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Concept
Battle rifle
Summary
A battle rifle is a service rifle chambered to fire a fully powered cartridge.
The term "battle rifle" is a retronym created largely out of a need to better differentiate the intermediate-powered assault rifles (e.g. the StG-44, AK-47, M16, AUG) from full-powered rifles (e.g. the FG-42, AVS-36, FN FAL, and M14, as well as the H&K G3 outside of sniping uses) as both classes of modern firearms have a similar appearance and share many of the same features such as detachable magazines, pistol grips, separate upper and lower receivers etc. Battle rifles were most prominent from the 1940s to the 1970s, when they were used as service rifles. While modern battle rifles largely resemble modern assault rifle designs, which replaced battle rifles in most roles, the term may also describe older military full-powered semi-automatic rifles such as the M1 Garand, SVT-40, Gewehr 41, Gewehr 43, Type 4, FN Model 1949, and MAS-49.
During World War I, all of the world's armies were equipped with bolt-action rifles, and the thought of fully automatic fire in a design that was lightweight and controllable enough to be used by a single soldier was seen as something that would be extremely useful in the static conditions of trench warfare. The Russian Empire produced the world's first battle rifle, the Fedorov Avtomat, which was select-fire and fired the rather underpowered 6.5mm Arisaka round from a 25-round box magazine. Only about 100 were produced and used during the war before the Russian Civil War forced Russia to withdraw its forces in 1917, and so there is an absence of reports on the combat effectiveness of Fedorov rifles, but they continued to be produced until 1925. Fedorov rifles were also used in limited numbers during the opening stages of the Winter War.
The battle rifle was of major significance during World War II, with the United States, Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan all producing them in some capacity, and millions were produced during this era, but overall, with the sole exception of the United States, bolt-action rifles were much more common.
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