Yeah, but can you make an AR-15 out of a shovel?
Vodka not included.
AK-47 has a sorry history. And it was well designed but poorly manufactured.
An AR-15 with a gas operated upper has made the AK-47 obsolete.
Looky here:
http://faxonfirearms.com/arak-21-xrs-complete-rifle/
I bought a Faxon 18” barrel for my AR build. Couldn’t be happier.
$1900 for an AR? No thanks
In Soviet Union, infantry was cheaper than rifles, so cheap rifles made sense. In the U.S. infantry was valuable, so infantrymen had expensive weapons.
The genius of Kalashnikov was he made a reliable automatic weapon that was cheap, tolerant of loose manufacturing tolerances and was soldier proof. And he did as an enlisted man in an insane political environment, without university training, and in an impoverished country, whose most developed areas were occupied by a ruthless invader.
Yeah, but can you make an AR-15 out of a shovel?
Vodka not included.
One of the hallmarks of a great battle rifle is ease and economy of manufacture. If you were a potentate in command of a nation which desired to dominate the world, I can't think of a better tool than a rifle that could be built and exported to trouble-spots around the globe at little cost. The recipients would be grateful, and perhaps good satellites for expansion, should they prevail in their conflict.