Watching that video, it is obvious neither had ever shot a rifle before and were demonstrating techniques for doing so they learned off of video games.
200 yards from a rest with a rifle is child's play for anyone with a clue. I've seen people given a little bit of instruction shoot the M16 much better than their supposed expert on their very first time shooting a rifle.
And while the AK may never be a varmint rifle, it is certainly capable of putting rounds COM out to 200 yards and beyond. I can rattle off 30 from my Rommie from a knee in about 45 seconds and keep 20 in the torso at 200 yards. Not being able to strike consistently from the bench at that range is absolutely the indian, not the arrow--no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
And on the penetration tests, it made no mention of what kind of ammo they were using in either rifle. I will assume that since they were using an M-16 A1, they were using 55 gr fmj ammo. They forget to mention that A: the 62 gr steel core ammo we use now is devastatingly effective penetrating hard objects, and B: The Soviets thought the AK round was so great after Vietnam, that they switched to the 5.45 in 1974. They're really only telling half the story.
But then, so are you.
Any FMJ from a 7.62x39 is going to penetrate most barriers considerably better than even M855. It doesn't even have to be steel core 7.62mm. The tungsten penetrator in the M855 increases penetration for the 5.56, esp through steel, but it is no substitute for momentum. And at twice the mass, the 7.62x39 has more momentum.
As for the Russians, they switched because the high-velocity small caliber intermediate rifle round makes more sense from their military doctrine than it does for ours. Their troops aren't trained as well as ours, and their doctrine has always favored massed fire. And I have yet to have someone explain to me why if the Russians were so impressed with the reports they had of the 5.56 did they intentionally not adopt a cartridge with a similar projectile? The M193 that supposedly won them over is well within their manufacturing capabilities, yet they purposefully designed a projectile that performs much differently. Why?
And lets not forget that the 7.62x39 and 9x39 is still in high demand among better trained units because of advantages in terminal effect and penetration offered by both over the 5.45. The Russians also issue 7.62x54mm SVDs to designated marksmen on a squad level to increase range and lethality, so anything the basic grunt can't hit with barely aimed automatic rifle fire, the DM can take out with the more authoritative 7.62x54.
