Assault Rifle

An Assault Rifle is a classification of weaponry. Assault Rifles are usually automatic weapons but can be single-fire, but not as frequently seen. Assault Rifles started being put into service in World War II. The first "true" Assault Rifle is the STG-44, used by Germany in World War II.

Beginnings
Assault Rifles influenced by Submachine Guns, with their fully automatic fire. The first assault rifles were the Maschinenkarabiner, Sturmgewehr & AK-47 models. The Maschinenkarabiner and Sturmgewehr models were both introduced by Germany. The Maschinenkarabiner was never put into service, however, but the Sturmgewehr (STG) was used by Nazi Germany during World War II. The AK-47, however, was designed by Russian Mikhail Kalashnikov and had inspiration from the STG, but was quite different. Some Red Army units were fielded with AK models at the end of World War II.

Worldwide Use
After seeing how useful fully-automatic weaponry was, the USMC and US Army began conducting expiriments with Assault Rifles. They introduced the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge (also known as the .308 Winchester.) The weapon designed for these cartridges, the M14 was capable of automatic fire and semi-automatic fire. But the high recoil of the weapon made it almost impossible to use in full-auto. The 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge was then made to make it easier to fire full-auto. As the US forces started to introduce the M16 they saw how it had a very high tendency to jam, so they put the M14 back into service while they started to fix the weapon.