Originally Posted by
RealUlli
In ancient times, when I was in basic training in the German army, we learned the safety distance for a G3 (7.52x51) was 3000m, the effective combat range of the same gun when mounted was 900m.
I don't know at what point the projectile goes transonic (and starts to tumble), but I guess it's probably at 2000+ m.
I heard the AK47 has a somewhat shorter barrel, so the bullets should be a bit slower, but they still should reach up a few thousand feet.
There's more to it than barrel length. The AK uses a smaller cartridge (7.52 x 39) which, in turn, contains both a smaller charge and a slightly shorter and lighter bullet. Then, of course, there are a variety of rounds, of varying construction, purpose and quality, available for each.
In broad terms, the AK has both a lower muzzle velocity (approx 2350ish ft/s versus approx 2700ish ft/s) and less energy (approx 2000 ft-lb-ish versus approx 2500 ft-lb-ish.) than a typical 7.62 x 51 caliber firearm. The rate at which velocity and energy will degrade is significantly affected by the ballistic path.