Reply: The US military would be better off with an AK variant

         
The AK is a better weapon than any version of the AR/M16/M4/AR10. AR's are a range Barbbie/snob gun.

If they are surgically cleaned and carefully lubed several times a day, they will work about 50% of the time. Provided you feed them only the most expensive hand crafted ammo, they might even work about 75% of the time. BUT: Make no mistake. EVERY version of the Stoner will fail you when your life is on the line. The AK on the other hand was designed to fight, and survive, the battle of Stalingrad. It will fire ANY proper Cal. ammo. It is every bit as accurate as the standard M4 service carbine. All you need is, To Quote Kalashnicov (spell?) himself. "I designed AK47 so that any common Russian could lift it from the mud.

Clean it with Diesel Fuel. Lubricate it with crank case oil, and defend the Mother Land" The AR is the worst choice you can make in your life. Period. It WILL fail you when you need it the most. The AK will keep running with holes rusted in the receiver, and can be manufactured with hand tools. It is the best military carbine class weapon ever devised by man. 200 years from now somebody will find one in a dry cave in some middle east shit hole. Kick the action open,and it will fire.

—Ray
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I wont beat around the bush with this one.
I don’t care who you are, what you do or how good you may run your AR, and I know that both for sport and tactical applications some guys run them great. Still, simply from a technical point of view, even from a simple logical perspective a gun that shoots back hot gas and carbon into itself rather than use a piston to transfer the energy alone is simply a terrible idea.  I know, I know, yours works great, and yes, the AR vs AK mud video. It means nothing.

This guy nicely describes the issues with the AR, and does so with a good sense of humor about it.
One gun fouls and cooks a layer of carbon inside itself with every shot, the other does not. Proof of this being the case are the various piston AR mods and of course, the development of the HK416. No other rifle uses DGI (Direct Gas Impingement) so that says a lot regarding how good an idea it is from the design perspective. At the same time we must admit how popular ARs are, that they can run well in the hands of someone that knows how to maintain it, and especially at current prices in America, I would pick one even if I don’t particularly like the gun. For three gun competition ARs are all over the place. Having said that,

I would pick a good AK first. Simple, easy to maintain and once you verify it works properly you can count on it in the future. I don’t need the latest high speed tactical gun. I’d rather have a gun that is just a bit less high speed, yet is above all reliable and I can fix with a Leatherman tool  and a piece of coat hanger.  Later on sure, get your AR, and if your start shooting competition you’ll use it a lot and put a ton of money into it. Don’t forget getting a real battle rifle too eventually.
FerFAL
Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”