Sturmgewehr 45
Sturmgewehr MP 44
STEYR STM 556
A hint at this new weapon had been given during World War I, when Vladimir Grigorevich Fyodorov, father of Russian automatic weapons, married the 6.5-mm (.26-inch) cartridge of the Japanese Arisaka rifle to an automatic rifle. In 1916 he unveiled his new weapon, the Avtomat Fyodorova. Owing to the turmoil of the Russian Revolution of 1917, only about 3,200 of Fyodorov’s weapons were delivered. Nevertheless, they pointed the way to future infantry weapon design.
During World War II, Hugo Schmeisser designed a light rifle to fire the Germans’ 7.92-mm (.31-inch) Kurz, or “Short,” cartridge, which was of the same calibre as the Mauser rifle cartridge but was lighter and shorter and was therefore of a less potent, “intermediate” power. The weapon, known variously as the MP43, MP44, or Sturmgewehr (“Assault Rifle”) 44, was loaded by a curved box magazine holding 30 rounds and was designed for most effective fire at about 270 metres (300 yards). Only 425,000 to 440,000 of these rifles were built—too few and too late for the German war effort—but they were based on a concept that would dominate infantry weapons for the rest of the century.
Late in the war the Soviets also began a search for a rifle to shoot their 7.62-mm (.30-inch) intermediate cartridge, which produced a muzzle velocity of 710 metres (2,330 feet) per second. Historical evidence suggests that they were influenced by the Sturmgewehr, but to what extent remains uncertain. In 1947 they adopted a weapon designed by Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov, naming it the Avtomat Kalashnikova. Like the German weapon, the AK-47 was operated by diverting some of the propellant gases into a cylinder above the barrel; this drove a piston that forced the bolt back against its spring and cocked the hammer for the next round. At the turn of a selector switch, the action could be changed from semiautomatic to fully automatic, firing at a rate of 600 rounds per minute. The AK-47 was made of forged and milled steel, giving it a weight of 4.8 kg (10.6 pounds) with a loaded 30-round magazine. The receiver of the AKM version, introduced in 1959, was made of lighter sheet metal, reducing the weight to 3.8 kg (8.3 pounds), and the AK-74 version, following later trends in the West, switched to a 5.45-mm (.21-inch) cartridge with a higher muzzle velocity of 900 metres (about 3,000 feet) per second. The most recent version of the AK-74, the AK-74M, is currently the main infantry weapon of the Russian army.
Kalashnikov’s assault rifles became the most significant infantry weapons of the post-World War II era. In many variants, they were adopted and made by countries all over the world. It has been estimated that some 100 million AKs have been produced since the series’ introduction, more than any other firearm in history.
The development of Western small arms proceeded more slowly, mainly because the United States insisted upon maintaining a power level comparable to the M1. As a result, in 1953 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) reluctantly agreed to standardize on a 7.62-mm (.30-inch) cartridge that was a half-inch shorter than the M1 cartridge but of the same calibre and power. To fire this new round, the United States produced an improved version of the M1 rifle, featuring a 20-round detachable magazine and being capable of selective fire. Called the U.S. Rifle 7.62mm M14, it replaced the M1, beginning in 1957. As a self-loading rifle the M14 performed well, but it was too heavy as a close-quarters weapon, and the extreme recoil generated by the NATO round caused it to be totally unmanageable as an automatic rifle.
Other NATO armies adopted more satisfactory 7.62-mm (.30-inch) rifles, although even these were employed as advanced self-loaders rather than automatics. Most commonly, they were either the gas-operated Fusil Automatique Léger (FAL), introduced by the Belgian Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre in 1957, or the blowback-operated Gewehr 3 (G3), produced in West Germany by the firm Heckler & Koch, beginning in 1959. Millions of these weapons were sold to many countries.
After the Korean War (1950–53), U.S. military researchers dissatisfied with rifle-power ammunition began to test a .22-inch (5.56-mm) cartridge that propelled a lighter projectile at a much higher muzzle velocity of 3,000 feet (about 900 metres) per second. To fire this “small-calibre, high-velocity” round, in 1958 they chose the AR-15 rifle, designed by Eugene M. Stoner for the ArmaLite Division of Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporation. The AR-15 was gas-operated, but it eliminated the piston in favour of a tube that directed propellant gases directly into an expansion chamber between the bolt and bolt carrier. By reducing the number of working parts and chambering the rifle for a smaller cartridge, Stoner had come up with a lightweight weapon that, even on automatic fire, produced a manageable recoil and yet was capable of inflicting fatal wounds at 300 yards (270 metres) and beyond. In 1961 the air force purchased the AR-15, renaming it the M16. Six years later, with units in Vietnam finding the weapon very effective under the close conditions of jungle warfare, the army adopted it as the M16A1.
After U.S. troops in Europe were issued the M16, a series of trials ensued that ended with the decision, in 1980, to adopt a standard 5.56-mm (.22-inch) NATO cartridge. This fired a brass-jacketed projectile that, having a heavier lead core and steel nose, was lethal at longer ranges than the original AR-15 bullet. The M16A2, which has been the standard-issue infantry weapon of the U.S. military since the 1980s, was rifled to fire this round, and other NATO armies switched over. West Germany introduced the G41, a 5.56-mm (.22-inch) version of the G3, and Belgium replaced the FAL with the FNC. The British and French armies developed new assault rifles with compact “bullpup” designs, in which the bolt, receiver, and magazine were behind the handgrip and trigger and much of the shoulder stock was occupied by the operating mechanism. This permitted a much shorter weapon than orthodox designs, in which the magazine and receiver were ahead of the trigger. As a result, the French FA MAS and British L85A1 were only some 76 to 78 cm (30 to 31 inches) long—compared with the M16, which was 99 cm (39 inches) overall. Many of the newer models were built with lightweight plastic shoulder stocks and magazines, as well as receivers made of aluminum.
