What is an assault rifle?

[mike9905]

Looks like the new definition is M1 Garand (WWII assault rifle), M1 Carbine (will accept mag of plus 10 rounds), and Ruger 10/22 (accepts plus 10 round mags). Are we headed toward England and the Aussies?

[timshufflin]

Looks like the new definition is M1 Garand (WWII assault rifle), M1 Carbine (will accept mag of plus 10 rounds), and Ruger 10/22 (accepts plus 10 round mags). Are we headed toward England and the Aussies?

No, we are racing there.

[KnickKnack]

An "assault rifle" is any rifle used in an assault. It is also the manufactured term of the Liberals to scare uneducated people into thinking that rifles that don't look "traditional" are somehow more dangerous. Kinda like putting a fastback body on a VW bug chassis and calling it a muscle car.

[Schriv]

You can thank Peterson Publishing for making the term 'Assault Rifle' popular. Back in the early 80's they used to publish the big Assault Rifle buyers guides and even did 'Assault Rifle Annual' editions. I still have some of them down in the basement with my old Guns and Ammo collection. It was the hot buzz term to make all the new black rifles stand out from the crowd. It worked on me, I had a huge collection of them back then. AR's, HK's, Galil, Berreta AR-70 and many more. If you showed up at the range while a bunch of Fudds were sighting in their bambi blasters, they all would have to make comments about the 'military types' with their ugly assault rifles. We just smiled and went about our business. They were my passion up through the late 90's and I swung back into old Mil-surps.
Anyhow...The Libs didn't start it, the gun writers and the owners did.

[REHRIFLE]

I believe the military is the source of the term assault rifle. The letters AR in AR15 = Assault Rifle.

[Schriv]

I always thought it meant Automatic Rifle, dating back to the original Armalite AR-10 designs of the late 50's. Either way, the firearms press took the term and ran hard with it back in the early 80's.
Up until the AWB of '94, it was still a common term in the gun friendly press.
Look at all of the ads featuring military type attachments for AR's and using all the cool miltary style terms to describe what you can use it for. For guys like me, it is no big deal and it's what I'm into. But it definitely scares the shit outta the limp wrists. 'We' can be our own worst enemies sometimes. They are masters at using our own words against us.

[Shug]

IIRC, AR is short for Armalite, the company Eugene Stoner worked for when he designed the AR-10 and AR-15.

[Schriv]

Since we are talking about evil assault rifles..I have got to find a local distributor for this bad boy.
I want one!!

http://www.iwi.us/tavor.html

[REHRIFLE]

IIRC, AR is short for Armalite, the company Eugene Stoner worked for when he designed the AR-10 and AR-15.

Thanks for the correction. What's funny is that I meant to say that it stood for automatic rifle, which would still have been wrong. I can't even be wrong right.

[musketjon]

I have one, and only one assault rifle in my collection. It is an 1863 contract rifle-musket from the War Between the States (or the War of Northern Aggression, or the Civil War). It is .58 caliber, single-shot, muzzle loader, but it has a bayonet lug (the front sight). Is it next??
Jon

[Zwara]

isnt an assault rifle the shoulder thing that goes up? :P