The AR-15 continues to rule the industry. The AR design has been in service long enough to get ready to retire, but like most boomers, absolutely refuses to. The AR-15 continues to dominate the rifle market and innovate and improve. With that in mind, what were the best new AR-15s of 2024? Well, SHOT Show has them, and we are bringing them directly to your door.
Bilson Arms BA-15FC
At Range Day 2024, I stumbled across the Bilson Arms booth and assumed it was some form of pump-action rifle. Pump-action rifles aren’t new by any means. They are often produced to act as a 50-state legal AR-15 design that blends an 870 shotgun with an AR-15. However, I was wrong, way wrong! The Bilson BA-15FC wasn’t a pump action rifle, but it’s a design that uses a forward-mounted pump to charge the weapon. It merely replaces the charging handle of your standard AR-15.
Bilson Arms calls it the forward charging system. The idea is to provide a reactive, easy-to-use charging design. The user doesn’t have to break their firing position or sight picture to charge the weapon. The idea is that it makes reloads faster and more intuitive and clearing malfunctions much simpler overall.
The pump can push the bolt rearward and keep it rearward without having to utilize the bolt catch. It’s really intuitive to use, and the grip is aggressively textured for a sure and easy grip.
The 5.56 variant is the BA-15FC, and there is also a 9mm variant known as the BA-9FC. The two guns come in various configurations and colors. The design is clever, and I have to give them serious points for originality. There are some downsides, such as the pump covering a lot of accessory room, and a novel device does demand a higher price. The rifles are seemingly of very high quality, with great triggers and exceedingly accurate results on range day.
Bishop Ammunitions and Firearms M16A1S
Bishop Ammunition and Firearms is a custom rifle house that hasn’t ever been deep in the AR game. They are known for producing custom lever and bolt guns in exceptionally powerful cartridges. Bishop isn’t producing tens of thousands of rifles a year, but a few very high-quality designs. This year they did dive into the world of ARs and produced the Bishop M16A1S. Bishop is veteran-owned and operated, and the owner wanted to reproduce the very rifle she qualled with.
The M16A1S is exactly what you think it is. It’s an M16A1 clone reproduced in downright outstanding detail. The gun has the teardrop forward assist, the tiniest little charging handle, and, of course, the simplified sight.
In fact, the only real detail I saw that was missed was the use of an A2 pistol grip. It was pointed out to me that this particular model is an exact replica of the rifle Bishop’s owner was issued, and it was an amalgamation of parts. Military sourcing can be odd sometimes.
The rifle is ultra-light and is one of the perfect examples of what made the M16A1 such a light and handy rifle. Its space-age design wasn’t appreciated at the time, but as we know now, the M16A1 would become the future of arm’s design. Bishop’s creation will offer a factory retro option built with an extreme degree of quality. One of my favorite details is the “NOT GOVERNMENT PROPERTY” tag on the lower receiver.
Battle Arms Development DARC6
Battle Arms Development makes a mix of rifles that are absolutely gorgeous but also functional, reliable, accurate, and so on. Guns like the Tanker 556 SBR look beautiful and are certainly built to be beautiful collectibles, but on the flip side, the Workhorse is an affordable, well-made duty-grade rifle. This year, Battle Arms Development released a weapon called the DARC6.
Battle Arms Development developed the DARC6 to provide a rifle that can get as close to a do it a design as you can get with one rifle. It’s light and short with a 12.5-inch barrel and a CQB PDW stock. This makes it an excellent close-range combat rifle, and it can clear rooms quickly and easily.
At the same time, the 6mm ARC cartridge allows for engagements up to 1,000 yards with reasonable accuracy depending on the shooter, optics, etc. Although ballistically, the energy levels get pretty low at that range, at 700 yards, it’s a bit more realistic.
The DARC6 is built with the same extreme quality that every other Battle Arms Development rifle is equipped with. The DARC6 utilizes an amazing trigger and excellent controls. Inside the gun, we have a buffer system that reduces recoil and a titanium bolt carrier group that’s light and sweet. It’s a super cool rifle, and I can’t help but finally feel a desire for a 6mm ARC rifle.
HM Defense Stealth MS Series Rifles
I went to HM Defense to see their massive .50 BMG rifle, but I stayed because of the Stealth MS5 and MS3 rifles. These rifles are integrally suppressed designs. The MS5 is a 5.56 rifle, and the MS3 is a .300 Blackout design. Integrally suppressed AR 15s have existed before, but HM Defense does it a bit differently, and it’s an insane concept.
Most of the time, an integrally suppressed rifle utilizes a suppressor that’s permanently attached to the barrel. With the HM Defense MS series, the suppressor is part of the barrel. They are both one piece of metal, and the barrels and suppressor are milled together from one block of metal. This monobloc design is a patented design by HM Defense. This design allows the gun to be more accurate and more durable overall.
The rest of the gun doesn’t stray far from the standard AR-15 carbine design. Everything is built to specification, and you can tell they put a lot of time and effort into building their rifles. The main benefit of an integrally suppressed design is that you get a one-stamp rifle that’s the same size as a suppressed SBR. That’s great for the average Joe.
The Knights Armament KS-1
This year, Knight’s Armament brought the KS-1 to SHOT Show 2024 to show us what the British Special Operations Forces will be wielding in the next few years. Don’t worry. You’ll also have your chance to own the KS-1 as Knight’s is releasing a civilian semi-auto-only model. The KS-1 is an SR-15 built to the specs demanded by Project Hunter, the British program to provide elements of British SOF and Royal Marines with a new, modern, and modular carbine system.
Knight’s Armament created its first 13.7-inch rifle with the KS-1. The rifle features a muzzle device designed to quickly attach suppressors and mitigate flash when the suppressor isn’t present. When you start looking through the rail, you’ll notice the barrel is also dimpled to reduce weight and improve cooling. Like all Knight’s rifles, the KS-1 came in with completely ambidextrous controls, a huge charging handle, and a ton of small feature adjustments that produce an extremely well-made and reliable rifle.
The Knight’s Armament KS-1 series rifles are NFA items, or at least appear to be. I’m not sure if the muzzle device could be pinned and welded to produce a 16-inch barrel. However, if you’re paying Knight’s prices, I doubt you care much about a tax stamp. The KS-1 looks to be a fantastic rifle that’s built for beyond even the roughest duty purposes.
The AR-15 Still Rules
As much as people try, it’s going to be tough to ever replace the AR-15 designs. Even the rifles that are trying to use the AR-15 as their building block. It’s still a fantastic rifle all these decades later. The modularity of the gun has allowed it to continue to advance and improve all these decades later. As SHOT Show 2024 has shown, the AR-15 is going nowhere.
