At a time when the infantry of many armies is armed with sophisticated and fully automatic versions of assault rifles, US foot soldiers are being equipped with the modified M-16A2, a one-pull, three-shot version of the original Colt rifle.

The AK-47 is quite different from the M-16A2 service rifle - the weapon American troops become intimately acquainted with. The two best-known assault rifles today are the M16 series developed in the United States (the M16A2 is not technically fully automatic, as it is designed to fire three-round bursts) and the various designs of Kalashnikov such as the AK47 and the AK74. The assault rifle was developed during the last years of World War II and may be looked on as an effort to give the individual soldier some of the potential firepower of the machine gun. What is automatic in a semiautomatic small arm is the chambering (of rounds) and extraction (of cartridges). This behavior distinguishes military from civilian small arms: the latter class of weapons, although usually but mistakenly referred to as 'automatic,' are actually 'semiautomatic.' In a semiautomatic small arm, the trigger must be pulled every time a bullet is fired. Their essential characteristic is that they are fully automatic that is, they will fire as long as the trigger is pulled and there are rounds in the magazine. The most commonly used military small arms are the assault rifle and the machine gun. The main advantages of the Kalashnikov rifle are its simple design, fairly compact size and adaptation to mass production. The AK-47 was one of the first true assault rifles and, due to its durability, low production cost and ease of use, the weapon and its numerous variants remain the most widely used assault rifles in the world. All of the Kalashnikov assault rifles are very dependable and produce a high volume of fire. The AK-47 is a selective fire, gas operated 7.62mm assault rifle developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. Avtomat Kalashnikov AK-47 - Characteristics

Ak 47 sight distance