An assault rifle is a that uses an and a . Assault rifles were first put into and accepted into widespread service during World War II. The first assault rifle to see major usage was the German , a development of the earlier . While immediately after World War II, countries were equipped with , the development of the during the prompted the adoption of assault rifles by the rest of NATO. By the end of the 20th century, assault rifles had become the in most of the world's armies, replacing and in most roles. The modern assault rifles are the and the M16 designs and their derivatives.
Origin of term
The term assault rifle is generally attributed to , who used the German word Sturmgewehr (which translates to "assault rifle") as the new name for the MP 43 (), subsequently known as the . Allied propaganda suggested that the name was chosen for propaganda purposes, but the main purpose was to differentiate the Sturmgewehr from German submachine guns such as the .
It has been suggested, however, that the was responsible for the name Sturmgewehr, and Hitler had no input besides signing the . Furthermore, Hitler was initially opposed to the idea of a new infantry rifle, as Germany lacked the industrial capacity to replace the 12,000,000 rifles already in service, only changing his mind once he saw it first-hand.
The StG 44 is generally considered the first selective fire military rifle to popularize the assault rifle concept. Today, the term assault rifle is used to define firearms sharing the same basic characteristics as the StG 44.
Definition
The defines assault rifles as "short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachine gun and rifle cartridges." In this strict definition, a firearm must have at least the following characteristics to be considered an assault rifle:
It must be capable of .It must have an : more power than a but less than a standard or ; examples of intermediate cartridges are the , the and .Its must be supplied from a detachable .It must have an effective range of at least 300 metres (330 yards).
Rifles that meet most of these criteria, but not all, are not assault rifles according to the U.S. Army's definition. For example:
Select-fire rifles such as the , , and main battle rifles are not assault rifles; they fire full-powered rifle cartridges.Semi-automatic-only rifles like the are not assault rifles; they do not have select-fire capabilities.Semi-automatic-only rifles with fixed magazines like the are not assault rifles; they do not have detachable box magazines and are not capable of automatic fire.Distinction from assault weaponsFurther information: and
In the United States, selective-fire rifles are legally defined as "", and civilian ownership of those has been tightly regulated since 1934 under the and since 1986 under the . However, the term "assault rifle" is often conflated with "", a U.S. legal category with varying definitions which includes many semi-automatic weapons. This use has been described as incorrect and a misapplication of the term.
HistoryCei-RigottiMain article:
The 1890s Cei-Rigotti prototype was built to fire the fully powered and the weaker , it was somewhat of a predecessor. However, it had its magazine fixed.
WWI designs
The Fedorov Avtomat (also anglicized as Federov, Russian: Автома́т Фёдорова, : Avtomát Fyódorova, IPA: , 'Fyodorov's automatic rifle') is a select-fire infantry rifle and also one of the world's first operational automatic rifles, designed by in 1915 and produced in the and later in the . A total of 3,200 Fedorov rifles were manufactured between 1915 and 1924 in the city of ; the vast majority of them were made after 1920. The weapon saw limited combat in , but was used more substantially in the and in the . Some consider it to be an "early predecessor" or "ancestor" of the modern assault rifle.
