The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova, is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov, it is the originating firearm of the Kalashnikov family of rifles. After more than seven decades since its creation, the AK-47 model and its variants remain one of the most popular and widely used firearms in the world.
The FN FAL is a battle rifle designed in Belgium in 1953 by Dieudonné Saive and manufactured by FN Herstal.
The StG 44 is a German assault rifle developed during World War II by Hugo Schmeisser. It is also known by its early designations as the MP 43 and MP 44. The StG 44 was an improvement of an earlier design, the Maschinenkarabiner 42(H).
The Steyr AUG is an Austrian bullpup assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO intermediate cartridge, designed in the 1960s by Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and now manufactured by Steyr Arms GmbH & Co KG.
An automatic rifle is a type of autoloading rifle that is capable of fully automatic fire. Automatic rifles are generally select-fire weapons capable of firing in semi-automatic and automatic firing modes. Automatic rifles are distinguished from semi-automatic rifles in their ability to fire more than one shot in succession once the trigger is pulled. Most automatic rifles are further subcategorized as battle rifles or assault rifles.
The Heckler & Koch G3 is a select-fire battle rifle chambered in 7.62×51mm NATO developed in the 1950s by the German firearms manufacturer Heckler & Koch, in collaboration with the Spanish state-owned firearms manufacturer CETME. The G3 was the service rifle of the German Bundeswehr until it was replaced by the Heckler & Koch G36 in the 1990s, and was adopted into service with numerous other countries.
Hugo Schmeisser was a German developer of 20th century infantry weapons.
Wassenaar Arrangement Semi-automatic Rifles are a line of Romanian-designed gas-operated semi-automatic rifles sold in the United States by Century International Arms. The rifles are manufactured in Romania by the Cugir Arms Factory and are a semi-automatic variant of the Pistol Mitralieră model 1963/1965, a Romanian licensed derivative of the Soviet AKM assault rifle. Century imports them and modifies them in order to comply with national legislation before sale to the general public via licensed traders. The WASR series takes its name from the 1996 Wassenaar Arrangement, a multilateral export control regime to monitor and limit the proliferation of certain conventional weapons and dual-use technologies.
A service rifle is a rifle a military issues to its regular infantry. In modern militaries, this is generally a versatile, rugged, and reliable assault rifle or battle rifle, suitable for use in nearly all environments and is effective in most combat situations. Almost all modern militaries are issued service pistols as sidearms to accompany their service rifles. The term can also be used to describe weapons issued by non-military forces, such as law enforcement or paramilitaries.
The Volkssturmgewehr is the name of several rifle designs developed by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. They share the common characteristic of being greatly simplified as an attempt to cope with severe lack of resources and industrial capacity in Germany during the final period of the war. The Volkspistole was a partner program, almost identical, but for pistols instead.
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, and therefore is regarded as being "intermediate" between traditional rifle and handgun cartridges.
The StG 45(M) (abbreviation of Sturmgewehr 45, "Assault Rifle 45") sometimes referred to as the MP 45(M), was a prototype assault rifle developed by Mauser for the Wehrmacht at the end of World War II, using an innovative roller-delayed blowback operating system. It fired the 7.92×33mm Kurz (or "Pistolenpatrone 7.9mm") intermediate cartridge at a cyclic rate of around 450 rounds per minute.
The evolution of German military rifles is a history of common and diverse paths followed by the separate German states, until the mid-19th century when Prussia emerged as the dominant state within Germany and the nation was unified. This article discusses rifled shoulder arms developed in or for the military of the states that later became Germany; it excludes firearms of the Austrian Empire, except where they were used substantially by German troops.
The Sturmgewehr 52 (STG-52) was a battle rifle manufactured by the government-owned W+F Bern of Switzerland. It was chambered in the 7.5mm Kurzpatrone cartridge and later the 7.5mm Swiss service round as the Sturmgewehr 54, which was fed from the left-hand side. The Sturmgewehr 52 was heavily patterned after the German FG 42 as it was fed from the side from a 30- or 40-round magazine and was also fitted with a muzzle attachment capable of launching rifle grenades.
An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate-rifle cartridge and a detachable magazine. 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. 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. The two most successful modern assault rifles are the AK-47 and the M16 designs and their derivatives.
The 7.92×33mm Kurz is a rimless bottlenecked intermediate rifle cartridge developed in Nazi Germany prior to and during World War II, specifically intended for development of the Sturmgewehr 44. The ammunition is also referred to as 7.9mm Kurz, 7.9 Kurz, 7.9mmK, or 8×33 Polte. The round was developed as a compromise between the longer 7.92×57mm full-power rifle cartridge and the 9×19mm Parabellum pistol cartridge.
The Vollmer M 35 consisted of a series of experimental automatic rifles developed by Heinrich Vollmer in the 1930s. The Vollmer rifles were chambered in an intermediate cartridge that was co-developed with Gustav Genschow and Co. (GECO) starting in 1934, under a Heereswaffenamt contract.
The Maschinenkarabiner 42(H) or MKb 42(H) (machine carbine Model 1942 (Haenel)) was an early German assault rifle firing an intermediate round of World War II. Designed in 1940 – 1941 by Hugo Schmeisser working for C. G. Haenel Waffen und Fahrradfabrik, several thousand were made and the gun was used on the Eastern Front in 1943.
The Maschinenkarabiner 42(W) (German: "machine carbine model 1942 (Walther)" ) or MKb 42(W) was an early German assault rifle designed in 1940-41 by Walther during World War II. The Mkb 42(W), and the more successful Maschinenkarabiner 42(H) designed by Haenel, were predecessors of the Sturmgewehr 44 (StG 44) assault rifle.
C.G. Haenel is a German weapon manufacturer located in Suhl, Germany.
