The question of which small arms is better, AK or M16, has actually become rhetorical. Of course, the AK has become a cult assault rifle: even despite its rather low accuracy when firing, its incredible reliability and simplicity of design made the AK and all its modifications the most common small arms on the planet. It accounts for 15% of the total volume of small arms. On the "cult" of this model of small arms has no equal. The machine is present on state emblems and flags, and is found in many computer games.
This machine gun was developed during the Great Patriotic War under the cartridge of 7, 62 mm and in 1947 was adopted by the Soviet army. The American M16 assault rifle began to be used in the 1960s and was originally designed for the 5, 56 mm caliber cartridge. In fact, it is the cartridge that is the main element of any small arms, which serves only as a tool for delivering it to the target. Therefore, direct comparison of AK and M16 is somewhat incorrect.
Over the past several decades since 1947, the AK has gone through a number of upgrades and received a new caliber cartridge. The AK-74, which appeared in the army in the mid-1970s, has already received a 5.45 mm cartridge, which made it possible to increase the firing range and improve its accuracy (2 times in automatic mode, 1.5 times in single mode). Among other innovations, this machine received a muzzle brake-compressor, and in further developments - a redesigned automation scheme, which in many respects caused a decrease in the accuracy of fire: the AK shook violently when firing due to the movement of the shutter during reloading.
AK-74M
The M16 has a 5, 56 mm cartridge, which is closer to the AK-74, and is also one of the most common small arms in the world. The American military switched to a new cartridge with smaller dimensions, weight and recoil somewhat earlier than in the USSR, having adopted the M16 rifle already in the early 1960s. The man who created this assault rifle is not as famous as his counterpart M. Kalashnikov, but Eugene Stoner deserves to be known to many. Eugene Stoner is rightfully one of the best American gunsmiths of the last century.
The assault rifle developed by him significantly surpasses the AK-74 in accuracy of single fire by about 25% (1.5 times in area). But its mechanism is much more demanding in terms of lubrication and cleanliness, which creates many difficulties when servicing it in combat conditions. Thus, the end users of automatic weapons are faced with a choice: either high accuracy or high reliability, because both the first and the second are a consequence of the structural difference between these samples.
Automatic reloading works by removing the powder gases. In the AK-74, they press on the piston of a massive bolt carrier, all the parts here are large enough, insensitive to possible small gaps and grease density, but at the same time, due to a sufficiently high weight, their movement makes the entire machine move. In M16, a narrow tube leads the propellant gases directly to the shutter. This unit turned out to be more compact, lighter, when it moves during firing in bursts, the machine manages to put the first few bullets heap before it moves to the side. At the same time, a much greater sensitivity of this mechanism to external factors is noted here.
M16
Not in the best way, the AK-74's accuracy is also affected by its general layout, which he inherited from the progenitor of the AK - the butt of this machine gun is shifted downward relative to the firing axis. This arrangement makes it easier for the soldier to aim, but leads to the fact that after each shot the barrel of the machine gun slightly lifts up. In the M-16, like many Western small arms, the butt is in line with the firing axis, and therefore the assault rifle is devoid of this drawback. Although, if you look at it from the other side, aiming (especially when using additional devices), the soldier is forced to raise the machine gun higher, which increases his silhouette, which is a target for the enemy.
There is also a fundamental difference in the aiming tools of these two samples. The AK-74's aiming mechanism is a sector open sight. A fairly simple, but at the same time very reliable option, which allows the shooter to maintain a good view. Therefore, this scope is especially convenient for shooting at moving targets. On the other hand, at long distances, it does not provide such confidence as the diopter sight of the M16 assault rifle, which allows you to aim easier, more accurately and, which is important, faster, however, impairing the view and, accordingly, shooting at moving targets.
Each of the presented models has both its advantages and disadvantages, but it is not worth drawing a comparative line between them. First of all, this is due to the fact that both AK-74 and M-16 proved that they are the best in the world, not in theory, but in practice, and the final choice in favor of a particular model should be made by the military, for whom, in fact, weapons are created.
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