17 of the Best AR Pistols – May 2023

Update: The ar15 pistol brace ban is here and you now have to register braced pistols as a Short Barreled Rifle. But the AR pistol itself is totally legal and will remain so, it’s just the stabilizing braces you need to register or remove. Where possible we’re listing pistols without braces, though, for added peace of mind. Because we care…

What are the Best AR Pistols in 2023?

AR pistols have been a revolution for the home defense industry, as well as the military and law enforcement.

Military sub machine guns have spawned semi-automatic weapons of war that have proven a complete gamechanger.

Now they are some of the best-selling guns in America and Joe Biden doesn’t like that one bit. So for 2023 we have new rules and we are already seeing the market react with a new wave of monolithic AR15 pistol that might be even better.

It’s an exciting time in the pistol industry, and we’re betting on bufferless, squared off AR pistols that simply don’t need a brace.

Here are the best AR pistols for sale in 2023.

The Best AR-15 Pistols in 2023

1. Sig Sauer MCX Spear LT

• Price: $3,159.99
• Caliber: 5.56
• Barrel: 9 inches
• Total Length: 31 inch.
• Weight: 5.8lb
• Capacity: 30+1 Rounds

The Sig Sauer LT Spear is military gear, more or less, and the longer barrel, fully enclosed design means it fits the current rules to perfection.

This is the next gen MCX and more or less the only limit to the ocnfiguration is your imagination.

You can order a 5.56 NATO, 300BLK or a 7.62x39mm.

Then you can keep it clean and simple and use one hand on the lightened handguard to combat muzzle rise. An 11.5 inch barrel is actually heading towards rifle levels of stability and long range accuracy, and you can see how to achieve balance on this pistol without a brace.

Or you can do the tax stamp and SBR process and go for the proprietary parts bin and lightweight brace.

Either way, this might be the best AR pistol on the market right now. If you have the dollars to spend. If not, there are cheaper alternatives just a little further down…

2. Patriot Ordnance Factory Renegade Plus

• Price: $1,898.99
• Caliber: 5.56 NATO
• Barrel: 10.5 inches
• Pistol Length: 31 inch.
• Weight: 5.8lb
• Capacity: 30+1 Rounds

The POF Renegade+ has been a consistent best-selling contender, until availability proved a real issue in the Covid craziness.

With the POF Renegade Plus, it decided to refine the classic Eugene Stoner direct impingement AR-15 concept, rather than fit a gas piston alternative.

A flat 3.5lb match grade trigger comes from POF’s own inventory, as well as the Renegade M-Lok handguard. Nestled inside that free-floating set-up is are 10.5 inches in length of Nitride-treated steel.

3. CMMG Dissent Mk4

• Price: $1,939.99
• Caliber: 5.56 NATO
• Barrel: 6.5 inch
• Pistol length: 14.7 inch
• Total: 4.8lb

It looks like the pistol brace regulations and ATF shenanigans is a cloud with a silver lining if the CMMG Dissent Mk4 is anything to go by.

Monolithic pistols with no buffer tube are a clear solution to the stabilizing brace ‘ban and the Dissent Mk4 ditches the buffer tube altogether in this AR15 pistol for the patented CMMG Compact Action’. Well if this is the future, sign us up…

The Dissent comes as a 5.56 NATO AR-15 pistol, or you can order armor piercing 5.7x28mm. You can also get a Dissent Pistol Caliber Carbine chambered in 9mm.

The Cerakote finish means you can get a range of colors, too, including Midnight bronze, charcoal, green and straightforward Armor Black. Generally the Armor Black is a few bucks cheaper and Midnight Bronze looks a lot like Flat Dark Earth.

The CMMG Banshee Mk4 is still for sale and like half the price, but it comes with a buffer. If the Dissent is too rich for your blood though, the CMMG Banshee is an option.

Get more info on the action here.

4. Palmetto State Armory Jakl

• Price: $999.99
• Caliber: 5.56 NATO
• Barrel: 7.5 inch
• Total: 5.5lb

This is another company to react to the changing landscape with a monolithic truck gun that you can run without a stabilizing brace.

Now the Palmetto State Armory Jakl is more expensive than the usual PSA fare you can find down below. But this is new tech and the monolithic upper is compatible with any Mil-spec lower.

A short and fully contained buffer, a long stroke piston and a tool less 4 position gas block are among the key features. You can strip the whole pistol without tools, too, which is cool.

Essentially this pistol borrows from the AK-47 as well as a variety of others. It just works in matte black or flat dark earth.

There’s an ambidextrous side charging handle and lots of other goodies. Crucially the PSA is one of the cheapest monolithic pistols you can buy. In these weird legal times, that counts.

5. Radical Firearms FCR

• Price: $504.99
• Caliber: 5.56 NATO
• Barrel: 8.5 inch
• Total: 26 inch
• Total: 5.6lb

This relatively small company has built a fearsome reputation with low-budget long guns that punch well above their weight. This new Radical RF-15 looks set to do the same.

A full-length Picatinny rail sits atop Mil-spec aluminum receivers. The Melonite coated CMV pipe work and hard coat anodized finish show solid attention to detail.

If you want all-metal and money is tight, the Radical might be the one for you.

6. Maxim Defense SPS

• Price: $2,065.99
• Caliber: 5.56 NATO
• Barrel: 5.5 inch
• Total Length: 18.75
• Weight: 5.9lb

Maxim Defense made its name with the PDW, but now it has worked with SOCOM to create military hardware that the world’s best fighting team believes is an improvement on the vast collection of weapons they already had.

Who are we to argue with that kind of endorsement?

7. Rock River Arms LAR-15

• Price: $918.99
• Caliber: 5.56x45mm NATO
• Barrel: 7 inch
• Total: 24.75 inch.
• Weight: 4.8lb
• Capacity: 25+1

Rock River Arms supplies firearms to the DEA and FBI, among others. The AR15 rifles star in pretty much every price band and the semi-auto pistol is a great choice in this price bracket and beyond.

8. American Tactical Imports Omni Hybrid Maxx P4

• Price: $609.99
• Caliber: AAC Blackout
• Barrel length: 7.5 inch
• Total: 25 inch
• Weight: 5.11lb
• Capacity: 30+1

We sneered at the polymer receiver concept too, briefly. But the truth is that this ATI Omni Hybrid Max plastic AR-15 is cheap, lightweight and seemingly durable. As much as we wanted to, we can’t find anything wrong with it.

American Tactical Imports knows it faces an uphill struggle to convince the world that we’re ready for advanced polymer receivers.

So it has made a big deal of 2,000 round torture tests and running over it with an 800lb forklift to prove the strength of the new age plastics. Truthfully, we’re more interested in the owner reviews.

And they’re outstanding. This is a good gun, with some innovative thinking that results in a super lightweight AR pistol.

Get some red dot sights up top and this is a serious weapon.

9. Diamondback Firearms DB15

• Price: $710.99
• Caliber: 5.56x45mm NATO
• Barr: 7 inch
• Weight: 5.1lb
• Capacity: 30+1

The Diamondback DB15 is a mid range pistol that does everything right and nothign particularly wrong.

If you want a mid-length barrel profile, don’t want an enclosed monolith and are planning to make an SBA3 pistol with a license, for instance, then the Diamondback DB15 is a great option.

Diamondback Firearms have found a place on most of our budget rifles list. We really like the Diamondback Firearms DB10, chambered in 308 Win Mag and the Diamondback Firearms DB15 rifle.

10. Palmetto State Armory Carbine Length AR15 Pistol

• Price: $519.99
• Caliber: 5.56 NATO
• Barr: 7.5 inch
• Length: 26.25 inch

Palmetto State Armory is just its own thing. So if you’re sneering right now, you’re just not one of the PSA crowd. That’s fine, they’ve got along just fine without you and will continue to do so.

This budget manufacturer has a devoted following for a reason. Palmetto State Armory produces basics that tend to work and super cheap parts kits and pistol build kits. This also comes with a carbine length M-LOK Handguard and a Shockwave, so you got quality peripherals.

Now this the PSA semi-auto pistol is quite the sniper, and you can’t fault the accuracy on this chopped down American rifle.

11. Bravo Company Recce

• Price: $1,630.99
• Caliber: 5.56
• Barrels:11.5 inch
• Weight: 6.5lb
• Capacity: 30+1

Bravo Company Manufacturing are made by ex soldiers and aimed squarely at reliability and excellence in the field.

These are theoretically the guns the founders themselves wish they had when shit went sideways. And the company has such a good reputation it still does special builds for elite fighting teams to this day, as well as selling a bolt carrier group, stocks and more.

Availability on the consumer front has been a bit patchy of late, which is why the gun is down here. But if you want a traditional buffer style pistol, and you see one, this Bravo Company Recce is exceptional.

12. Century Arms Micro Draco AK-47

• Price: $828.99
• Caliber: 7.62 x 39mm
• Barrels: 6.25 inch
• Total: 14.5 inch.
• Weight: 4.85lb
• Capacity: 30+1/50+1 drum. 

We have said it before and we’ll say it again, the Draco Gun is an absolute bargain.

It’s a weapon of mass destruction that could easily form part of a budget defense kit if you prefer the black finish AK to an AR-15. It’s your life and I get the arguments, although 300BLK is there too you know?

This could be a concealed carry AR pistol, kind of, or a hidden truck gun. And the 6.25 inch barrel is one of several lengths on offer.

If you know and don’t care about 300 Blackout ammo, then you can find a selection of AK-47s here. We like to cater to everybody…

13. Daniel Defense DDM4 V7P

• Price: $1,774.99
• Caliber: 5.56 NATO
• Barrel length: 10.3 inch
• Overall Length: 28.4 inch
• Capacity: 30 Rounds
• Weight: 5.44lb

The Daniel Defense is basically the best AR-15 for sale. This is more of the same creamy goodness, in a semi-auto pistol.

Now, it has taken the top spot with a shorter version of that award-winning full-size rifle that is is, to all intents and purposes, a Short Barrel Rifle. Fit a stock and you’ve got a service weapon. And, without the right paperwork, also a felony…

Check out the Daniel Defense MK18 SBR, too, because that is serious fun.

14. Smith & Wesson M&P Sport

• Price: $899.99
• Caliber: 5.45x45mm NATO
• Barrel: 7.5 inch
• Weight: 5.5lb

Availability is the only reason the Smith & Wesson M&P15 Sport pistol is so far down. It’s a pretty rare sight on the open market.

If you see one, then it’s a great choice for a budget pistol that does all the things the best-selling S&W M&P Sport rifle does, but in a smaller package.

We also like how the pistol grip looks like the M&P Shield.

15. Springfield Armory Saint Victor AR-15 Pistol

• Price: $1,427.99
• Caliber: 5.56 NATO
• Barrel: 9″

This one doesn’t have any great military connection. It’s just the company doing what it does best and producing a consumer-grade gun that kinda fits the profile of Special Forces hardware.

You can get the Springfield Armory Saint pistol chambered in 5.56 NATO. Then it runs and feels like a conventional, if short, AR-15. And that’s why they’re best sellers.

The Springfield Saint Victor AR-15 pistol is a 30+1 round weapon, it’s 26.5″ in total and it weighs in at 5.8lb.

This Saint SBA3 brace pistol is mil-spec hardware at a consumer price point and we honestly can’t pick a single flaw in the Springfield Saint Victor. We like the full size American rifle as well.

16. Wilson Combat AR-15 Protector Pistol

• Price: $1,499.99
• Barrel: 11.3 inch
• Total: 27.5 inch
• Weight: 5.8lb

Wilson Combat has become a regular winner of our AR-15 competitions and this could easily have taken the top spot here.

Now you can go for the HAM’R, round, which is impressive in its own special way. proprietary ammo makes us nervous, though, and we’d opt for either the 5.56 NATO semi or, better yet, the AAC 300 Blackout pistol.

This works for hunting, personal defense and just about everything else.

It is a compact AR-15 Plus, with the legendary starburst grip that is actually a BCM part. The TTU two-stage trigger is famous in its own right and the free float handguard and he muzzle devices stand out.

17. Battle Arms Development Workhorse Defense Pistol

• Price: $1,199.99
• Cal: 5.56 NATO
• Barrel: 10.5 inch
• Weight: 5.8lb

Battle Arms Development makes some of our favorite custom rifles and lightweight AR-15s. The Workhorse is their volume seller, like BMW’s 3 Series, but it’s still really good.

You get a pistol length gas system, RACK ambidextrous charging handle and other assorted goodies. Basically it’s everything you would expect from a semi-auto pistol at this price point. Not much more, not much less.

There are plenty of options in this price bracket, but the BAD Workhorse Defense is right up there with the best of them. And we wouldn’t be surprised if it outperformed more expensive guns.

Gun Parts & Accessories

If you want spotting scopes or other handgun parts, lasers, lights, slings, swivels, eye protection, gun cleaning stuff, knives & tools, we can probably help you with partners and top tips from around the United States.

You might need to fix your adjustable gas system, you might just want a new armorer’s wrench. we can help.

Where to Buy Ammo

We have a fair bit of experience when it comes to price shopping ammo, 9mm ammo, 223 ammo, handgun ammo, rifle ammo, 45 ACP ammo, gun cleaning kits and more.

So if you want to feed your best 9mm pistol, you’re looking for ammo, 300 Blackout ammo, shotgun ammo, rifle ammo. handgun ammo or you just want 45 ACP ammo, try these stores.

• Sportsman’s Guide – Great ammo deals, rifle calibers, rifle ammunition, Rimfire ammo, shotgun ammunition etc.
• PSA – bulk deals when you buy ammo online and daily discounts on handgun and rifle calibers.

Other Firearms We Can Sell You

An AR is the lynchpin of your home defense set-up, but it’s not meant to do everything. You need a few extra things for a full firearms kit, and obviously gun cases for everything.

Start with a 308 bolt action rifle with some budget rifle scopes. Pump action shotguns, best with red dots, and more.

They are versatile tools that can form part of your defensive kit, as well as taking care of pest control and hunting duties.

Single shot bolt action rifles & pistols can be fun, too, and they tend to be cheaper.

Get that before you get lever action rifles in your gun safes. Obviously do get a lever action rifle too though, in the end. Because lever action rifles are fun..

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