ALL ABOUT GUNS DICTIONARY-A
Action -- As applied to most modern firearms, the action is that portion of a firearm incorporating all the parts that are necessary for a cartridge to be fed, fired and ejected such as the receiver/frame, bolt, feeding mechanism, fire control mechanism, etc. It is literally the core of a firearm. -- Nov. 1, 2012
Assault rifle -- Selective-fire rifles chambered for intermediate-power cartridges that are capable of both semiautomatic and fullautomatic fire. Assault rifles came into being as the result of an effort by the German army in World War 2 to bridge the gap between submachineguns that fire relatively low-powered pistol cartridges (such as the 9mm Para. MP40) and rifles (such as the 7.92 x 57mm Kar. 98k) that fire full-power rifle cartridges. The first successful, mass produced assault rifles to enter military service were the German 7.92 x 33mm Kurz Sturmgewehr series (MP43/MP44/StG44) and every major power in the world to date has either designed or adopted assault rifles such as the AK47, M16 or Steyr AUG. -- Jan. 29, 2013
Atchisson Assault Shotgun -- Experimental, 12 gauge, selective-fire shotgun developed in the early 1970s by Maxwell G. Atchisson. According to The World's Fighting Shotguns, vol. IV, pgs 385-395 by Thomas F. Swearingen, the Atchisson Assault Shotgun was a simple, blowback design that fed rounds from either a 20 round drum magazine or a 5 shot box magazine and was reported to be easily controlled in fullautomatic fire. -- December 14, 2014
Copyright December 2014 John Swikart
