The aftermarket feeds, and often can drive, the primary market. The widest supported firearms with thriving aftermarkets are, in no particular order, the 1911, the AR-15, the Ruger 10/22 and the Glock model pistols.

All these platforms have one thing in common, the aftermarket support grew organically. Once they grew in size and popularity many upgrades became factory installed featured upgrades.

But that took time.

With the introduction of the Sig Sauer P320 in 2014, followed by the company’s P365 in 2018, the age of modular firearms took off. But more importantly for parts designers and makers, Sig actively engaged aftermarket companies from the start. And in doing so they supercharged the growth of the aftermarket for those products.

Modularity of the P320 and P365 allows Sig Sauer to offer customers an avenue to customize their pistol directly from the factory with Sig factory upgrades. Aftermarket parts from third party companies gives users even more upgrade and customization options. Photo: Sig Sauer website

Glock’s is still the largest aftermarket – certainly by sheer volume – for any pistol platform, but that took years as Glock took a hands-off approach to aftermarket companies. By comparison, Sig is expediting growth of its aftermarket for the P320 and P365.

The popularity of the two Sig pistol models, and their staggering sales numbers, were sure to have other gunmakers looking to bring their own modular pistols to the market. And that’s exactly what happened as Springfield Armory introduced the Echelon in July 2023. And just this past December Ruger released the RXM.

While Sig engaged the aftermarket for the P320 from the very beginning, Springfield Armory seems to have taken a somewhat arms length approach, thus far, opting instead to allow the Echelon’s aftermarket to grow organically. Many expect Springfield to eventually follow in Sig’s footsteps when it comes to working with outside companies. We’ll have to wait and see.

Springer Precision is the leading aftermarket parts manufacturer for Springfield Armory products. Despite no direct technical support from the company, Scott Springer was able to adapt and quickly release Echelon upgrades, like a comp, magwell and magazine base pads. Photo courtesy of Yamil Sued

Ruger, who has long enjoyed the support of a vast aftermarket for the 10/22, is very likely to have planned for rapid growth in aftermarket support for the RXM. The best indication of this is that the ‘M’ in RXM stands for Magpul, who Ruger worked with on development of the polymer grip for the new pistol. And Magpul is already selling spare grip modules to consumers.

So, how does this effect the supplier universe? The companies that are or will be looking to support the P320, P365, Echelon and RXM are mostly smaller companies. The kind that can move fast to take advantage of a new opportunity. But as small companies they are often limited in what they can accomplish in-house.

The new RXM has only been out for a few weeks but with a number of companies already familiar with Ruger products, and making upgrades for the Ruger 10/22 rifle and Mark IV pistol, you can expect RXM upgrades to hit the market sooner rather than later. Photo: Ruger website

They may have a product in mind, an upgraded component perhaps, but not the ability to manufacture that product. If they do have manufacturing in-house they may have issues with how to properly machine the part due to material selection, proper tooling or parts holding. They may not have an in-house heat treating, finishing or deburring operation. They may even need help with retail packaging of the final product.

And what most people don’t realize is that many of the small companies – and even with some of the larger, more established companies – have no degreed engineers on staff. Without engineering support in design, testing and quality control, getting a new product to market can take much, much longer – like a year, or more.

This kind of delay to bring a product to market due to the lack of internal support can have a damning impact on the product’s success, as well as the company’s bottom line. The window of opportunity is only open for so long.

What the small companies need to do is find a partner that can help them solve their problem, or even just identify the problem. They need somebody with the experience that can direct them down the right path to bring their product to market faster.

The SHOT Show Supplier Showcase was designed to bring these two groups together; the manufacturers who need to outsource, and the suppliers who can fill that void. The aftermarket companies will be chasing the many opportunities that modular firearms offer. Their ability to make the most of those opportunities depends on partnerships that provide value.

Suppliers exhibiting in the SHOT Show Supplier Showcase should see the growth in modular pistols as their own opportunity to expand business with small, up-and-coming companies.

– Paul Erhardt, Managing Editor, the Outdoor Wire Digital Network