One of the best things about ARs in general is that pretty much any budget has options. Out of the nine guns, three came in fairly budget friendly at under $1,400 MSRP—the Sig Sauer Tread Pistol, the CMMG Banshee 200 MK4 and the Rock River RUK-15 4.5 pistol. The...
The last two guns that were tested—the Wilson Combat Protector and the Falkor Defense Phantom 5.56—are definitely at the higher end of the budget scale, but with some very unique parts and features the pricing kind of makes sense. The Wilson Combat Protector features a unique Gear Head Works...
CMMG is known for its budget-friendly Banshee in a number of odd calibers. We grabbed the Storm Trooper White 200 series Banshee for testing since we were doing everything in 5.56. This model has the longest barrel of the entire group at 12.5 inches and definitely stood out with...
The gun that really stood out in this price range was the Springfield Saint Edge PDW. I have been a huge fan of this gun since I first laid eyes on it at SHOT Show. Springfield really got innovative and stepped outside the box with this thing. The PDW...
The Daniel Defense, Springfield and ZEV are really a toss up when it comes to value. It really boils down to personal preference and the features you might be looking for. Daniel Defense’s DDM4V7 and the ZEV Core Elite pistols are very similar. Both have a 10.5-inch barrel, weigh...
Last but not least is the Falkor Defense Phantom 5.56. Let’s start with the price tag because it is the steepest out of the nine. With an MSRP of $2,519 many would definitely cringe. However, after handling this gun, I can justify the cost. Everything about it is different,...
The second most budget-friendly pistol was the Rock River RUK-15 4.5. This tiny little AR pistol with a 4.5-inch barrel has an MSRP of only $1,065. The RUK-15 has a very attractive look and would slip into most backpacks. Rock River includes a set of its own flip-up sights,...
Four out of the nine guns are marked at what I consider average pricing for AR pistols, between $1,500 and $1,800 MSRP. Out of those came the Bravo Company BCM RECCE-11 MCMR, Daniel Defense DDM4V7, ZEV Core Elite and the Springfield Saint Edge PDW. The lowest priced of these...
Once the smoke cleared and the scoring was all done, I took the average of all the scores for each gun to crown the overall winner. With very surprising results, we found that the Daniel Defense DDM4V7 narrowly took the crown as this year’s Ballistic’s Best of 2020 in...
