I don't currently shoot High Power, and I've never shot Bench Rest. When evaluating an SLR, I'm looking for practical accuracy. For my purposes, I guess you could describe that as the ability to hit a 4 MOA target at any given distance that is practical to the extent of the platform and caliber.
Thats sort of my point, its usually the target shooters who stress "inaccuracy", basing things on their type of shooting. I wouldnt use an AK to shoot HP or one of the military rife matches either, if I was trying to shoot for "score", I wouldnt use a FAL, G3, or a most others either for that matter, as they dont generally make good "target" guns.
Change things up a little, and take that match grade AR and shoot it a little more realistically, and even with the match gun, youre going to see very similar results on a target with no fixed aiming point as you do with the AK's.
Dickering over terminal ballistics on human targets for a rifle that will likely never see any sort of combat is kind of moot. It's like trying to evaluate the merits of a car that will be used as a daily driver based on how quickly it does a 1/4 mile.
If all youre doing is punching paper, I agree, but it still puts both guns in the 300 yard range for most realistic, or other than "target" use. Both guns tend to excel at closer, more realistic distances, and both are effective within that envelope.
I've got a reasonable amount of time spent shooting AKs. I certainly see no reason to baby them or hold it like it's going to bite or whatever. However, this does play into my biggest ergonomic gripe about AKs:
On most of them, the stocks are far too short. I suppose they're great if you're a 12 year old Ugandan child soldier, but they make for a poor fit on a fully-grown American man.
This comes up a lot, and Ive never understood the complaints. The AK's "standard" stock, has the exact LOP as the M16/M16A1(the fixed stocked A2's are only 5/8" longer), and most other "combat" stocked rifles, right around 13". Even the M1 and M1A have that basic LOP.
Ive personally seen a number of people who were complaining, trying to shoot the rifle with their cheek on the "comb" portion of the stock, which is incorrect. If you try to shoot this way, the stock will definitely feel "short". If you shoulder the rifle properly, with your head down and forward, with your nose along the top cover, and your cheek resting on the narrow portion of the stock at just behind the receiver/top cover, the rifle feels correct, and shoulders naturally. Again, the same basic way you shoulder and shoot an AR/M16.
One other this in this respect I find interesting is, many of the AR shooters who tell you the AK's stock is to short, have the adjustable "sliders" on their guns and they are often set shorter than the AK's fixed stocks.
The MAK 90 I used to own had a reasonably good trigger. It was overly long, but wasn't too heavy, probably around 5 lbs.
For me, compared to most stock AR's triggers, the stock AK's triggers just seem so much "cleaner", smoother, and lighter. All but one of my factory AR's have the standard, fairly heavy and crunchy triggers. The one AR I have that doesnt have one like that, has a nicely tuned "match/precision" type trigger that comes as an upgrade.
The accuracy on them is not bad; 2MOA groups @100M are rather standard in my experience.
Ive never been able to get mine to shoot that well, 3" or so is usually the norm from a good field position or a rest. Probably just the right gun and ammo combo. Younger eyes may also have something to do with it too.
I dont reload for mine, and never really saw the point, as ammo was always cheap, and accurate "enough" for my needs. Not saying you cant do better that way though, if thats your goal.
As kind of a side note between ammo and group/accuracy relationships. Ammo is often the cause of what some would call "inaccuracy", from the stand point of what the ammo's "spec" is. I have an Armalite M15A4(T) .223, that is basically a target/precision type rifle. With my reloads, it will literally put 5 rounds into one hole at 100 yards off its bipod or a ruck. Swap that mag of reloads for a mag of issue USGI Lake City, and the gun wont shoot any better than 2". Same day, time, position, everything, but the ammo.
If your trying to shoot groups with your AK, you do need to find something it likes, and buy that lot in bulk if you can. Ive always had the best luck with the old Barnaul 125 grain SP's in most of my AK's. Its seems to be the most consistent and accurate. Wolf has always been hit or miss. One lot shoots great, then next is horrible. One thing I did notice when I pulled the bullets from a couple of each, the Barnauls have a SP with a fully jacketed base, much like Sierra's Game Kings. The Wolf, and a couple of others I pulled, all have a more traditional roll crimped base FMJ type bullet (including the HP's, which are neither a target or hunting HP). A couple of the Wolf rounds had lead smeared across the base at the crimp, which is usually a indication of trouble. The bullets base is more critical than the tip, and any imperfections here, will cause you a lot of grief on paper.
