How does an assault rifle work?

Answer 1

To be able to fire repetitious rounds most military standard assault rifles, such as the AK47/74, M16 and M4 Carbine, work on gas power which is recycled energy from a spent round. I will do my best to explain the mechanics of this. Anyone with the slightest interest in weaponry knows the standard firing pin mechanism. This firing pin is still in all assault rifles and has been for hundreds of years. When you pick up an assault rifle you load a clip (magazine) and cock the weapon as you would do with any rifle. When the weapon is cocked a spring mechanism inside the clip chambers a round and the firing pin is pulled back, providing the safety is off you are ready to fire your first round. I will now try and explain how the gas mechanism works. The gas piston tube is best exampled on the AK-47 as it is easily identifiable as the last 2 inches of it is exposed above the rifle barrel, where on the M16 and M4 Carbine the gas tube is covered. When the round is fired the gas (recycled energy) is picked up by a port on the weapon which drives a piston that travels back down the rifle. This recycled energy/piston repeats the manual task you just did to cock the weapon prior to firing. It drives the bolt back, forces the spent round out of the chamber, re-cocks the firing pin and the spring mechanism in the clip chambers a new round then the bolt closes, via another spring mechanism, then the next round is ready to fire. Needless to say all this happens a blink of an eye and if you have the weapon switched to full auto mode you will empty a clip of 25/30 rounds in a matter of seconds. A "true" assault rifle has the ability to fire on fully automatic mode. They are normally is fitted with high capacity magazines (30 ~ 1000 rounds) because they use ammunition at a high rate. Other than the fully automatic feature, the mechanical operation is exactly like any simi automatic rifle. What is considered an "assault rifle" changes over time. In the late 1800s, a lever action Winchester would have been considered an assault rifle when compared to a single shot muzzle loader.