automatic rifle

a type of light machine gun capable of firing automatically or in single shots.

Also called automatic, machine rifle.

[1875-80]

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▪ weapon

      rifle that utilizes either its recoil or a portion of the gas propelling the projectile to remove the spent cartridge case, load a new cartridge, and cock the weapon to fire again. Automatic rifles (and pistols) are called autoloaders and are actually semiautomatic, since they customarily fire only one shot at each pull of the trigger. Full automatic fire—that is, firing repeatedly as long as the trigger is held down until the magazine is exhausted—is achieved by the assault rifle and the submachine gun (qq.v.). In the assault rifle, fully automatic fire can be substituted for one-shot fire simply by flicking a switch on the weapon. Likewise, a semiautomatic rifle needs only an adjustment (a simple procedure, for a gunsmith) to convert it to full automatic functioning. Most modern infantry rifles are assault rifles and have full automatic-fire capabilities.

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