Shooters are crazy about AR15 pistols. They are compact, offer the same firepower as their full-sized cousins, and are far lighter and more maneuverable. Plus, most of them offer the same expandability as a rifle-length AR15, even if there are just a couple fewer attachment points.
All the same, the name of the game here is in compactness, and AR15 pistols offer the best of the best when it comes to that, making them excellent for home defense and other engagements in tight quarters.
That all comes down to size and footprint. So, if that’s your aim, how do you go about making an AR15 pistol as compact as can be? Well, here are 4 pointers.
Get a Short Buffer Tube
Here’s the thing about an AR15 pistol. You can’t stock the thing, so unless you plan on installing a pistol brace (which in and of itself really isn’t a bad thing), that buffer tube on the end of your receiver is just dead space.
Granted, if your AR15 pistol upper is a gas-operated, you need a buffer system. There’s nothing you can do about that. But you can make it smaller - with a micro buffer tube system.
MCS Gearup sells buffer tube systems as small as 3.5”, which is about as short as they come. Considering rifles are often outfitted with buffer tubes as long as 7” (or more) it makes sense why you’d want to look into shorter options.
Plus, it’s more the weight than the buffer length that impacts handling, so you can keep performance right where you want it all by opting to go with a short buffer tube system. And you might even have room for that pistol brace anyway.
Go Bufferless
While choosing a short buffer tube system absolutely will impact the handling and compact nature of your AR15 pistol’s upper, there’s another suggestion we have that can make an even bigger impact.
Just complete the build with a bufferless AR15 pistol upper. Here’s the thing. Most AR15 uppers are gas-operated, which means you need a gas system as well as a buffer tube system. But most bufferless uppers operate according to the principle of recoil, not gas impingement, which means you can skip the buffer and gas system entirely.
Building bufferless means you can basically make the AR15 pistol as short as you want, and can eliminate between 3.5” to 5” off the back of the build. Many are made with shorter barrels, too, which is another bonus.
Of course, there is a small catch that you might have to make - which deserves its own callout.
Go Pistol Caliber
If you build with a pistol-caliber AR15 pistol upper, you will have the opportunity to make the whole build that much shorter.
Now, granted, this will have the smallest impact of all of the suggestions covered on this list, but it is still something. It all has to do with action size.
Pistol cartridges are shorter than rifle cartridges. That means the upper itself can be more compact, which will clip a little length off the whole build. Granted, we’re talking about inches at most here, but it’s not nothing.
Also, this deserved its own callout since most bufferless uppers are chambered in pistol calibers anyway - so there’s that.
Skip the Muzzle Device
After choosing a short buffer tube system for your AR15 upper, this suggestion will have the overall greatest impact in the length of your build. In some instances, it might actually have the single biggest impact.
Let’s say your AR15 pistol is equipped with a suppressor. These muzzle devices, however beneficial they are (and they are), will significantly change the footprint and handling of your AR15 pistol. Even on a rifle this is a big deal, but with a platform of this size, you could be nearly doubling the overall length. Perhaps not exactly but this is more true than fiction.
But let’s not even make it about suppressors for a second. Even a flash hider or a muzzle brake can significantly extend the length of your AR15 pistol, in some cases by several inches.
Just scrapping the muzzle device can make your AR15 pistol shorter and snappier. Take it off and install a thread protector and you can save 3” or more, which is a big deal since we’re working with platforms that are tiny to begin with.
Shop AR15 Pistol Uppers and Parts Here
Probably the two biggest suggestions here are to build with a bufferless AR15 pistol upper and to remove the muzzle device. Together, these can shave more than 5” off the front and back of the build.
We also have the parts you need to make it happen. Shop our collection of AR15 pistol parts and shooting accessories and if you have any questions get in touch with us at Sales@MCSGearup.com.