Oh, Really?

The Gun Thing

A couple days ago, I made this statement:

Peter’s thoughts about maintaining your battle rifle are also why I prefer the AK-47 over the AR-15:  throw an AK in the mud, drop it off the back of a truck, and it’ll still shoot.  Good luck doing that with your AR-15, with all its electronic doodads and plastic furniture.

…prompting this response from Reader Amos:

“I have no real world experience, but Karl’s and Ian’s mud tests at InRangeTV dispute that AR/AK assessment.”

Purely coincidentally, a few days before that Longtime Friend & Reader JohnC had sent me this pic:

Frankly, I don’t believe the pic, myself — but even if an exaggeration, it’s probably not too far from the truth [/Dan Rather].  I’ve seen AKs in absolutely shocking condition that were still perfectly operable, and I bet that many Vietnam- and Sandbox vets would probably back me up.  Feel free to disagree with my original statement, however.

9 comments

  2. Ian and Karl’s mud tests are amazing to watch, but they are not the last word in firearms reliability testing. I’m sure they would agree that their mud tests are not meant to tell you everything you need to know about firearms. Some of their results are fairly surprising, mostly in that any firearm functions at all after their particular torture test. Both of them have enough experience and knowledge that their opinions are worth listening to, but I’m sure neither of them would claim to be the ultimate source of firearms knowledge.

  3. If your AR falls of the back of the truck and loses zero something is defective. Forget breaking.

  4. More important than the maker of your ultimate defense weapon is whether you are intimately familiar with its operation, function, handling, accuracy etc.
    Whether its a well worn Win 94 in thutty thutty, or a dented & dinged Garand, an AR or AK You must be comfortable with its operation, familiar with its accuracy and trust its operation.
    Our Korean friends will expect nothing less from you.

    1. Hahahaha! I’m the one who sent the pic to Kim and I also suspect it would not fire, but it’s kind of like the Chuck Norris memes, in that the AK-47 is considered the Chuck Norris of battle rifles.

      When my son and I got ours, being a bit anal, I searched for a manual. When I couldn’t find one a friend told me, “Do you know how many languages you’d need to print one in? Besides, you don’t need a manual. You can do 100% of AK armorer tasks with a screwdriver and a flat rock!”

      True! 😀

  5. Buy a gun, buy what you can afford to buy and have enough money left over to purchase ammunition and range time if you don’t have a free place to shoot. Then get out and shoot, shoot for accuracy and time. The more you shoot the more comfortable you will be if and when you have to pick the gun up and look for a bad guy in your home or stop a bad guy running up to you at a gas station.

    At times over seven years ago when I still lived in Dallas and at times drove to work in the early morning dark hours I would notice I needed gasoline and there were a couple of handy stations in a rough part of town I would where I would stop and fill up. Each time I would put my 1911 .45 in the door pocket of the truck, cocked and locked. At times the hustlers and rough people hanging around would start to head my way and I would make eye contact and just shake my head no with my hand on the gun, without exception they would head away because it seemed they would sense that I did not want to be fucked with that morning. I think having a gun and a reasonable amount of confidence is more important than the exact type and being an older, fatter guy than yesteryear I will not be running and gunning in the sand and mud, that ain’t gonna happen.

  6. Caption Contest:
    “After the latest ChiCom con was revealed as yet another hoax by TheMainStreamMedia and the government agents, we retrieved Ol’ Reliable from her storage — tied to a rope tied off the end of the pier.”

  7. In America, the government agents established hunting seasons for deer, elk, bear, and fowl.
    In South Afrika, what months are poachers in season?

Comments are closed.