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What is an assault rifle?

What is an assault rifle?

  • Any semi-automatic rifle (fires one shot every time the trigger is pulled)

    Votes: 7 12.5%

  • A semi-automatic rifle with two or more of the features in the Brady bill.(see OP post)

    Votes: 7 12.5%

  • A rifle that will keep firing bullets as long as you hold down the trigger.

    Votes: 36 64.3%

  • A rifle that will fire 3 bullet every time you squeeze the trigger.

    Votes: 20 35.7%

  • I do not know.

    Votes: 11 19.6%
  • Total voters
    56
jamesrage said:
This poll is to get a general idea of what people consider an assault rifle.I have supplied pictures and tried to keep the options as simple as possible. I am not a firearms expert and I am sure a lot of people are not,so I provided pictures from the internet and provided definitions from wikipedia should anyone have a hard time figuring out what anything is.


What is an assault rifle?

Any semi-automatic rifle(fires one shot every time the trigger is pulled)
A semi-automatic rifle with two or more of the features in the Brady bill.
A rifle that will keep firing bullets as long as you hold down the trigger.
A rifle that will fire 3 bullet every time you squeeze the trigger.
I do not know.



Semi-automatic rifle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A semi-automatic rifle is a type of rifle that fires a single bullet each time the trigger is pulled, automatically ejects the spent cartridge, chambers a fresh cartridge from its magazine, and is immediately ready to fire another shot.

Automatic rifle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An automatic rifle is a type of magazine-fed rifle that uses either its recoil or a portion of the gas propelling the projectile to operate its action. And, to remove the spent cartridge case, **** the rifle, load a new cartridge and fire again repeatedly, as long as the trigger is held down or until the magazine is exhausted.


Assault weapon defined by the 1994 assault weapons ban.

Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the following:

-Folding or telescoping stock
View attachment 67139437


-Pistol grip

View attachment 67139432

-Bayonet mount
View attachment 67139433


-Flash suppressor, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one
View attachment 67139435

-Grenade launcher(more precisely, a muzzle device that enables launching or firing rifle grenades, though this applies only to muzzle mounted grenade launchers and not those mounted externally).
View attachment 67139436
Click to expand...

a-salt-rifle.png
 
Surtr said:
I think it has to do more with weight and cost. Lighter bullets means a higher combat load, and you can carry a hell of a lot more 5.56 rounds than 30-06 or 308.

I disagree with the wound myth, simply because they train us to put two rounds in the chest. That will kill a man.
Click to expand...

Absolutely.

Having had the honor of lugging an M-60 through the wilderness on more than one occasion I can definitely attest to the preference to carry 180 rounds of 5.56 instead of 200 rounds of M80...plus 23 pounds of MG.
 
Goshin said:
The PROPER definition of an Assault Rifle, as used by the military who invented the term...

A short rifle, using an intermediate-power cartridge, which is capable of selective, burst or auto fire and has a detachable magazine.


This largely replaced the "Battle Rifle", which was previously a higher-power caliber rifle with a detachable magazine of slightly lesser capacity (ie M14).


No semi-auto rifle is actually an "Assault rifle" by the proper definition.

Almost all civilian versions of "assault rifles" are semi-auto, not full nor selective fire.
Click to expand...

^^^^^^^^ This! I've been so annoyed by all the calls for banning assault weapons when they're already banned. They have been since 1986. In 1986 Congress banned fully automatic rifles and President Reagan signed the bill into law. That's why it was such a joke in 1994 when Clinton banned "assault" weapons. They had already been banned. Clinton's ban made illegal "evil features" like bayonet lugs and flash suppressors. Have we had a rash of bayonet violence or shootings that happened only because the flash was suppressed?
 
Luna Tick said:
^^^^^^^^ This! I've been so annoyed by all the calls for banning assault weapons when they're already banned. They have been since 1986. In 1986 Congress banned fully automatic rifles and President Reagan signed the bill into law. That's why it was such a joke in 1994 when Clinton banned "assault" weapons. They had already been banned. Clinton's ban made illegal "evil features" like bayonet lugs and flash suppressors. Have we had a rash of bayonet violence or shootings that happened only because the flash was suppressed?
Click to expand...

Fully automatic rifles are not banned,just those not registered as of May 19, 1986.As far as I know none of those weapons have ever been used in a mass shooting in the US.


Firearm Owners Protection Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
machine gun license - TheFirearmsForum.Com
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
From a non technical standpoint

Capable of firing multiple rounds from a single trigger pull, a large capacity magazine or clip. using a more powerfull round then a submachine gun (HK MP5) but not as good for long distances then what most would consider to be a hunting rifle.


Ie Ak 47, M16
Click to expand...

You do realize the civilian models of those are semi-auto, yes? Meaning that only 1 bullet/trigger pull?

The real problem with gun control is that there is a lot of ignorance, typically on the side of anti-gun nuts, and no attempt to actually educate themselves as to what they run their mouths against. Ignorance will never get us anywhere.
 
Goshin said:
The PROPER definition of an Assault Rifle, as used by the military who invented the term...

A short rifle, using an intermediate-power cartridge, which is capable of selective, burst or auto fire and has a detachable magazine.


This largely replaced the "Battle Rifle", which was previously a higher-power caliber rifle with a detachable magazine of slightly lesser capacity (ie M14).
Click to expand...

I think civilians should have access to them and fully automatic weapons as well.
 
Lutherf said:
Absolutely.

Having had the honor of lugging an M-60 through the wilderness on more than one occasion I can definitely attest to the preference to carry 180 rounds of 5.56 instead of 200 rounds of M80...plus 23 pounds of MG.
Click to expand...

And Tripod, T&E, Pintle, Spare Barrel, Asbestos Glove, ets, etc, etc.
 
Oozlefinch said:
And Tripod, T&E, Pintle, Spare Barrel, Asbestos Glove, ets, etc, etc.
Click to expand...

...and looking around to make sure that your ammo bearer is keeping up.

I never messed with the tripod because, frankly, I didn't plan on staying anywhere long enough to make it worthwhile.
 
Goshin said:
Yeah, prolly so.

I had a good friend who died not long ago, he was a Viet Nam Spec Ops vet, who talked about the same thing: weight and quantity of ammo. Said he prefered to pack an M16 and 50% more ammo than a heavier battle-rifle and less ammo... of course he was operating in the jungle mostly. Open plains would possibly change the equation a bit.
Click to expand...

I don't know about that, I'd still rather have the lighter rifle with lighter ammunition. With all the crap they made us lug around, plus body armor and whatever the hell else SGTMAJ decides we need (but will never need for any possible reason), having 308's would be less than dandy. The M-16 has its faults, many many faults, but at least it's accurate when it decides to properly cycle rounds.

Lutherf said:
Absolutely.

Having had the honor of lugging an M-60 through the wilderness on more than one occasion I can definitely attest to the preference to carry 180 rounds of 5.56 instead of 200 rounds of M80...plus 23 pounds of MG.
Click to expand...

I had a 249 for a while in Korea. I liked it good enough, and was sad to get re-assigned the M-16.
 
Goshin said:
If you're dismissing the difference between semi-auto and full auto, you are certainly ignoring relevant facts.


Full auto lends itself readily to spraying large numbers of bullets around nearly at random.

Semi-auto, not so much.
Click to expand...

full auto-to suppress the movement of an enemy or to break contact with an enemy allowing you to retreat or move.

semi auto-to inflict casualties on the enemy
 
Oozlefinch said:
I got a great idea, let's mandate all "Assault Rifles" look like this:

hk47.jpg


And yes, that is a fully functional semi-automatic AK-47. And it can be yours, for only $1,072.95.

GlamGuns.com! Guns for Girls and Glamorous Weaponry!

And they have many other great items, like Care Bear body armor, and a "My Little Carbine", their take on the classic M-16 style.

mylittleponycarbine.jpg


If you ask me, these are to cute to ever be considered "Assault Rifles".
Click to expand...
My stomach just tied itself into a knot...
 
Surtr said:
I had a 249 for a while in Korea. I liked it good enough, and was sad to get re-assigned the M-16.
Click to expand...

Sure! The SAW uses 5.56 but my M-60 was 7.62x51. Those 200rd cans probably weighed 15 pounds just by themselves.

The SAW was after my time so I really don't know what a combat loadout would be. When I carried the 60 I had a belt in the gun and the other belt in the can on my ruck. My ammo bearer would have another can and the accessory pouch. Although it wasn't a whole lot of fun to lug that mess around there certainly was a good bit of satisfaction in being behind it if the lead started flying.
 
Oozlefinch said:
mylittleponycarbine.jpg


If you ask me, these are to cute to ever be considered "Assault Rifles".
Click to expand...

Oh god...this is something I could imagine those brony fanboys snapping something like that up.
 
Lutherf said:
Sure! The SAW uses 5.56 but my M-60 was 7.62x51. Those 200rd cans probably weighed 15 pounds just by themselves.

The SAW was after my time so I really don't know what a combat loadout would be. When I carried the 60 I had a belt in the gun and the other belt in the can on my ruck. My ammo bearer would have another can and the accessory pouch. Although it wasn't a whole lot of fun to lug that mess around there certainly was a good bit of satisfaction in being behind it if the lead started flying.
Click to expand...

Oh I know about the pig. The 240b fires the same rounds, and that ****'s no joke either. When I had the 249, I had a 200 round "porkchop" (plastic bullet box that attaches to the gun), with another chop in my assault pack. Pretty sure the regular load is different. USFK does what it wants, how it wants, regardless of how it's supposed to be done.
 
jamesrage said:
Fully automatic rifles are not banned,just those not registered as of May 19, 1986.As far as I know none of those weapons have ever been used in a mass shooting in the US.


Firearm Owners Protection Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
machine gun license - TheFirearmsForum.Com
Click to expand...

The grandfathered pre-1986 guns are a rare exception. Because of supply and demand they go for such absurdly high prices hardly any gun enthusiasts can afford them. You're right that fully automatic rifles aren't completely banned, but new ones are. The available ones are just impractical to get.
 
Goshin said:
If you're dismissing the difference between semi-auto and full auto, you are certainly ignoring relevant facts.


Full auto lends itself readily to spraying large numbers of bullets around nearly at random.

Semi-auto, not so much.
Click to expand...

It occurs to me that,
if folks truly DON'T know the Diff?

WE could LOAD UP on FULLY AUTO / TRULY ASSAULT (moar than THREE of the Brady Bill paradigm options) weapons,

and be Ready For Wild Boar.
 
What Is An Assault Weapon ??

A Base-Ball Bat ??
A Butcher Knife ??

A Hank Of Re-Bar ??

Tomahawk ??

How About A USS Kitty Hawk ???
 
Last edited:
The mere suggestion of AWB's makes their prices skyrocket. At this point they're making the $200 tax stamp for full auto look cheap.
 
karpenter said:
What Is An Assault Weapon ??

A Base-Ball Bat ??
A Butcher Knife ??

A Hank Of Re-Bar ??

Tomahawk ??

How About A USS Kitty Hawk ???
Click to expand...

h0ppin' that THIS isn't some Kiss Of Death

I remember you!!!

And I'm really glad to see you, Karp!
 
oh, wow ... some alternate reality made this all right-align and ALMOST distracted me from posting :

WTF???

MOST, if not all, semi-autos are re-configurable/re-buildable into FULLY AUTOs,

and I mean, What? All you need is access to ebay, or the like?

And check THIS out:

Guns have already been invented!

REGARDLESS of whether I have access to an ACTUAL "gun,"

at this point?

I can d/l, read, understand and copy ALL of the info!

I don't need what anyone would recognize as a "gun" to shoot someone.
 
As an example?

I could "shoot" someone with an ice pellet,

and, other than the modus operandi if I did it, AGAIN?

Yeah.

Thank God HE reached down to me, eh?

If folks WANT to kill each other?

They are ONLY limited by their own imaginations,

but if the ACT is the natural progression for their fantasies?

They don't respect the most basic of truths :

Life is a GIFT and to try, or to, steal it from anyone, including yourself,

is denying the God that graced us with it.
 
fyrenza said:

MOST, if not all, semi-autos are re-configurable/re-buildable into FULLY AUTOs,
Click to expand...


Of course they are. All you need is a basic machine shop, and some knowledge of how to build things.

After all, if you can build this:

92606122442_111-0101%20007.jpg


You can make a fully automatic M-16 out of a semi-automatic AR-15.

Now that is a Colt Auto Sear. But if your machining capabilities are not that good, you can make a kludge that works just as well:

conversion-part-ar-15-auto-sear.jpg


For other weapons, you can build one of these, which clips in front of the trigger. Each turn fires another round.

bmf-ta.jpg


And if you got 2 Ruger 10/22s, you can build one of these:

10-22gatling.jpg


However, how many of these items have you heard about being used in crimes? None I bet, because the Gatling Gun Ruger is a curiosity, and the finger crank is a fun toy, but highly inaccurate. And many states consider those "Automatic Weapons", and have outlawed their possession.

I do not worry about such things, since if you look at the vast majority of these incidents, the individuals used semi-automatic weapons, not fully automatic ones. In fact, the last time I can remember hearing of a mass shooting with an illegal conversion rifle was the 1997 North Hollywood Shootout. The vast majority of these incidents just uses off the shelf weapons.
 
Isn't the official definition a carbine, or short rifle that has high ammo capacity and selective firing modes?
 
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