AUTOMATIC RIFLE

rifle that utilizes either its recoil or a portion of the gas propelling the projectile to remove the spent cartridge case, load a new cartridge, and cock the weapon to fire again. Automatic rifles (and pistols) are called autoloaders and are actually semiautomatic, since they customarily fire only one shot at each pull of the trigger. Full automatic firethat is, firing repeatedly as long as the trigger is held down until the magazine is exhaustedis achieved by the assault rifle and the submachine gun (qq.v.). In the assault rifle, fully automatic fire can be substituted for one-shot fire simply by flicking a switch on the weapon. Likewise, a semiautomatic rifle needs only an adjustment (a simple procedure, for a gunsmith) to convert it to full automatic functioning. Most modern infantry rifles are assault rifles and have full automatic-fire capabilities.