Conversation raging on the web

Posted by Grim at B5

Then Again at Jawa

Here is my take on the situation. To some the AK is a symbol of freedom to some a symbol of opression. My question is how to they compare as weapons systems.

AK- soldier proof, area suppression weapon so you can close and kill. The Soviet ideal weapon lots of bullets something will hit. Remember the ppsh series of SMG during the Great Patriotic War the Soviets issued them to entire battalions of troops.
For poorly trained conscripts,terrorists,freedom fighters the AK is great and even for better trained armies if that is what you have in inventory then you can make use of it. Maximum effective range about 300 meters

M-16 family. More accurate but needs to be cleaned is a weapon of the professional soldier not one that does the Beirut off hand style of shooting. Also you can hang more crap off of it interchangably unlike the AK where you have dedicated weapons to for night sights,grenade launchers etc.

I am not a fan of the M4. It is handy but the shortened barrell does not allow the 5.56 bullet to achieve the velocity it needs to be a dependable stopper. This has been helped by the use of a 77 grain bullet but a 55 grainFMJ bullet out of a 14.5" M 4 barrel doesnt do the trick.
A 20" barrel M16a4 with an ACOG scope will hit point targets at 500 meters all day but is really only useful to about 300 meters. I have shot 9 out of 10 bulls at 500 meters open sights
with an M16a2 so it is accurate enough. If you want to make it more compact put the collapsable stock on it.


I have to agree with Grim on this imagine two COIN trained and battle hardened armies that can be plugged into the NATO/US supply system. Having them on our side is a good thing arming them with our weapons is also a good thing.