I was in the Army in the mid 80's and had a chance to qualify with various Russian weapons. I personally like the AK better than the m16.
The M16 was lighter, but even the A1 model I was using jammed on me.
Part of it was the fact that alot of the weapons in inventory were older and starting to wear out.
It;s true about the AK though, the first day of qualifying, our instructor poured dirt and sand, then water on his AK. He picked it up and lit off 10 rounds with no problem, It is definitely a hardy weapon. The only thing I didn't like about it was that it walked up and to the left really hard under full auto firing.
The RPK was also a very good rifle.

Jeff