An
assault rifle is a
rifle
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
that uses an
intermediate cartridge
An intermediate cartridge is a rifle/carbine cartridge that has significantly greater power than a pistol cartridge but still has a reduced muzzle energy compared to fully powered cartridges (such as the .303 British, 7.62×54mmR, 7.92×57mm ...
, a
detachable magazine
A magazine is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral within the gun (internal/fixed magazine) or externally attached (detachable magazine). The magazine functions by holding several cartridges withi ...
, and can switch between
semi-automatic/
fully automatic fire
An automatic firearm is an auto-loading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firearm is capable of harvesting the excess energy released from a previous discha ...
. Assault rifles are currently the standard
service rifle
A service rifle (or standard-issue rifle) is a rifle a military issues to regular infantry. In modern militaries, this is typically a versatile and rugged battle rifle, assault rifle, or carbine suitable for use in nearly all environments. Mos ...
s in most modern armies. Some rifles listed below such as the AR15 also come in semi-auto models which would not belong under the term "Assault Rifle".
Definition
By strict definition, a firearm must have the following characteristics to be considered an assault rifle:
* It must be an individual weapon;
* It must be capable of
selective fire
Selective fire is the capability of a weapon to be adjusted to fire in semi-automatic, fully automatic, and/or burst mode. The modes are chosen by means of a selector switch, which varies depending on the weapon's design. Some selective-fire we ...
, which means it has the capacity to switch between
semi-automatic and
burst
Burst may refer to:
*Burst mode (disambiguation), a mode of operation where events occur in rapid succession
**Burst transmission, a term in telecommunications
**Burst switching, a feature of some packet-switched networks
** Bursting, a signaling m ...
/
fully automatic fire
An automatic firearm is an auto-loading firearm that continuously chambers and fires rounds when the trigger mechanism is actuated. The action of an automatic firearm is capable of harvesting the excess energy released from a previous discha ...
;
* It must have an intermediate-power cartridge: more power than a
pistol
A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...
but less than a standard
rifle
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
or
battle rifle
A battle rifle is a service rifle chambered to fire a fully powered cartridge.
The term "battle rifle" is a retronym created largely out of a need to better differentiate the intermediate cartridge, intermediate-powered assault rifles (e.g. the S ...
. For full-power automatic rifles, see
List of battle rifles
Battle rifles are full-powered rifles, full-length, fully automatic or semi-automatic rifles that have been adopted by a nation's military. The difference between a battle rifle and a designated marksman rifle is often only one of terminology wit ...
;
* Its
ammunition
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
must be supplied from a detachable box magazine;
* It should have an effective range of at least .
Rifles that meet most of these criteria, but not all, are technically not assault rifles, despite frequently being called such.
For example:
* Select-fire
M2 carbine
The M1 carbine (formally the United States Carbine, Caliber .30, M1) is a lightweight semi-automatic carbine that was a standard firearm for the U.S. military during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The M1 carbine was produced ...
s and
Amogh carbine
The Amogh Carbine (''Amogh'' means Unerring) is a select-fire personal defense weapon designed & manufactured by Ordnance Factories Board. It is a derivative of the Excalibur rifle, which in turn is a development of the INSAS rifle.
The Amogh h ...
s are not assault rifles; their effective range is only 200 yards.
[''Jane's Gun Recognition Guide''. Ian Hogg & Terry Gander. HarperCollins Publishers. 2005. page 330]
* Select-fire rifles such as the
FN FAL are not assault rifles; they are
battle rifles
A battle rifle is a service rifle chambered to fire a fully powered cartridge.
The term "battle rifle" is a retronym created largely out of a need to better differentiate the intermediate-powered assault rifles (e.g. the StG-44, AK-47, M16, ...
and fire full-powered rifle cartridges.
* Semi-automatic-only rifles like the
Colt AR-15
The Colt AR-15 is a lightweight, magazine-fed, gas-operated semi-automatic rifle. It is a semi-automatic version of the M16 rifle sold for the civilian and law enforcement markets in the United States. Colt's Manufacturing Company currently ...
are not assault rifles; they do not have select-fire capabilities. In contrast, the original
ArmaLite AR-15
The ArmaLite AR-15 is a select-fire, gas-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed rifle manufactured in the United States between 1959 and 1964. Designed by American gun manufacturer ArmaLite in 1956, it was based on its AR-10 rifle. The ArmaLite ...
would meet the criteria.
* Semi-automatic-only rifles with fixed magazines like the
SKS are not assault rifles; they do not have detachable box magazines and are not capable of automatic fire.
Several of the rifles on the below list have non-assault rifle variants. Because they lack the selective fire capability as they only fire semi-automatic even though it fulfils the other requirements of the definition above.
List
See also
*
List of battle rifles
Battle rifles are full-powered rifles, full-length, fully automatic or semi-automatic rifles that have been adopted by a nation's military. The difference between a battle rifle and a designated marksman rifle is often only one of terminology wit ...
*
List of bolt-action rifles
Bolt action, Bolt-action rifles are an evolution of the lever-action rifle, offering greater accuracy and stronger receiver (firearms), receivers. Bolt actions require the user to manually cycle the bolt (firearms), bolt after each round is fired ...
*
List of carbines
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
*
List of grenade launchers
This article lists all forms of grenade launchers around the world, that is to say weapons that launch grenades with more accuracy, a higher velocity and to greater distances than a soldier could.''Small Arms Illustrated'', 2010
Below is the ...
*
List of machine guns
This is a list of machine guns and their variants.
The tables are sortable.
See also
*List of firearms
*List of multiple-barrel firearms
References
{{Reflist
*
Machine guns
A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading ...
*
List of multiple-barrel firearms
Below is a list of multiple-barrel firearms of all forms from around the world.Small Arms Illustrated, 2010
Pistols
Rifles
Flare launchers
Less lethal
Automatic rifles
Submachine guns
Shotguns
Machine guns
Grenade launchers
S ...
*
List of pistols
This is a list of pistols. The list covers manually operated and semi-automatic/machine pistols:
See also
*List of firearms
*List of assault rifles
*List of machine guns
*List of multiple-barrel firearms
*List of revolvers
* List of semi-autom ...
*
List of pump-action rifles
A pump-action rifle is a rifle where the forend can be moved forward and backward in order to eject a spent round of ammunition and to chamber a new one. Pump-action mechanisms are often regarded as faster than a bolt action and somewhat faster ...
*
List of revolvers
This is a list of single- and double-action revolvers, listed alphabetically by manufacturer.
Dan Wesson 715
See also
*List of firearms
*List of multiple-barrel firearms
*List of submachine guns
*List of assault rifles
*List of machine guns
*L ...
*
List of semi-automatic pistols A semi-automatic pistol is a type of handgun which utilizes the energy of the fired cartridge to cycle the action of the weapon and advance the next available cartridge into position for firing
Dismissal (also called firing) is the termination ...
*
List of semi-automatic rifles
A semi-automatic rifle is a rifle that fires a single Cartridge (firearms), round each time the trigger (firearms), trigger is pulled, and uses some of the energy from that firing to load the next round. Semi-automatic rifles are also known as s ...
*
List of sniper rifles
This article is a listing of major precision rifle variants used by snipers from around the world.
A hunting or precision rifle equipped with a telescopic optic has been long described as a sniper rifle. Below is the list of precision rifles us ...
*
List of straight-pull rifles
Straight-pull rifles differ from conventional bolt-action mechanisms in that the manipulation required from the user in order to chamber and extract a cartridge predominantly consists of a linear motion only, as opposed to a traditional turn-bolt ...
*
Service rifle
A service rifle (or standard-issue rifle) is a rifle a military issues to regular infantry. In modern militaries, this is typically a versatile and rugged battle rifle, assault rifle, or carbine suitable for use in nearly all environments. Mos ...
References
{{Firearms
Assault rifles
List