Oh, my. "Meet the face of (Colorado's) pro-gun recall campaigns"

[jimmy the one]

15. going gunny again for a bit

excopLS: Both the AK and the ARs use flash suppressors, not compensators. Neither round has a lot of recoil in semi-automatic fire, both climb in fully-automatic fire.

wiki says newer AKs have compensators/muzzle brakes, do ARs? (I post this to demonstrate why ar15s should be banned, not to glorify the damn things. Note there are subtle differences between ar15 & m16 tho, where m16 is military version & ar15 civilian version of same assault rifle).

excopLS: Neither gun has much recoil, and one can fire both at about the same rate and close-range accuracy. The difference wouldn't have been that great in lethality.

Haven't convinced me, I think the m16 is more accurate & faster firing at closer ranges (thus more lethal), than the ak47 with the heavier bullet (dunno much about ak74 characteristics, tho I know of it etc);

wiki: The M16's straight-line recoil design, direct impingement gas operation system and smaller caliber gives it less recoil than the AK-47 and makes it easier to control in full-auto. The stock being in line with the bore also reduces muzzle rise, especially during automatic fire.
Because {m16} recoil does not significantly shift the point of aim, faster follow-up shots are possible and user fatigue is reduced .
(AK47): However, the AK-47's heavier weight and slower rate-of-fire do a good job at mitigating any disadvantage. In addition, newer AK-47 type rifles use a muzzle brake or compensator to reduce recoil. And, some AK type rifles also have vertical foregrips to improve handling characteristics and to counter the effects of recoil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_AK-47_and_M16#Recoil

I shot the 3 rd burst feature (per one trigger pull) on the m16 once, & the recoil was hardly anything I recall, so there'd be even less recoil when lanza shot off 3 shots per 3 separate trigger pulls taking a half second longer (eh, debateable I suppose). (the '3 round burst' feature on the m16 is automatic 'select' fire & disallowed on ar15s & other civilian assault rifles, so lanza didn't have it). The US Army concluded that 3-shot groups provide an optimum combination of ammunition conservation, accuracy and firepower.

wiki says ~33% higher recoil momentum in ak47, 40 ftlbs v 54:
Free Recoil,momentum(transferred to shooter)> M16 40.4 ft-lbs- AK-47 54.3 ft-lbs
Penetration: Vests 0–400 m> M16 Acceptable- AK47 Acceptable
vests 400–600 m> M16 Acceptable- AK47 Unacceptable
Semiautomatic fire 0–400 m> M16 Superior, AK47 Unacceptable
400–600 m> M16 Acceptable, AK47 Unacceptable -- edit, old stats, 1962, eh