I have owned and shot AK 47s almost 20 years. I have a full auto and several semi.
Great weapon.
The AK has it's nich.
The AK is great for close in stuff, 125 yds. My buddies tested at few at 200 yd and got 5" groups.
The AK is not a deer rifle. The 7.62x39 carrage produces a little less power than the 30/30.
I read a test years ago on the milled and stamped recievers. In the test they fired 75,000 rounds thru each and could not find any differents in the guns.
I have fired 10's of thousands of rounds thru my full auto Chinese AK with only a $7 broken spring.
My M-16, hundreds of dollars in parts.
A 223 for 300-400 yds and a 308 or 30/06 for 800 to 1000 yds.
One of each and you have everything covered
Dwight