Assault rifle

An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate-rifle cartridge and a detachable magazine.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] Assault rifles were first put into mass production and accepted into widespread service during World War II. The first assault rifle to see major usage was the German StG 44, a development of the earlier Mkb 42.^[6]^[7]^[8] While immediately after World War II, NATO countries were equipped with battle rifles, the development of the M16 rifle during the Vietnam War prompted the adoption of assault rifles by the rest of NATO. By the end of the 20th century, assault rifles had become the standard weapon in most of the world's armies, replacing full-powered rifles and submachine guns in most roles.^[8] The two most successful modern assault rifles are the AK-47 and the M16 designs and their derivatives.^[8]

^ "Assault rifle". Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 July 2010. Archived from the original on 24 November 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
^ C. Taylor, The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat, ISBN 0-87947-308-8
^ F.A. Moyer Special Forces Foreign Weapons Handbook, ISBN 0-87364-009-8
^ R.J. Scroggie, F.A. Moyer Special Forces Combat Firing Techniques, ISBN 0-87364-010-1
^ Musgave, Daniel D., and Thomas B. Nelson, The World's Assault Rifles, vol. II, The Goetz Company, Washington, D.C. (1967): 1
^ Firearms: The Life Story of a Technology, by Roger Pauly. Greenwood Publishing Group. 2004. pp. 145–146
^ Cite error: The named reference janesrecog was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b ^c [1] Archived 2017-03-30 at the Wayback Machine The Atlantic. "A Brief History of the Assault Rifle". (The gun's name may have been coined by Adolf Hitler.) by Michael Shurkin. Jun. 30, 2016