That is an AK which is machined, they are first gen AKs. Most AKs you see are actually AKMs which are stamped, those have the funny looking diagonal cut on the front of the barrel (it's a very basic compesator). Machined means you take a block of metal and carve it out, essentially. While this makes sturdy receivers, they are also heavy, expensive, wasteful and wear out tooling.
So AKMs are stamped, where a thick sheet metal is pressed into shape by a hydraulic press. Then they are riveted/welded to the rest of the parts, which are machined. This was better cost wise and still retained most of the strength. It was also lighter. The thing about war guns is that they need to be cheap so they can be made en masse and quickly. Most guns outlive their operators in war and don't get to fire many rounds before they end up in the dirt besides them. They didn't need to be amazing quality.
Before the AK it's true that some guns weren't that great durability wise, like the SVT-40 and Gewehr 43. Those tore themselves apart. They cracked receivers because they weren't built strong enough for the full size cartridge coming from the Mosin and the KAR 98. Then they switch to intermediate cartridges which made those guns obsolete anyway. The full size cartridges were not really necessary as most engagements occurred at shorter ranges, so that's how we got the intermediate cartridge. More recently I hear the US went back to a bigger cartridge as in Afghanistan they were getting into longer range firefights and body armor got better.
The AR is indeed machined, but it's machined from aluminum. It's not really stampable and the aluminum is soft enough to not wear out tools so much. But it's a completely different gun, the manufacturing method has a lot less to do with anything rather than the design. Round for round I don't actually know which will last longer but I would put my money on the AK, mostly because it's made of steel. I think the aluminum receiver on the AR wears out quicker. So I think the AKM even though it's stamped, will outlast an AR.
hylo 2 points 23 hours ago
That is an AK which is machined, they are first gen AKs. Most AKs you see are actually AKMs which are stamped, those have the funny looking diagonal cut on the front of the barrel (it's a very basic compesator). Machined means you take a block of metal and carve it out, essentially. While this makes sturdy receivers, they are also heavy, expensive, wasteful and wear out tooling.
So AKMs are stamped, where a thick sheet metal is pressed into shape by a hydraulic press. Then they are riveted/welded to the rest of the parts, which are machined. This was better cost wise and still retained most of the strength. It was also lighter. The thing about war guns is that they need to be cheap so they can be made en masse and quickly. Most guns outlive their operators in war and don't get to fire many rounds before they end up in the dirt besides them. They didn't need to be amazing quality.
Before the AK it's true that some guns weren't that great durability wise, like the SVT-40 and Gewehr 43. Those tore themselves apart. They cracked receivers because they weren't built strong enough for the full size cartridge coming from the Mosin and the KAR 98. Then they switch to intermediate cartridges which made those guns obsolete anyway. The full size cartridges were not really necessary as most engagements occurred at shorter ranges, so that's how we got the intermediate cartridge. More recently I hear the US went back to a bigger cartridge as in Afghanistan they were getting into longer range firefights and body armor got better.
The AR is indeed machined, but it's machined from aluminum. It's not really stampable and the aluminum is soft enough to not wear out tools so much. But it's a completely different gun, the manufacturing method has a lot less to do with anything rather than the design. Round for round I don't actually know which will last longer but I would put my money on the AK, mostly because it's made of steel. I think the aluminum receiver on the AR wears out quicker. So I think the AKM even though it's stamped, will outlast an AR.