Firing your enemies weapons and wearing their uniforms will attract unwanted attention!
Vietnam veterans I pulled targets with claimed they did not see VC or NVA, they shot at vegetation where they were pretty sure enemy rounds were coming from. You happen to have an SKS or AK47 you might have an US artillery round land on your position as your forward artillery observer calls them down from heaven.
The early M16's were a disaster and jam a matics. Around 1968 they got most of the problems out, but magazines remained troublesome up to the Iraq invasion. And the M16 needs a lot more maintenance than any AK. A bud of mine claims a VC was turned up by a road grading bull dozer, he estimated Charlie had been in the mud for three months. Bud took the VC's AK47, racked the bolt, and fired the weapon without any attempt to clean. Try doing that with a AR15 or M16. I pulled targets with Iraq veterans who ran experiments with captured AK47's. They took the top cover off and poured sand into the mechanism, and the AK's still ran. Does not take much dirt to bind up a M16.
The AK47 served well the people who used it. Maybe 70 to 100 million made, and they are still out there, being used by ragamuffins and children warriors. It is truly one of the outstanding battle rifles of the second half of the 20th century.
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I earned my Distinguished Rifleman Badge with a M1a. I am sure if I were in Vietnam, I would have an M14 in my hands, till they took it away.
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It is a great rifle, powerful, accurate, reliable. Combat load is about half that of the M16, that is about the only disadvantage I have heard about it. Truly an under appreciated design.
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