AK-47 Accuracy

[Medic218]

Seems I've heard conflicting stories as to how accurate they are.
I'm thinking about an AK for hogs due to cost effectiveness untill I can get a good semi-auto .308 or something similar and I want to make sure it will be on the mark. Cause lets face it, the last thing you want to do is make a hog mad and charge you!

 

[Dawico]

Generally, AKs shoot a gathering, not a group at 100 yds or farther. It sounds like you want a close range rifle, and an AK should be fine. The 7.62x39 round has about the same ballistics as the 30-30, so if you want a scoped long range rifle, save up for a 308. Obviously, some AKs will shoot more accurately than others, but the price will get you halfway or so to a good semi 308. On the other hand, everyone should own an AK.

 

[Dcav]

Never liked AK's till I shot an Arsenal. Some really well made AK's. There are other out there that are good to go. But they keep coming to mind. And the ultra durability is a big plus.

EDIT:There are some pretty decent prices on milled receivers floating around too

 

[majormadmax]

My SGL20 is pretty damn accurate...more so than I am! And it's very light for an AK, but most of my others are Yugos which are notoriously heavy...

 

[Texasjack]

The AK was designed to be extremely reliable, not only with dirt and mud but also with consideration to the really, really crappy manufacturing specs of Soviet factories. It was not designed to be particularly powerful or accurate. It's probably out sold every other model of rifle. If you combine all the different countries that make it and all the variations, its an incredible number of guns. But like all weapons, it has it's good points and bad.

 

[IXLR8]

Dragonuv, just Google it. Accurate enough. AK-47 "type" operation.

AK-47. Well it is what it is. Durable, forgiving, and cheap. (Notice accurate is missing). A man size target, is within it's capability. 1 MOA is not.

Flame on, I am sure to get an earful...

 

[Texas1911]

A good AK47 will shoot well enough for hunting hogs. The 7.62x39 round is well suited for pigs. I'd say a good AK47 is suited for inside of 2 - 3 MOA all day with cheap ammo, but tighter with reloads.

 

[WadeP]

No one can afford a real Dragunov, especially to drag around the woods and kill hogs. However, there is the PSL in 7.62x54r and the Saiga 308. Both are AK-like. There's lots of other good choices in a hog-shooting semi-auto 308: FAL, M14 and Cetme.

Here's my converted Saiga in 308. It shoots about 1" with anything I feed it.

I just yawn when folks say the AK is not accurate. No rifle is accurate with a crappy trigger, crude sights and the cheapest rusty steel cased ammo you can find in the bargain bin. But most AK's still shoot 4" at 100yds, which is better than most shooters can do from a standing position in a SD or hunting situation. Do you really need sub-moa to hunt hogs in the brush?

You can get most AK's down to about 2moa, which they will hold until 300 yds or so with the following tweaks:
Use good, USA ammo like the Hornady V-max.
Take off the slant brake.
Install a Tapco G2 trigger or the excellent Red Star Arms adjustable.
Recrown the barrel - no your chrome lining is not going to disintegrate.
Some say that a little play in the gas piston helps accuracy and reliability. I think it helps reliability, not sure about accuracy.
Ultimak rail with a good red dot or low-power, intermediate eye relief scope.

 

[Texas1911]

I've shot about 1.5 - 2 MOA with Wolf .308 in a box stock Saiga .308 AK ... I was more than surprised and the gun would be awesome for hogs.

 

[IXLR8]

A .308 is not an AK, no adversary ever used one of those to outfit an army, AK's shoot 7.63x39 (a good round). Properly accurized AK, is better than a stock AK. But your custom Saiga with a Kalashnikov action is an exception to the rule. When someone says an AK, they mean the poorly built one with the poor trigger, and crappy ammo. When that question comes up someone usually wants to know if the $395 AK is as accurate as the $700 AR, and that question will always be no. Just mounting optics on a real AK is quite a challenge. Is it a reliable and deadly weapon, yes it is.

At 50yards I would rather have an AK to take down a hog, than an AR.

 

[TexMex247]

OK, so I'll throw in my 2 cents too. IME, AK's are 4-5 MOA guns at 100 yards using standard comblock ammo(steel cased, ball type). Like all guns, they can be fed more accurate ammo and tweaked in many ways to shoot better. However, I would personally never expect them to shoot well over a hundred yards away. They ARE extremely reliable and able to handle some serious punishment. Although that in itself is pretty cool, that is not what I look for in a hunting rifle. If you are looking for a nice "beater" rifle, I would go with an SKS or AK. The SKS features a milled receiver standard and shoots the same round more accurately for 200 bucks less. It doen't have hi-cap mags, only a 10 rd detachable box but their design pre-dates the AK and it's equally reliable. I do have to agree with Dawico that everyone should own at least one AK or SKS rifle.

 

[West Texas]

 

[IXLR8]

Part 1 is good, but Part 3 does show some strengths for the AK.

Penetration has merit, in some situations...

 

[Texas42]

I think thread might be degenerating into an Ak vs AR thread. : )

I think it is safe to say that there are some very accurate AK's out there. Probably not many for $350. I don't have one, but I would like to get an Arsonal AK at some point in my life. They look real nice, and I've heard lots of good things about them.

 

[IXLR8]

Oops, sorry for the thread hijack...

 

[ROGER4314]

I've owned and fired a pile of AK-47's and my experience says 3-6" at 100 yards is normal. We shoot matches regularly and those are fired at 200 yards. The AK will do about 12" groups at 200. That is just dandy for military use but won't be competitive in a match.

Incidentally, I've fired SKS rifles in matches and scored a first and second place at 200.

Flash

 

[West Texas]

You have to keep in mind what the AK was designed for...it was desgned to give to an 18 year old who was poorly trained and to fire every time he pulled the trigger regarless of how he treated it...and to put enough bullets out that the law of averages would be on their side...and the if he practised just a little, he could take his gun that had never been properly cleaned in the first place, fill it full of sand/mud/water/snow and anything else he can find, and put a shot or two in a target at 100 meter.

 

[M. Sage]

A good AK47 will shoot well enough for hunting hogs. The 7.62x39 round is well suited for pigs. I'd say a good AK47 is suited for inside of 2 - 3 MOA all day with cheap ammo, but tighter with reloads.

This. The real thing holding AKs back accuracy-wise is their sights.

Before AK haters come on with "2-3 MOA is horrible! I won't accept anything less than 1 MOA!", how many people can actually shoot MOA, especially in field conditions? Also, you do realize that most hunting rifles are 2-3 MOA rifles at best. To top it off, the M16 is specified to be accurate to...(drumroll) 3-4 MOA shooting military ammo. Also, I've yet to fire an AK that's a 6+ MOA rifle. There is either something terribly wrong with your rifle, or you aren't shooting it properly.

Inside 100 yards, 4 MOA is acceptable, and my experience is that if you're good with the AK's lousy sights, or put some optics on it and have half a clue what you're doing, you've got a great hog gun out to that distance.

A .308 is not an AK, no adversary ever used one of those to outfit an army, AK's shoot 7.63x39 (a good round). Properly accurized AK, is better than a stock AK. But your custom Saiga with a Kalashnikov action is an exception to the rule. When someone says an AK, they mean the poorly built one with the poor trigger, and crappy ammo. When that question comes up someone usually wants to know if the $395 AK is as accurate as the $700 AR, and that question will always be no. Just mounting optics on a real AK is quite a challenge. Is it a reliable and deadly weapon, yes it is.

At 50yards I would rather have an AK to take down a hog, than an AR.

You forgot the AK-74 (5.45x39mm), and some of the 100-series rifles (5.56x45mm).

But really, you're arguing semantics. The Saiga line of rifles, including the ones chambered in .308 and 7.62x54R are absolutely Kalashnikov rifles. Even their shotguns are all Kalashnikov.

I just yawn when folks say the AK is not accurate. No rifle is accurate with a crappy trigger, crude sights and the cheapest rusty steel cased ammo you can find in the bargain bin. But most AK's still shoot 4" at 100yds, which is better than most shooters can do from a standing position in a SD or hunting situation. Do you really need sub-moa to hunt hogs in the brush?

You can get most AK's down to about 2moa, which they will hold until 300 yds or so with the following tweaks:
Use good, USA ammo like the Hornady V-max.
Take off the slant brake.
Install a Tapco G2 trigger or the excellent Red Star Arms adjustable.
Recrown the barrel - no your chrome lining is not going to disintegrate.
Some say that a little play in the gas piston helps accuracy and reliability. I think it helps reliability, not sure about accuracy.
Ultimak rail with a good red dot or low-power, intermediate eye relief scope.

The slant brake is more of an accuracy-killer than people realize. AKs are very sensitive to muzzle devices! I've seen slant-braked AKs change point of impact with nothing more than a change in ammo source. Put something like a flash suppressor or a good brake like a J-Tac from Primary Weapon Systems on and you're in business.

I modded my Tapco trigger, since it still sucked (light, but nothing but creep). The AK is not much more than a redesign of the M1 Garand (I'm not joking and I'm not on drugs, either), right down to the trigger, which works exactly the same way the Garand's trigger does. Modding it into something more shootable is very easy (turned mine into a 2-stage with a grinder, .22 LR bullet and some thinking).

Putting an Ultimak on to run a red dot is probably the biggest thing you can do to increase the accuracy of an AK. Using a side-mount adapter, I've out-shot my share of hopped-up ARs in run and gun competitions, and had no problem holding a 10" wide target at 300 yards (it wasn't paper, so I don't know exactly what kind of group I was running. It was "hit" or "miss") with the same side-plate adapter and a 4MOA dot Aimpoint. Get past those pistol sights that Euros seem to think belong on rifles too and you've got a decent rifle.

 

[broberts001]

^^ What he said.

 

[tussery]

I can't get better than 5" groupings with my Arsenal SGL-31 with Aimpoint at 100, but then again I can't get better than 2" groupings out of my AR with EOTech at 100.