History of the Modern Assault Rifle free essay sample

It is an almost perfect combination of light weight, precision, and stopping power in the ever changing craft of warfare. To completely understand the effectiveness of the M16 and other assault rifles, you must go back to their genesis. On the German side of the Western front in World War II, the military leaders realized that the battlefield and the way battles were fought were changing. A survey conducted between 1939 and 1940 showed that most engagements were being fought under 400 meters. The standard issue rifle of the German Army at the time was not suited for this type of engagement. The weapon issued to every soldier in the German Army was the bolt-action Mauser Kar98K, which was a single shot rifle that shot the extremely powerful and heavy 7. 92x57mm cartridge. This gun was originally built for service in trenches at ranges of 800-1000 meters, not close range where semi-automatic (semi-auto) or fully-automatic (full-auto) capabilities are required. At the same time, there were only two options if you wanted fully-automatic capabilities: very heavy and cumbersome belt-fed machine guns, and sub-machine guns which used pistol cartridges and therefore lacked range and power. The solution to this problem was the Sturmgewehr 44. The German Army made contracts with Haenel and Walther, two distinguished German gun manufacturers. The goal was to build a carbine which fired a smaller, more manageable cartridge and had full-auto capabilities. The result from Haenel was the Maschinkarabiner 42(H) or Mkb42(H), and from Walther was the Maschinkarabiner 42(H) or Mkb42(H). Once a small number of these weapons were deployed with troops for testing, the result was clear: they worked beyond expectations. Hitler, however, did not like the rifle and discontinued the manufacturing of them. But Hitler’s generals, after seeing the effectiveness of these new weapons, continued production by disguising the gun with the designation of a sub-machine gun instead of a carbine. Once Hitler found out about the continued manufacturing of the rifles, he embraced them and renamed them the Sturmgewehr 44 which literally translates as â€Å"Storm Assault Rifle. † This started a scramble for every major military power to get their hands on the new gun design. Countries such as America, England, and Russia all began making their own designs and the battlefield has never been the same since. STG 44 One key aspect of assault rifles is the type of ammo which they use. High-powered cartridges such as the 30-06 used in the M1 Garand were impossible to control in full-auto, while pistol cartridges like the 45. ACP used in the Thompson Sub-Machine Gun lacked stopping power and were nearly unusable at distances over fifty yards. What gun designers did to solve this dilemma was to combine the best of both worlds. They kept the basic design of a high-powered cartridge but decreased the amount of gun powder like in a pistol cartridge. This creates a small light-weight cartridge which still has the power to be effective at 200+ yards. One example is the 5. 56 NATO/ 223 Remington cartridge. 30-06 (left), 45. ACP (middle), 223 (right) America’s first attempt at the newly found design was the M14. While the M14 does not appear to be an assault rifle to the untrained eye, it must be remembered that the idea of assault rifles has been stereotyped as a big gun with nothing but a pistol grip and high capacity magazines. The US Army’s definition of assault rifle is a military type rifle capable of both automatic and semiautomatic fire, utilizing an intermediate-power cartridge. The M14 has all of these features. It may not have a pistol grip or synthetic stock, but it is still an assault rifle. It has full-auto capabilities, and uses the 7. 62x51mm (meaning the diameter of the bullet is 7. 62mm and the overall length of the cartridge is 51mm) cartridge which is like the high powered 30-06 only shortened by twelve millimeters. This meant that the average soldier could carry more due to its reduced weight. The M14 however proved to be almost unpractical in South East Asia which is where the US Military was at the time. Though the new ammo was lighter it was still much to heavy to carry any large quantity, the gun itself was very heavy which is a major detriment in jungles, and it was almost uncontrollable in full-auto due to the ammo which it shot. The military ceased production of the M14 in 1964. M14 The successor to the M14, and possibly the most famous American rifle of all time, was and still is the M16. Developed over a half century ago, the M16 is still the standard issue service rifle in every branch of the American military. Seeing the potential effectiveness of assault rifles like the M14, the US military started looking for a new rifle. In 1957 (the same year which the M14 was first deployed) the US Army asked the Armalite division of the Fairchild Aircraft Corp to design a new, light-weight, select-fire (full-auto or semi-auto) rifle which fired a . 22 caliber bullet and could penetrate a standard steel helmet at 500 yards. The task fell on the desk of Eugene Stoner who was an aircraft designer by trade but had recently also designed the M10. Sticking to his roots, Stoner used light-weight, space-age materials such as aluminums and synthetic stocks to make his new rifle. The new rifle featured the brand new . 223 caliber (metric designation 5. 56x45mm) cartridge which was a high-powered, high-velocity round that was light enough for the average soldier to carry hundreds of rounds but was powerful enough to penetrate armor and kill a man 400m away. The M16 was first known as the AR-15 and is still designated with this title for civilian, semi-auto versions. Contrary to popular belief that AR stands for â€Å"assault rifle† or â€Å"army rifle†, it actually stands for Armalite. When Armalite sold the rights for the M15 (designation for the M16’s original design) to Colts Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company, the first crates carrying the new rifle were marked AR-15 meaning Armalite model 15. Colt decided to keep the designation for civilian versions. After Armalite sold the rights for the M15 to Colt, Eugene Stoner soon transferred to work for Colt to further develop the rifle. After sending 1,000 AR-15 rifles to South Vietnam for field testing, Colt further developed the rifle. The final edition of the rifle for the USAF was designated the M16. The USAF purchased 19,000 of the new rifles for Strategic Air Command. The US Army experimented with the XM16A1 which featured a forward assist which could manually push open the bolt in case of jams. The US Army officially adopted the XM16A1 as the standard issue service rifle with the designation of M16A1 in 1967. Once in the field, reports of jamming in combat and constant over heating made opinions of the M16 much more pessimistic. One of the main problems was that in testing, Colt had specifically used DuPont IMR powder but the military started using normal ball powder which caused a lot more fouling and quickly jammed the action of the M16. The ball powder also increased rate of fire which decreased accuracy and durability. This combined with the fact that the initial M16 rifles were promoted by Colt as low maintenance, so, for the sake of economy, no cleaning supplies were issued for new M16 rifles, and no weapons care training was taught to the troops. As a result, soldiers did not know how to clean their rifles, and had no provisions for cleaning. The military, realizing these problems, soon switched back to the DuPont IMR powder, and issued cleaning supplies to every soldier. Also they chrome lined the barrel, chamber, and bolt to resist corrosion. Since its introduction the M16 has had many new variations to keep up with the times. The first was the M16A2 (adopted in 1982) which had several new features including rounded handguards instead of triangular ones, new sights which could be adjusted for both windage and elevation, and replaced the full-auto option with a three-round-burst which only allowed for three shots the be fired at one time to conserve ammo. The next variation was the M16A3 (adopted in 1994) which had a â€Å"flat top† upper receiver with a Picatinny rail system. The new rail system allowed a variety of accessories to be mounted and also allowed for other, non-standard sighting systems to be mounted the rifle. The rifle also once again featured full-auto capabilities along with the three round burst. The fourth variation was the M16A4 which was also designed in 1994 but wasn’t adopted until later. The M16A4 is identical to the M16A3 except it does not offer full-auto but uses the three-round-burst system. The newest variations are the M4 carbine and the M4A1 carbine which are shortened versions of the M16 that feature a shorter barrel and a six-position adjustable stock. The only difference between the M4 and the M4A1 is that the M4 features the three-round-burst, whereas the M4A1 is full-auto. While the M4 is not standard issue, it is widely accepted and used mainly by Special Forces. M16A1 M16A2 M4 Carbine