Originally Posted by
adlai
The initial batch of Army Armalite rifles had a problem with fouling up because they were machined to such tight tolerances. The AK47 in contrast had such bad tolerances that it could be thrown in mud and still work.
BMW cars are notorious for being tough to maintain. The tight tolerances explain a lot of it.
Actually, the original M-16 was supposed to have a chromed breech and a cleaning kit. The government decided to cut the chromed breech to cut costs, and didn't issue the guns with cleaning kits, which unfortunately cost a lot of GIs their lives and/or health.
However, tight tolerances were not the issue .... poor maintenance and training was.
Also, the AK is a rugged gun ... but if you want accuracy downrange, get an AR (assuming you are not in the military and cannot get an M-4 or M-16) because those tighter tolerances mean that things fly straight and true. If you design a weapon to be used by huge masses of poorly trained soldiers which can be mass-produced in primitive factories by unskilled workers .... sort of like, say, the Soviet Union right after WW II, then you get an AK.
If you live in a technologically advanced nation with relatively high-tech production capability .... we got the M-16, and say what you will, it is Still in service today and seems to be working just fine in all the harshest battlefield environments in the world.
Of course you know that Russia redesigned the AK into the AK-74, firing 5.56 rounds .... Hmmmm ...
but the AK is incredibly popular around the world because it is cheap to reproduce. Knock-offs are available everywhere, and they all work as well as the original.
However, the AR is also exceedingly popular .... and is used for a number of shooting sports, including hunting ... because shooters can actually hit their targets with it.
As for BMWs ... ALL cars nowadays use much tighter tolerances. And I have quite a few friends who are into sports cars .... BMWs don't seem to be any more prone to breakdown than say, Porsches .... not sure where the idea that BMWs were particularly unreliable came from .... how long ago was that?
Or .... talk to anyone who owned any British sports car ....
By the way, BMW Motorcycles, produced to exceedingly high tolerances, have long been famous for their reliability .........
In any case ... the idea that sloppy tolerances make for a better machine .... yeah, any time you want to progress beyond the neolithic age, feel free.