Are we talking "BEST" for you as the buyer or the Best gun period, price should not be in consideration or does Best Gun mean for the civilian buyer and that's it which includes price as number one criteria. It also depends on purpose or philosophy of use, the criteria is so subjective and bias depending on the individual...
Also just because you owned something does not mean much if you barely used it or even shot it once...How many of these posters have actually shot there guns to the point of actually having to replace parts on there gun not including defective parts failing well before there time. Who here shoots enough ammunition out of there gun to the point that they are even putting any serious stress on there firearm, so few....
You have to compare AR's in their respective categories or class of firearm, meaning if you have a government profile barreled Colt 14.5 vs 10.5 LMT for example it gets more complicated....Too many variables in many regards and not enough data out there to the public to say which is best for a civilian users when considering price as the key factor.
Barrel Life
Accuracy
durability
Quality of materials
Trigger
Stock or accessories that come with the gun.
FA
Suppressed
10.5,11.5,12,13,14.5,16.6,18,20 barrel length.?
Etc Etc Etc....
There is a lot of reason why some companies like LWRC don't get significant large contracts from Mil or leo also..
I would wager a Norinco would satisfy most users out there for there intended application of use...If shooting suppressed a lot then going piston gun might be better like a PWS but who has the ability to use suppressors out there , so very few in Canada..
We already know who the "best" is , as for the options provided by Bacardi and in the list that matters to the cool dudes putting the amount of rds who can determine what are "Real Best" AR's guns out there are.
Price reflects what is usually going into the gun and that means the higher price the only question to the buyer is if you need that or want those benefits and does it justify the price...
But out of the list
KAC
Noveske because of there Barrels..
LMT
Sig Sauer/PWS hard to say, who knows..
Another thing to consider is a company produces there guns to meet certain niches or places in the market depending it be commercial, LEO, military and that is subject to what specifics are demanded of them each.