This rifle was designed for a peasant army that didn't have any marksmanship skills and couldn't be counted on to maintain it.
Not the case, actually. It was designed for a trained, well educated, and professional army with recent combat experience. BUT, it was also designed with the lessons of the siege of Stalingrad in mind; the Russians realized that you may not always have ready access to cleaning supplies and an armorer.
I can't imagine a western arms manufacturer trying to pass off a similar design as a quality firearm; they would be laughed at in these forums.
You mean like Israel Military Industries tried to pass off the Galil as a quality firearm? Or the Finns tried to pass off the Valmet?
Fact is there's not single Russian military item that would past mustard with the US Milatary. Now, or in the past. Not one single gun, tank, airplane, or ship.
Which was the superior tank, the Sherman or the T-34?
The Lavochkin La-5FN and the Yakovlev Yak-3 are widely regarded as two of the best fighters of World War II. Don't forget, the Russians gained air superiority over the Germans on the Eastern Front, and they didn't do it with crap equipment. We probably didn't field any land-based fighters that good until the P-51.
The Sukhoi SU-27 family (Su-27/30/33/35/37) are all first-rate by American and European standards.
And we still depend on Russian spacecraft to carry supplies and people to/from the International Space Station, because they are more reliable, safer, and more robust than our systems (and far cheaper).
The AK is so prolific because it is cheap to make and can be handed to any knucklehead around the world and he can put lead in the air.
It's so prolific because the Warsaw Pact handed out AK's and AK factories as part of diplomacy. Had the Soviets fielded the M16, they'd have done the same.
The AK's ease of manufacture and reliability does make it well suited to Third World conditions, but it was not originally designed for Third World use.
The AK is about a 5 MOA weapon where the m-16 in 1 MOA weapon
Not when comparing apples to apples. Rack grade M16's shooting rack grade ammo are not 1 MOA weapons, and most Russian AK's will do better than 5 MOA. Yes, the M16 has a bit of an accuracy edge, but not a fivefold one.
The proportion of threads that are generated about these weapons tauting there super human capabilities would seem to be way out of proportion to their actual status as a quality firearm
There seem to be more threads bashing them than ascribing "superhuman capabilities" to them, IMO. They are good, and have their own advantages and disadvantages compared to various Western designs.
