Yeah the AK is cheap but it goes bang and the bullet has a proven record. If I am target shooting give me an AR if I want to kill someone after pulling the rifle out of a mud hole I’ll take the AK or an M1 Garand.
My brother is an AR man, I have always been partial to the AK or gasp the really primitive weapon the SKS.
Folks brag about the accuracy of the AR. I can outshoot an AR with a Garand any day of the week.
A Garand with a red-dot ( oh the horror) is cold death on deer on the east coast.