Building an AR or AK thread

[Danth]

For the original poster:

If you're not familiar with either, odds are you'll like the AR family better than the AK family. Most AR derivatives have good ergonomics and a nice center of mass; for the most part they point and shoot beautifully. It's an easy rifle to like. I particularly like examples done with vietnam-styled grips/etc as I consider them more comfortable, but I've never held a "bad" one. I'd trust a decent AK with my life in a heartbeat, but I've never handled one that felt good to shoot--feels like a lifeless club. The grips feel wrong, the balance and center of mass feel wrong, the sights are wrong. As much as I respect it I don't particularly LIKE the thing. I don't care for the 5.56 cartridge or for the 5.45 cartridge that the AK's I've used were chambered for. The considerations that make military organizations want the smaller round (like weight of ammunition) are not necessarily relevant to private usage. 5.56 is a nice round for killing vermin with. Pretty much no hunter ever would call it his first choice for deer-size targets--which include humans. An ordinary dude isn't a soldier lugging around 40 pounds of gear and maybe 10 or 12 magazines so the regular guy can pick the best round for the specific job instead of a good enough round that meets other criteria too.

I really like .22LR for plinking and shooting paper. For those uses, cheapness of ammunition is by far the most important consideration. Unlike the guy above I would not trust one for personal defense though. The training I received taught that they could be lethal enough but if you didn't kill your target with it outright you were unlikely to incapacitate him before he got to you. Small pistol rounds like .25 and .32 were discouraged for the same reason. If it's what you have it's better than being unarmed but it's not a first choice.

The AR family's action craps in its own house. It is and always will be a source of contention. If you want the same round with a different action the Mini-14 and HK-416 are both very good alternatives. In truth for ordinary use and sport shooting the AR action is not an issue. Conversely the AK's reliability is overblown in western media. It's a tough rifle but not magical. If you fail to maintain yours or enjoy throwing it in mudholes it'll stop working just like any other rifle will stop working.

Try to avoid buying "tactical" anything. That's the firearm equivalent of "gaming" computer accessories: Just advertising glurge used to inflate the price.

Danth