Top Selling Guns | February 2024

As we take a look at February 2024’s best-selling handguns on GunBroker.com's Top Selling Report, presented by GunGenius.com, a familiar name appears multiple times: Glock. In the early 1980s, Austria’s Gaston Glock, who was already a successful industrialist specializing in injection molding, decided to take on a new challenge—designing pistols. He studied existing designs, spoke to law enforcement and military professionals, and developed a firearm that addressed their complaints.

Primarily, those complaints revolved around reliability and capacity. The pistol that Gaston Glock offered up—the G17—accepted double-stack magazines and boasted a capacity of 17 rounds with standard magazines. Glock also reduced the number of internal parts to just 36. The gun was striker-fired so there was no external hammer, and the G17 replaced the traditional manual safety with a trio of internal passive safeties.

Perhaps most surprisingly, the gun featured a polymer frame. That led to doubts about the gun’s reliability, but Gaston Glock’s background with injection-molded polymers taught him that these materials could be extremely durable, and they reduced weight and cost. In 1988 the G17 was released in the United States, and it has been a huge success ever since. Glock pistols remain the number one choice for law-enforcement professionals.

Thirty-six years after the first Glock pistol arrived in North America, these guns still occupy multiple positions on this month’s list of best-selling handguns. The G19, which is a compact version of the G17, ranked third in new semiauto handgun sales last month, a position it held the previous month as well. Moving into fourth place for February was another Glock pistol, the G43—a slim, high-capacity micro-compact 9mm designed for concealed carry. Ranking first and second this month in new semiauto pistol sales are the SIG P365 and P320 (respectively), both of which are polymer-frame pistols like the Glocks. The sole steel-framed pistol on this month’s best-seller list is Ruger’s Mark IV rimfire, which has moved up one position to fifth place.

The G19 makes an appearance on this month’s list of the five best-selling used semiauto handguns as well, placing third in February behind the Smith & Wesson SW22 pistol (first) and the SIG P320 (second). Rounding out the list of best-selling used semiauto handguns for February are Beretta Model 90 pistols in fourth place and Smith & Wesson’s M&P9 in fifth.

The Market That Glock Built

To say that Gaston Glock reinvented semiauto handguns is no understatement. Brisk initial sales of Glock handguns (particularly to LE professionals) inspired other brands to develop polymer-frame pistols to compete with Glock guns. Other successful handgun companies like CZ, Walther, SIG Springfield Armory, Smith & Wesson, and others offer polymer-frame pistols to compete with Glock’s guns.

Over time Glock’s product line has expanded, and today there are polymer-frame Glock pistols available in calibers ranging from .22 LR to .45 ACP, .45 GAP and 10mm Auto. Interestingly, Glock has remained focused on their core pistol products and hasn’t expanded their offerings to include long guns. Perhaps that goes back to the brand’s tagline “Perfection.” They make one type of product and make it well.

Glock’s success has not gone unnoticed by other manufacturers, though. As more Americans obtained concealed carry permits semiauto pistols shrank so they would be more concealable. This created an entirely new category of handguns commonly referred to as micro-compacts. Glock was not the first company to release a micro-compact carry 9mm, but in 2015 they did enter the market with the launch of their G43, which followed on the heels of the G42 .380 the company launched a year before. In 2019 Glock launched the G43X, which was slightly larger than the G43 but offered a magazine capacity of 10 rounds, four more than the G43. In 2020 the G43x became available with Glock’s MOS optics mounting system and an accessory rail.

Glock’s G43X is a best-seller, but it’s hardly the only sub-compact pistol on the market. Smith & Wesson announced their M&P Shield pistol in 2012, and over the years the company has refined those pistols, making them smaller and increasing capacity.  Three years after the original G43 arrived SIG released their P365 micro-compact, and Springfield announced the launch of their Hellcat micro-compact in 2019. Two years later Taurus joined the competition with their GX4, a micro-compact that won Guns & Ammo’s Handgun of the Year award. Ruger also offers their MAX-9 micro-compact, and Kimber’s R7 Mako is another option in the category. Recently, FN launched their Reflex pistol, a scaled-down micro-compact 9mm of their own.

Today, the micro-compact market is so crowded that it’s hard for new gun owners to determine which gun is the best option for them. Every gun listed boasts a capacity of at least 10 rounds, all come with barrels shorter than 3.5 inches and overall lengths between six and seven inches. Similarly, unloaded weights are almost identical. These guns all weigh between 17 and 20 ounces so none is a burden to carry. They’re all available with slides cut for optics, too.  

The G43X’s 10+1 capacity is lower than the other guns on this list, all of which are available with magazines that hold more rounds. But the Glock stacks up well against these guns in many categories. It comes with a smooth, consistent trigger and is capable of excellent accuracy, and there is a large selection of holsters, lights, and optics that fit the G43X. Glock guns are also exceptionally reliable. I shoot a G17 for IDPA competition and my G19 was my carry gun before I opted for the slimmer, lighter G43X. None of those guns have ever had a reliability issue, and while the factory sights aren’t as good as some of the other guns on the list there are lots of options if you want to swap out the factory irons. XS Sights offers a series of Glock sight tools that are affordable and easy to use, so you don’t have to be a gunsmith to upgrade your G43/G43X. The G43X’s success has inspired some other companies to create clones of the gun. Palmetto State Armory’s Dagger, Shadow Systems’ MR920, and ZEV’s OZ 9 all accept Glock G43 sights and holsters and offer more color and finish options than the standard G43/G43X.

Sadly, Gaston Glock passed away on December 27, 2023, at the age of 94. However, he lived to see his products prove the naysayers wrong and come to dominate the market. They’ll likely continue to remain popular even with so much competition because all Glock pistols offer the level of accuracy, safety, and reliability that meets or exceeds their rivals.

Top Selling Guns Sold in February 2024

Source: gungenius.com/top-selling/

To learn more or shop for any of the guns listed, visit Gun Genius at www.gungenius.com/top-selling.

Editor's note: In the report, guns are rated from one to five within each category, with the number one gun being the most popular that month. The numbers are color-coded to show any changes in the ranks from the previous report.

Black = Steady
Green = Up
Red = Down

Source: gungenius.com/top-selling/

To learn more or shop for any of the guns listed, visit Gun Genius at www.gungenius.com/top-selling.

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