[Gonzilla]

I remember a very, very long patrol and, of course, we were cold, wet, tired, and miserable. We were moving too fast and had no time to clean our weapons plus the weather was bad.

I recall a DI lining us up and betting us not one of our ARs w fire a 30 rd clip. He won the bet. I never forgot that lesson and it served me well in OP Desert Storm.

Lesson Learned: You've got to know your platforms strengths & limitations. Or as my battle bud once said, "The AR is like a wife, both require periodic maintenance or they can and will ruin your day."

Just my .02

[pfev1980]

Originally Posted by Johnny357

Our soldiers in the field bring overwhelming force and have a HUGE support network. Their weapons are full auto. And if their gun fails they are surrounded by friends to cover them. In a bad spot they can pick a working weapon off the fallen soldier next to them.

For SHTF you are going to be alone or in a small group. Your weapon will be semi-auto, and if you have anyone with you they may very well be carrying a weapons in a different caliber. And you will have no support network beyond the kit you bring with you.

My point is, what is good for our troops is not necessarily good for a citizen rifleman in a SHTF situation. But the whole SHTF thing is such a broad scenario that you could make a good case for just about any weapon.

In my experience (4 tours to Iraq) most of this is not often true. At least in the Marine Corps, we don't do massive assaults where we severely outnumber the baddies because we typically don't know where they are or how many are there. The typical firefight involves either a fire team (4 guys) or a squad (13 guys). They go out on patrols and get contact and then engage. Also, although their m16s/m4s have a 3 round burst selection, (as opposed to full auto), it's basically the cardinal sin to use it. The average Marine in a firefight is firing in semi. You get ten trigger pulls per mag with burst vise thirty in semi, you do the math. As much as I hate to point out movies, the way the guys moved in Black Hawk down was somewhat accurate.

An Ak or an AR is equally effective for defending your home if SHTF. That is to say if you only have one and you are the only shooter against a determined enemy, neither are going to save your ass. Imagine you planned on taking a house versus a lone gunman and knew there was no backup on the way... Does it really matter what kind of gun he has?

You'd be best served by picking the one you shoot best and planning to use it to take game and god forbid, defend yourself if you have to. Stay low key, don't attract attention and have a backup plan. Otherwise someone is going to come to your house with two friends and take away your Ar/AK while you reload mags. In a perfect world, you would have four of each w/ a parts bin for them and enough rounds in magazines to last a lifetime. You know what we call that guy though? Target number one. Cause he has what everyone else wants.

The alternative is start a commune with like minded people who have skills and supplies to add to the group, but that borders on paranoid I think and might get you a special jacket...lol.

Myself, I buy guns I enjoy shooting. I keep them well maintained and enough ammo that if a buddy calls me for some range time, I don't have to stop on the way. I have an AR, but I'm going to get an AK. If SHTF between now and then, guess I'm an AR man...lol. I figure the end has been nigh since Biblical times though, so I probably have some time. In reality an accurate .22 and 5000 rounds or so is probably about the best SHTF gun you can have. And all this can be yours for about 200 bucks...lol.

[TinCan]

pfev1980, that just took the starch out of the debate.

[akm47nagiont]

I agree with the 22 in fact if there is a gun I'm gonna grab it it's gonna be in my 1022 well you're out there looking for 7.62 x 39 or 223 I'll be grabbing that 22 lr in hav twice as much ammo you place your shots well you be perfect

[axxe55]

i would go with the AR because i am more familiar with them vs. an AK. i am not by any means saying the AR is better than the AK, but just being more familiar with a particular firearm over another makes it better for that person. know how it operates, how to fieldstrip it and maintain it mean a lot.

[JTJ]

Another alternative is the Mini 14 or 30. In between the AK and AR. Easy to clean and maintain.

[Trez]

If money was the concern, Id get a SKS..
If not, id forget the whole AK v. AR thing and get a Garand!!

[therewolf]

Originally Posted by Trez

If money was the concern, Id get a SKS..
If not, id forget the whole AK v. AR thing and get a Garand!!

I've got a Garand, they're miserable to field-strip, and even after you

do, you need a separate cleaning kit and it's still difficult

to clean the barrel from the breech-end. Not something you're going to

even consider an R & R on while moving down the trail.

The AK and SKS offer a distinct advantage over most battle rifles

with easy field-stripping, and

exposing the barrel breech for simplified cleaning. The Russians also

made a point of providing metal cleaning and lubricant bottles, and

compact cleaning kits to be used in tandem with cleaning rods attached to

their weapons. Which, IMHO, offers a major maintenance advantage to the

already robust, sturdy, and dependable Combloc weapons in a bug-out scenario.


However, the Garand does offer a longer sight radius, and a much better

iron sight. (If you can afford, and carry, the bullets...) Furthermore,

suffice it to say that most other American-based weapons systems have

the advantages of accuracy, light weight, and ease of use, as long as

they have been already cleaned and prepped, or you have a shelter,

light, and the time to take care of them...

[tacticalveternsoldier34]

ar15 , all the way im in the army and im used to it and i just like how it handles and the different things that you can do with it ,,,such as make it into a rifle with a greande launcher and also attaching a shotgun to it and doing to jobs at once . so defenitly ar15 , ak47 its cool becuase of the rate of fire and the size of the round but ar15 i beleive its very more accurate.

[bigjim]

Get Both!!!!

2 AR's a SKS and a Mini-30. Each for their own purpose.

Jim