Semi-Auto Rifle
Specifications
- Type
- Self-Loading Rifle
- Origin
- United States / Europe
- Era
- Early 20th century – present
- Notable Users
- US forces (M1 Garand), Soviet forces (SVT-40), modern militaries
- Epoch
- Modern Age
History
The semi-automatic rifle fires one round per trigger pull and automatically cycles the action to chamber the next round. The M1 Garand, adopted by the US Army in 1936, was the first standard-issue semi-automatic military rifle. General George S. Patton called it ‘the greatest battle implement ever devised.’ The Garand’s eight-round en-bloc clip gave American infantrymen a significant firepower advantage over Axis soldiers still carrying bolt-action rifles in World War II. Modern semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 platform dominate both military and civilian markets.
Significance
The semi-automatic rifle doubled the practical rate of fire of infantry without sacrificing accuracy. It represented a fundamental shift: the individual soldier became a more potent combat unit, requiring fewer troops to hold the same frontage.
More from the Modern Age
12 weapons
54 Weapons. Five Epochs. One Poster.
The Semi-Auto Rifle is one of 13 weapons from the Modern Age featured on the poster.
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