[47MartialMan]

Originally Posted by Draven

No the term Assault Rifle was invented by Hittler, but the gun came from the Germans. Basically as Assault Rifle brings a bare a class rifle structure

From Wiki

"An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle or carbine firing ammunition with muzzle energies intermediate between those typical of pistol and battle rifle ammunition. Assault rifles are categorized between light machine guns, intended more for sustained automatic fire in a support role, and submachine guns, which fire a handgun cartridge rather than a rifle cartridge. Assault rifles are the standard small arms in most modern armies, having largely replaced or supplemented larger, more powerful battle rifles, such as the World War II-era M1 Garand and Tokarev SVT."

Actually the term assualt rifle wasnt used by Hitler. The Sturmgewehr 44 was actually the first Assault Rifle, that Hitler despised upon being shown. It translated as "Storm Rifle". There is some conflict of Hitler actually naming it. Most of my references state that Hitler hated it as he was more into "traditional infantry rifles". But "assault rifle" is a English translation from the German term.

It was Kalashnikov whom was part if the raid on Berlin that picked up on one and returned with it to Russia. Later to develop/model the AK off it.

Simply any automatic weapon using a large capacity magazine is not a assault rifle, as small machine guns fit in this category.

I believe, because of trajectory and ballastics, that the 7.62 fired from the AK, verses the 5.56 from the M-16, that the AK is not as nearly a "rifle" as the M-16. My books/references and speaking to many gun people about this seem to agree.