advice on AK 47 or ar 15

[navajo]

heavy

Just picked up a heavy barreled Armalite AR 10 for that very reason.

 

[USAF_Vet]

I see a lot of military contractors with ak's and sks. what bases were not covered?

I'm not calling you a liar, but with as much time I spent in Iraq between 03 and 06, the only AK's I saw were in the hands of insurgents or being tossed in the burn pile after we removed them from the hands of insurgents. Never saw an SKS at all over there. Never saw an overpaid contractor with anything less than an M4(gery) as their rifle, and a lot of MP5s and the like.

 

[RatherNotSay]

I'm not calling you a liar, but with as much time I spent in Iraq between 03 and 06, the only AK's I saw were in the hands of insurgents or being tossed in the burn pile after we removed them from the hands of insurgents. Never saw an SKS at all over there. Never saw an overpaid contractor with anything less than an M4(gery) as their rifle, and a lot of MP5s and the like.

Ft. Bliss is in my city and they have a range I am a member of. It's owned by the army but they let civilians join and shoot. On monday's it's only members and active duty day. While there on a monday I was shooting my buddies ar-15 and there were some guys there shooting ak's. Naturally me and my buddy were interested in the ak so we struck up a conversation and they said they were military contractors. I was a bit puzzled to see them using ak's since the US only uses m16s or m4s. So after asking them about it it turns out that a lot of contracts will use ak 47/74s. The ak they were shooting was the reason I ended up getting my ak as they are both made by arsenal. In fact blackwater was investigated for taking more than 500 ak-47s from iraq I believe for personal use.

 

[jehicks87]

I'm not calling you a liar, but with as much time I spent in Iraq between 03 and 06, the only AK's I saw were in the hands of insurgents or being tossed in the burn pile after we removed them from the hands of insurgents. Never saw an SKS at all over there. Never saw an overpaid contractor with anything less than an M4(gery) as their rifle, and a lot of MP5s and the like.

http://specopstech.com/osc/StActionShots.php

10th picture. PSC with an AK in Iraq.

And yes, they have and do used SKS's in Afghanistan. I never deployed to Iraq, but have been to Afghan.

I noticed you were Air Force... what did you do over there?

 

[regal]

The ak they were shooting was the reason I ended up getting my ak as they are both made by arsenal. In fact blackwater was investigated for taking more than 500 ak-47s from iraq I believe for personal use.

Whats really interesting to me is they are buying AK-47's instead of AK'74's, I mean it wasn't too long ago that a lot of folks thought the 7.62x39 would have become obsolete with Russia near 100% AK-74.

Now the latest wars have brought about a resurgence in popularity for the old 7.62x39 (both sides.) I mean I think I read that the US was paying to outfit Iraq with new AMD-65's.

Now this is where it gets interesting to me, I also read that well over 95% of all the Iraq conflicts were less than 100M. Now looking at these little carbines (AR's & AK's) where they really shine in utility is with as a SBR. If you look at an AMD-65 with its 12.5" barrel, it loses practically nothing in KE vs a 16" barrel. While the 5.56 SBR AR at 12.5" loses a lot of KE vs 16" barrel.

The AMD-65 with a stamp is probably the most underrated option one that no one discusses, and it seems the decision to chose these for our new "allies" was a very wise one when you consider the ballistics, the manuverability, reliability, barrier penetration, performance out of a smaller package.

The only thing that I can think of that would be a comparable option on the AR side is the .300 Blackout, with a 10.5" barrel one would have a very ergonomic handy capable "little carbine." But at $1 per round, and the likelyhood that no military will ever adopt the catridge, its a very niche and risky investment same with the 6.8 SPC. But unless I am wrong you can basically reload the 300 black out with a 5.56 case and a .308 bullet (both Nato.)

I think the semi "free enterprise" security contractors chosing the AK-47 and the decision to arm the new Iraqi police with the AMD-65 says a lot. I'm considering buying an AK47 (AMD-65) but damn the ergonomics suck, and the whole red dotmount issue isn't really ideal with an AK.

What it all boils down to is the AR 5.56 ammunition options suck compared to the AK-47. But the AK-47 ergonomics suck compared to an AR. I mean if the Fed FBI bonded 5.56 load was commerially available for 35 cents per round I don't think we would be having these discussions. . So you have to pick what compromise you can live with.