ak-47 vs m-16

[colt.45]

i know this has beb brought up before but ill do it anyway. but first, let it be known that this is a debate. heres the question wich one would be better in a combat situation. heres my answer, the ak is definately a reliable and rock solid gun, but it isn't a supergun and it will jam or misfeed if it is neglected.
wich also brings up my next point, the m-16 isnt as unreliable and flimsy as some of you make it out to be, if you clean it it will work pretty damn reliably. in 10 years of my dad owning his ar and 30 years prior mith my papa it has never misfired EVER. the ak is pretty much useless for the rifleman, it will get what... 10" groups. that coupled with the rainbow arc of the 7.62x39 it is barely effective really to 200. it is also not as durable as it is made out to be either, the reciever is made of the cheapest stamped steel on the planet, and it is pretty thin skinned too. but you have to admit, it is pretty cheap.

the m-16 is accurate, and theres no denying that is easily 10 times more accurate than the ak, and if it were chambered in a powerful enough cartrige
it would be effective to 900 yards. it is also strong as hell and since it is closed bolt it can almost be called water resistant, a definate plus in the sandstorm conditions of iraq. the ar is also much more ergonomic, changing mags is a breze, nothing to line up and it is verry fast. letting the bolt fly is so simple while on the ak you have to reach al the way over the gun,and the safety sucks. i realize that the ergonomics of the gun doesnt matter a whole bunch but under stress, it could become a hassle.

i think alot of the AK lovers or AR haters are the way they are because they watch moovies and dont own an ar-15, if you shot one and took serious time with an ar you just might start to like it and realize that it would be verry effective in the hands of a rifleman. just take a look at how bad we are whooping those towlheads. true they are have no training but just look at it.

neither of the rifles is my favorite but i vote m-16... and if the ak where better why would the best army in the world use the m-16

your turn

 

[ocabj]

Please do a search. This topic has been beaten to death. Literally. They even had a 1 hour segment on the Military Channel about the AK47 vs the M16.

 

[Solo]

There seem to be a lot of these type of threads lately....

 

[Number 6]

i think alot of the AK lovers or AR haters are the way they are because they watch moovies and dont own an ar-15, if you shot one and took serious time with an ar you just might start to like it and realize that it would be verry effective in the hands of a rifleman.

Do you own an AK to base your opinions off of?

 

[amprecon]

I don't consider AK's junk at all. I have a SLR-95 which is a milled receiver AK and I can consistently hit a 3'X4' gong at 300 yards no problem. Yes there are different quality AK's out there, but the "rainbow" tragectory you mentioned is relative. The 7.62X39 is an effective caliber for it's intentions, to engage targets within a 300yd distance. The sights do leave something to be desired, but let me say while in Billings at the range there I was firing my SLR-95 which caught the attention of another shooter. He observed me hitting the 300yd gong and mentioned that he was on the receiving end of them while in Vietnam while riding in helicopters and said that it wasn't the lack of accuracy of the AK but lack of training of the shooter, which he was thankful for. He admired the AK and would not want to have them used against him by someone that knew how to shoot them.

I have not ever held an AR and have no desire to, I am just plainly not a fan of the history, design or the caliber. I believe that if I am going to spend the money on a weapon it will have multiple application abilities, anti-personnel or anti-deer or hog. I would not feel comfortable using an AR on a deer or hog or any other medium-sized game at all, but I know my ammunition and it's abilities and make my decisions based on that. So those of you who like the AR that's fine, that's your decision, but for me, forget about it. My SLR-95 is my modern ".30-30".

 

[beerslurpy]

This is a troll/flamebait thread. He doesnt even pose a question, he just states his opinion of how awesome the AR15 is and how crappy the AK47 is.

That being said, I would rather miss 10 times at 400 yards than jam once at 50 yards. Reliable ARs are about as common as accurate AK47s, and yes, there are accurate AK47s.

 

[Crosshair]

A bit of a rant.

Personaly, an AK is accurate enough for combat. You do not need a gun that can shoot rabbits nuts off at 400 yards for combat. Is the AR more accuate, yes. Does that make it a better weapon, no.

While one may look at the ARs ability to swap upper and lower recievers as an advantage, some see it as a handicap. We are now designing weapons around a lower reciever with serious limitations on the size of round that can be chambered. We design weapons to use cheap and flimsy aluminum magazines. We are more worried about designing a weapon that is backwards compatible with parts of the predicesor. We can afford multi-billion dollar aircraft, yet are too cheap to bite the bullet and design a new, better weapon. We spend billions on gizmos, yet we are still debating the effectiveness of our ammo. Lets go shoot some cattle and see what happens and stop shooting blocks of Jello to get nearly ALL of our terminal ballistics information.

 

[brentwal]

They are what they are. Learn to appreciate a gun for what it is, not what it's not. BTW the AK vs. AR is the most beaten to death topic on the net.....well maybe 9mm vs. .45ACP.:banghead:

 

[Don't Tread On Me]

This thread is horrible.


The originating post is obviously flame-bait. Although, it was kind of funny, especially the part about the AR being rust resistant and the usefulness of that feature in the desert


What's worst than the obvious troll attempt, are a few posts afterward that are imo...more incindiary, either because a] the authors are blindingly indoctrinated into believing their rifle is supernatural based on overgrown internet mythology b] they are throwing gasoline into the flames



Guys, neither rifle beats the other in ANY, yes I mean ANY category you can think of to warrant proclaiming one "superior"...



I know 1 thing, if it is manmade and mechanical - it can fail. Regardless of design. I accept that fact, and maintain the mentality that I must learn to deal with such eventualities through training and that I must always maintain the firearm the very best that I can. SKS, AR, AK, M1....nothing is immune from failure. Some are more than others, but unless one can claim total perfection (which is impossible) then a persons mentality should be focused on how to cope with failures, rather than internet chest-beating proclaimations of greatness in reliability, accuracy, or whatever other redundant blather....

 

[otomik]

if you shot one and took serious time with an ar you just might start to like it

or I might not, how much "serious time" do you have with your AR? doesn't sound like everyone that has "serious time" with an AR is in love with them either

just take a look at how bad we are whooping those towlheads.

honkey, please spellcheck your ethnic slurs. If we're talking about Bathists I prefer the more historically correct term "Sand Nazis".

 

[Jrm5204]

Why always compare the AK47 to AR instead of AK74 vs. M4

 

[otomik]

Federation Phasor vs. Klingon Disruptor

 

[Silent-Snail]

MP-5 vs Staff Weapon. Do they have a REAL name?

 

[R.O.F]

I agree, WHAT question OR intelligent discussion is being presented here? You have your AR guys and your AK guys. When I bought my AR, my former-gun-dealer-neighbor told me to get the AK and I'd have the 2 most sought after rifles in the world. To each his own. I prefer the look and feel of the AR, but I'd trade it in for an AK if I were in dirty adverse conditions. The reliability factor could suggest a reason of why it is the most coppied firearm in the WORLD!!!!!!!!! Furthermore, arguing this point isn't a performance standpoint, its the "9mm-.40S&W-.45ACP" aspect that someone hinted at before. If you really want to get down to petty differences, start arguing with someone about the differences between variant ARs (Colt RRA Bushy Oly). That is as about as pointless, but it's better suited. With that, I'd like to stir up a debate of which is better between the Gattling gun and the GM mini-gun. Any takers???

 

[Shane333]

Why always compare the AK47 to AR instead of AK74 vs. M4

Because the AK74 has accuracy that closely resembles the accuracy of the AR. Including the AK74 destroys almost all of the perceived advantages of the AR, therefore the AR crowd does all it can to ignore the AK74.

 

[Pilot]

Because the AK74 has accuracy that closely resembles the accuracy of the AR. Including the AK74 destroys almost all of the perceived advantages of the AR, therefore the AR crowd does all it can to ignore the AK74.

Troll bait or not (original poster) you bring up a good point here. I prefer the AK-74 and the 5.45 round over the AK47 and 7.62 round for the reasons you state. All the reliability of an AK with the ease of shooting and similar accuracy to the carbine sized AR.

 

[R.W.Dale]

 

[_N4Z_]

**

Originator also infers poo factor concerning the "rainbow" trajectory of the 7.62x39 round.

*News flash* The 5.56 also has a distinct arcing trajectory that could be called rainbowing.

Just a little something learned in the Army about 20 years ago...

 

[MechAg94]

I own an Armalite AR and a Vepr in 7.62. Both have been reliable and accurate for me. I would give the accuracy nod to the Armalite though. I would give the reliability nod to the Vepr. The Vepr certainly is not a junk gun.

I did 10" groups or so at 200 yards with my Vepr with a 5X scope. That was my first outing at 200 yards with it. I can likely do better with my AR, but I haven't tested that yet. If I had to carry something right now, I would carry my AR since the rifle and mags/ammo are lighter. However, my Vepr is a close second.

I don't have a 5.45 gun so I can't speak on that.

Either way, it is great that the original poster likes AR's, However, you really should get your facts straight and be more open. If you are using an $800 AR, then you might make your comparrison to an $800 AK. You might find there is less difference between the two and it is all about trade offs.

 

[cbsbyte]

Personally, I equally dislike the AR and AK. Give me a FAL, M1 or M14, now those are real battle rifles.

 

[Number 6]

I think we should just go back to what we all have had experience with when we were younger.

Remember, it's all about shot placement

 

[Nightdiver]

AR vs. AK
9mm vs. .45
SA vs. DA
Autoloader vs. Revolver.etc.

When the SHTF, my choice is whatever is closest at hand.

 

[BevrFevr]

I speak from experience when I say...

That when slaying dragons it is better to put an ar upper on and ak lower but make sure you have enough magic bullets. Without the magic bullets you are sol with either gun. Of course don't forget a good supply of batteries for the laser an such. and dragon treats...

but on a serious note my money says that if the 5.56 ever gets replaced it will be with a bullet that is strikingly similar to 7.62x39. which is strikingly similar to the ammo in the sturmgehwer (sp?) the original assalut rifle. rainbow shmainbow.

 

[colt.45]

i was trying to be byest

i named all the good and bad points from each rifle that i knew. i have only put 60 rounds through an ak but it felt pretty cheap. unreliable my ass just because it has to be cleaned doesnt make it unreliable. i guess in todays tactics accuracy doesn't matter, i agree that you dont need 1moa but the ak is rediculous, it will do 10 inches at the range while you are relaxed but with the adrenaline pumping accuracy sucks. do some jumping jacks before you shoot rapidfire and see how accurate your ak is now.
and the bit about the being water resistant, i meant that it would be hard for ???? to get in, and you knew it!!!

and did i offend someone or what, why the hell are you insulting me

thank you pilot.

 

[EddieCoyle]

Colt,

Let me make a guess as to why you're being called a troll. Your first post has more than 40 spelling, capitalization, grammatical, and punctuation errors. For such a short post, that might be a record. I'm not saying that you're unintelligent, but you are lazy. I'm sure you know that the first letter of every sentence should be capitalized, as well as terms like "AK", "AR", and "M-16". It's not a lot of work to hit the shift key from time to time. If you're going to raise such a controversial topic, at least write it up so that we don't need our decoder rings to make sense of it. I know, I'm being "rediculous".

Anyway, the AK is more reliable than an AR in almost any configuration. For some anecdotal (look it up) evidence: My brother and I went to the range today. I brought my cheap Romanian AK, he brought his expensive Colt AR. It was 10 degrees above zero here. Our guns and ammo were in my trunk for about an hour. Now, as an experiment, I have not cleaned or lubed my AK since I bought it - nearly 3000 rounds ago. I'm trying to see how long it will take for it to misfire.

At the range, his AR failed to eject after about 10 rounds. He was unable to get through a 20-round magazine at any point without a problem. The AK functioned flawlessly with the cheapest ammo I could find.

As far as accuracy goes, in spite of the "rainbow arc", I can put a much larger bullet on a man-sized target every time I pull the trigger. The same cannot be said of your, or your "papa's" AR.

EDIT: I just saw the title to your last post. Were you trying to say "biased"? Dude, get a dictionary.