[leroy_masochist]

This is hardly surprising. The Russian Army (and before it, the Soviet Army) never had a maintenance culture. Most of their military-industrial complex's greatest contributions to weaponry innovation have been distinguished by their reliability when poorly maintained (AK, RPK, RPG, etc).

[silisili]

That reliability when poorly maintained is essentially sloppy, loose designs. If you ever watch an AK fire in slow mo, you can watch every part wobbling all over.

Was that by design, or did they lack capabilities of mass production of high precision pieces?

[Justin_K]

By design... The AK is mostly stamped material which makes mass production cheap, fast and easy. While the slop makes it less accurate, it is far more reliable, especially when dirty and poorly maintained. Compare that to an ultra precise AR-15, if you get a little dirt in it, it begins to malfunction.

[rgoulter]

> Compare that to an ultra precise AR-15, if you get a little dirt in it, it begins to malfunction.

That 'ultra-precise machining' does have some advantages, though:

InRangeTV simulated whether a weapon will still work if it gets covered in mud. Originally they tried doing this buy having a guy crawl around in the mud; later, they realised they could just drop mud on the weapon.

AKM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX73uXs3xGU

AR-15 ("This AR15 mud test was performed right after last week's AK47 test: the same exact mud, the same wheelbarrow, at the same location, a mere 10 minutes later.") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAneTFiz5WU

Incidentally, InRangeTV's videos have been used in both Russian & Ukranian propaganda https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtRjBRRL2LY

[leroy_masochist]

Yup. The stamped design was intended not only to make mass production cheap, but to make the factories themselves a viable export product for the USSR's client states in the third world during the cold war.

[retrocryptid]

Stamped design? I think you're thinking of MAK-90s or AKMs. AK-47s (up through the 2a, at least) have milled receivers and machined piston guides. And the receiver cover is stamped, but that's sort of an insignificant to the operation of the firearm.

We're I equipping a small army, I would look into something like the galil which mixes the best features of the AK (easy to manufacture lower receiver and reliability) with the best features of US weapon systems (accuracy at 300-500m). And the bottle opener on the front handguard is a definite plus.