Is it possible to convert someone into an AK fanatic, or do you have to be born one? Can the comfort zone of aircraft-grade aluminum and nitro-injected ergonomics be overcome by the simple elegance and robustness of the Kalashnikov? This question is one I’ve found myself asking a number of times after I published my love letter to the AK back in early 2015.

Well, William of the Wound Channel, formerly an avowed catechist in the Church of Stoner and Sullivan, recently released a video in which he appears to make a remarkable about face, turning coat and pledging himself to the side he formerly considered heretics and blasphemers: The Kult of Kalashnikov. He gives his reasons why in the video below:

Recovered from the shock yet? Good! While at first William’s video above might seem like just a gratuitous stunt, there is arguably much more to it than that. Consider for example that rounds like M855A1 and Mk. 318 were designed to penetrate intermediate barriers that the earlier M193 and M855 could not – barriers such as for example a rifle draped across the chest of a Wahabbist terrorist. This test (if you can bear calling it that) – although not scientific – does establish that the M855A1 round is capable of penetrating even substantial steel rifle elements like bolt carriers and and barrel walls. Destroying a $600 AK to this end probably seems like a waste to many readers, but remember that William destroys armor plates of comparable price on a regular basis as part of his work for The Wound Channel. Plus, now he has an absolutely unforgettable wall-hanger!