>>64686615
The AR was constantly improved on

>>64686628
in true american fashion we took something invented by another country and improved it to perfection. you're welcome, world.

>>64686615
import ban and AWB forced the AR-15 to get a massive amount of iterative development in the US civilian market

the AK is an AK

>>64686615
1989 FOPA section 922r severely limited what semi auto rifles could be imported.
Federal AWB was passed in 1994 which kneecapped what could be sold, so besides the existing import bans now they also had to reconfigure them to comply with that as well, adding cost and reducing appeal.
Shortly after that sunsetted Obama got in and wrecked parts kit imports, so building "US made" rifles with foreign parts became increasingly expensive and limited.
Around the same time all the parts from foreign surplus FALs, G3s, AKs, HK33s, Galils started to dry up. Not as many countries having stuff to send to us in the first place, plus there just isn't as much of a financial incentive to do so because they have to be cut up with few parts actually getting here.
By the 2010s PSA is taking off, along with a variety of other budget AR offerings. They are totally unaffected by import bans, don't require gunsmithing to assemble and parts are outsourced to a vast cottage industry of subcontractors. AR prices crater, for instance trading places with the Mini-14 which used to be a budget cope alternative.

Now that you can get an AR-15 for 1/2 to 1/8 the price of something else that shoots 5.56mm they start to monopolize the market. Only a tiny minority of enthusiasts are willing to spend the money on anything else, destroying economies of scale and rendering AR alternatives niche imports/builds that need to make huge profit margins per rifle in order to be viable. They can't just do a run of semi auto only rifles off the regular military rifle assembly line and dump them here at a small profit. Instead , they have to drag their dicks through a mile of broken glass just to sell a heavily gimped version with 8 layers of middlemen driving the price up. Or they have to set up a factory in the US paying white people wages for people who will struggle to put the rifle together because it isn't an AR, so besides being expensive it'll also have appalling QC fail rates.

>>64686636
>But what about AKs?
What about them? They're dying too. They are on life support because of how iconic they are, but ammunition is drying up thanks to economic sanctions on Russia where almost all of it came from. Imports have to cross a tenuous shifting goat bridge suspended entirely by red tape that shifts like the weather. US made AKs are either fantastically expensive, cut corners to where they are downright unsafe to use, or both.

People still want AKs and are willing to accept their downsides up to a point, but most people are doing the math and just getting an AR instead. Despite holding out better than almost any other non AR design even the AK is becoming a niche item nowadays. Thankfully it isn't there yet, but tariffs aren't helping.

>>64686636
>>64686649
this is why civil and legal history is always going to be more interesting and more important than military history
yep, with enough knowledge of it you can pretty much predict the future

>>64686676
We had Zastava and PPU drop out of the IS market altogether this year (allegedly only on a temporary basis) due to political problems on their end. Shit happens. Anything imported can disappear overnight for a wide range of reasons.

>>64686615
Standardization happened. If an alliance or conglomerate sees the logistical value in standardizing on a particular ammunition then standardizing on parts support is the logical next step

>>64686615
why make many gun when same gun do many thing