History of the Assault Rifle
Simply put, an assault rifle is a cross between a normal rifle and a machine gun. Such kinds of automatic rifles or carbines have the facility of selective firing. This means that it can shoot short, suppressive automatic bursts, which makes them perfect for supportive or ‘covering’ fire. They are equipped with intermediate-powered ammunition that offers variable firepower and thereby takes the pressure off the shooter by affording him the advantage of controlled fire. This leads to better placing of shots and also preserves the rifle’s mechanisms for longer periods.
Since assault rifles are predominantly used for this purpose, it can be argued that the qualifier ‘assault’ is not a strictly accurate term. In fact, it is used widely only in the United States. However, they are also highly effective offensive weapons. The main advantage is economy of firepower, since they are not suitable for prolonged firing periods in which cartridges are often wasted. In that sense, assault rifles require considerable marksmanship. However, some of them can fire up to 500 rounds a minute in fully automatic mode and that makes up for a lot of uncertainty in terms of stopping power.
Assault rifles, loosely christened after the German equivalent, are standard equipment in most armies, are issued in place of the unwieldy and cumbersome battle rifles. The most well known are the Russian AK 74 and the American M16 rifle. The iconic AK 47 uses a 7.62×39mm medium-power load and was developed by Anton Kalashnikov in 1943.
Historically speaking, the Italian Cei-Rigotti was the first assault rifle, and was first put into widespread use in 1900. However, assault rifles were not used by the military until the coming of the Russian Federov Avtomat in 1916. This model, highly advanced for its time, was the brainchild of an enlisted armorer named Colonel Federov. World War 1 saw the Browning Automatic Rifle, which first offered full-power rounds.
Shortly before World War II (in 1938) the M1 Carbine was introduced by America. It did not offer the select-fire option, but this feature was later made available in its successors – the M2 and M3 carbines. The M1 was mass-produced and extensively used because it proved ideal for close-up work on the front. The M16 came in 1960, but the M1 never went completely out of style.
Today’s assault rifles feature calibers from 5.45 mm to 7.62 mm and are equipped with magazines that can accommodate between 20 and 30 rounds. Some assault rifles feature semi-automatic and fully automatic fire capabilities, while others also have the select-fire and 2/3 shot burst options. Most of them have effective ranges of up to 600 meters, after which the accurate placing of shots becomes a matter of chance rather than marksmanship.
However, there are advanced assault rifles available – the Heckler & Koch G36 is a perfect example of these. Calibrated for smaller bullets that have higher velocity, this highly advanced assault rifle features a telescopic sight, supported by red-dot infrared sighting, that considerably increase its accuracy over longer ranges. Most contemporary assault rifles are designed according to the ‘bull pup’ model, which includes a butt plate that is directly attached to the receiver and the trigger positioned ahead of the magazine slot.
Today, there is considerable controversy about what features actually qualify a rifle to be included in the ‘assault weapon’ category. Various acts such as the National Firearms Act of 1934, the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 have attempted to define the required specifications and also the parameters surrounding rights of ownership of such weapons. The 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which lapsed in 2004 but is still considered a standard of sorts, specifies such features as bayonet lug, pistol grip, a folding stock and night scope.