Micro 9 Sales on the Rise in a Big Way

Written By

Michael Crites

Licensed Concealed Carry Holder

Reviewed by

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Updated

Jan 2023

The National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers, kind of the smaller, quieter brother of the NSSF, has crunched the data and found that sales of “Micro 9” pistols– you know, the Taurus GX4, Springfield Armory Hellfire, Ruger MAX-1, and so forth– are steadily climbing the charts.

Sig launched the trend with the P365 series in 2018 and now there are no less than 20 similar Micro Compact 9mm pistols on the market with the standard being roughly a gun that is no bigger than 1-inch wide and with at least a 10+1 magazine capacity, typically with an optics cut slide. It has now gotten to the point where such tiny pistols represented a full 25 percent of the 9mm semiautomatic guns shipped to distributors in 2022, often at the expense of sub-compact and compact models that used to be more popular.

Jason Cloessner, Vice-President and Product Development Manager at Lipsey’s, said, “The SIG P365 continues to be very popular with SIG leading the innovation in the Micro category… The Glock 43X has taken over the G19 as the most popular Glock for a lot of dealers…Springfield’s Hellcat series remains a strong seller and Taurus has made a lot of headway with the GX4 series.”

Meet the Experts

Written By

Michael Crites

Licensed Concealed Carry Holder

Michael Crites has served as executive editor of AmericanFirearms.org since 2016 and previously held positions as associate editor and range correspondent dating back to 2000. He discovered his passion for precision shooting at age 12 during his first visit to his grandfather's shooting range, eventually earning an Expert classification in three different shooting disciplines before age 18. During his studies at University of Wyoming, he earned four varsity letters on the collegiate rifle and pistol teams, serving as team captain for three consecutive years. He became the first UW student to complete the NRA Range Safety Officer certification while maintaining full-time student status. He graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Communications. His diverse career has included roles as Range Safety Coordinator for the National Rifle Championships in Camp Perry 2001; editor-in-chief, Precision Shooter Quarterly; series editor, Modern Firearms Handbook collection; managing editor, National Shooting Sports Foundation Newsletter; editor, Competitive Shooter Magazine; operations director for Western Arms & Ammunition Co.; senior editor for the Shooter's Reference Annual (Cheyenne); content director for The Firearms Report, published by the American Shooting Coalition in Billings, MT; firearms correspondent for Hunting & Shooting, produced by Outdoor Sports Media Group in Jackson, WY; and publisher for Wyoming Shooting Sports Journal in Casper. He has contributed as a regular columnist for American Rifleman (NRA Publications), technical editor for Precision, a publication of the National Bench Rest Shooters Association (Phoenix, AZ); and as firearms specialist for the Gun Owner's Annual. As a digital content creator, he has written more than 400 articles on AmericanFirearms.org, developed shooting technique coverage for the Brownells Shooting Blog (Montezuma, IA) and Federal Premium "Range Notes" platform (Anoka, MN), and served as lead content strategist for International Defensive Pistol Association (Berryville, AR). Beyond Tactical Firearms, his current endeavors include content development for the Wyoming State Rifle Association (Cheyenne, WY) and technical manual production for High Plains Publishing of Laramie, WY. He has contributed to the 12th, 13th, and 14th editions of Modern Sporting Rifles Guide and edited The Complete Guide to Tactical Shooting and Competitive Shooter's Reference Manual (Gun Digest Books).