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The replacement cost on government contract for an M9 pistol is $263. An M-16A2 is $586. Do you think the US govt is grossly overpaying for a rifle it has a 50 year history with, or that Beretta is selling M9s below cost? Neither. Those prices reflect real costs, not market premiums.
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The cost of guns to the military often includes the cost of replacement and spare parts, on going service, etc. To this is often added discounts for volume, etc. So it's not, imho, comparable to the cost of commercial firearms.
The cost of AR type weapons varies greatly from maker to maker. It varies from the cost of a decent handgun to a custom piece. The cost of production of all of these is usually less than that of some handguns. Demand though is high, particularly now days. The rate of profit on these guns is high and so they are made by a wide variety of makers and there are 3 or 4 times as many "builders".
It's inexpensive to manufacture a polymer gun, the rate of return is high. So they are also common.
It's hard to make a sweeping generalization about the price of long guns versus short.
tipoc