jonboynumba1
Member
I'm very comfortable with both the AK and AR platforms. With ball ammo (FMJ miltary type ammo wolf for AK and M855/SS109 for .223) either one will do about the same thing...that is put holes in things. The AK makes a bigger hole and penetrates a lot of things more aggressively (like kevlar and steel plates and chews up cinderblock and dirt berms better) Then again a small hole or a larger hole in kevlar are equally bad for the guy wearing it!
AK's are a bit better at chewing things up (if you can hit them)...but they are...well they are AK's clunky nasty triggers and poor ergonomics and (usually) woefully innaccurate but rock solid reliable. AR's (assuming you get a top quallity one: Colt RRA LMT ect) are generally very accurate...have light recoil anyone can manage...have total support gear choices of virtually everything a pro would use (because that is generally what pros and expirienced people run) And when the ball ammo fragments it can be a little nastier in things but that usually doesn't apply to carbines...which is what just about everybody preffers. Not to worry you can use whatever ammo you want including SP and HP! You can hit things pretty decently at 200yards with an AK and walk the rounds in at 300...but you aren't going to be calling any shots. I mean you can hit it generally in 4-5 shots at 300...somewhere. The AR?...well open sights 200 yards is easy and still fairly accurate...300...well you can usually hit the target...somewhere (but every shot nearly). And 400 I can usually scare the heck out of something if not nail the milk jug (I might hit either side of it repeatedly and never hit it in a mag). Open sights standing or leaning over a truck you aint gonna do much better than that with anything anyway without some luck. Past 200 yards the AR is obviously easier to do good work with and past 400 is starts to bite (16" carbine anyway) but then carbines are generally for 0-200yard work anyway.
If you don't shoot at those longer rangers you won't be hitting anything with either platform (it isn't easy I don't care what anyone on the internet says about it!) But it isn't anything you can't get good or at least decent at. Inside 100 yards the AR is simply faster...better sights lighter quicker handling with great ergonomics. It barely jumps when you squeeze rounds off so you can do it fast and still with a decent degree of accuracy.
Now as far as performance of the rounds- with quallity SP, BT or HP ammo that is made to actually expand and or fragment depending on velocity they BOTH get a LOT better. Probably the little .223 sees a much larger increse in effectiness. There are certainly more quallity choices in .223 than the rusky round to choose from. I bgelieve .223 to be just about the PERFECT 0-200M police type carbine round (with apropriate ammo...like 60gr Hornady TAP for instance) Even the federal bulk-pack 50gr HP round does impressive things to milk jugs over SP AK rounds.
Now I was raised up an AK guy...so this is not AR15.com nerd snobbery talking...I've shot countless thousands through em. But as for a surgical fast handling accurate reliable carbine with what you need and want for just about anything from urban to country farmhouse....up-close to 400M "anti-assault" carbines a quallity AR15 is hard to beat. They are just easy to run and easy to outfit and outfit for. Anyone serious about learning to use a tactical carbine should own one or at least borrow one and get familair with it. Then do the same with an AK...who's upsides are it is cheap, readliy available shoots cheap ammo (though not like it used to be...ahhh the good ole days!)
Generally women and kids can all handle an AR with a 4/6 pos stock...the AK...it depends on the shooter...it's pretty mild but more pronounced...it doesn't have a bad "kick" but it bucks and jumps around pretty good. It's much easier to quickly double tap targets on the move or in different positions or different targets or whatever with the AR. That is largely WHY we went to this type of rifle over the big .30 battle rifles. More ammo and faster handling. The " modern battlefield" has become an urban or semi-urban neighborhood more than a beach at Normandy. Carbines like the AR excell for this type of use.
So basically if you want something "evul" and "bad" looking to have a lot of fun with and shoot for fun and have around in case the Chinese start falling from the sky like the Russians in Red Dawn either one will do that...and BOTH are a TON of fun to own. If you have time and money to aquire one or the other you may as well buy the better one of the two.
I've owned AR's as have buds that also have had 500-1000+ rounds between cleanings repeaatedly and they never became "Jam-o-matics" as some claim. I honestly was waiting for that when I bought my first AR. Run good GI and Colt mags that drop free from your lower and have been tested with 6-7 rounds in each a few times (to sort out any with issues) and you'll never have any trouble either. Even a bad mag usually shoots the first 20-25 rounds fine anyway...so save the ammo testing them and just load 6-8 or whatever.
I reccomend anything you like from RRA with a chrome lined BBL and the match trigger option 10 mags a couple cases of ammo and if the piggy bank holds up an eotech sight. I'd just get a flat-top CAR (HB) as above and get a good flip up BUIS with the money you save not buying the carry-handle or fancy model. I like the HB in the 16" carbine...it stays settled better than a pencil bbl to me.
Then again a SAR-1 a couple cases of wolf 10 mags and a 2-3 day carbine class at a decent school would be money well spent as well. Try to shoot both and see what you like...they are both a lot of fun in different ways (so I reccomend both if time allows-LOL) If I had to choose one...well I wouldn't give up a good AR...a plow (AK) I could get over.
Once you go to the AR the AK is just a neat fun toy IMHO...others would dissagree...most people with a lot of training would probably preffer the AR. The people I know that ARE paid proffessionals almost all do. That is what talked me into the first one I bought...after that they tend to multiply on their own
WOW- If that was any longer I'd need a publisher!
AK's are a bit better at chewing things up (if you can hit them)...but they are...well they are AK's clunky nasty triggers and poor ergonomics and (usually) woefully innaccurate but rock solid reliable. AR's (assuming you get a top quallity one: Colt RRA LMT ect) are generally very accurate...have light recoil anyone can manage...have total support gear choices of virtually everything a pro would use (because that is generally what pros and expirienced people run) And when the ball ammo fragments it can be a little nastier in things but that usually doesn't apply to carbines...which is what just about everybody preffers. Not to worry you can use whatever ammo you want including SP and HP! You can hit things pretty decently at 200yards with an AK and walk the rounds in at 300...but you aren't going to be calling any shots. I mean you can hit it generally in 4-5 shots at 300...somewhere. The AR?...well open sights 200 yards is easy and still fairly accurate...300...well you can usually hit the target...somewhere (but every shot nearly). And 400 I can usually scare the heck out of something if not nail the milk jug (I might hit either side of it repeatedly and never hit it in a mag). Open sights standing or leaning over a truck you aint gonna do much better than that with anything anyway without some luck. Past 200 yards the AR is obviously easier to do good work with and past 400 is starts to bite (16" carbine anyway) but then carbines are generally for 0-200yard work anyway.
If you don't shoot at those longer rangers you won't be hitting anything with either platform (it isn't easy I don't care what anyone on the internet says about it!) But it isn't anything you can't get good or at least decent at. Inside 100 yards the AR is simply faster...better sights lighter quicker handling with great ergonomics. It barely jumps when you squeeze rounds off so you can do it fast and still with a decent degree of accuracy.
Now as far as performance of the rounds- with quallity SP, BT or HP ammo that is made to actually expand and or fragment depending on velocity they BOTH get a LOT better. Probably the little .223 sees a much larger increse in effectiness. There are certainly more quallity choices in .223 than the rusky round to choose from. I bgelieve .223 to be just about the PERFECT 0-200M police type carbine round (with apropriate ammo...like 60gr Hornady TAP for instance) Even the federal bulk-pack 50gr HP round does impressive things to milk jugs over SP AK rounds.
Now I was raised up an AK guy...so this is not AR15.com nerd snobbery talking...I've shot countless thousands through em. But as for a surgical fast handling accurate reliable carbine with what you need and want for just about anything from urban to country farmhouse....up-close to 400M "anti-assault" carbines a quallity AR15 is hard to beat. They are just easy to run and easy to outfit and outfit for. Anyone serious about learning to use a tactical carbine should own one or at least borrow one and get familair with it. Then do the same with an AK...who's upsides are it is cheap, readliy available shoots cheap ammo (though not like it used to be...ahhh the good ole days!)
Generally women and kids can all handle an AR with a 4/6 pos stock...the AK...it depends on the shooter...it's pretty mild but more pronounced...it doesn't have a bad "kick" but it bucks and jumps around pretty good. It's much easier to quickly double tap targets on the move or in different positions or different targets or whatever with the AR. That is largely WHY we went to this type of rifle over the big .30 battle rifles. More ammo and faster handling. The " modern battlefield" has become an urban or semi-urban neighborhood more than a beach at Normandy. Carbines like the AR excell for this type of use.
So basically if you want something "evul" and "bad" looking to have a lot of fun with and shoot for fun and have around in case the Chinese start falling from the sky like the Russians in Red Dawn either one will do that...and BOTH are a TON of fun to own. If you have time and money to aquire one or the other you may as well buy the better one of the two.
I've owned AR's as have buds that also have had 500-1000+ rounds between cleanings repeaatedly and they never became "Jam-o-matics" as some claim. I honestly was waiting for that when I bought my first AR. Run good GI and Colt mags that drop free from your lower and have been tested with 6-7 rounds in each a few times (to sort out any with issues) and you'll never have any trouble either. Even a bad mag usually shoots the first 20-25 rounds fine anyway...so save the ammo testing them and just load 6-8 or whatever.
I reccomend anything you like from RRA with a chrome lined BBL and the match trigger option 10 mags a couple cases of ammo and if the piggy bank holds up an eotech sight. I'd just get a flat-top CAR (HB) as above and get a good flip up BUIS with the money you save not buying the carry-handle or fancy model. I like the HB in the 16" carbine...it stays settled better than a pencil bbl to me.
Then again a SAR-1 a couple cases of wolf 10 mags and a 2-3 day carbine class at a decent school would be money well spent as well. Try to shoot both and see what you like...they are both a lot of fun in different ways (so I reccomend both if time allows-LOL) If I had to choose one...well I wouldn't give up a good AR...a plow (AK) I could get over.
Once you go to the AR the AK is just a neat fun toy IMHO...others would dissagree...most people with a lot of training would probably preffer the AR. The people I know that ARE paid proffessionals almost all do. That is what talked me into the first one I bought...after that they tend to multiply on their own
WOW- If that was any longer I'd need a publisher!
Last edited: