AK for a survival weapon

I'm not one of the "End of the World Types" but I do agree with HOEK's comments. Mostly I think of a SHTF Scenario as one of the following.

1. Natural Disaster : Causing Panic, Death, Looting, Violence and Disruption in basic Services.

2. Man Made Disaster: Same as above

3. Civil Unrest: Riots and Mob Violence.

4. Terrorist Action: Causing all of the above

This is what I was thinking when the original post about "Survial" was started. Come to think of it. Where is BULLFROG?
 
An AK works great in any of those scenerios. Its a VERY practical rifle. It is inexpensive. It is light weight. It is compact and easy to carry. Ammo is cheap. Mags are cheap. The gun is nearly indestructable and highly reliable. It will continue to function when the rest of the guns have stopped working.

If I was only concered with natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and that sort of thing then the AK-47 would be my first choice. It makes a fine hunting rifle. It just doesn't look like a hunting rifle. But it works great for that role. So you will be able to hunt for food if you need it.

If you are attacked by mobs or such, the AK-47's close range potential will make it an excellent weapon to deter attacks. It has also been demonized by the media so that it will "scare" people more than some other rifles would (psychology is always important).

I can't think of ANY rifle more practical than the AK in this type of scenerio. Traditional hunting rifles cost more, weigh more, are harder to carry, break easier, have less magazine capacity, are almost useless against a crowd, and lack the AK's intimidation factor.



-SS
 
MY first hangup with the AK is its awful sights.

Second is the fact that I live in Kalifornia and cannot purchase another.

Third is how stupid I feel for selling one off a few years ago when they were legal.
 
I see a lot of you out there tout the accuracy of your AK.

Well, maybe it was the junk gun, the junk ammo, or the blind shooters, but my friend and I took his new Romanian out and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

From a standing shot, I couldn't group any better than 18" at 100 yards. Hell, sometimes I completely missed the target (2'x2' target)! I normally group at around 7" from the same standing position with most 308, 30-06, 7.62 Russian, and 223.

We were using a Romanian AK with both surplus Argentine ammo and Wolf.

Any thoughts or suggestions? For now we've decided to leave the AK home....
 
If that Romanian AK is a SAR-1, check the front sight block for cant. A number of them came from Century like that. It's hard to get the best possible accuracy if the front sight is crooked ;)
 
The mention of Fackler is sorta useless too. His data included some 30/30 SP, as well as .308 SP. It vastly outperformed the FMJ military stuff. The military is limited to FMJ, we aren't. Unless we're talking some fantastic ball ammo that is guaranteed to fragment or expand over as wide of a velocity spread as SP does, I'll take SP thank you. The AK is a great survival weapon, though in a non-war situation, I'd probably choose a .22 or 12 gauge.
 
Personally I prefer the SKS to the AK. Now I want to get a nice synthetic stock from Choate and replace the wood furniture on it.

My experience is that SKS's are quite a bit more accurate than AK's. I'm sure others have had different experiences. But I wouldn't hesitate to grab that little SKS on the way out the door if the SHTF.
 
Just spent 5 weeks in Cambodia hiking the forests along the Thai border with ex-Khmer Rouge soldiers (they've agreed to stop fighting but NEVER did surrender). They're still carrying AK-47's issued from the '70s and '80s and they all seem to work fine.

In a true "survival" situation, you are dealing with extreme weather, no spare parts, no cleaning kit, no lubricants, and no time to clean your weapon, -you are more worried with running away from someone with bigger guns while still trying to fill your belly. AK-47s have been used to hunt turtles, lizards, snakes, cows, deer, pigs and elephants in SE Asia. You can learn alot from illiterate peasants, if it works for them, it'll probably work for you.

While I own 3 AR-15s, I'd carry an AK-47 if the SHTF.
 
You guys aren't citing the Fackler stats that are related to the steel core stuff are you? From what I remember, the lead Yugo stuff did much better, no?

It would be kind of like dogging the .223 for poor performance in Somalia (steel core as well...).

In any event, the AK would be a mighty fine rifle for nearly any survival situation. Sure there are certainly better rifles for a particular purpose like taking small game, looong shots, etc.

If anything, you can use it and about 4-8 magazines to get more firearms through assault, ambush, etc.

The bottom line in a survival situation is to have the proper skills and attitude to survive. Then you will properly understand how you can maximize the potential of the weapon you have.

I would much rather face a well armed fool than a minimally armed operator.
 
As already noted, the biggest problem with AK47 is poor pistol-type sights for any kind of precision shooting. Far inferior to sites on any US service rifle, ever.

If there was an AK that fixed that problem,it would be very nice. But otherwise the AK can never hope to achieve the type of accuracy other rifles can. Of course, there is the Galil, which is the best AK.

AK-47 was designed for massive fire by poorly trained, expendable troops. You have to get within relatively close range for it to be effective, and 200-300 meters is not far at all when you are under fire. If you can move away to more like 600 meters with a 30-06 or 7.62, then you should do that.

I have tested representatives from both categories. Armalite AR15 is an awesomely accurate rifle (say 1.5" with iron sights). SLR-95 is also an awesomely accurate carbine (2.5" with iron sights), both with common non-match ammo. AR15 continues to be accurate further out than AK. They say AK-47 has a range of 300 meters. From personal experience, I do not believe this. It can put the round on target somewhere at 150-200 meters, but 300 is very optimistic, given its crude sights.

So the bottom line is the AR15 is a much better weapon in many ways, primarily that it is much easier to obtain hits with, the primary reason for hvaing a rifle. AK-47, on the other hand, is not designed for precision shooting, it is a carbine with 16" barrel. I would pick the AR even with its cleaning overhead. Gas-operated rifles are not easy to maintain, forces you to clean your action so often.

I do think that the AK-47 is a lot better for defensive purposes or where long distances are not an issue, and it is compact size is a bonus. Kind of like a better M1 carbine.

Of course anything in 7.62 is even better but rifles and accessories are really heavy, and you come back full circle wishing for a carbine.
 
sorry guys i've been out working most of this week. Thanks for all your responses, i pretty much got the idea that it'll do for me. I originally was going to use an M-1a standard, scout mounted with a Q.D. scope and a laminated or synthetic(sp) stock, but after due concideration i decided that in my area (200 yards max, heavy wooded area with few large fields) the m-1a wouldn't give me much advantage for the extra weight, and mantainance needed. the sights suck, but if you replace them with a forward mounted peep sight, with a large apature, they become quite good, at least my sks improved well, it shrunk groups by about half. unfortunately little can be done about the safty, other than training. i shoot from the left shoulder, and find on the few ak's i pick up that if i grab the weapon just in front of the magazine with my right hand, i can get my thumb to touch the front edge of the safty, making it fairly quick to click off. Q.D scope mounts attach to the side mount rail, and seem to work well from what i hear, the only other complaint is the ammo, though in the woods i see penitration as an advantage vs. a disadvantage, but i'll still carry a few mags with either 130 grain .308 diameter speer TnT hollow points( pending accuracy with the undersized bullet) or wolf copper russian hollow points with an "X" scored in the tip( they expand with scored jackets in water jugs) Thanks for all your responses!
 
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