Posted on 04/17/2006 5:35:46 AM PDT by jmc1969
Mikhail Kalashnikov, designer of the world's most popular assault rifle, says that U.S. soldiers in Iraq are using his invention in preference to their own weapons, proving that his gun is still the best.
"Even after lying in a swamp you can pick up this rifle, aim it and shoot. That's the best job description there is for a gun. Real soldiers know that and understand it," the 86-year-old gunmaker told a weekend news conference in Moscow.
"In Vietnam, American soldiers threw away their M-16 rifles and used [Kalashnikov] AK-47s from dead Vietnamese soldiers, with bullets they captured. That was because the climate is different to America, where M-16s may work properly," he said.
"Look what's happening now: every day on television we see that the Americans in Iraq have my machine guns and assault rifles in their armored vehicles. Even there American rifles don't work properly."
Some U.S. troops in Iraq have reportedly taken to using AK-47s in preference to the standard-issue M-16. The Cold War-era gun, renowned for its durability and easy handling, is plentiful in Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretzdaily.com ...
Wrong. I have shot 1/4 inch plate at 25 yards with an ar15 and my ak. The ak goes through, the 223 dents it with maybe a one or two millimeter hole.
At that range I like 12 gages.
I admit up front that I have not handled an AK-47. I only know that a close friend who spent the first fourteen months of the war in Irag used one over the M-16 and said the first thing he would do if he had to go back over there was to find another one.
Thats endorsement enough for me.
.....Tell that to the hog I shot with one last season....
Come now.... by your own admission the hog had been shot three times before your shot. The hog is telling us it just gave up and died knowing youall were going to ruin all the meat.
"Stopping Power"?
No such thing.
Sturmgewehr 44 assault rifle (MP44) ... Date of design 1943 (GERMAN)
Ruski Mikhail Kalashnikov's AK47 ... Date of design 1947
Gee ... they look like twins. I wonder why?
That's a big consideration in the Iraq region, from what I hear. The dust is fine-grained and gets into everything. I've heard of troops that clean their rifles and put them into plastic dry-cleaner bags to keep the sand out until actually needed
Quite a coincidence:
Sturmgewehr:
AK-47 
At close range I would pick my 12-gauge too, with my .45 for backup, but the discussion was M-16 vs AK
Truth will out! ;)
Sort of ironic. They took the AK-47's and ammunition off of dead enemy soldiers that the apparently killed with the malfunctioning M-16's.
When going against the bad guys that's what you want
Gue: (n) from French gueux A rogue
Re your #10 - Hear Here; Amen, and Ditto!!!
While stationed in Ft. Benning GA back in '69-70, I had the privilege of befriending an old "Lifer" who was, at the time, assigned to the US Army Ordnance Research and Development Team.
They had done considerable comparative studies between the two systems, and exposure to adverse conditions such as submersion in mud, extensive firing without cleaning, and being run over by a jeep that would disable or destroy "Jammin' Jenny" might ugly up an already ugly AK - but it usually would come up blazing away despite all.
The Ordnance testers were apparently frequently astounded by how much abuse the AK could withstand.
During 'Nam it was pretty well understood that there were lucrative kickbacks to the Pentagon from the Contracted Manufacturer of the Jenny (and if you were there you know who that was) and quality control was frequently compromised and flaws overlooked for corrupt "consideration", leading to more than a few needless American casualties.
I've also heard from more than one informed source that the powder was also shoddy, causing excessive fouling - which Jenny would tolerate very little of.
I got my orders changed from DaNang to Inchon about a week before deployment late in '67, but have known many Vets who were "In Country". Most of them who were deep in the doodoo knew that they were much better armed with a shotgun, M-14 (if they could recapture or buy one on the black market) or an AK.
Rangers on LRPs apparently routinely carried AKs in the bush, but would try not to use them in proximity of friendly forces, as they had a distinctive report and greenish muzzle flash, which could draw friendly fire.
In one of my recent gun magazines, they had a blurb on a retrofit of Jenny that replaces the fragile over-barrel gas tube with a piston and oprod system a-la AK or FAL.
That should help things out a bit, but in the personal opinion of this old soldier and gun-nut, I continue to consider the Jenny a piece of unreliable, un-battleworthy piece of junk and it's puny, PC 5.56mm round best suited for woodchucks and squirrels.
I'm not a big AK fan either - but given the choice between the two in a series pi$$!n' contest, I'd go with the AK without hesitation.
If my SKS would take an AK magazine (legally) it would be pretty much all I'd need out to 100 yds or so.
After that it's the scoped Mauser.
I do NOT, BTW, believe in the "Spray and pray" technique...
well, not the first half of it, anyway.
In short; Yeah; Komrade Kalisnakov is, IMHO, right on.
Mik must be thinking of the Russian PPSh-41, which many Germans (esp. at Stalingrad) preferred to their own machine-pistol. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PPSh-41
For him to say that he didn't borrow from their Sturmgehwehr would be like us saying we didn't borrow from the German MG-42 in designing the M-60.
It just ain't so.
The biggest problem with the .223 round used by the M-16 is that it is full metal jacket. The Hague Convention of 1899 prohibited the use of expanding bullets for international warfare. The .223 would have all the stopping power you need if you could fire a hollowpoint.
Well it wasn't made to be accurate is the only point I was getting at. It's more of a spray and pray weapon for close in combat in built up areas or trench style fighting.
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