Most gun folks in this country do not recognize the superiority of gas pistons over direct impingement, but my friends overseas are saying that over the years of fighting in some of the worst conditions that it is really no contest, the gas piston is just better folks!

Outside of certain sects of Fudds I think the general gun nut consensus is that ARs and AKs have both been functionally perfected, and either is fine. Modern ARs can be beat to shit and keep cycling rounds, and modern AKs have much better accuracy than their cheap ancestors did.