Re: AR vs. AK
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ColtTX</div><div class="ubbcode-body">What a creative topic, I don't think this has ever been covered before.
The AK is not nearly as inaccurate as most people will lead you to believe, but the AR definitely has an edge.
In my experience with both rifles, an AK has "decent" reliability at all times... no matter the situation. That said, I have spent a good bit of time with quite a few AKs, both semi and full auto, and have never found one that exhibits the unstoppable reliability they are known for. Clean, dirty, wet, dry... they are "so-so" in pretty much all aspects to include dependability, durability, maintenance, and ergonomics.
The AR/M16/M4s I have encountered are <span style="font-weight: bold">extremely</span> reliable if given even a modest amount of care. Clean it with gasoline and lube it with motor oil- it doesn't matter, as long as you actually do clean and oil it. (And not even that often... squirt some lube in every 500, and clean it every thousand or so.) If you, for some moronic reason, choose not to maintain the rifle, yeah they run into issues. The neglect really has to be chronic for it to occur, though. I can keep an AR running until spring failures (which an AK has, too) at about 5000 rounds given 10 minutes every 1000 rounds. 50 minutes of maintenance over the life of the rifle before parts need to be replaced is not a lot... Maybe it isn't ideal for a Russian conscript, but neither of us are illiterate peasants (at least, I'm not) so I don't see how that is the least bit relevant.
The thing I love about the AR platform is that with $100 worth of tools and spare parts you can rebuild it indefinitely. Need to change a barrel on that AK? Better find your 20 ton press.
A common talking point is how much faster and easier it is to strip down an AK... But no mention is made of the fact that the AR field strip allows exposure to far more parts for examination and quick replacement. Try replacing your AK's firing pin in the field without tools, like you can on an AR.
I like to shoot AKs for entertainment... they're a blast to shoot. I love that "clack clack" sound they make as the action cycles. An AK74 on full auto with a rate of fire reducer is about the most fun I've ever had shooting. That said... the AR15 and family is the more practical and versatile design. </div></div>
AK firing pins don't break. ;-) It's a stamped piece of sheet metal with a rounded nub on the end. Even if they did, do you realize that all the tools required to disassemble the bolt head are there in the buttstock toolkit? It's very easy to do.
I don't share your conclusions on reliability, as played out by personal observation of hundreds of specimens of each gun. I've been running matches with both AK and AR shooters for the past six years.
In that time, there has been only one AK shooter that I can recall having a gun so broken that he could not finish a CoF with it. A fired case did not exit the receiver and became lodged up inside the top cover. That was the only time I saw that particular malfunction occur.
There is at least one DNF AR shooter every match. Larger matches we see more.
...And this is across a truly random sample. I had no control over who performed what maintenance to either gun, how much "modest care" each one received, or what magazines or ammo the shooter chose.
Now, the AR shooters on average outscore the AK guys wholesale. There are a few AK shooters that are shit-hot and will best quite a few on the AR side, but it has never happened that a Kalashnikov shooter has completely won the match.
Nobody wants to put the AR up against the AK by fair comparison, but by beginning the comparison only after the AR receives a significant head start of some type, usually consisting of a cleaning and lubrication regimen.
I do think the AR is the overall better platform, all things considered, but if we are going to compare reliability, it has to be done apples to apples.
--Fargo007