Would you rely on an AK as your primary defensive rifle?

[Old Dog]

It is an uncalled-for insult to every combat veteran. Attacks like that show cowardice and dishonesty.

Well, yeah, considering I'd been very clear about my reasons for not owning nor liking the AK.

The other thing is that while I downplayed my experience with AKs, I object to anyone implying that those of us that don't like a particular gun don't know anything about it/them.

 

[trackskippy]

Hey, this is the internet. My credibility is just as good as yours.

And if youre that thin skinned and tender, and get this insulted over a simple and factual comment, I seriously doubt you'll do too well when the trash talk starts while you're trying to shoot for score. Just look at how high your blood pressure is and we haven't even started!

 

[trackskippy]

No one ever said that because you don't like them you couldn't shoot them. All I said was, in my experience, most of the time, that's often the case. Especially when you hear some of the comments about them from some people around here.

 

[tarosean]

What next? Cars made in a country we are/were at war with are bad too?

Reminds me of the song by Alanis Morissette Ironic. We were Allies through a couple world wars. Yet the real evil doers don’t even get a second thought now-a-days and even supplied our troops.

 

[Old Dog]

Hey, this is the internet. My credibility is just as good as yours.

And if youre that thin skinned and tender, and get this insulted over a simple and factual comment, I seriously doubt you'll do too well when the trash talk starts while you're trying to shoot for score. Just look at how high your blood pressure is and we haven't even started!

No one ever said that because you don't like them you couldn't shoot them. All I said was, in my experience, most of the time, that's often the case. Especially when you hear some of the comments about them from some people around here.

Eh, my blood pressure is around 100/68 right now... Personally, I thrive when the trash talk starts and I'm shootin' for score.

It's all good, bro.

 

[d2wing]

LOL, not worth replying. Don't worry about me kid. I have survived more than you can imagine and it isn't like your pretend world.

 

[balin]

I own AR, AK, VZ, lever action and would feel protected with any. Maybe I am to permissive.

 

[trackskippy]

LOL, not worth replying. Don't worry about me kid. I have survived more than you can imagine and it isn't like your pretend world.

LOL, almost anyway, eh? Not worried either, and you aren't the only one to have lived an interesting and full life.

And I'm loving life in the current "pretend world" we/I live in. Well, some of anyway. Got to own and shoot more guns and ammo than most, and all the time, and I know quite a few of those things for sure shot at and terrified my family/relatives in the past, but then again, I've had family on both sides of every major war we've been in since the Revolution. Hmmm, not sure what to think or do now. Does that make and mean they are ALL bad and somehow offensive now? Cause that would really screw up some peoples heads.

 

[GHinNH]

Absolutely would, ...but... not at this time.

Had just collected dies, some bullets, a few hundred cases and a couple pounds of powders to try, so I could put in the work and have a "mass produce" load. That way I could load up a few hundred at a time and go put in the effort to become at least acceptably proficient.

Then that whole "lets see how many people will be good little Nazis" thing happened, and have been in a holding pattern regarding that since. Haven't looked in a minute but LRP, and cases were still obscenely expensive last I checked.

 

[FL-NC]

Not unless I had to choose the AK. The AR is superior in every way to those commie guns.

 

[GBExpat]

Would you rely on an AK as your primary defensive rifle?​

Sure.

I have built a few (in addition to the 3 in my gunsafes I still have ~6 kits downstairs as yet un-built) and I have found them to be quite reliable, very handy (especially the underfolders) and more than accurate enough for "defensive" shooting.

 

[chicharrones]

LOL, almost anyway, eh? Not worried either, and you aren't the only one to have lived an interesting and full life.

And I'm loving life in the current "pretend world" we/I live in. Well, some of anyway. Got to own and shoot more guns and ammo than most, and all the time, and I know quite a few of those things for sure shot at and terrified my family/relatives in the past, but then again, I've had family on both sides of every major war we've been in since the Revolution. Hmmm, not sure what to think or do now. Does that make and mean they are ALL bad and somehow offensive now? Cause that would really screw up some peoples heads.

That statement makes it sound like you haven't served in the military or been in combat (I haven't served, either). If so, our non-combatant views are likely very different than soldiers that have been on the receiving end of hostile fire.

My family line, past and present, have served in the military for generations, but very few in front line combat. My military family members that never saw combat (due to peace time, "job position", whatever) certainly see, or saw, things differently than the family members that were in combat.

 

[drobs]

Well, yeah, considering I'd been very clear about my reasons for not owning nor liking the AK.

The other thing is that while I downplayed my experience with AKs, I object to anyone implying that those of us that don't like a particular gun don't know anything about it/them.

I didn't take TS's diatribe to be an attack on you personally. Us AK nuts have heard the same thing over and over "I'm not going to own the weapon of my enemies that was used against me." What I'm saying is you're not the 1st person to have said that or held that belief.

I went to Iraq as Civilian Contractor working for KBR and spent 4 years there on multiple bases during and after the war. The reason I bought a Serbian M92 AK pistol was I got handed a full auto M92 with under folding stock by my Triple Canopy drinking buddies for a trip to the Basra Airport riding in an Armored F250, post War Iraq.

I don't know about you but I saw AK47's all over bases in Mosul, Q-West, Baghdad, at the end of the War / Postwar. The Ugandan's guarding the DFAC had WASR10's. Those guns actually came back to the USA and were sold off. I had no interest in buying one. Ugandans while awesome friendly people, Jambo!, weren't known for their personal hygiene.

 

[CraigC]

I bought into the anti-AK rhetoric for years. The weapon of the enemy, they're crude, they're inaccurate, their triggers suck, blah, blah, blah. I'm glad I finally got over it because they're highly enjoyable and most of the rhetoric was at best misleading, at most false. In my mind, it's nothing more than wartime bias and propaganda. Like the hate for Japanese products. The South is nothing but ignorant, racist hillbillies. Napoleon is short and angry.

As far as it being the weapon of the enemy, I stand behind the WWII reference. Whole bunch of folks who had very good reasons to hate Germans and the weapons they used were awfully proud to bring home Lugers, Walthers, Mausers and MP40's. Virtually every modern sporting rifle is based on the Mauser 98 and I don't know anyone who wouldn't like a nice P-08. Just sayin'.....

 

[herrwalther]

In a self defense situation, I would have no problem using either an AR or AK for self-defense/hunting as my only rifle. But given the choice, AR-15. More accurate. More third market parts support. And more familiar.

 

[Old Dog]

Whole bunch of folks who had very good reasons to hate Germans and the weapons they used were awfully proud to bring home Lugers, Walthers, Mausers and MP40's.

Ah, Craig, not picking on you, but I still don't see it the same way. It's not about hating the Germans and the weapons they used. First, many of us are descendants, if not from Germans, from other central European peoples; historically and culturally, we as Americans have far more in common with Germany than we do with the Slavic races and second, the Lugers, Walthers, Mausers, et al are typically all superbly designed, engineered and well-built firearms. No surprise they have been, and still are, prized weapons.

Aside from my opinion that the AKs are crude. not very accurate and ugly, yeah, go ahead, poke fun at those of us who don't care for (as the legend Clint Eastwood said in the classic motion picture Heartbreak Ridge) "the preferred weapon of our enemy," call us silly, hypocritical or overly sensitive, some of us just don't like 'em and believe there are a lot better options out there.

But to answer the OP's question, if it were the only rifle available to me in a bad situation, of course I'd use it as my "primary defensive rifle." I still wouldn't respect myself the next morning, though...

It's just like anything else -- comes down to personal preferences. Some of us don't really care that much for Glock pistols, either (sacrilege, I know).

 

[drobs]

I frequently debate trading / selling my M92 AK pistol in order to buy a Ruger SFAR 308. AK pistols are kind of useless.

 

[ilbob]

For most of us it probably does matter much. ARs are a little more flexible and can be modded out as one desires, but I can pretty much guarantee that a center of mass shot will take down most any two legged attacker from either style of rifle.

 

[Old Dog]

This thread needs more humor...

 

[Ignition Override]

Old Dog: That's good, and the irony is pretty profound?
I thought of that when buying my first SKS back in early 2008, not to mention a series of other rifles years later.

When a Leftist hates something I try to be more open-minded about 'something'.

--> Sidenote here: watch Ian McColllom's "Forgotten Weapons" at your own Peril.
As for the Czech-designed rifle in 7,62x39 which is Not an AKM (no parts will interchange, not even mags) if my Czechpoint VZ-58 were a low-quality Commie design, it wouldn't have gone through the 4,400 rds. of ammo I've documented with zero issues.
Bought it in 2019, nib, imported into the US from a Non-Commie nation (call these countries Commie and look like a Total fool) with a milled receiver. It easily hits a 10" x 8"metal gong at 200 yards with the iron sights (lucky my 68 year-old eyes can do so). The club is south of Jackson TN. It hits more consistently than my imported FALs and PTR-91 (HK clone).

At 10:38 Ian begins to field strip. At 10:57 he explains and demonstrates how the Internal components have nothing in common with an AKM. Zero. The 58 is Not a variation of the much more famous rifle.
"...Czechoslovakia still had factories and tooling and a well-known, well-respected arms making tradition..( ie Vz-24 Mausers).".

Samopal vz.58: The Czechoslovakian Answer to the AK

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeaponshttps://www.floatplane.com/channel/ForgottenWeapons/homeCool Forgotten Weapons merch! http://shop.bbtv.com/collections...

www.youtube.com

 

[GHinNH]

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I would rely on either one.
In a defensive situation, if the AK were handy, I would not go seeking the AR, or vice versa.

 

[rhino465]

When people get too emotional about other people's reasons for not wanting to use or own an AK, it kind of makes me want to say I'd never use an AK because . . . reasons. Unless I am relying on someone else specifically to help me in an emergency, I don't really care about their rifle choices or reasons beyond academic interest and maybe to learn something I had not previously considered. #America

 

[JDGray]

My Vz58 is a good bit better than my AKs! Very well made, as accurate as my ARs, light weight too. I wouldn’t have a problem using it for SD either

 

[valnar]

My Vz58 is a good bit better than my AKs! Very well made, as accurate as my ARs, light weight too. I wouldn’t have a problem using it for SD either

That's my choice. I know it isn't logical, but I love that bastard child.

Anywho... if somebody made the AK-47 today, it would be lambasted as a crappy gun. Its popularity and proliferation is what keeps it alive. A similar analogy is the original VW Beetle. Comparing the Beetle's technical specs against most other cars - it loses. It 'wins' because of popularity, cost, and there are a bazillion of them. Try to introduce the original Beetle today? It would never make it past government regulations.

That said, a Beetle will you get to where you're going. An AK-47 will also get the job done.