I’ve only gotten into guns in the past couple of years, and when I had a little more money I bought a pistol to carry and a shotgun for a couple of things. While I’m not planning on buying anything right now, I’m still planning on buying a rifle sometime soon, but what I am debating is if I should buy a 5.56 or a 7.62. From the research I’ve done, if I bought a 5.56 I would want a fairly standard AR model, though I don’t know much at all about the thousands of different variations that exist there. On the other hand, if I went with 7.62 depending on how much I could spend I would either go with a Springfield M1A or a good condition SKS. What would you recommend? Why? Help inform my decision making a bit.

  • Muad'DibberA
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    104 years ago

    If you’re in the US or any western country, go with 5.56 . Lot more prevalent ammo, lot cheaper to buy / build.

  • Free PalestineMA
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    4 years ago

    There’s really no point in comparing the rounds directly against each other for the average consumer. My recommendation, as a firearms engineer, is to look at the prices and availability of ammunition where you live, and do the same for rifles. If your local stores carry a lot of AR15s, for instance, then you can expect to find a lot of cheap ammunition for that, along with replacement and aftermarket parts and decent smiths to do work on your rifle. In the west, .223 is a very plentiful resource that has a very wide range of rifles made for it, which provides a very wide castable net in your market search.

    Though, the calibre you choose is ultimately superficial, unless you intend to use your rifle for more than range day. .223 Rem’s thin diametre makes it better for penetration through materials, 7.62x39R’s mass makes it hit with slightly more momentum, which improves stopping power. Both bullets will kill a person dead though, without much effort.

    TL:DR buy what you want, because it doesn’t matter. (also 5.56x45mm NATO is a military load, you likely won’t be shooting it if you’re buying civilian, and it likely wouldn’t be safe to use in your civilian rifle.)

    • Free PalestineMA
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      64 years ago

      To suggest comrade to comrade, tho. I’m a very firm believer that all the average consumer needs in a rifle can be found in a decent quality SKS, and even those who need a little more than that can customize the SKS into being what they need. And, best yet, its default ammo restriction makes it legal in most states, that restriction also makes it a legal hunting rifle, and the aftermarket parts scene is thicc, making it very easy to get your hands on anything you need for it. Plus, even better than before, you don’t have to own a symbol of western decadence cough Armalite Model 15 cough

    • @Shaggy0291
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      24 years ago

      Cool, had no idea you were a firearms engineer. Quick question as a total outsider; how hard do you think it would be to machine or hand make parts, in the event you were cut off from suppliers? What sort of equipment and raw inputs would be absolutely necessary and could they be locally procured in most areas?

      • Free PalestineMA
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        24 years ago

        There’s two branches to the answer; the simple and the complicated.

        For the simple, I can make a wide variety of parts with nothing more than plate steel (also iron or aluminium depending on what’s being made), a metal saw, and a file set. Things like hammers, triggers, things both small and large.

        however on the complicated, if I needed to do actual machining, I would need basic machining tools at the minimum. In our post-industrial world, it’s very easy to find things like lathes and mills in more-or-less every factory. You probably live within 10 miles of a machinist’s shop, if you’re within an urban area. And, due to this, acquiring the tools can - at times - not burn your wallet. This would be needed for some of the more complex parts. Receivers, barrels, screws/nuts, etc.

        It’s hard to find a place that humans are living in that doesn’t have metal being stored, and in terms of materials needed to produce firearms, all you really need is iron.

        • Free PalestineMA
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          34 years ago

          This is probably my first time saying this semi-publically, but I’ve been working for a few years on something that I call the StAR project, which stands for “Standardized Armory Research” (jokingly called Stingy Armory Research) and is an attempt at finding the cheapest and easiest options for firearms production at home. With the intention that - theoretically - a “rebel” group could use the research in their firearms production, at least until they’re able to get better weaponry. Though, more realistically, sans-revolution it’s only really useful if you’re cheap and like to shoot. Though, I’m still a long way away from being able to publish my findings, so don’t expect much from the project for a while.

          • @Shaggy0291
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            24 years ago

            This sounds amazing tbh. In Che’s manual on guerrilla warfare he talks a lot about the primary means of weapons procurement being salvaged rifles from the enemy, and stresses how carefully the guerrilla must ration things like ammo. Regardless, he also says the top production priorities in the Cuban struggle were tanneries for boots and tobacco to keep the freedom fighters in good spirits. I suppose in today’s modern world where some countries are positively brimming with firearms the guns shortage is less of an immediate problem and there’ll be less of a need for stripping the enemy, but as you say developed societies are saturated in sources of metal that can be repurposed. A widely disseminated manual for achieving this could definitely see use all over the place.

            • Free PalestineMA
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              24 years ago

              In the eventuality that a non-sanctioned force wanted to build up their supply of arms without raising suspicion from gun sales, StAR would be a perfect informational booklet for them to work from. Though, I fear that StAR would eventually be used by Daesh-esque and anti-communist forces, to which makes me hesitant to publish the research on its own. StAR was going to be featured as a section of my book (part 1 can be found here on lemmy, look at the community GWIC), in a portion about armories and wartime production. I’m hoping that having the information be in an explicitly pro-communist literary work would help to deter anti-communists from using the information.

  • @Hildegarde
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    54 years ago

    I’m not sure comrade, but I’m upvoting for visibility. Stay safe out there!