El Caca,

I've owned AR15 type rifles continuously since 1984. In those 26 years I've had MANY other types of semi-auto "military style" rifles:

* AK47 (Bulgarian, Chinese, Egyptian, Hungarian, Yugoslavian)
* ArmaLite AR180
* Beretta AR70
* Daewoo AR100
* Daewoo K2
* FAL (DSA and Imbel)
* FN49
* Heckler & Koch HK91
* Heckler & Koch HK93
* IMI Galil 386
* M1 Carbine
* M2 Carbine (Class 3 - Full Auto)
* M1 Garand
* Sig Sauer Sig556
* SKS
* Springfield Armory M1A (Bush, Scout, SOCOM, Standard, Match)
* Steyr AUG
* Valmet 76 Folder* Valmet 76 Folder
* OTHERS

BUT....I could never let go of my comfort level and the superb ergonomics of the AR15 design.

Eventually, I sold all of my high dollar preban "exotics" and decided the AR15 would be my go-to gun for the rest of my life.

Then about a year ago my fears about the AR's "poop where it eats" design started to weigh heavily on me again. This has always been my main concern about the design.

That lead me to buy a couple of AK's (I was down to my Colt AR15's, DSA FAL and Sig556).

After the SGL21 and SLR106 arrived my first impression was very very high. A lot of the crudity of manufacture I had endured on previous AK's was absent, and the accuracy was much better than previous guns.

The AK's BASIC design still leaves a lot to be desired (no bolt hold open, crappy safety location / operation, and short sight radius). HOWEVER, having trained fairly extensively with one now, I can say that your assessment is dead on:

The idiot proof simplicity and bombproof construction are the reasons I've decided to keep my SLR106FR in the "goto" slot.

I moved it there after using it in a carbine class, but started to wonder about my Sig556's superior accuracy and ergo's. I also started to think about the "keep the enemy at bay" capabilities of my M1A. However, reliability issues have made me decide against either of those designs.

In the end, the single most important feature of a gun is very simple for me:

It must fire. It must do so repetitively under adverse conditions. It must be simple and easy to maintain. It must require little maintenance.

The above is the definition of an AK.

Accuracy is important, but the sorts of engagements I envision myself in do NOT require gilded accuracy. I will try to avoid conflict at all costs so "reaching out" would never be an option for me. The only engagements I can see being unavoidable are all within the 200 meter range.