Quoted: I like the AR15 a lot and still think it's a great design, but more and more I'm coming to think that a .223 ak based weapon, or a sig 55x weapon, is my goto gun for shtf, and just superior overall when you take into account the critical factor of reliability (especially reliability in adverse conditions).

If you want reliability as a primary feature you'd probably better stay away from .223 AKs and stick to weapons in commie calibers. The .223 AK's are the most problematic AK weapons I've seen in various training classes.

I'd certainly avoid Sig 55x weapons because they tend to break. Ask folks who have run Sig rifles hard as duty weapons and they'll tell you that they aren't as bulletproof as you seem to think they are.

The AR is plenty reliable in adverse conditions if you lube it well. A good AK is certainly a reliable and durable weapon, but it has it's own particular issues too. AK's have a lot of room in the receiver, and it's not uncommon for a spent casing (or live round) to get stuck in there and gum up the works.

It's a lot easier to foul up a reload on the AK than it is the AR. In general the AK magazine is much better than STANAG AR magazines in the durability and reliability department, but the PMAG may be solving that little issue permanently. You have to be careful what AK magazines you buy to make sure they have steel re-enforced locking tabs or else you'll destroy the magazine in no-time. Those neat looking clear magazines are also to be avoided if you want long term durability and reliability, as clear polymers aren't as strong as the black colored polymers you see in Bulgarian waffle mags. One downside to AK magazines is that you often have to fit them to your weapon.

There's a lot of myth and legend that surrounds both the AK and the AR series of weapons.

I suppose I need to sit down and write a "Living with the AK" article like I did for Glocks.

The ak and sig rifles are the only ones I know of (except galil, which is too heavy) that use the locking mag design.

Lots of rifles use the rock and lock mag design, including the M14 and its derivatives.

They are comparable in weight, ergonomics, and accuracy to the AR,

Your basic AK is in NO WAY comparable to an AR in the ergonomic department, dude. Some of their ergonomic shortcomings can be dealt with by reasonable modification, but the AR is darn near perfect in the ergonomic department and the AK isn't going to catch up anytime soon.

Actually of all the AK weapons out there the Galil is probably the easiest to use because it has a better safety arrangement than standard AK pattern weapons do.

but have one distinct advantage. Their mags never fail, and they never fail to feed/fail to cycle!

Uhhh.....I hate to break this to you, but they do. I've watched AK's in .223, 5.45, and 7.62x39 experience failures of all sorts. Double feeds, failures to extract, failures to eject, complete lockup requiring mortaring to eject the spent round....heck, at last week's Vickers AK course Mr. Vickers' 5.56 Arsenal AK started ejecting live rounds with the spent rounds when his magazine went Tango Uniform on him.

The idea that AK's never malfunction is just as silly as the idea that AK's are inaccurate and that AR's are unreliable.  

Quoted: Quoted: ... but have one distinct advantage. Their mags never fail, and they never fail to feed/fail to cycle! Uhhh.....I hate to break this to you, but they do. I've watched AK's in .223, 5.45, and 7.62x39 experience failures of all sorts. Double feeds, failures to extract, failures to eject, complete lockup requiring mortaring to eject the spent round....heck, at last week's Vickers AK course Mr. Vickers' 5.56 Arsenal AK started ejecting live rounds with the spent rounds when his magazine went Tango Uniform on him. The idea that AK's never malfunction is just as silly as the idea that AK's are inaccurate and that AR's are unreliable.

That is probably the funniest thing to me about the AK fanboys.

People who have served in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan will testify that they've seen PLENTY of AKs in the hands of insurgents, Iraqi military, etc - that fail all the time.  Yet somehow, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, the hardcore AK believer just refuses to accept this.  It's either delusion, or it's a serious religion/cult - but at that point it has little to do with a factual discussion.


If you love the AK and it works for you, great!  Enjoy

Quoted: "AK fanboys" ARFcom snobbery at its highest.

You don't find it a little irrational or delusional to make a claim that an AK never fails to feed, and never has a mag malfunction?  

Having discussion about the respective merits and shortcomings of varoius firearms is fine, and the AK and AR both have their strenghts - but once people start to make claims that basically translate into a magical property of their preferred firearm (in direct contradiction of established evidence to the contrary), I believe the label "fanboy" is appropriate.


I will just as readily apply the "fanboy" label to AR fans, if they spew similar claims of magic about their AR.