Random

Anyone catch this on the Military Channel last night?

You can see the list here. M-16 is #2, and AK-47 is #1.


When they were talking about the M-16, they mentioned it was developed by Eugene Stoner. I couldn't help but think that if I'm in Vietnam in the 60's, I'm not so sure I would trust my life to a gun designed by someone called "stoner" :)

bgglock

Yeah, I have seen that before. It is a pretty interesting show.

I also like your pun...Stoner...There was a lot of them carrying M-16s over in Nam wasn't there!

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shooterX

Yeah, I've seen it before, about a year ago or so. I think the military channel has a youtube page that you can watch some of the other Top Ten episodes.

dukalmighty

I think they look at the ratings by how many of the guns are used and produced etc.The AK47 is used by almost every third world country due to it's ruggedness

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kellyII

Yea believe me, come over here and you will see about a million AK's
it seems like everybody and their momma has one..

That why their numbers are so high. Dont worry though, now the iraqi's are starting to carry m16's. so undoubtably the numbers will go up on the 16's before too much longer. I could go on and on with that issue and other issues, but thats another day ..

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GoldenSaber

AK47 is one of the greatest combat, if not the greatest of all times.

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gwhall57

Hard to believe the M-1 was topped by the M-16.... I fired an AK-MS once in Germany in the late 70's during a "Know Thy Enemy's Weapons" day at the range. The sucker went "bang" every time I pulled the trigger. This was after I had picked it up off a tarp on the ground, where snow and mud had gotten into the receiver. Wiped it out, shoved in a mag, and rocked and rolled... My Army-issue M-16 would not have worked as well under those conditions.

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HotGuns

Purely subjective.

Just because it is the most widely produced or distributed rifle in the world does not make it the "best". Best for what? Zero to 300 yards? Rapid fire? Reliability?

Its a relativley short range gun that shoots fast. It's not known for its accuracy. In the role that it typically encounters it does well, but so do many others.

Having shot both extensively, I'd take the more accurate AR.

While its true that all rifles have advantages and disadvantages when compared to each other,I'll take the rifle with the edge in accuracy because that it what matters most when you are lining up the sights on someone that is shooting at you.

With that being said,I realize that the AR/AK debate could go on forever.

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M203Sniper

Opinions/Options for things that aren't on the list?

What would you add?

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cwblanco

That depends upon your objective. In WWII the M-1 was the weapon of the day, followed by the adaptation incorporated into the M-14 (M1A). The effective range of these weapons far exceeds that of the AK-47and the M-16. However, the mission and terrain governs what is the greatest combat weapon of all times. The AK-47 and M-16 formats clearly were superior for jungle fighting, close in encounters, and city street fighting. On the other hand, for open field long range shooting, the M-1/M-14 is the greatest weapon of all time, and adaptations of them are still in use for special operations.

P.S. While I was in Vietnam we were issued the new M-16. At that time they were nothing but jammo-matics, and we cursed them. However, after 45 years of development and cleaning out the bugs, it is a nice weapon. I love my AR-15.

I also have my SKS that I brought home from Vietnam. It is the semi-automatic pre-cursor to the AK-47 and shoots the same round. It will shoot anything anywhere. However, I still much prefer the AR-15 as a day in and day out rifle.