleasure in the fact that Smith&Wesson is slipping. For a lot of years I considered S&W pistols to be best. Even though the were bought by a foreign company, I still considered S&W revolvers to be the best. However, like a lot of us, I no longer buy their products. It's a punishment. S&W caved to Clinton's pressure and tricks. So be it. I do occasionaly hope that when Clinton is gone and Bush is President, S&W can somehow re-acquire their reputation. It's a sad thing really. I'm sitting here looking at my Chief's Special, which I purchased in 1978. I guess all we can do is "vote with our pocketbooks" and hope for the best.

Will

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Mendacity is the system we live in.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by WLM: ... For a lot of years I considered S&W pistols to be best ...[/quote]I'm in complete agreement with you.
 
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