The functional difference between the AR & the AK

My latest Ecstatic Vision

Brothers and sisters, hear me!
I have had a vision.
Hallelujah!
In this vision, the Patron Saint of Weapons, St. John Moses Browning, came to me and held out his hand, in his hand was a bullet, and it was .30 caliber. And I looked at it and saw that it was good.
Then he held out his other hand, and in it was a gas operating system that required no direct gas impingement. And I saw that it was good.
And he pointed to the path of righteousness, and I saw that it was being trod by a few men, men that were carrying reliable weapons and had no wounds upon them. They were in a state of Grace. Indeed, they all carried weapons with steel receivers, suitable calibers, and well designed operating systems.

Then he turned and pointed to the path to perdition, hell and points south. It was full of sinners. They wailed and moaned, all wounded and torn. They carried AR15s, and complained not of the weight of them, but rather of their infernal fallibility.
There was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth, and they knew that they had been deceived, or had been deceivers in the end game of reliability.

Amen.
The Cardinal Mad Dog
Church of The Tactical Truth

He Man AR Haters Club Thread links:

Part One
http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=16040

Part two

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=16053

Part Three
http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=16064

Part Four
http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=16074
 
Advantages of the AK.
1. The AK mag is tremendously sturdier than the AR mag. The best gun in the world won't function with a damaged magazine.

2. The AK's bigger gas tube means that it's harder to plug--also that it gives the bolt a pretty good kick.

3. The AK is designed to operate with very loose parts fit. That means that crud doesn't affect it in the least. I've heard a man talk about shooting an AK using corrosive ammunition and never cleaning it. The shooter said that after storage the bolt would be rusted shut. He kicked the bolt open, loaded the magazine and then started shooting--never a malfunction. That's a BIG advantage. Maybe the biggest.

Disadvantages of the AK

Relatively inaccurate. (Some of the better guns--the Hungarian SA-85 M for example--can do better than 3" at 100 yards with good ammo, but that's still not as good as an AR)

I guess, if I had to choose, I'll take a 3 MOA gun that I know will ALWAYS work--even when I can't maintain it properly for whatever reason--over a gun that will shoot 1 MOA but won't keep working indefinitely if I run out of pipe cleaners to clean the gas tube.
 
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MAD DOG – ROFLMAO
I, too, have seen the light. My current icons are the M-1 by Saint John of Springfield and the FAL by the acolyte of Saint John of Ogden, Dieudonne Saive.

The AK’s biggest problems IMHO are the crappy sights and rainbow trajectory. It was made for troops that didn’t practice maintenance or marksmanship.
 
Despite my revelation, I still have two "puny rifles", one is a 25-06 and the other is a 6.5 X 55 Swede. :D

For those of you that have a beef with AK style weapon accuracy, take a look at the Galil and Valmet rifles. I have used both extensively, and they ARE capable of MOA or better accuracy with the right fodder and sights.
Also, let us not forget that the most accurate bench rest round, the 6.5mm PPC, is based on the 7.62X39 case necked down and given a small rifle primer.

I love the FAL and the HK91 in .308.
My 30-06s tend to be bolt guns, but I am looking hard at the HK semi auto 30-06... (just what I need... another 30-06...)
 
Fly-by-wire means the pilot uses the joystick to tell a computer what he wants to do, the computer then figures out how to do it and tells the airplane what to do, thus making impossible-to-control planes easy to fly (For example, the F117 couldnt be held in level flight if it were for fly-by-wire). It sounds like the old style, with wires directly connecting the joystick/yoke to the control surfaces, but its not.

Kharn
 
The F-15 is not really fly-by-wire. The F-16 was the first of this kind. F-15 was produced a decade or more before. But back to the origional question...
 
I have a question kinda related to this...Is it worth getting a recoil buffer for an AK? $15.00. Do I need it? Is it a good idea?

An AR does not need a thing like this. That's one advantage, I guess.

But really, should I get one?
 
Personal preference. There is a slight possibility the lessened stroke could effect reliability; you'd just have to try it.
 
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