Most Reliable rifle, Thats not an AK

**ALS** · January 16th, 2009, 05:42 PM

Reliability is more a function of the owner, routine required maintenance(Cleaning and lubricating) and the quality of the Ammunition. Almost every time I had a problem with a malfunctioning gun it was my fault. Poor quality ammo or lack of proper lubrication of said weapon. Now one exception is my Bushmaster M17S Bull Pup which has a poor bolt recoil/retention design.

**cms81586** · January 16th, 2009, 08:26 PM

The only choice is the G3. I've shot many many different firearms, including the real steel full auto's...and if you can't have an AK you want a G-3. I've had FAL's let me down, and SKS's are right up there with the AK and G3 with reliability but the fixed 10 rnd mag is a downer. Every roller lock HK or quality built (read not century) rifle I've fired has worked 100% bang every time with no malfunction whatsoever. I'm talking about not even a stoppage. I've even had stoppages in my AK's before and have yet to have one in thousands of rounds out of my HK-91. They have plenty of downsides but if you're looking for dead nuts reliable that's not an AK then the G-3 is your rifle.

CMS

**Laufer** · January 17th, 2009, 05:44 AM

If not a semi-auto SKS, then how about a bolt-action Russian or Finnish Mosin Nagant?

Although I'm still sort of new with this hobby, my MN 44s seems quite rugged and are reportedly built like tanks.
I saw a buddy's AK either misfeed or it needed help ejecting a round.

**Stampeed Valkyrie** · January 17th, 2009, 02:27 PM

Most reliable rifle would pretty much be any bolt action non semi/auto rifle period. The less moving parts the less likely to fail. That said having the time resources to clean and maintain the rifle is where some rifles will fail and others will shine. I own a few AR's and personally have nothing against them, however in a situation where I cannot maintain the rifle on a regular basis I highly doubt this rifle would be something I could rely on. I also own a few AKs and considering the round count I have put through a few of them without cleaning or maintenance... you get my point. But even so I doubt the AK would be the rifle I would first grab or use on a regular basis in the event that I needed a survival type weapon. That would probably goto the SKS and then my 2nd choice would be my 91/30 or any other of the numerous bolt action rifles I own. The 10 round limit of the SKS is negated by the fact that you can reload the rifle with stripper clips very quickly and the need for a rifle to be able to tolerate adverse conditions for an extended time between periodic maintenance would mean more to me then magazine capacity. Now there are other models that I know are equal in terms of the SKS and numerous bolt actions that people would choose depending on preference and knowledge of use. But I think you get the idea.