AR-15/M-16 reliability is the age old debate, isn't it? (I have to
confess, that is part of the reason I brought it up.) I do have an
AR-15, and I have not had any problems with reliability. I don't
recall ever having a jam that was not caused by my mistake (not
seating the magazine properly or the like). Then again, I'm not sure
I've fired more than 200-300 rounds at a sitting, and I always clean
the AR when I get home. The good news is that reliability is fairly
easy to test. I just have to fire a thousand rounds without cleaning
the AR and see what happens. The bad news is that .223 has gotten
expensive and I'm not sure I can afford to shoot up a thousand rounds
to check reliability.
I will grant that the AK is much more reliable, but it is also less
accurate, and accuracy is a critical requirement when fighting the
undead hoards because of the necessity of making head-shots. I would
even go so far as to bet that one could get more shots into the zombie
kill spot at 100+ yards before a malfunction with an AR than one could
with an AK. I will say that the AK is a virtually zero maintenance
rifle, so it would be better for fighting 24/7/365, but I still think
accuracy is critical for zombies. I think an AK would be a great
(maybe even required) back-up gun, but the AR is a perfect primary
zombie rifle.
I would not choose an SKS (even though I own one). The SKS has about
the same level of accuracy as the AK, but it does not have a chrome
lined chamber, which diminishes reliability. Also, the SKS only holds
10 rounds and one cannot reload until it is empty.

I can see it now, the Zombie challenge shooting match. The targets are
5" to 8" steel plates on stands that lurch and shamble toward the
shooter starting at 200 yards along with paper targets that pop out
from closer cover. As time passes more and more zombies are released.
The winner is the one who can protect his perimeter the longest. No
stopping for stoppages.


--- In guntotingliberals@yahoogroups.com, Brandon.Chase@... wrote:
>
> I'm afraid I've gotta disagree with you there (slightly). If cleaned
> regularly and properly maintained, the AR15 is a reliable rifle. The
> direct gas impingement system makes regular maintenance much more
> difficult than what it takes to keep an AK-47 running, which is why HK
> designed a gas piston system for the M16 for their 416 rifle.
>
> I've never owned an AR-15, but my friends who have universally report
> that if they don't clean up the carbon deposits in the receiver every
> 200 rounds or so, reliability can suffer. They also report that
> cleaning the deposits (which supposedly have a diamond-like
hardness) is
> very difficult and time consuming.
>
> Now, in normal circumstances, this doesn't seem like it'd be a big
deal,
> but when you're fighting zombies, this changes the circumstances a
bit.
> As anyone who's seen a zombie movie knows, you can't just stay in one
> place. You've gotta stay on the run and keep moving, which can make
> regular and thorough rifle maintenance problematic (if not
impossible).
>
> Don't get me wrong, the AR has some really good attributes (light,
> accurate, good ergonomics), and its a great range/target rifle,
which is
> probably why so many civilians love it. It doesn't seem to do well
> unless you pamper it, however, which is probably why so many soldiers
> hate it.
>
> So yeah, if the zombies were coming, I'd grab my SKS with 20 round
> detachable mags. Approximately 1250 rounds and counting with no
> failures of any kind (and only one full dissasembly/cleaning).
>
> cheers,
>
> brandon
>
>
> McGinnes wrote:
>
> > I was digging through my email and I found this:
> >
> > http://zombiehunters.org/ <http://zombiehunters.org/>
> >
> > I love the idea of combining humor and preparedness.
> >
> > BTW: The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks is a must read. I do have
> > one bone of contention with it though. Mr. Brooks says the AR-15 is
> > unreliable and therefore not a good zombie rifle. I couldn't disagree
> > more. Yes, there were some reliability problems with the M-16 at the
> > start of the Vietnam war, but the cause of those problems was
> > identified and fixed. The rifle is light, reliable and accurate (a
> > must when fighting zombies) and the ammunition is light, flat
> > shooting, low recoil, and has enough power for zombie debrainification
> > out to several hundred yards. It was cheap and readily available up
> > until a couple of years ago, but that is another story.
> >
> >
>
>
> --
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Brandon Chase
> US Channel Finance
>
> Sun Microsystems, Inc.
> 500 Eldorado Blvd.
> Broomfield, CO 80021
>
> phone: 303.547.3535
> internal extension: 41862
> brandon.chase@...
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>