Ballistics - Involving the AK

[doro19]

well the fact of the matter is bullets do damage when they meet flesh. It's not too much of an issue whether it's 5.56 or 7.62. When you start moving up in the calibers then we are talking. .308 will knock you down with a purpose, but with the debate being between the standard calibers of (what i am assuming we are talking about is the ar and ak) platforms they both have strengths and weaknesses. 7.62 has a good amount of kick at medium ranges, but overpenetrate for some desired scenarios. If it's not an issue then go ahead and use 7.62 to turn the badguys' cover into concealment. Neither one of them is gauranteed one shot one kill though. I've shot bad guys with one round and turned the lights out and i've put 10 rounds through a guy that was still standing (thank god my buddies in the stack also shot him about 10 times each upon entering the haji house). Either platform will get the job done. The issue should be follow up shots. Make their medic work for it. We all know 5.56 is like shooting a bb gun making follow up shots into second nature, but 7.62 isn't an a** kicker either when you add a little m-a-n into the equation. They both do the trick which is why both of them are in use today. I prefer 5.56 because it was the round i used to arrange meetings between bad guys and their 72 virgins, but i have no doubt in my mind that if i had used 7.62 those meetings would have still taken place. It's a good topic though. Not sure all the ballistic info justifies the effectiveness of the round though. .22 lr can kill just as good. Ballistics gel is good for an image or understanding , but "magic bullets" change everything. Just know your system and use it in such a manner that allows you to continue to breath after stopping your enemy from doing the latter.

The basic concept differs wherever you are. Always remember "know your target and what is behind it" - john everymarine. Let the good lord above decide which round worked better and just move on to your next target.

love it!!!!!

[Bucman]

This thread has me thinking that 6 days ago when I bought my Arsenal Ak-74 I should have gotten the AK-47 instead. Looks like I have an excus to buy an AK-47 now!!

[William Carter]

How much larger does the monetary gap get when it takes four of whatever you pick to equip the family.

Good point, and something we don't discuss much. Most of us will not have the luxury of having a good group of hard tails to back us up when it's go time. For my uses, if I could only for some reason use ball ammo, (and I'm glad that is NOT the case) I'd probably go with 5.56. As long as I can buy and hoarde good sp ammo, the AK is the 1 for me and mine. The 7.62/39 in hornady/win/corbon/DT, is plenty accurate, and very destructive.

This is a topic I've spent a lot of time studying, in the last few years. (probably too much). User ability is still most important, but ammo choice is 2nd. As a side note it is not even legal to hunt big game in the US with a ball round from a rifle, because in fairness to the critter, the least they deserve is a clean quick kill.

Someone did a recent study of mostly handgun rounds, and found that multiple holes in the target is the most important thing, as far as stopping. Can't recall the source right now.

My main long gun cals are 7.62 NATO/5.56 NATO, and 7.62/39. I love the true battle rifle, (PTR 91), and it would bring a tear to my eye, if for some ungodly reason I could only keep 1 cal. but if that was the case it would be the AK's. I have 2. Mama prefers the M4, but will shoot the AK. She shot the PTR once and said, never again.

The 6.8 might be a near perfect round, but since it's not mainstream, it's really not practicle for several reasons. Besides 22 rimfire, Russian AK ammo is about as close as we can get to a bargain in ammo.