Service rifle

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Infantry rifle" redirects here. For the British Baker rifle, officially known as the Infantry rifle, see Baker rifle.
An Uzi submachine gun, FN FAL battle rifle, and FN Minimi light machine gun—common service weapons in the Western world during the mid-to-late 20th century—displayed at the Curtius Museum in Liège, Belgium

A service rifle (or standard-issue rifle) is a

paramilitaries
.

If the issued weapon is not a rifle or carbine, but instead a different type of firearm intended to serve in a specialized role such as a combat shotgun, submachine gun, or light machine gun, it is called a service firearm or service weapon.

History

See also: History of the firearm
Colt Canada C7A2
service rifle

Firearms with

rifled barrels existed long before the 19th century, but were not widely used until the mid-19th century in conflicts such as the Crimean War and American Civil War. Thus, rifles in the early 19th century were for specialist marksmen only, whilst ordinary infantry were issued less accurate smoothbore muskets which had a higher rate of fire, with bore diameters as high as 19 mm (0.75 inch). Early "service rifles" of the 1840s and 1850s, such as the Swiss Infanteriegewehr Modell 1842, the British Pattern 1853 Enfield, and the American Springfield Model 1840 and Springfield Model 1855
were all muzzleloading muskets.

Ordnance rifles were introduced in the 1860s and 1870s, with the French

Springfield Model 1873 was the first single-shot breech-loading rifle adopted by the United States War Department
for manufacture and widespread issue to U.S. troops.

The development of

bolt-action rifles, such as the British Lee–Enfield, the German Gewehr 98, and the Russian Mosin–Nagant
.

During the

7.92x33mm Kurz intermediate rifle cartridge. After the war, the StG 44 was of particular interest to the Soviet Union, whose AK-47 was derived heavily from the German design.[3] In the 1960s and 1970s, the United States developed and produced the M16 rifle, cementing the applicability of the assault rifle
as an effective and versatile combat weapon for future conflicts.

See also

References

  1. ^ McNab, Chris (2013). German Automatic Rifles 1941-45: Gew 41, Gew 43, FG 42 and StG 44. Osprey Publishing. p. 19.
  2. ^ Grant, Niel (2015). Mauser Military Rifles. Osprey Publishing. p. 65.
  3. ^ McNab, Chris (2001). The AK-47. Spellmount. p. 21.
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