Nothing we say here is going to change anyone's opinions. Unfortunately, everyone pretty much has their minds made up about the m16 and the AK... After all, 20 million internet users cant be wrong right?
But a billion AK's? Thats a ridiculous number. Even the Russians say closer to 50 million. There probably arent a billion guns on planet earth.
You know... the funny thing is... everyone talks about how great the M16 shoots... But I attended Gunsite with an SAR-2. Most of the other people there had M4's or M16A2's in the regular configuration. At 300 meters, my groups were just as tight as any of the others and tighter then quite a few. We were shooting prone, kneeling, and standing.
Just a couple of weeks ago I was participating at a National Guard Rifle and Pistol combat match. We fired at 300 meters prone, 200 meters kneeling, 100 meters standing... then walked in firing on targets as they popped up with the M16A2. From armpit to armpit, the human chest is about 20" wide. Clearly, if you have a rifle that groups 2 MOA, you should be able to put all of your rounds in that torso in at least a 12 inch circle at 300 meters. Yet, that wasnt happening. The average score was around a 180 out of 300. Why? Because most people THINK they can shoot better then they actually can. Because a rifle is capable of 2 MOA doesnt mean that person can actually get that accuracy out of it....
When you take a rifle off of the bench and employ it in field positions... I think you'll find the M16 and the AK to be closer in parity. One definite advantage the AK has over the M16A2 is the shorter buttstock. While wearing body armor and web gear, the A2 buttstock is way too long to get a good seating. You see people craning their shoulders way back to try to compensate, or mounting the buttstock so high on the shoulder that only the very bottom of the toe is touching the shoulder. I also see a lot of people trying to shoot with the buttstock rammed into the bicep. The problem with this is, you have to crane your neck way down to get a cheek weld and then your kevlar helmet slides down over your eyes, occluding your field of view.
We'd all be better served talking less and shooting more.