The AK platform is perhaps immeasurably more reliable than the AR or M16 or M4 platform (Stoner design). The perceived accuracy advantage of the Stoner design comes from the cartridge it fires, the 5.56, rather than any inherent design superiority. When one considers the 5.45, rather than the 7.62, the Annie Oakley awesome accuracy advantage of the 5.56 virtually disappears. The 7.62X39 simply makes the AK recoil and jump, thus making follow up shots more difficult. Another aspect of accuracy is training, and I would be willing to bet that if American troops received the fine level of training with the AK platform as they do with the Stoner design, they would be superior in accuracy to Third World militias and terrorists, even if the militia troops were armed with the Stoner design. When one considers a survival or SHTF rifle, reliability is paramount. Soldiers have the advantage of calling in air support, additional troops, artillery, etc ...... Average citizens trying to survive must rely solely on their rifles and pistols and cannot afford an occasional failure to feed or carbon fouled weapon that fails to fire. I cannot count on two hands the number of times I have seen or read about AR's failing at the range or in combat due to the "wrong ammo" or "I forgot to clean it after last time out", or in military situations from Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq. I recall reading an article about the AK-74 where Russian troops in Chechnya were asked how often they clean their weapons, and one replied, " .... quite often, at least once a month." While cleaning a weapon regularly is important, it is nice to know that one can have full faith in the reliability of the AK, even when it has not been thoroughly scrubbed. If a person is comfortable with the Stoner platform, and wants to use that as their "go gun", more power to them. I would suggest, however, keeping an AK or an SKS as a back up, just in case.
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