AR-47 by Palmetto State Armory - Thoughts and ideas?

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  • teddy12b

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    I listened to nutn's thoughts on it and I agree that the gun is interesting and sounds like they did a good job getting it right from the start. For me though, I ask myself what purpose would it serve, and the answer is a fun range toy just to have as something different. If given the choice between the AR-47, AR-15, or AK-47 for a deployment/SHTF/whatever zombie excuse people dream up, I wouldn't want it then because it's not a time proven design with the bugs worked out. For a hunting rifle, yeah it'd work, but wouldn't be my choice there. For a range gun I wouldn't really care for it because I like to shoot at distances and the 7.62x39mm isn't all that great for it. It keeps coming back to just having as a "fun gun" that's different and not something you'll see everyday. For that reason, I think it's pretty cool and would be a blast to shoot. I can't see a "practical" use for it, but lots of people already like or have both AR's and AK's so why not have their mutant love child. I would have liked to have seen them figure out a way to get a bolt hold open on the design, but otherwise the gun looks like it'd be a fun range toy.
     

    snorko

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    If we take nothing else away from the movie "The Fly", it's that crossing two species is rarely a good idea.

    I have heard though that guns like the CMMG Mutant suppress better. If that's your goal.
     

    Route 45

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    If I want an AK, I'll buy an AK.
    If I want .30 caliber bullets out of an AR, I'll buy a .300 Blackout. Or an AR-10.

    I don't understand the appeal of an "AR" that doesn't take AR parts or magazines. Other than a range toy, I guess.
     

    Beowulf

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    If I want an AK, I'll buy an AK.
    If I want .30 caliber bullets out of an AR, I'll buy a .300 Blackout. Or an AR-10.

    I don't understand the appeal of an "AR" that doesn't take AR parts or magazines. Other than a range toy, I guess.

    The appeal is a .30 caliber gun that shoots cheap ammo.

    Once Tula or Wolf starts making cheap .300 BLK ammo, then guns like the Mutant and this thing will likely disappear.

    I just looked on AmmoSeek. The cheapest .300 BLK ammo (labeled "range ammo") was $.379 per round, before shipping. The cheapest 7.62x39 ammo was $.188 per round, before shipping. So, as long as .300 BLK is more than twice as expensive as 7.62x39, people are going to want to shoot 7.62x39 out of all sorts of guns that weren't originally designed for it (also see the PTR32 line of HK91 type rifles).
     

    Route 45

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    The appeal is a .30 caliber gun that shoots cheap ammo.

    Once Tula or Wolf starts making cheap .300 BLK ammo, then guns like the Mutant and this thing will likely disappear.

    I just looked on AmmoSeek. The cheapest .300 BLK ammo (labeled "range ammo") was $.379 per round, before shipping. The cheapest 7.62x39 ammo was $.188 per round, before shipping. So, as long as .300 BLK is more than twice as expensive as 7.62x39, people are going to want to shoot 7.62x39 out of all sorts of guns that weren't originally designed for it (also see the PTR32 line of HK91 type rifles).

    I get the "cheap ammo" thing, but I'd much rather run cheap, dirty ammo in a piston rifle (AK) that was designed for it than a gas impingement rifle that has to be heavily modified to work.

    I'm surprised that Wolf or Tula hasn't geared up to produce .300 Blackout. They are missing out on quite a growing market.
     

    Beowulf

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    I get the "cheap ammo" thing, but I'd much rather run cheap, dirty ammo in a piston rifle (AK) that was designed for it than a gas impingement rifle that has to be heavily modified to work.

    I'm surprised that Wolf or Tula hasn't geared up to produce .300 Blackout. They are missing out on quite a growing market.

    I agree. Wolf decided to produce inexpensive 6.5 Grendel ammunition for some reason, even though I'm almost positive that .300 BLK guns are way more common. Heck, given that .300 BLK is basically a resized 5.56 case, I would think it would be pretty easy for them to make some.
     

    JeepHammer

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    There are a few companies that have made these down through the years, I have one.
    A 20" barrel version that accepts both AK mags & drums.
    My barrel is Colt, and it shoots pretty well with reasonable ammo, the Soviet/Russian military surplus doesn't shoot as well.

    The reasoning for this particular mutant was a DRUM fed .30 cal that was capable of hitting man size targets at 200 yards with the 20" Colt barrel.
    Depending on which Soviet surplus drum you use, that's 75-100 rounds of .30 cal.

    The bolt, barrel extension, barrel, flash hider and lower receiver are the modified parts, all else in my version are standard AR parts which is good for interchangeability.
    This helps keep it up & running, and I pick up 7.62x39 Colt bolts & barrels when I run onto them.
    The American made Colt barrels made mine MUCH more accurate than an AK-47 clone (very few actual AK being in this country).
    The longer barrel increases bullet velocity slightly, and the Colt barrels are a bunch more accurate.

    It's never going to be a tack driver with the common ammo, the velocity is all over the place with commonly available (cheap/import) ammo.
    Being able to hit an 18" target at 200 yards is about the best you can hope for with common ammo, although it does get much more accurate when even American made "White Box" ammo is used, and with hand loads using good brass, it can do 1-1/2 to 2 MOA.
    With common ammo, it's more of a target saturation weapon...

    It's a civilian version of a squad automatic weapons, minus full auto capability when unmodified.

    The availability of drums and surplus ammo made it attractive as an option at the time, but now it's mostly a 'Look At That' oddball.

    AR47_zps0uogutjs.jpg


    Since the AK mag is wider than the AK upper, I used an ultra rigid (thicker) aftermarket upper, one that I could mill for the wider AK mag top, I'm sure the pre built versions have this taken care of, but it never hurts to have as rigid an upper receiver as possible...

    Mine has been around since the early 90s, has about 5,000 rounds through it, and seems to be holding up well.
    It's what I give the guys to shoot that want something 'Different' when they show up wanting to finger firearms (the 'Tacti-Cool' bunch mostly)...

    What I would like to see is a heavier built bolt, more like an AR 10 bolt than an AR 15 bolt, and a short stroke gas piston rather than direct gas impingement system.
    That import/surplus ammo is REALLY dirty, and you have to keep up on gas tube/gas port cleaning.
    There is a reason Colt dropped the 7.62x39 round, and the barrels/bolts are getting scarce, but I personally think that with a drum it's fairly effective.
    With the increase in drum costs, I'm not sure how effective, but when I got mine drums were $35 and standard AK mags were $5 each, so that made it more cost effective...
     
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