AK-47

The Ak-47 is an amazing assault rifle engineered by Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1947.  It’s grandfather was the German Sturmgewehr 44.  Most European assualt rifles built post AK-47 and Sturm 44 were designed taking the pros from each rifle and creating their “own” version.  The AK-47 has dozens of variants the world over and is one of the most deadly weapons based on sheer quantity.  If there has been a battle in just about any country in the past 60 years, most likely someone has lost their life due to this amazing little machine gun.  In my opinion it was not built with accuracy in mind: but more cost effectiveness, mass production with available resources, and the ability to rain millions of rounds of lead down on the battle field.  When the weapon was developed battles occured more on a front than in city streets and jungles.  This is where the AK-47 really showed its true colors: simplicity of design, reliability, and ONE heavy chunk of lead.  The AK-47 has proven itself year after year after year as quite a terror. For most of us now, it’s just a super fun rifle to modify and take to the range.

My opinions of the AK-47:

Pros

  • I love that ammo is readily available
  • Ammo is fairly cheap
  • Hi-capacity is always a blast
  • Lots of fun at 25-100 yds
  • Easy to take apart and clean (even thought it never needs it )
  • Lots of variants that are easy to find
  • Stamped or Milled doesn’t prove to effect the guns reliability for a regular guy

Cons

  • Not too accurate past 100 yds
  • Weighs a ton
  • Magazines are not as effectively held in place as other rifles, especially for weight
  • Site radius is way to short (props to the Galil for better radius)
  • recoil is pretty wild