If assault rifles are so deadly.....

[RockIsland]

That, and he ate snow so they couldn't see his breath.

[abner13]

If Simo had a modern rifle, I doubt the results would be much different. A lot of it had to do with his exceptional skill and the climate/combatants/conditions of the war, not the tool which he used alone.

True. The grand old M-N is still a formidable rifle out to 1000yds though. Many people do not realize the standard Russian 7.62x52 cartridge was actually more powerful and bullet moved out faster than our own 30-06 and the modern 7.62x51 NATO. One of the gun mags did a comparison of WWII-era military sniper rifles and the M-N did surprisingly well , besting the 1903A4 and K98..

[jakebrake]

Do you get a shiny nickel every time you say "assault rifle"?


Sheesh.
They aren't fucking assault rifles.

Not necessarily the case. If I grab my Kalashnikov by the barrel, and use the stock to beat a liberal half to death, does that actually make it an assault rifle?

[caelum]

I am not suppose to use the term assault rifles?

There is a lot of confusion because anti-gunners have co-opted the actual historical military definition of 'assault rifle'. Semi-auto rifles are NOT assault rifles. For a weapon to qualify as an 'assault rifle', it must have a select fire feature (full-auto/burst capability) and fire an intermediate cartridge (explained below).

Although some argue that the Russians created the first assault rifle in the 1920s, the first mass-produced assault rifle was created by the Germans in WW2. The German military sought to create hybrid weapons between the Kar98k (bolt action standard rifle), the MP40 (submachine gun), and the MG42 (machine gun). These hybrid weapons sought to capitalize on the strengths of each weapon, while lessening their weaknesses. One example is the FG42, which was likely intended to by a hybrid between the MG42 and the Kar98k. However, the revolutionary gun that started it all was the hybrid between the Kar98k and the MP40: the Sturmgewehr 44 (StG44). The StG44 sought to have the compactness and fire rate of the MP40 (particularly for vicious block-by-block combat in Eastern Europe) while also having the punch of the Kar98k. To accomplish this, German engineers designed the 7.92, an intermediate cartridge to provide more power than the MP40, while still remaining somewhat compact and manageable. "Sturmgewehr" literally translates to STORM rifle, or ASSAULT rifle, as you use it STORM/ASSAULT an enemy position with its compactness, high ROF, and powerful cartridge. The Russians were stunned by the effectiveness of the StG44, so a young man by the name of Kalashnikov designed his own assault rifle in response, and in response to the AK, Stoner created the Armalite.

That is the general history. When people say "assault rifle" these days, they usually aren't referring to the aforementioned proper definition or history. They are most likely mislabeling semi-auto rifles either out of innocent mistake or for political purposes.

[abner13]

On one episode of Mythbusters , the dingus with the beret called a Garand 'the M1 assault rifle'.

[Krichardson]

On one episode of Mythbusters , the dingus with the beret called a Garand 'the M1 assault rifle'.

Just wow.You'd think they would expend the litte effort required to have their information in order

[caelum]

True. The grand old M-N is still a formidable rifle out to 1000yds though. Many people do not realize the standard Russian 7.62x52 cartridge was actually more powerful and bullet moved out faster than our own 30-06 and the modern 7.62x51 NATO. One of the gun mags did a comparison of WWII-era military sniper rifles and the M-N did surprisingly well , besting the 1903A4 and K98..

Yeah, there's definitely a lot of power in older weapons, even if they weren't as accurate. Musket balls could have a ton of mass, akin to a 12 gauge slug, and the Civil War 'Minie Ball' was a downright nasty, grimy munition. Civil War surgeons were extremely justified in aggressively amputating limbs to save a soldier's life from the Minie Ball's damage.

[abner13]

Yeah, there's definitely a lot of power in older weapons, even if they weren't as accurate.

Depends on your standards of accurate. Hitting someone at 1000yds is not really an easy task with any rifle , and IIRC , even with a 4x repro-Russkie scope , they kept 5 shots on a man-size target , with 4 shots in an 8in 'group'.

[caelum]

Depends on your standards of accurate. Hitting someone at 1000yds is not really an easy task with any rifle , and IIRC , even with a 4x repro-Russkie scope , they kept 5 shots on a man-size target , with 4 shots in an 8in 'group'.

Ah, when I refer to older weapons, the range is far, far worse than that. For instance, the flintlock smooth-bore musket used in the early-to-mid 19th century I alluded to above would only have a 1 in 30 chance of striking an enemy at 100 yards, and if the target was 50-70 yards away then the chances would be 1 in 3. However, the leap in tech (e.g. barrel rifling) seen around the time of the Civil War greatly increased weapon range to the scale you speak of. For example, the Sharps rifle and Whitworth rifle used by the elite 1st United States Sharpshooters in the Civil War had ranges of 1000 and 2000 yards, respectively. The Whiteworth rifle was actually notorious for its use by Confederate sharpshooters in eliminating two top Union generals from long range.

Interesting that you say it is difficult for us to hit 1000 yards. I honestly thought we in modern times would do better than Civil War sharpshooters, lol.

[JAKIII]

For a weapon to qualify as an 'assault rifle', it must have a select fire feature (full-auto/burst capability) and fire an intermediate cartridge (explained below).

...and use it on your eggs.

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