Assault weapon?

[dads44]

Marlin 795 with folding stock and walmart bipod.

A guy at my fish and game was kinda giving me a hard time about this rifle saying it was an assualt weapon.

anyone know the correct definition of assault weapon?

[hertz]

That term is just slang. Something the media likes to use. It's like a bad nickname. What you've got there is a .22 with some fancy furnature.

[JayBell]

as used by the media: an assault weapon is any gun they dont like, could be a pistol, or revolver, or shotgun or hunting rifle, usually described as an "AK-47" or an "uzi", and almost always "high powered". never an ACTUAL "assault weapon". Also used as a derisive (and divisive) term by "Fudds".

actual definition: a rifle or carbine, with select fire capability, chambered in an intermediate cartridge (such as 5.56)

examples: select fire m16s, AK47s, FNC, G36, etc etc

Submachine gun: select fire rifle, or carbine, chambered in a PISTOL cartridge

Examples: Uzi, M16 in 9mm, M11/9, m10/45, HK MP5, FN P90, etc

Battle rifle: semiauto or select fire rifle firing a full length cartridge, such as 308/30-06/303, etc.

Examples: m14, FNFAL, garand, etc

[acosenza2]

The term assault rifle is an interesting term. There are differing opinions but this is what I could pull off of wikipedia. Not sure if anyone else has a definition.

Assault weapon is a non-technical term referring to any of a broad category of firearms with certain features, including some semiautomatic rifles, some pistols, and some shotguns. There are a variety of different statutory definitions of assault weapons in local, state, and federal laws in the United States that define them by a set of characteristics they possess. Using lists of physical features or specific firearms in defining assault weapons in the U.S. was first codified by the language of the now-expired 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban.[1]
Very generally speaking, a semi-automatic firearm is defined by these laws as an assault weapon if it has both a detachable magazine and a pistol grip, sometimes in conjunction with other features such as a folding stock or a flash suppressor. Assault weapons are often similar in appearance to military firearms, but are capable of firing only once each time the trigger is pulled.

This is what the Assault Weapons Ban labeled assault rifles

Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the following:
Folding or telescoping stock
Pistol grip
Bayonet mount
Flash suppressor, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one
Grenade launcher (more precisely, a muzzle device which enables the launching or firing of rifle grenades)
Semi-automatic pistols with detachable magazines and two or more of the following:
Magazine that attaches outside the pistol grip
Threaded barrel to attach barrel extender, flash suppressor, handgrip, or suppressor
Barrel shroud that can be used as a hand-hold
Unloaded weight of 50 oz (1.4 kg) or more
A semi-automatic version of an automatic firearm
Semi-automatic shotguns with two or more of the following:
Folding or telescoping stock
Pistol grip
Fixed capacity of more than 5 rounds
Detachable magazine
The earlier term assault rifle refers to rifles that are capable of fully automatic fire. In contrast, the term "assault weapon" refers to weapons capable of semi-automatic fire that had those certain features, as listed above. The ban did not cover "assault rifles", but merely the new category of "assault weapons" which did not include automatic firearms of any type.

The military technically does not use the term assault weapon/rifle. In reality an assault weapon is anything that can be used in an assault....this definition could really define a car, a knife, a pen, a brick...you get the point.

[tsafa]

Marlin 795 with folding stock and walmart bipod.

A guy at my fish and game was kinda giving me a hard time about this rifle saying it was an assualt weapon.

anyone know the correct definition of assault weapon?

An "Assault Rifle" is anything that shoots an intermediate round between a battlefield rifle and a pistol. Modern day politicians have bended the term to include whatever firearm they want to ban, including pistols and funky knives... but it had a specific meaning in WWII.

Prior to WWII at one end of the spectrum you had battlefield rifles shooting 30-06, 303, 7.62x54R with muzzle energies greater then 2,500 ft/lbs. These were very powerful rounds suited to ranges of over 1,000 feet.

At the other end of the spectrum you had pistol calibers like the 9mm and .45 which had muzzle energies less then 500 ft/lbs. In some cases these rounds were fired out of fully automatic sub-machine guns but this did not make them anything more then glorified pistols. These rounds are not very effective past 100 feet in the hands of the average soldier. Even in fully auto mode pistol calibers were not considered assault weapons in WWII.

In 1943 the Germans introduced the the Sturmgewehr 44 (MP43 and MP44) firing the 7.92x33mm. It produced an energy of about 1,400 ft/bs. The ballistics of this round fell between the great power of a the classic battlefield rifle and pistol round. You will notice the energy close to that of the modern M-16 round and the AK-47 round. Prior to the Sturmgewehr 44, the Germans had nothing in production available that produced ballistics that favored engagement between 100 feet and 500 feet. The significance of this is that most battle engagements occurred in this range, so it was very much favored by soldiers for the practical reason. Chief practical reason was that this ammo is lighter then what goes into a battlefield rifle, so they can carry more and it had more authority then pistol ammo. The Sturmgewehr 44 was the inspiration for the AK-47. The M1 Carbine was the American equivalent firing a 7.62x33mm and producing just under 1,000 ft/lbs of energy.

So the "Assault Rifle" has nothing to do with magazine capacity, size, or rate of fire. It has to do with ballistics of the round as intermediary. It just happens to have a scary name because it was a good marketing idea at one time.

You can tell the idiot who gave you a hard time that you can put a bi-pod and folding stock on a muzzleloader too, which wold not turn it into an assault rifle... unless you lowered the charge to produce a muzzle energy of about 1,200 to 1,400 ft/s which would then qualify the muzzleloader as an assault rifle... that should turn his brains into soup.

[Joester41]

"A semi-automatic version of an automatic firearm"

well, then I guess every rifle I own is an "Assault Weapon"...

Like some people have said, an "Assault Weapon" is anything your average joe would think looks scary...

"Assault Weapon" and "Assault Rifle" are 2 different things though, "Assault Weapon" is a blanket term to cover many types, "Assault Rifle" identifies one specific type.

[rwb1500]

No such thing.






ETA: Did you tell the 'tard it was a .22?

[hertz]

"A semi-automatic version of an automatic firearm"

well, then I guess every rifle I own is an "Assault Weapon"...

Like some people have said, an "Assault Weapon" is anything your average joe would think looks scary...

"Assault Weapon" and "Assault Rifle" are 2 different things though, "Assault Weapon" is a blanket term to cover many types, "Assault Rifle" identifies one specific type.

What specific type is that, may I ask? If you're talking about the AR15, sorry, but "AR" came from Armalite.

Sturmgewehr a German line of rifles that literally translates to "Assault rifle" is likely the beginning of that term.

Yes "Assault Weapons" is a blanket term used by the .gov in the 94 AWB.

And if I might add, definitions from Wikipedia are a joke and should not be taken seriously. While some information may be 100% accurate, anyone can write whatever they want. IMHO of course.

[mrnyman]

OP, the very first assault Rifle were the German stg44, STG stands for Sturmghewer , in German literally "storm rifle" 44 is the year of Manufacture, it were designed in secret because it were feared that Hitler would not have approved of it , with Hitler thinking that the Mauser 98 were the greatest thing since slice bread .

It fired a intermediate cartidge as the other members have pointed out, a 7.92x33 mm cartridge essentially a cutdown 8mm round, from a detachable 35 ropund mag at about 600 rpm.
Most of them were used on the eastern front thats where Mikhail Kalashnikov came into contact with it and the rest is history.

Next time tell the jerk at your club to mind his business, tell him this is still america and if you want a real assault weapon you can have one.

I tell you i have met more assholes at Gun clubs and shooting range than anywhere else, .

[Berks_Iraq_Vet]

Gotta love those gun snobs and asshats.