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Amerigo Cei-Rigotti developed a rifle between 1890 and 1900 with the characteristics of an assault rifle including selective fire rates and a 6.5×52mm Mannlicher-Carcano medium-power cartridge. Issued in 1905, the rifle was tested but did not see service.

Fedorov Avtomat was "revolutionary" cartridge first. Cartridge - reduced power. Arisaka cartridge for Russian - also reduced power. 109.126.228.248 (talk) 04:16, 25 September 2012 (UTC)covrovetz[reply]

AK-47 and StG44 are used as examples of Assault Rifles. They both fails the definition by not using intermediate-power cartridge and being Battle rifles (same thing really). Where am I confused? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.157.189.5 (talk) 02:38, 5 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Both the 7.92×33mm Kurz (StG 44) and the 7.62×39mm (AK-47) have intermediate power compared to pistol cartridges (e.g. 9mm P) and rifle cartridges (e.g. 7.92×57mm Mauser). Modern day assault rifles use even smaller cartridges that form their own sub-category of intermediate cartridges (small caliber/high velocity, e.g. 5.56mm Nato) but they are still in the same class of cartridges (about the same effective range, recoil etc.). Trying to find the meaning of words through etymology can be confusing, as in a strict sense the 5.56mm Nato is "intermediate" between the 7.62×39mm and a pistol cartridge, however the sources we use generally do not use this definition so we shouldn't either.--Sus scrofa (talk) 11:29, 5 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This definition is confusing to me:

An assault rifle is a selective fire (either fully automatic or burst-capable) rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. It should be distinguished from the US legal term assault weapons.

The term burst-capable is undefined. The Encyclopedia Brittanica definition you refer to seems to imply that both automatic and semiautomatic rifles can be considered assault rifles, and that is consistent with dictionary usage and gun publication usage that I've seen. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jonathan.robie (talk • contribs) 22:23, 8 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Have added text necessary to clear up the confusion among the various technical terms (fully automatic, burst capable, and semi-automatic.) Hope this helps. Miguel Escopeta (talk) 23:12, 8 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

"Burst mode" might be a better description? Anyway, weapons capable of burst mode fire a set number of rounds per trigger pull when set to burst mode (e.g. three for the M16A4) and I think the Encyclopedia Britannica just counts burst mode as another form of automatic fire. Most assault rifles that have burst modes also have fully automatic modes (rounds are fired as long as the trigger is held down). The US changed their M16s from the trigger group safe-semi-auto to safe-semi-burst (M16A2) after experiences in the Vietnam War, the thinking was that surprised or panicked soldiers would hold down the trigger and empty their magazines prematurely, but IIRC the M16A2/M16A4 are still assault rifles as the burst mode enables the rifle of approximately the same rate of fire as a fully rifle you just have to keep pumping the trigger.--Sus scrofa (talk) 00:26, 9 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I hold that the German term "Sturmgewehr" was mis-translated as "assault rifle", because the German noun Sturm is not associated with storming something in the English sense. Unless it is very modern usage, there is no German verb, "sturmen". The German verb conveying that sense is "angreifen". The German Sturmgewehr is intended to convey a storm of bullets as in the English "a hail of fire." Stan Barnett, Mocksville, NC. 66.226.45.185 (talk) 15:36, 27 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It might be that the word "Sturm" wasn't used to mean "(military) assault" at the time but both Google translate and http://www.leo.org/ (online German dictionary) lists "assault" as one possible translation of "Sturm". Google translate lists "assault" as one possible (but unusual) translation of "Sturm", with "Angriff" and "Überfall" as synonyms to "Sturm" in the sense of the English word "assault". LEO gives one usage of "Sturm" as a verb as "to take so./sth. by assault" which translates to "jmdn./etw. im Sturm erobern". I don't know German grammar, so I don't know if "Sturm" can ever be rendered as "Sturmen", but it seems that (at least nowadays) "Sturm" can mean "assault"/"attack" etc. I do know that during World War I, the Germans used the term "Sturmtruppen" which the Wikipedia article describes as "assault" or "shock troops", so it seems to me that "storm" can be used in the same way in the German and English language. It would help if you can give a source that shows that "Sturm" wasn't used in this sense during World War II.--Sus scrofa (talk) 16:24, 27 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I really think the hatnote needs to explicitly say that the thing that is sometimes banned or restricted by gun control laws is an assault weapon, not an assault rifle. Otherwise some of our readers will get even more confused than they are already. That is, if the hatnote just says that assault rifles are not to be confused with assault weapons, and then goes on to say that assault rifles are selective fire military firearms that often are capable of full-automatic fire, then some readers will think that laws that ban or limit assault weapons restrict full-automatic firearms, when, of course, they restrict semi-automatic firearms. Somehow the hatnote should point this out, while still being very brief. Something along the lines of, "For the firearms restricted by some current, proposed, or former laws in the United States, see assault weapon". — Mudwater ^(Talk) 14:00, 3 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]