Bear Creek Arsenal Bear Pump: Pump-Action AR-15 Specs and Price

The Bear Pump is a pump-action AR: an AR-15 whose action is cycled by the shooter rather than by gas. Bear Creek Arsenal calls it its first pump-action AR-15, and it went on sale on November 5, 2026, as complete rifles and complete upper assemblies. Everything you touch except the forend is familiar AR-15: the pistol grip, the adjustable stock, the safety, the magazine release, and a mil-spec trigger that Bear Creek rates at 7 to 8 pounds.

Bear Creek launched it in two calibers, .450 Bushmaster and .400 Legend, which are both straight-wall hunting cartridges. That choice tells you who the rifle is for: deer and hog hunters who want AR ergonomics in a manually operated rifle. It joins Bear Creek's bolt-action-style AR uppers and its side-charging uppers as another AR-15 that does not cycle the usual way.

A pump-action AR replaces the gas system's job with your support hand. After each shot you pull the forend rearward, which unlocks the bolt, extracts the spent case, and ejects it; pushing the forend forward strips the next round from the magazine, chambers it, and locks the bolt. Bear Creek's launch post describes exactly that cycle. The rifle fires once per trigger press like any AR, but nothing happens between shots until you work the forend.

On the Bear Pump the forend sits inside the M-LOK rail and connects to the bolt carrier through an action bar that runs along the right side of the upper, and Bear Creek's product photos show no forward assist and a slick left side. The upper is billet, and a full-length Picatinny rail runs from the back of the receiver to the front of the handguard, so there is room for a scope, a red dot, or a red dot and magnifier.

Running the action yourself trades speed for control. Follow-up shots are slower than on a gas gun, and the brass leaves the rifle when you work the forend, not when the shot breaks. If you have run a pump shotgun, the stroke will feel familiar. Manual cycling does not make it immune to stoppages from bad ammunition, so the usual rules about feeding quality loads still apply.

Pick by the ammunition you can find and the game you hunt, since the rifles are otherwise identical. The .450 Bushmaster barrels use a 1:24 twist and the .400 Legend barrels a 1:16 twist, and the two cartridges do not interchange, so buy ammunition and magazines for the exact chambering. The .450 Bushmaster 18-inch complete rifle is $529.99 and the .400 Legend 18-inch is $544.99.

Both are straight-wall cartridges, which is why AR-15s in these chamberings sell in states that limit deer rifles to straight-wall rounds. Our AR-15 hunting rifle guide covers semi-auto options in these and other hunting calibers, and the .350 Legend rifle guide covers the other common straight-wall AR round. Hunting seasons set their own action and caliber rules, so check your state's regulations for the season you plan to hunt.

If you already own an AR-15 lower, the complete upper is the cheaper way in. Bear Creek says the Bear Pump uppers are designed to work with standard AR-15 lower receivers, and each one ships with its bolt carrier group and charging system. The .450 Bushmaster 18-inch upper is the cheapest, and all four are listed on the Bear Pump page. Under federal law the lower, not the upper, is the serialized firearm, so the upper does not have to go through a dealer, though state law still applies.

Budget for a magazine either way, since none ship with the rifle or the upper. The rest of the lower stays yours to set up: Bear Creek's rifles use a mil-spec trigger, and the grip and stock are standard AR-15 parts.

A manual action changes the answer in states whose laws turn on semiautomatic fire. Colorado and Virginia are the clearest examples: both states' new laws exclude manually operated rifles. Colorado's SB25-003 permit regime covers semiautomatic rifles with detachable magazines and excludes bolt, pump, lever, and slide actions, and Virginia's SB 749 excludes the same manual actions from its assault-firearm definition. Colorado's Firearms Dealer Division also treats frames and receivers for covered firearms as covered, and it has not published a position on a pump AR built on an AR-15 lower, so ask your dealer before buying one there. Our Colorado-legal firearms guide and Virginia-legal firearms guide cover the rest of what those laws leave on the shelf.

A manual action is not an automatic pass everywhere. Some states regulate AR-type rifles by name or by receiver, not only by how they cycle. Washington is the clearest example: its law excludes firearms manually operated by bolt, pump, lever, or slide action, but no court or attorney general guidance has settled whether that exclusion overrides the separate AR-15 named branch. Our Washington bolt-action AR guide walks through that open question, and the featureless AR build guide covers the semi-auto route in feature-test states.

Bear Creek's launch post says additional AR-15 calibers are expected to follow .450 Bushmaster and .400 Legend. Replying to readers on that post, the company said it is working on more configurations including 5.56 NATO and that a .300 Blackout option is in the works. Neither had a product page, price, or date on November 8, 2026. A 5.56 or .300 Blackout Bear Pump would put the pump action on the AR calibers most shooters already stock, so it is worth watching.