IS AK 47 best Automatic machine gun ever made?

Question

i havent seen any machine gun which is in service since 1947 .
i think it was the best for it is time .

Answer 1

It's everybody's favourite:

"Weapon Of Mass Destruction
By Larry Kahaner
Sunday, November 26, 2006; Page B01

"In the grand narrative of World War II, the Battle of Bryansk is a minor conflict, barely deserving of a footnote. But Bryansk has another place in history. It was there that a then-unknown tank commander named Mikhail Kalashnikov decided that his Russian comrades would never again be defeated. In the years following the Great Patriotic War, as Soviet propagandists dubbed it, he was to conceive and fabricate a weapon so simple, and yet so revolutionary, that it would change the way wars were fought and won. It was the AK-47 assault rifle. . . ."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/24/AR2006112400788.html

Answer 2

The Ak-47 is very inaccurate and heavy, as for a machine gun it falls in the same catagory as the M-16 which is an assualt rifle. The longest still in production real machine gun is the Browning 50 cal started in WWI and is still being used by the army today. The M-16 and M4 Carbine are far superior to any AK ever made.

Answer 3

Never fired one, so I cant speak with any experience...in fact, I would bet most Americans have never seen an actual AK-47 or a AK-74.
For a rifle that can be tossed on the ground and kicked, rolled in the mud, and then soaking wet still rattle off shots without a jam, thats pretty good.
They are popular for the ease of use, rather than for any other technical aspect. They are not the most accurate rifle by a longshot.

Answer 4

The AK-47 (shortened from Russian: Автомат Калашникова образца 1947 года, Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947) is a gas-operated assault rifle designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov, and produced by Russian manufacturer Izhevsk Mechanical Works and used in many Eastern bloc nations during the Cold War. It was adopted and standardized in 1947.
Compared with the auto-loading rifles used in World War II, the AK-47 was generally more compact, with a shorter range, a smaller 7.62 × 39 mm cartridge, and was capable of selective fire. It was one of the first true assault rifles and remains the most widely used and known. The AK-47 and its numerous variants and descendants have been produced in greater numbers than any other assault rifle and are in production to this day.

Answer 5

Only really accurate to 300 - 400 yards, heavy ballistics give it good stopping power, and it is widespread, simple and reliable, but thats doesn't make it the best, just the favourite of the trigger hapy african gang fellas and lots of people from the Balkans through to China and SE Asia.

One of the best made was the SLR or Belgian FN, the only drawback that when broken down you destroyed the zeroing from the sights, something that doesn't happen with the M-16, although the SLR was a larger round thus providing more stopping power.

Answer 6

The MaDuce was introduced in 1919 and is still in service. A .50 BMG kinda gets the bad guys attention.

The Kalashnikov is technically a full-auto rifle. Machine guns generally are classified by the fact that they have to be mounted on tripods or vehicles to be used.

Answer 7

Not at first but after the machining process was loosened up it became the best. It will shoot no matter how dirty it is. I think it could be made better if it could integrate the buffer assembly the M16 uses. You can't shoot an AK all day with out feeling like you've been beat up. The M16 kicks like a .22

Answer 8

It is better than the M16. The M16 was put into service during Vietnam and has been a disaster. The humid climate in Vietnam caused moisture to collect in the barrels and in the chamber, forcing soldiers to manually eject spent rounds. In irag, it jams because of sand and dust.

Answer 9

If cheap, very inaccurate, reliable, easily available, heavy are the quilities you are looking for then its the weapon for you. I'll stick with something that you don't have to spray to hit a target. With an accuracy range of further than a slingshot. Something with a selector lever that goes from semi to burst or auto. Its nice to be able to hit a target with one shot sometimes.

Answer 10

You do have a point it is used alot still today. But you got to add to that the fact that how cheap it can be made and how easy it can be produced. That is why alot of third world countires have them. The best rife is the FN SCAR hands down....