Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - M-16 vs AK-47

xenophobe · 09-03-2003, 05:39 PM

Oblivion-

Thanks for the heads up on the german 7.62, I'll have to get me a little of that action.

As far as this debate goes, I'll weigh in my two cents like so:

The M16, in it's assorted variations, is intended to be the flagship weapon of a technologically advanced modern army. It fires a ballistically superior, lighter round that is intended to provide exactly the force necessary to incapacitate or terminate enemy combatants. The precision of it's machining allows for superior accuracy at range, and reliable performance when kept maintained. Notably, the tactics of the modern army are very rapid strike oriented, and in most cases you will not spend extended time in the field (unless something goes wrong). Thus, you should be able to keep the weapon properly maintained. As observed previously, the design of the M16 is rather sophisticated, requiring modern manufacturing capabilities and significant resources to produce. This has always been the trend with american weapons as compared with those of other nations.

The AK series, on the other hand, is the cheaply stamped out and mass produced weapon of a failed superpower. It was intended to be placed in the hands of poorly trained conscripts and farmers en masse, so as to create a large amount of fire power with little monetary expenditure. In an old style army there is no telling how long the troops will need to stay in the field, so the weapon has to take abuse, mistreatment and abuse with aplomb. Likewise, in an old style army more weight is hung from quantity of men than quality of training, so as likely as not the soldiers have only a basic idea of how to take care of thier weapon. The solution to this problem also reduces manufacturing costs, and is thus predictable: make it really goddamn simple. No, it might not hit a target at 100 yards... but if the soldier is lined up with five buddies, and all of thier AKs are vomiting out rounds at (the AK does around 700 RPM, I think?) then the law of averages strongly suggests that the target is going to be eliminated.

Personally, I'll take an M40A1 sniper rifle and a gilly suit, but that doesn't appear to be one of the options.

09-03-2003, 05:39 PM	#43 (permalink)
xenophobe Upright Location: Detroit	Oblivion- Thanks for the heads up on the german 7.62, I'll have to get me a little of that action. As far as this debate goes, I'll weigh in my two cents like so: The M16, in it's assorted variations, is intended to be the flagship weapon of a technologically advanced modern army. It fires a ballistically superior, lighter round that is intended to provide exactly the force necessary to incapacitate or terminate enemy combatants. The precision of it's machining allows for superior accuracy at range, and reliable performance when kept maintained. Notably, the tactics of the modern army are very rapid strike oriented, and in most cases you will not spend extended time in the field (unless something goes wrong). Thus, you should be able to keep the weapon properly maintained. As observed previously, the design of the M16 is rather sophisticated, requiring modern manufacturing capabilities and significant resources to produce. This has always been the trend with american weapons as compared with those of other nations. The AK series, on the other hand, is the cheaply stamped out and mass produced weapon of a failed superpower. It was intended to be placed in the hands of poorly trained conscripts and farmers en masse, so as to create a large amount of fire power with little monetary expenditure. In an old style army there is no telling how long the troops will need to stay in the field, so the weapon has to take abuse, mistreatment and abuse with aplomb. Likewise, in an old style army more weight is hung from quantity of men than quality of training, so as likely as not the soldiers have only a basic idea of how to take care of thier weapon. The solution to this problem also reduces manufacturing costs, and is thus predictable: make it really goddamn simple. No, it might not hit a target at 100 yards... but if the soldier is lined up with five buddies, and all of thier AKs are vomiting out rounds at (the AK does around 700 RPM, I think?) then the law of averages strongly suggests that the target is going to be eliminated. Personally, I'll take an M40A1 sniper rifle and a gilly suit, but that doesn't appear to be one of the options. __________________ Time for a little genetic weeding... - Cassidy, 'Fallout II'