This is a very well written and convincing argument. My opinions have changed.
This is a very well written and convincing argument. My opinions have changed.
Best post in this thread.
I started out as an AK guy when I first got into shooting. I bought my first, a Romanian SAR 1, when I was 16. I went through several more AKs in my teens and early 20s. I believed them to be superior to ARs because of stuff I read, and bad experiences with sub-par ARs. Looking back, they were a pretty good choice for a guy who is pretty new to shooting and doesn't know anything about the different specs on guns and how they affect reliability, who isn't a particularly great shot, who is just going to be buying whatever rifle of a certain type he can find, and shooting the cheapest steel case ammo he can find. It used to be that just about any AK, no matter how cheap, could be trusted to be a reliable rifle. That may not be as much the case anymore... also the price difference between AK and AR isn't nearly as great as it was in those days.
Eventually I got more experience and came to realize that a good AR with high quality parts that meet or surpass the mil specs is plenty reliable, and that 5.56 isn't completely worthless. I couldn't really appreciate the modularity of the AR until I became an experienced enough shooter to actually have preferences on how to set up a rifle. Also I couldn't really appreciate the AR's greater accuracy until I learned to shoot more accurately than the AK!
These days, for an intermediate power rifle, I prefer a good, high quality AR. I don't have anything against AKs, but I don't own one anymore. I will qualify my preference by saying that I would still take my old low tier Romanian AKs over a low tier AR any day!
Eventually I got more experience and came to realize that a good AR with high quality parts that meet or surpass the mil specs is plenty reliable, and that 5.56 isn't completely worthless. I couldn't really appreciate the modularity of the AR until I became an experienced enough shooter to actually have preferences on how to set up a rifle. Also I couldn't really appreciate the AR's greater accuracy until I learned to shoot more accurately than the AK!
These days, for an intermediate power rifle, I prefer a good, high quality AR. I don't have anything against AKs, but I don't own one anymore. I will qualify my preference by saying that I would still take my old low tier Romanian AKs over a low tier AR any day!
In most every endeavor that's combines man and machine, where comparing competing machinery is like splitting hairs, it's ALWAYS the Indian and not the arrow.
BUT the Indian almost always has his preferred arrow.
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Good thing we haven't had to fight a war in the past 50 years. Our guys would have been screwed with inferior weaponry.
Personal preference. I prefer the AK; simple, reliable, durable. I certainly wouldn't mind owning an AR and have nothing against it, other than it shares a round with no other firearm I own, and have no need to add another caliber to try and hoard. They'll both do the job.
Both guns are good, buy your preference. AKs are better to shoot right now if you're already equipped to support them 'cause ammo is common and still cheap. Ignore the opinions of people who bash the AK on how "unergonomic" it is compared to the AR, it's just THEIR preference, not yours. To me, ARs make more sense from a control layout point, but I've been shooting the AKs so long that they "feel" more comfortable to me. I know a South African gentleman that made his living killing people with a FAL in the 80s and he personally loathes the AR-15 push button mag release because he's too used to the paddle of the FAL and AK. Preference.
ARs are better to buy right now 'cause they're easier to take care of, quality mags are cheaper (when you can find them), and the system and ammunition are very common these days. The AR-15 is not THAT much more complicated than an AK and if you DO have something wrong with your rifle you can rebuild an AR using a hammer, a block of wood and a vice whereas an AK actually requires a hammer and a five-tonne hydraulic press. Buy quality parts that are in-spec and you won't have to worry about things like staking your BCG Gas key and filing the proper profile on your receiver to match your M4 feed ramps on your barrel.
Personally I was stocked up on everything AK related long before this madness, so I sold my ARs and went full into AKs. I have everything I need to build, feed and support an AR-15 now save for the upper receiver but am in no hurry because at current ammo prices I'd rather shoot .308.
ARs are better to buy right now 'cause they're easier to take care of, quality mags are cheaper (when you can find them), and the system and ammunition are very common these days. The AR-15 is not THAT much more complicated than an AK and if you DO have something wrong with your rifle you can rebuild an AR using a hammer, a block of wood and a vice whereas an AK actually requires a hammer and a five-tonne hydraulic press. Buy quality parts that are in-spec and you won't have to worry about things like staking your BCG Gas key and filing the proper profile on your receiver to match your M4 feed ramps on your barrel.
Personally I was stocked up on everything AK related long before this madness, so I sold my ARs and went full into AKs. I have everything I need to build, feed and support an AR-15 now save for the upper receiver but am in no hurry because at current ammo prices I'd rather shoot .308.
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