One of the things we do around the MadHouse is teach people how to shoot. I developed a show and tell for the ones who were really scared of recoil. I put an apple between the gun butt and my shoulder. The AK smashes it to a pulp and the AR/M weapons all do not even bruise it (I do put a towel on the butt plate in both demos). My son has now taken over teaching the class and he used to show off with M’16’s/4’s in Spec Forces. So being the samrta$$ he is he puts the butt of the M-4 against his chin and empties the clip. Gets most people past the initial fear of recoil. He will not do it with the AK in any version and he carried one in Afcrapistan for three years - mostly for cover. An M-4 sticks out like a sore thumb when you do not want to be noticed.
That sounds about right. My Drill Sergeant did the shoot off the chin thing to demonstrate the lack of recoil with an M-16 when I was in basic. I really like both types of rifles but I greatly prefer the AR for ergonomics and accuracy. AKs are a hoot to shoot, especially the folding stock ones and they are much better to have than a pistol when you really need to shoot something.