Is the AK-47 a good gun?

[cm3504jm]

The main caveat of the AK-47 is that you need little or no training to use it.

This is why it was issued to so many 3rd world countries, they don't have to spend time training their soldiers to use it.

But paraphrasing Kipling, "it does't matter if its a 10 rupee pistol fired by a 10 year old, you are still just as dead"

 

[WombRaider]

The AK-47 family of rifles (the AK isn't manufactured anymore, if you have a real russian made AK it's worth a lot of $$) are rugged, dependable, easy-to operate, reasonably accurate rifles with plenty of kock down power. They are also cheap to make. The M-16/AR-15's are light, accurate, dependable (the gas tube clogging issue was addresses thru some redesign and ammo upgrades), and over all a better weapon. the problems are that they are more expensive, don't use NATO rounds (7.62mm), and lack knock down power. If a guy is runninga t you with a grenade or such, knock down power is VERY important. If fighting from any distance, the accuracy issue wins for the M16. When slogging thru the bush, the weight issue wins for the M16. If in a combat situation and you run out of ammo, you're SOL with the M16, cuz you can't grab your fresh kill's ammo and use it cuz there's a 98% chance it's 7.62mm. The 'AK' wins in that situation.. It's a coin toss between the 2, and it depends a lot on what the combat situation is. While the M-16 is standard issue, you can be assured that advanced combat personnel are trained with several weapon types..

 

[frorider6]

was it common for guys in Vietnam to carry shotguns? Or is this a fabrication of movies and tv?

 

[manny78]

AK-47 is a shit weapon. You can't compare it to the M-16 since it use a 7,62x39 mm, instead of the 5,56 mm. It was basically an improved version of the german MP-44. Many 50's 60's weapons were far superior to it (FN FAL, M-14). But for anyone who has ever tried that weapon.......holly shit what a recoil. Not accurate at all, kindda hard to shoot over 250 yards. Perhaps its a good weapon but i was used to the C8 (canadian version of the M-4 carabine) in the army so handling and using that was pretty weird. By the way I heard the AK-74 is a lot better (5.45 mm instead of 7.62) and more accurate.

 

[danielson]

believe the AK's muzzle velocity is slower than that of the M16's

russians now use AK-74's too

never used one but i gotta lot of respect for somethinf that robust

 

[Y_lifter]

The best gun in the world is only as good as the person behind it..

 

[Cleaner]

ak shoot about 2600 fps..with 165grains
m16 shoot about 3200 fps....with 55 grain.

You can get an ak for about 300
A good m16 will cost 800 or more.


Gang banger want cheap and 30 rounds is more than enough.

Now I happen to be a big fan of FAL's and M14.

If I had to pick the ak or the m16 to shott by it would be the ak...no bullet tumble..it would punch clean thru.

 

[Lil Juicer]

cheap+powerful= good guns for terrorists or any third world country

 

[talonracer]

The M-16 is a much better gun, more accurate and better craftsmanship. That being said the AK 47 is THE combat weapon. Its made shitty with loose tolerances-but that means you can get it wet and cruddy dirty and it will still fire-the M-16 even with foreward assist jams too much in rugged conditions.

Btw the "AK" means Avotomat (automatic) Kalashnikova (guy who invented it) and the "47" is the year it came out.