Why do Ar pistols cost so much?

[Giggles]

Why do Ar pistols cost so much? I mean they dont use as much material as a rifle. But they cost more a lot of times even than their rifle versions.

[TaterTot]

Economy of scale. They're kind of a niche gun so there's less demand for them. It costs a lot less per unit to make 100k rifles than it does 2k pistols.

Sent from my SM-T230NU using Tapatalk

[BillBond]

Economy of scale....

They don't sell them by weight.

[CCK]

They don't sell them by weight.

Yet...

[Giggles]

I was under the impression, that it was because of some kinda tax.

[Clint]

It seems to me that AR pistols cost about the same as AR rifles.

Parts Content wise, they are very very similar.

Yes they do tend to cost 2x a "plastic fantastic" pistol.

If a person already had one AR carbine and no pistols, they'd do we'll to pick up a pair of regular pistols first.

[Frank_Castle]

They're not that expensive... Compared to longer barreled AR rifles that is. AR pistols really aren't that different as far as materials are concerned. No difference in parts count.

[yellowfin]

Economy of scale. They're kind of a niche gun so there's less demand for them. It costs a lot less per unit to make 100k rifles than it does 2k pistols.

This. It's all about batch size and opportunity cost.

Economics teaches us that if you make more than one product, you've gotta assess what the opportunity cost is of making one versus another and have to charge appropriately for your time (and other differences) that it takes switching back and forth. You lose money if you stop making something that's profitable and a sure sale to change over to something else unless you charge more for the second product to cover the difference. Hence why ammo companies make 9x19 and .223 all year round but only make deer hunting calibers and soft point ammo once a year. They also charge 2-3x for .41 Mag and .45 Colt vs. .45 ACP when the difference in materials cost is nowhere near that.

[Frank_Castle]

Am I missing something? I don't see AR pistols priced more expensive than longer rifle equivalents.

[CAPTBEACH]

Only IF you buy them from a manufacturer...if you roll your own they are no more expensive than a rifle build, most of the time less...