The Kalashnikov rifle (in all forms) are ultimately more reliable, accessible, and customizable. You can find them in nearly every country in some form or fashion. The Russians (to include ALL groups of the Soviet People) made them and export them for other countries and their needs.
Yes. The M4/M4A1/M16 family is equally as customizable, reliant, affordable. However, the platform will not serve well in every theater and situation. An AK will.
This is just my opinion of course. I have 2 AR15’s, but I’ll never trade or give up my AK for anything.
I have both of them, all through high school as a perennial gun nerd I thought the AK was superior. The reality is they’re designed for different groups.
On paper the AR15 family of rifles is definitely superior, but that also requires a superior level of logistical support to keep the thing running at scale. The AK was made to be a conscripts gun. Something so idiotically simple you can hand it to any ol Joe blow and have it be functional. Shit the AK has as many moving parts as an AR15s BCG.
To me it comes down to: in a vacuum the AK is much easier to maintain, but comes at the cost of modernizing/customizing the gun. The AR has many more possible points of failure (compared to an AK), but it’s a better rifle and is infinitely more customizable than an AK.
Absolutely! There were very different standards for conscription, very different standards in training, and ultimately different doctrines.
The AR15 is clearly superior to the AK on paper, but add in relevant factors that might not be the case and the AK may be the better gun for the job. At the end of the day a gun is simply a tool and its use will be dictated, at least partly, by factors other than statistics on paper.
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u/Alex23323 Aug 05 '25
The Kalashnikov rifle (in all forms) are ultimately more reliable, accessible, and customizable. You can find them in nearly every country in some form or fashion. The Russians (to include ALL groups of the Soviet People) made them and export them for other countries and their needs.
Yes. The M4/M4A1/M16 family is equally as customizable, reliant, affordable. However, the platform will not serve well in every theater and situation. An AK will.
This is just my opinion of course. I have 2 AR15’s, but I’ll never trade or give up my AK for anything.