This should settle the AK vs. M16 debate.

[Amish]

Check this out. The all new AK M4 now being used in Afganistan by US troops.

http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/2100/2138.htm

 

[MitchSchaft]

Excellent idea.

 

[bastiat]

Hey - it's a gun that makes a hi-point look pretty!

But I'd still want one in 5.45x39, though.

 

[C.R.Sam]

That's a twist.
I am familiar with usin the weapons of others when in their playground.
Usin their ammo darn efficient....as long as they didn't prep some for just such use.

Sam

 

[ojibweindian]

Clever. Wonder if the rifle will make its way into the civilian market?

 

[Art Eatman]

Nice to see somebody in the Pentagon pay attention to the concept of "purpose". Seems to me I've commented on that a time or two, around here...

Some Grunt said, "Hey, Sarge..." and Sarge sez, "Hey, Cap'n..." and somebody up the line emailed somebody who pushed the right buttons.

The arena of SPIW may have some weird stuff, but at least some imagineering is going on, and even a blind hog gets an acorn from time to time.

Neat!

Art

 

[bbrins]

Can I have one?! PLEEEASE???!!

Smart, and cost effective too, imagine how much money could be saved in ammo. They need to make sure that it is designed with loose enough tolerances to reliably feed poorly stored and third world manufactured ammunition.

 

[Savage110]

Popular Mechanics had a story about this, too.
Dual-Ammunition Rifle

It seems like a really clever idea. I'd like to see some reviews on the weapon's effectiveness in combat. For what it's worth, though, why, oh why didn't someone come up with this one sooner?

 

[rock_jock]

An unnatural hybrid.

 

[gordo b.]

I just hope the BG dont remember the US produced booby trap 7.62x39 ammo I helped spread around certain "undiscovered" ammo caches in VN in 70. It involved batches with some non movable bullets and high explosives in chicom headstamped green laguered steel cases. I was assured it would blow hands and face off. I am not kidding!

 

[Destructo6]

I need one of those.

Any idea about the reliability for that setup?

 

[Gewehr98]

Rock_jock, if that's an unnatural hybrid...

Whadd'ya suppose this is?

 

[444]

Of course you can buy an AR15 upper in that caliber readily. The beauty of this weapon is that it also uses AK mags. .

 

[PATH]

It sure looks sweet though don't it!

 

[Glock40]

Why not just use an AK?

- Seems to me like a typical U.S. government (read expensive) solution to an easy problem. It doesn't matter. It is only tax dollars.

These wars will destroy America. Guarranteed. We are financially bankrupt. And, like Rome, will collapse due to our overextension.

Okay - back to the AR vs. AK endless debate....

 

[Nightcrawler]

What's the big deal? Colt made a 7.62x39mm AR-15. Oly still does. This one takes AK magazines. Forgive me, but it seems this rifle's maker stumbled upon the obvious.

7.62x39mm is superior to either 5.56 or 5.45 for suppressed use, however. A .223 caliber or .21 caliber (respectively) bullet can only be made so heavy. For suppressed use, you want the heaviest bullet you can, since you have a velocity limit of around 1000 feet per second (so as to avoid the sonic crack).

A bigger bullet can be made heavier. A 250gr. bullet @ 1000fps is better than a 100gr. one.

 

[ether]

I agree, it is kind of a waste when AK's are in such abundance. But this way, the military doesn't have to train our guys to use more than one rifle. The manual of arms is the same as the M16's and M4's they were trained on, and it lets them mount the same optics.

 

[DrDremel]

The advantage is that there is no new training or muscle memory retraining needed. Also it is more accurate than an AK. Uses the same optics and add on stuff as the M16. Allows deniabilty. "We weren't there, look, those are AK mags and 7.62x39 brass"

 

[BigG]

Looks good to me, except for all the doo-dads. The big design flaw of the M16 has been the straight mag well and it's good to see somebody has fixed it. Stoner (or Colt) did make a few with curved mag wells for fully curved magazines but the gomt wanted the angled 30 rounder like the familiar M1 carbine had.

 

[Handy]

Robinson also created a very modified M96 that took AK mags at DOD request. Used an M4 fire control. Guess they didn't get the contract.

Considering how much a typical Knight rifle costs (even the Gov't), this seems like a waist of money. The Spec Ops types using this thing are used to a wide variety of rifles already (M14, M16, MP5), why would adding another (that many are already familiar with) cause a training problem? Throw something together on an RPK receiver if accuracy is an issue. Or issue Valmets.

The MK23 of 7.62X39.