Posted on 12/19/2012 4:59:48 AM PST by varmintman
There are basically two definitions of an assault weapon, i.e. a political and a military definition.
The political definition is basically just anything which, on a scale of one to ten for being scary looking to demokkkrats, rises much over about a five or a six...
The real military definition is more complex. Most assume a weapon has to be at least semi-automatic and preferably automatic to quality but, in real life, that's not really necessary. In fact in real life, most people attempting to fire any military weapon in full auto mode will never hit anything with it.
What you really want and need for an assault weapon are things which work well in assault situations:
Add to that list the ideas that it would be good if the thing never jammed and were easy to clean. Add all of that up, and what I come up with is a lot different from the pictures you usually see.
These are the two rifles I'd ask you to look at:
The Israeli heavy barreled FAL rifle is basically a conversation piece for older people, way too heavy and clunky to meet the military definition of an "assault rifle"; in the Israeli army it served the dual purpose of sniper rifle and squad level light machinegun.
The little 22-magnum caliber Henry Rifle, assuming it was using the newest Hornady ammo with 45-grain bullets meets the military definition other than for lacking a detachable magazine which would be a slight modification.
The Henry is a $375 item on Gunbroker or at BassPro or Gander Mountain.
The heavy FAL of course would be a perfect ten for scaring demoKKKrats...
The FAL in the picture needs a flash-hider ....
It’s pretty evident much of gun control is based on ignorance.
Townhall’s video of Soledad O’Brien castigating John Lott for suggesting people benefit from semi-automatic weapons proves that most people don’t even know what that means.
To such people, big scary black guns that sound almost like machine guns are bad, after all it’s SEMI-automatic, that’s got to be close right?
Not assault rifle. Defense rifle.
But whatever happened to the BAR?
Then there’s Bill O’Reilly’s definition...bazookas, mortars and tanks.
I am building my own version of a rifle, it shifts on its own and will be called a Peterbilt.
So technically its a semi-auto.
I think that FAL does have a flash hider. It’s just skinnier than the thick barrel that the Israelis used on that version.
Browning still makes a hunting rifle it calls a BAR but the original BAR was overly heavy and limited to the obsolete 30-06 military cartrige. Granted you can load 30-06 cartriges with modern powders into a mini-mag for bolt action rifles, but BARs and M1s can’t use that sort of ammo. The FAL on the other hand easily adjusts to any sort of 308 ammo. The FAL was the most flexible military rifle.
If I’m not mistaken before the assault weapons ban was passed Miss America (Pelosi) and another nutjob demorat went through a gun book and selected what they considered Assault weapons very scientific. That was under Bubba Klinton.
Liberal friend: Who needs an assault rifle?
Me: The people being shot by the lunatic?
Will take both please!
The brake on the lower is horrible to stand next to, but the reduction in felt recoil is wonderful...not that there will be much with the full profile barrel...
RRA with NATO chamber, GTG
nit - it has to be at least semi-auto....you were correct about auto but a muzzle loader wouldn’t be much of a fire team tool.
Guessing magazine size, flash suppressor and adjustable stock.
I like the idea of a rimfire cartrige for military weapons, something just a tad bigger than 22wmr would be ideal, 24caliber and a 60-grain bullet moving at around 2000 - 2200 fps should be easy to do and the form factor would be smaller than the 223, possibly a detachable magazine off to one side rather than down where it interferes with prone shooting. If you don’t like the lever action you could use that glorified blowback system which Benelli uses for its semiauto shotgun, that would be foolproof for a weapon which only ever saw one kind of ammo and easy to clean.
I beg to differ: the BAR is a steady, precise automatic rifle and eminently controllable, which is why it was a superb squad support weapon and is still sorely missed. As far as 30-06 M2 ball ammunition goes, it is accurate and carries a formidable punch out to 600M and beyond and easily defeats concrete walls, light vehicles, and any body armor in existence.
I trained on the BAR in 1965 and was amazed at its ability to place each round exactly where I needed them at full auto. It didn’t just spray rounds, it put each round where you wanted them. As far as it weight goes, I’m sure we could assign a nice strong Marine to hold the BAR up for you.
Assault Rifle is an actual military designation. Involves a semi-automatic/automatic weapon firing an intermediate cartridge, see Sturmgewehr, AK-47, M-16, etc.
Assault Weapon is a weasel term created by gun controller types. It is defined by the legislator writing the law.
I have a rather interesting book in converting Military rifles to sporting rifles. Bought it before the madness of 1968 (which we are again seeing now).
It shows EVIL 5 shot bolt action rifles being transformed into “good” blessed 5 shot hunting rifles.
it also shows a M-1 Carbine and Garand going through the transformation.
Then, after the 1968 Gun Control Act became law, the EVIL 5 shot bolt action rifles were still considered EVIL after the transformation to sporting rifles, and could not be imported because they were “Military surplus”. Police surplus were OK.
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