Is the ak-47 a good assualt rifle?

Answer 1

The AK-47 is, without doubt, one of the best weapons ever created. The '47' in the name comes from the year Russia commissioned Mikhail Kalashnikov's design for the weapon. There are several deciding factors you have to take into account when considering the worth of a weapon's design.

1) Stopping power
2) Reliability
3) Accuracy
4) Ease of maintainance
5) Cost

The AK-47 is chambered in 7.62x39mm, a caliber which is significantly more powerful than the M16's 5.56mm round. The larger profile of the bullet, combined with it's correspondingly larger weight transfers more destructive energy to the target.

The reliability of the AK is without a doubt the weapon's best selling point. Extreme torture testing has been done on the rifle, not limited to:
- Running over the rifle vehicles up to 2 tons
- Immersion in water for several days
- Burying the rifle unprotected for several days in soil/sand
In every examply cited, after a quick inspection to ensure safe testing, the weapon has fired. There is a reason this rifle is the weapon of choice by militias, insurgents, and other militant groups. It requires practically no maintainence and constant cleaning/inspection as most military weapons do (M16, M4, MP5, G3)

As for the accuracy, it's limited to a maximum effective range of approximately 200 meters. This is not due to any fault in design or inferior craftsmanship. It is because in infantry confrontations, this is considered to be the longest range the average foot soldier would be able to engage. Beyond that, limitations of the soldier's marksman skills start to show. This was a lesson the Russains learned the hard way in WWII. They equiped the majority of their troops with Nagant rifles, and took heavy losses in close quarters combat. (The 1891/30 Nagant rifle is nearly 4 feet long).

As for price, well, during the time of the cold war, each AK-47 Russia produced cost less than $100 USD. The design uses very little moving parts, has no frills (no bolt hold-open, primitive safety), and nearly all parts aside from the barrel are stamped sheet metal and welded.

So, as it stands, for the price, and the practicality, the AK-47 is an amazing weapon. In a SHTF scenario, you would be hard-pressed to find a better weapon. It's cheap, it's a common caliber, it has excellent stopping power, the most reliable gun of it's class, and the total number produced would make for nearly limitless replacement parts for a service life no doubt triple that of an AR-15/M-16/M-14 series rifle.

Answer 2

i had a polytech ledgend some years back. The milled receiver models are kind of heavy. The sheet metal type are lighter. They are reliable but not known for great accuracy. The reliabilty comes from lose fitting parts which hurts accuracy. An AR will be more accurate but they need to be kept clean, which isnt really a big deal. My biggest complaint about the AK is the silly and unhandy location of the safety. A good plinker and home defence gun, but far from an all out battle rifle.

Answer 3

The best ever made, a classic design with only 8 moving parts,simple, yet reliable, yes its an assault rifle designed in 1947 by Mikhail Kalashnikov ,hence the name( Automatic Kalashnikov 1947)
The most widely produced as well (over a hundred million world wide)

Answer 4

Semi auto Ak's are legal in practically all states except states like CA, NY, Illinois, and a few others who are strictly hard core anti-gun states. In places like CA, all the replica AK is going to do is to get you killed by law enforcement, should they see you with it.

Answer 5

Speaking as someone that has been on the business end of one,I can tell you that it did a darn good job for Victor Charlie.Rugged,reliable,ammo cheap,good weapon.Not for accuracy at ranges over 200 yds.usually,but inside of that,it's deadly.

Answer 6

I love mine, and doubt the guy who dropped it will miss it.
It's much more reliable than the AR-15 I had to carry.
But if you're talking about a Mak-90 knock off or such, they're not nearly as good as the original.

Answer 7

Still. A classic design. Relatively light weight. Accurate fire power. Rugged. It can take a lot of abuse and still perform with deadly dependability. A real beauty. I keep mine by the bed.

Answer 8

It is probably one of the most reliable assault rifles ever made.

Answer 9

If you get the full-automatic one - of course it is!

Otherwise, it's a not very accurate, but very reliable, semi-automatic rifle. It's also not an assault rifle.

Answer 10

good for what? It depends on what you will use it for. Entering a building?(go mp5). Urban battles with short kill zones(go ak). Large kill zones (m14). A mix of all three (go m4 carbine).