The AR’s Big Flaw vs Bilson Arm's Forward Charging System AR15 Rifle ~ VIDEO

Opinion

Bilson Arms Forward Charging System Ar15 Rifle lifestyle

Tombstone, Arizona – The charging system of AR-style firearms is awkward and slow.

That’s just a fact.

With a lot of practice, a shooter can get pretty handy at loading and making ready, clearing malfunctions, and accomplishing reloads – even when the bolt hold-open doesn’t work as it should – but it’s awkward. You have to dismount the rifle, often all the way down to the butt, sitting on your hip or thigh, in order to get the needed angle and leverage.

In Stoner’s original design, the charging handle was centrally located inside the carry handle. This allowed the system to be ambidextrous – though the rest of the gun was not at all “lefty” friendly – and while the idea was better in some ways, it also had other serious drawbacks, leading to the relocation of the charging handle to the rear of the receiver, just in front of the shooter’s nose, where it was impossible to operate while maintaining a shooting position.

Over the years, various designers and manufacturers have offered solutions to this issue, mostly in the form of side-charging systems, usually on the left side, either directly above the trigger group, or somewhere forward. While these designs were often seen as improvements over the mil spec designs, none was particularly adaptable for both right-hand and left-hand shooters, and none was sufficiently better to be widely adopted.

Enter the Bilson Arms Forward Charging System.

It’s slick, fast, intuitive, fully ambidextrous, and it cleanly solves the problem of the AR’s awkward charging system. Like most innovations in firearms design over the past century, the “new” solution is based on designs that are over 100 years old, just updated to a modern firearm, and taking advantage of modern materials and manufacturing techniques.

Over the centuries, five major systems have emerged for charging or advancing a repeater to the next round. Of those five, four were and are generally operated by the shooter’s trigger-hand: the revolver, lever action, bolt action, and the auto-loader, whether gas or recoil operated, all generally oblige the shooter to use the dominant hand. Only the pump action relies on the shooter’s support hand to operate the action, unquestionably providing the fastest method to operate the action with the least disruption to the shooting position.

Over the years, many designers have tried to adapt a pump-style forend to an AR-type rifle, but the designs met with only limited success, as various shortcomings emerged. However, Bilson Arms has shaken things up with their patented, forward-charging (pump-action-style) designs, including one, the BA-PAR, which is pump-action only, making it fully legal in many states and countries where semi-automatic rifles are heavily restricted.

I recently had the opportunity to shoot the Bilson BA-15FC at the Lucid Optics Ballistic Summit at the NRA Whittington Center near Raton, New Mexico, and I was impressed.

The forend is sleek, thin, and stable, not bulky or wobbly. It’s comfortable to hold, whether in traditional form or using some version of a wrap-around “C-clamp” style grip. The sliding portion does take up some real estate on the front of the gun. Still, it leaves plenty of room on the top Picatinny rail or the readily accessible M-lock points on the sides and bottom of the main forend for your favorite bolt-on accessories, such as optics, flashlights, lasers, or chainsaw attachments.

It took a little practice to get used to operating the action with the sliding forend, but it’s quite intuitive, and in no time at all, I was running the gun through immediate-action drills without having to think about it. And let me tell you, the drills were fast! I want to get a rifle to test out on my home range, where I have more time and can make some real comparisons. Still, in the brief simulations I was able to run, the split times from “click” to “bang” were ridiculously quick, probably less than a third of the time it would take me to cycle a standard AR. I was able to do it without dismounting the gun or taking my eyes off the target.

The Bilson is no slouch in the accuracy department either. As we were plinking on the Whittington Center’s Star Range, several of us were consistently ringing steel out to 600 yards, and these were, I believe, Bilson’s standard rifles, not their slightly more expensive Precision Series rifles. Bilson guarantees all of their rifles to a standard of 1 MOA or better, right out of the box. Each rifle is manufactured with care in Bilson’s Broussard, Louisiana facility, using their own billet-machined and fitted uppers and lowers, B5 Systems furniture, and baked-on Cerakote finishes.

The fit and finish of all of the Bilson rifles we were able to shoot, including Jason’s personal rifle chambered in 6 ARC, were simply outstanding. Everything was tight, smooth, and unfailingly reliable. At an MSRP of around $1,850, you can expect a nice product. Even at that price, I think Bilson provides a solid value, before factoring in their patented Forward Charging System.

Bilson Arms Forward Charging System Ar15 Rifle

Along with Jason’s suppressed tack driver in 6 ARC, we had rifles in 5.56 NATO, 300 Blackout, and a PCC in 9mm, all with the Bilson Forward Charging System. They also offer variants in 350 Legend and 450 Bushmaster, for those who prefer a little more thump.

In an ideal world, the standard charging handle on the AR platform, or one of the many improved variations available, would be completely adequate. After all, in an ideal world, you would insert a magazine, chamber the first round, and not need to touch the charging handle again until you were ready to clear the gun at the end of your exercise, whether a day at the range, in the field, or in the trenches. Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world, so there’s a pretty high likelihood that you might need to operate the charging system multiple times during an outing, whether due to the bolt failing to lock back on the last round or some sort of minor or major malfunction.

As Murphy’s law dictates: “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong,” and you can bet it will go wrong at the worst possible moment.

In those moments, the ability to depress a thumb switch and rack the action, almost instantaneously, without having to dismount the rifle, engage in any sort of awkward contortions, or even lose your sight picture, is absolutely priceless.

Other advantages include the ability to easily perform a “press check” to verify the rifle’s condition quickly, and to carry the rifle with an empty chamber while still being able to charge it and get on target very quickly. I’m recalling situations in the military when troops were forbidden to carry their guns with a round in the chamber – for “safety” reasons – even though they were in hostile situations that might require immediate action. Beirut anyone?

For our brethren trapped behind enemy lines in California, New Jersey, and other authoritarian strongholds, Bilson offers their rifles in a Pump Action Only variation that they call the BA-PAR, for Bilson Arms Pump Action Rifle. It’s outwardly the exact same billet aluminum receiver and matching upper, offered in the same calibers, with all USA-made parts, like their other guns. However, the BA-PAR doesn’t have a gas system and does have a few internal modifications to accommodate the forward charging system. Like your familiar pump shotgun, the BA-PAR requires the shooter to cycle the action for each shot manually. With a little practice, a Bilson BA-PAR can be an extremely fast and accurate platform. Though not nearly as easy to operate as a standard semi-auto, a BA-PAR comes close, while bypassing most of the legal complications and restrictions that make owning a comparable semi-auto difficult or impossible in some places.

I’m new to the Bilson family of AR-style rifles and pistols, but I was impressed with the fit, finish, and functionality of all of the samples we were able to try out. I intend to spend more time getting to know the brand and putting some samples through their paces. Still, from what I’ve seen so far, Bilson offers a limited menu of high-quality, premium products that are priced well below comparable products from big-name, premium manufacturers. And they include innovative features that the other guys can’t.

That should put Bilson Arms on your radar when you start shopping for that next AR, whether for competition, hunting, home defense, or SHTF, Bilson fits the bill, without breaking the bank.

About Jeff Knox:

Jeff Knox is a dedicated political activist and the director of The Firearms Coalition, following in the footsteps of his father, Neal Knox. In 2024, Jeff was elected to the NRA Board of Directors, underscoring his lifelong commitment to protecting the Second Amendment. The Knox family has played a pivotal role in the ongoing struggle for gun rights, a legacy documented in the book Neal Knox – The Gun Rights War, authored by Jeff’s brother, Chris Knox.

Founded by Neal Knox in 1984, The Firearms Coalition is a network of individual Second Amendment activists, clubs, and civil rights organizations. The Coalition supports grassroots efforts by providing education, analysis of current issues, and a historical perspective on the gun rights movement. For more information, visit www.FirearmsCoalition.org.