Quote Originally Posted by bartmanS4 View Post
cheaply made mass produced AK that doesn't need the same level of training and maintenance to function effectively.
But that's just the thing. That's a myth. The AK fails just as much as the AR15 if it's used by an incompetent user. I believe this myth continues becaue we like labeling our enemies mere rubes. "Evil soviets and vc are peasant conscripts who cant maintain weapons..." And the opposite as well: "the m16 is junk because we have the best military men in the world, it can't possibly be their lack of maintenence"

(btw, youre right about the mags. Most of the ftf can be attributable to follower tilt, weak springs, etc; we have new tan followers, a change from the last 50 years, that combat this, and the widespread use of aftermarket, personal purchase magazines is widespread. Many, including myself, swear by mags like magpul pmags).

But I think theres a reason ar15s are practically the only rifles used in the action shooting sports. Its the only thing accurate enough for the stages and the customizablity. Using that apt Ford analogy, why would any driver choose that fleet car over the purpose built race car? It's obvious if you want to go to the supermarket and dont like cars, youd lean to the taurus or whatever ford sends to rentacar compaines nowadays. But if you're trying to race? If you're a prfessional race car driver (which I hope you'd equate to the professional US military, or even someone serious about actually firing their rifle in anger)? The idea of SHTF seems even more important than race car driving... Why would one go for less accurate and no Parts commanilty when ones life concievably depended on it? This is not to mention the "men,s Barbie" fact that the Ar15 market is the largest in the industry....dont like .223? get .50 beowulf, .300 blk, even 7.62x39 uppers. Buy into the direct impingement fallacy? Go get a piston upper...they even have longstroke AK copies. Want a 10in SBr? 18inch SPR? 24 in varmint rifle? It's yours. You simply cant do that on the AK platform. Want somethig different than what you bought? You need to buy another gun. For the Ar15, on the other hand, you can spend as little as 50 bucks and have smething different than younstarted with.

I do believe every collection needs at least one AK. But with so many criteria, I don't see it being your first choice. Dependable 762x39? The SKS is a better buy as far as price and ruggedness. Not to mention some plausible future where mags are verbotten, 10 round stripper clips and the ability top off are as effecient and maybe even moreso than detachable mags.