A Glock 42?

[Tamara]

To help evaluate that statement, who has the numbers on the relative production of the Keltec, Ruger and S&W respective offerings in 9 and .380, to look at the raw numbers on 9 versus .380 units moved?

The most recent publicly available data is here at the link already provided, unless someone here has connections at all three companies (two of which are publicly traded) that are willing to divulge more recent and granular sensitive business information.

Also, I'd beware of linear extrapolation. For instance, Kel-Tec's 9 and .380 are priced similarly but disparate in size, whereas (at least in 2011) Ruger and Smith offered a single .380 and a broad range of nines, in Smith's case running to several multiples of the price of the .380.

[GJM]

My read shows the following totals:

.380 537,063 pistols manufactured in 2011

9mm 888,379 pistols manufactured in 2011

.40, 10mm, .45 712,171 pistols manufactured in 2011

I would never have guessed .380 would have represented 25 percent of all pistols manufactured in 2011.

[Jay Cunningham]

I would never have guessed .380 would have represented 25 percent of all pistols manufactured in 2011.

.380 ammo is always sold out?

It is around here. And many places online all the time.

[Tamara]

I would never have guessed .380 would have represented 25 percent of all pistols manufactured in 2011.

You didn't know that? You missed the whole .380 bubble?

Those numbers don't shock me a bit. I got a couple vintage .380s around that time (a Pieper and a Remington) and couldn't find ammo for them. The near-back-to-back introductions of the LCP, P238, and BG380 drew vacuum on a .380 pipeline that was already strained due to the die time priority ammo manufacturers were giving 9mm in the wake of the Great Drought of '08-'09*. (Back before this, they'd only run a line briefly to fill the annual projected demand for .380 ammo before shifting it over to 9x19 or whatever for the rest of the year.)

That is the lead time it took for Glock to come out with their .380, in response to market conditions from three years ago. That is what was driving my skepticism way back on page whatever of this thread. You have to weigh Glock's marketing clout against the fact that they're arriving way late to the party, and with a product priced at the high end of it.


*According to rumor I heard from someone I consider reasonably credible, the first domino in the .380 ammo shortage was that back during the '08-'09 Crisis, Winchester elected to coast on their existing .380 supplies and just keep the presses pumping out 9x19. Add a spike in .380 demand from a couple popular pistol introductions and there you go...

[TheTrevor]

.380 ammo is always sold out?

It is around here. And many places online all the time.

Ammo prices for 380 on gunbot.net routinely run 35-40% higher than 40SW, and there's precious little high-grade remanufactured 380 available, ever. On the other hand, it is readily available these days albeit at punitive prices.

$21.99 plus S&H for 50 rounds of American Eagle FMJ ammo, for example...

[GJM]

How will you define success or failure for the G42 -- X units after X years, or another metric?

[MGW]

After be one of the guys that complained about how stupid this pistol is, I "accidentally" ordered one on blue label today. The place I usually deal with called today to tell me that the 26 I was on a waiting list for finally came in. Oh and by the way, we have a bunch of 42's on order. You would be first in line when we get one.

So what the heck, will probably be my only opportunity at testing one. For low 3 bills it'll be fun to try. Heck, I can find 380 around here easier than 22.

To bad 380 isn't as cheap as 22 though.

[Tamara]

How will you define success or failure for the G42 -- X units after X years, or another metric?

Well, how about anything short of "a single stack .380 Glock, in its first full year of production & sales, outsells any other single brand/model .380 pistol on the market," and "the Glock 42 will have more accessories, from sights to holsters, than all the rest of competing .380 pistols combined"?

I don't know how short of those marks the gun will fall, but I'm as confident as I am that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow that fall short of them it will.

Bear in mind that I'm pretty sure I didn't say it would be a "failure", just that it was disappointing. Glock is still doggedly selling a (relatively) tiny number of 10mm pistols every year. Is it a failure?

[GJM]

Well, how about anything short of "a single stack .380 Glock, in its first full year of production & sales, outsells any other single brand/model .380 pistol on the market," and "the Glock 42 will have more accessories, from sights to holsters, than all the rest of competing .380 pistols combined"?

Definitely the 42 will have more accessories, from sights to holsters, than all of the competing .380 pistols combined, and if the standard is 2014 sales, I am good with Glock outsells any other single brand of competing .380 pistols in the year 2014.

I will put one of those proverbial PF dollars up on that.

[GJM]

Just to add some perspective, looks like Ruger made the most .380 pistols in 2011, at about 177,000.

Best guess is Glock made just over 1 million pistols of all calibers in 2013. Glock will probably put a dent into Ruger sales, plus I suspect Ruger .380 sales are declining because they have sold a bunch already, they have a 9mm, and now Glock has a competing product.

Guess time will tell.