A rifle designed for combat, with selective fire (capable of shooting in both fully automatic and semi automatic modes, or in some cases, 2 to 3 shots). The German StG44 is the very first successful assault rifle ever designed and introduced in battle.
In the strictest of definitions, for a firearm to be considered an assault rifle it must at least follow these characteristics:
It must be an individual weapon with provision to fire from the shoulder (i.e. a buttstock);
It must be capable of selective fire;
It must have an intermediate-power cartridge: more power and velocity than a pistol but less than a standard rifle or battle rifle (i.e. 5.56x45mm NATO);
Its ammunition must be supplied from a detachable box magazine.
