Kaylee
Member
Val - the AR system is essentially the same as when it was designed in the mid-50s. The rifles are creatures of the same generation. I won't compare to two, as there are umpteen gazillion threads for that on THR alone.
To the AK... enh.
Having had a couple, they strike me as a truly ingenious creation.
However, the genius isn't in that it's a great rifle.
The genius is in a design that can be indifferently manufactured by (probably drunk) peasants in a Communist factory, sit in a crate for fifty years, be shipped across half a planet, be torched in half, tossed in a pile.... have two pieces pulled back out of that pile at random, again mailed across half a continent, be put back together with a hammer... and then when it's finally taken out and used with a magazine tossed out by the army of some country that never heard of the first country that slapped together the rifle in the first place....
... actually run.
THAT is a miracle of engineering.
Everything from the slant in the engagement tab on the mag (that will still engage on a mis-sized mag catch) to the crude simplicity of the fire control group...
the wonder isn't that it's a great rifle.
The wonder is that with so many strikes against it, it can remain an adequate rifle.
To the AK... enh.
Having had a couple, they strike me as a truly ingenious creation.
However, the genius isn't in that it's a great rifle.
The genius is in a design that can be indifferently manufactured by (probably drunk) peasants in a Communist factory, sit in a crate for fifty years, be shipped across half a planet, be torched in half, tossed in a pile.... have two pieces pulled back out of that pile at random, again mailed across half a continent, be put back together with a hammer... and then when it's finally taken out and used with a magazine tossed out by the army of some country that never heard of the first country that slapped together the rifle in the first place....
... actually run.
THAT is a miracle of engineering.
Everything from the slant in the engagement tab on the mag (that will still engage on a mis-sized mag catch) to the crude simplicity of the fire control group...
the wonder isn't that it's a great rifle.
The wonder is that with so many strikes against it, it can remain an adequate rifle.