Yes, full autos are legal with permits to non felons. But not an M-16. No "modern" autos are allowed to be owned.
Yes, a serious hunting rifle will outperform any assault rifle. Far more accurately as well. A good Browning, Sako, or Tikka can shoot very accurately out to 500+ yards. The over riding factor in misses is usually the shooter, not the gun.
AK's are basically junk guns. If you want to really step it up a notch....
www.tacticalrifles.com These boys make some SERIOUSLY accurate weapons.
out.
sorry jax but your mistaken, m-16's can be bought with either a c&r or class 3 permit. My dad is a collector of C&R and class 3 stuff and he has 2 m16a2's and one old vietnam m16a1, not to mention the shit ton of other modern autos.
As for the ak vs m16/ar15 questions, well it depends on the situation, the ak is one of the most reliable close range(150m or less) weapons in the world. Drop them in the mud, dirt, sand, silt, whatever and they will fire every time without fail. the m16/ar15's however, are a closed bolt assembly meaning all the moving parts are inside the gun making it very likely to jam in sandy, or dirty enviroments(in comparison to the ak). Also though, there are many ar 15 varients for long range precision shooting, i do the trigun challenges each year and almost all my varmint hunting now is done with my dpms ar15a2 / Hbar barrel(1 in 7 twist for heavy rounds, 65grains+), stainless steel bolt assembly and carrier, stainless buffer spring, set NY triggers trigger assembly and can drop a prairie dog at 400 with no prob.
Honestly though the best military weapon i own and would take into battle over anything else is the HK 91,93 or the galil. both shoot a 308 round, are extremely accurate, and can lay down enough fire to keep alot of heads down.
As for beginners maybe wanting their first miltaria gun but dont want to drop 1k+ go to your local gun shop and pick up a SKS, they are cheap(120-300) shoot a 7.62x39 same as the ak, are just about as reliable, can get up to 70 round mags for under 80 bucks and is still a great shooter. I've got nine of these now i have been saving cause the prices keep goin up and i love every one of em.