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56-688: The OSV-96 (Russian: ОСВ-96) is a Russian semi-automatic anti-materiel rifle chambered for 12.7×108mm . The rifle is capable of engaging infantry at a distance of up to 1800 meters and can combat materiel targets at ranges up to 2500 meters. The OSV-96 can keep the shooter outside of the effective range of conventional calibers providing a distinct advantage over lower caliber rifles. Specialized high-accuracy 12.7×108mm 7N34 59.0 gram FMJ and AP sniper cartridges have been developed for Russian .50-caliber sniper rifles such as this rifle. Large caliber machine gun cartridges can also be used for firing, but with limited accuracy. With 7N34 ammunition, its accuracy

112-445: A Canadian -born firearms designer, was tasked with designing a basic gas-actuated self-loading infantry rifle and carbine that would eject the spent cartridge and reload a new round using a gas-operated system. Designing a rifle that was practical in terms of effectiveness, reliability, and production was difficult, and it took fifteen years to perfect the M1 prototype model to meet all

168-502: A Winchester rifle . Another of the first designs of a recoil-operated semi-automatic rifle is attributed to Ferdinand Mannlicher , who unveiled his design in 1885 based on work begun in 1883. Other non-gas operated semi-automatic models were the Model 85 and Mannlicher Models 91, 93 and 95 rifles. The designs never proceeded past the conceptual/prototype stage due to issues inherent to the black powder used in their cartridges (based around

224-529: A French patent and submitted prototypes for testing by the French army in 1888 although the true date of their invention is uncertain. They would also produce a semi-automatic shotgun in the early 1890s. In 1889, the Austro-Hungarian Adolf Odkolek von Újezd filed a patent for the first successful gas-operated machine gun. Most current gas systems employ some type of piston. The face of the piston

280-404: A firearm unless it is regulated somehow. Most gas-operated firearms rely on tuning the gas port size, mass of operating parts, and spring pressures to function. Several other methods are employed to regulate the energy. The M1 carbine incorporates a very short piston, or "tappet." This movement is closely restricted by a shoulder recess. This mechanism inherently limits the amount of gas taken from

336-603: A full power cartridge. The direct impingement (DI) method of operation vents gas from partway down the barrel through a tube to the working parts of a rifle where they directly impinge on the bolt carrier. This results in a simpler, lighter mechanism. Firearms that use this system include the French MAS-40 from 1940, the Swedish Ag m/42 from 1942. The Stoner gas system of the American M16 , M4, and AR-15 style rifles utilize

392-488: A gas piston-operated rifle and pistol which he claimed could be used with sliding, rotating or falling bolts. He would also patent a gas-operated revolver in 1886. Paulson did construct models of his rifle and tried them in France shortly after filing his patent. Furthermore, according to A. W. F. Taylerson, a firearms historian, his patented revolver was probably workable. In 1887, an American inventor called Henry Pitcher patented

448-569: A gas-operated conversion system from an American inventor named Henry Pitcher. Other designs also developed, such as the Cei-Rigotti in 1900. In 1906, Remington Arms introduced the " Remington Auto-loading Repeating Rifle ". Remington advertised this rifle, renamed the "Model 8" in 1911, as a sporting rifle. It was sold in Europe by FN Herstal as the "FN Browning 1900". The rifle is a locked breech, long recoil action designed by John Browning , and

504-538: A gas-operated conversion system that he claimed could be applied to any manually-operated magazine rifle. In 1890 he would patent and submit an original gas-operated rifle for testing by the US government but it performed poorly and was ultimately never adopted despite being offered commercially for the civilian market. In the 1880s a gas piston-operated rifle and pistol were developed by the Clair Brothers of France who received

560-467: A hole being drilled in the barrel. Both governments would first adopt weapons and later abandon the concept. Most earlier US M1 Garand rifles were retrofitted with long-stroke gas pistons, making the surviving gas trap rifles valuable in the collector's market. In the 1980s Soviet designer Alexander Adov from TsKIB SOO modified the concept with a tube diverting gas from the muzzle to a standard long stroke system (see below) in order to diminish influence of

616-648: A large volume of fire was deemed more important – during World War II , American ground forces fired approximately 25,000 rounds for each enemy killed. In the Korean War , this number raised to 50,000, and in the Vietnam War it became 200,000 rounds per enemy. The first fully automatic rifle to see widespread usage was the German StG 44 , which was reportedly well-liked by troops, as the 30-round selective fire rifle gave them much more flexibility than their service rifle ,

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672-422: A modified version of this where a gas tube delivers gas into the bolt carrier to impinge on the bolt, which acts as a piston to cycle the rifle. One principal advantage is that the moving parts are placed in-line with the bore axis meaning that sight picture is not disturbed as much. This offers a particular advantage for fully automatic mechanisms. It has the disadvantage of the high-temperature propellant gas (and

728-487: A self-loading mechanism makes self-loading rifles more expensive to manufacture and heavier than manually loaded rifles. The semi-automatic M1 Garand weighs about 410 grams (0.9 lb) more (around seven percent) than the manually loaded M1903 Springfield it replaced. American development of a self-loading infantry rifle began with the .276 Pedersen cartridge in recognition of the difficulties of producing reliable self-loading mechanisms for more powerful cartridges. Although

784-568: A single target multiple times rapidly or multiple targets rapidly, greatly increases the effectiveness of a firearm in most applications. Reloading is a downtime from shooting and is a time of vulnerability in hostile applications. Semi-automatic rifles require less frequent reloading than single shot rifles. Semi-automatic rifles can typically more than double the hits at close range and increase hits by about 50% at longer distances compared to manually loaded rifles. The added weight of springs and fittings in self-loading mechanisms, along with some of

840-567: A surface such as a piston head to provide motion for unlocking of the action , extraction of the spent case, ejection, cocking of the hammer or striker, chambering of a fresh cartridge, and locking of the action. The first mention of using a gas piston in a single-shot breech-loading rifle comes from 1856, by the German Edward Lindner who patented his invention in the United States and Britain. In 1866, Englishman William Curtis filed

896-405: A target and providing a large variety of customization ranging from scopes and muzzle devices, to different calibers. Semi-automatic fire greatly assists in maintaining one's sight picture, which is especially important when follow-up shots are required. Due to their demand, the manufacturers of semi-automatic firearms have greatly increased the effective firing distance of their products compared to

952-423: Is a system of operation used to provide energy to operate locked breech , autoloading firearms . In gas-operation, a portion of high-pressure gas from the cartridge being fired is used to power a mechanism to dispose of the spent case and insert a new cartridge into the chamber . Energy from the gas is harnessed through either a port in the barrel or a trap at the muzzle . This high-pressure gas impinges on

1008-557: Is acted upon by combustion gas from a port in the barrel or a trap at the muzzle. Early guns, such as Browning's "flapper" prototype, the Bang rifle , and the Garand rifle , used relatively low-pressure gas from at or near the muzzle . This, combined with larger operating parts, reduced the strain on the mechanism. To simplify and lighten the firearm, gas from nearer the chamber needed to be used. This high- pressure gas has sufficient force to destroy

1064-482: Is claimed as 1.5 MOA at 100 meters or better, equal to the Barrett M107 . The OSV-96 folds in half in between the barrel/chamber and receiver compartments to shorten its length for ease of transportation. The rifle features a free-floating barrel in combination with a large muzzle brake to greatly decrease its recoil. Semi-automatic rifle In 1883, Hiram Maxim patented a recoil-operated conversion of

1120-470: Is not locked but is pushed rearward by the expanding propellant gases as in other blowback-based designs. However, propellant gases are vented from the barrel into a cylinder with a piston that delays the opening of the bolt. It is used by Volkssturmgewehr 1-5 rifle, the Heckler & Koch P7 , Steyr GB and Walther CCP pistols. To avoid consuming a lot of relatively expensive rounds, many armies, including

1176-466: The .50 BMG Barrett M82 . Semi-automatic weapons use gas , blow-forward , blowback or recoil energy to eject spent cartridges after the round has moved down the barrel , to chamber a new cartridge from the weapon's magazine , and to reset the action . This enables another round to be fired once the trigger is depressed again. Semi-automatic rifles can be fed by an en-bloc clip , external magazine , or stripper clip . The self-loading design

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1232-514: The AR-15 family of weapons for addressing the shortcomings of the Stoner internal gas piston operating system. It is a cross between a short-stroke gas piston and a M1 Garand type long-stroke gas piston system. It is similar to a regular short-stroke piston in operation because it too uses an open gas piston that has an impingement cavity at its head, that rests on a gas block on the barrel. However just like

1288-563: The Armalite AR-18 or the SKS . In either case, the energy is imparted in a short, abrupt push and the motion of the gas piston is then arrested, allowing the bolt carrier assembly to continue through the operating cycle through kinetic energy . This has the advantage of reducing the total mass of recoiling parts compared with a long-stroke piston. This, in turn, enables better control of the weapon due to less mass needing to be stopped at either end of

1344-672: The MAS-36 , another bolt action, despite the various semi-automatic rifles designed between 1918 and 1935. Other nations experimented with self-loading rifles during the interwar period, including the United Kingdom , which had intended to replace the bolt-action Lee–Enfield with a self-loading rifle, but this plan had to be discarded when the Second World War became imminent, shifting its emphasis to speeding up re-armament with existing weapons. In Springfield, Massachusetts , John Garand ,

1400-688: The Mondragón rifle , designated the M1908. The rifle was used by Mexican forces in the Mexican Revolution , making Mexico the first nation to use a semi-automatic rifle in battle, in 1911. Shortly after the Mondragón rifle was produced, France had its own semi-automatic rifle, the Fusil Automatique Modele 1917 . It is a locked breech, gas-operated action which is similar in its mechanical principles to

1456-470: The U.S. Army specifications. The resulting Semi-Automatic, Caliber .30, M1 Rifle was patented by Garand in 1932, approved by the U.S. Army on January 9, 1936, and went into mass production in 1940. Thus, in 1936, the American M1 Garand rifle became the first gas-operated semi-automatic rifle to be adopted by a country as their standard-issue service rifle . General George S. Patton described

1512-575: The Winchester Repeating Arms Company introduced the first low power blowback (shell operated) semi-automatic rimfire and centerfire rifles. The Winchester Model 1903 and Winchester Model 1905 operated on the principle of blowback to function semi-automatically. Designed by T.C. Johnson , the Model 1903 achieved commercial success and continued to be manufactured until 1932, when the Winchester Model 63 replaced it. By

1568-449: The barrel . The M14 rifle and M60 GPMG use the White expansion and cutoff system to stop (cut off) gas from entering the cylinder once the piston has traveled a short distance. Most systems, however, vent excess gas into the atmosphere through slots, holes, or ports. A gas trap system involves "trapping" combustion gas as it leaves the muzzle. This gas impinges on a surface that converts

1624-494: The Austrian 11×58mmR M/77 ), such as insufficient velocity and excessive fouling . Automatic firearms would only become feasible after smokeless powder became widespread. Mannlicher designs served as a basis for several future weapons, such as Browning machine guns ( M1917 , M1919, and M2 ). Mannlicher produced smokeless powder versions of his guns, beginning in the early 1890s, until his death in 1904, . In 1903 and 1905,

1680-630: The M1 Garand as " the greatest battle implement ever devised. " It replaced the bolt-action M1903 Springfield and became the standard infantry rifle known as the Garand Rifle . During World War II , over 4,000,000 M1 rifles were manufactured. The Soviet AVS-36 , SVT-38, and SVT-40 , as well as the German Gewehr 43 , were semi-automatic gas-operated rifles issued during World War II in relatively small numbers. In practice, they did not replace

1736-483: The M1 Garand was ultimately adapted to fire the .30-06 Springfield cartridge at the insistence of General Douglas MacArthur , most subsequent self-loading rifles for infantry use have been chambered for less powerful cartridges to reduce weight, making the service rifles easier to carry. Target shooting has a long history, predating the firearm. As weapons that demanded user accuracy developed, so did their usage in competitions. Today, semi-automatic rifles are one of

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1792-526: The Model 1905 and Model 1907 saw limited military and police use. In 1883, two Danish inventors, Madsen and Rasmussen, began developing recoil-operated, self-loading firearm designs. By 1887, they had created a functional prototype, which was later designated the M1888 Forsøgsrekylgevær . This rifle underwent testing by the Danish military, but it was ultimately rejected for military adoption. Following

1848-486: The United States Army, trained machine gun crews with less-expensive sub-caliber ammunition in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. To do this, they needed a cheap .22 LR cartridge to operate firearms designed to use the .30-06 cartridge. David Marshall Williams invented a method that involved a separate floating chamber that acted as a gas piston with combustion gas impinging directly on

1904-676: The bolt action Karabiner 98k . Ultimately, automatic rifles would become standard in military usage, as their firepower was superior to that of a semi-automatic rifle. However, both semi-automatic and bolt action rifles are still widely used today in military service in specific roles, such as designated marksman rifles where the greater accuracy compared to automatic rifles is valued. Furthermore, to accommodate for this greater firepower, battle rifles were mostly replaced by assault rifles , whose lighter bullets allowed more ammunition to be carried at once. Where semi-automatic rifles continue to be used, they are usually in higher calibers, such as

1960-483: The bolt carrier travel and prevents hot combustion gases from being pushed into the internals and removes powder residue in the receiver which significantly improves reliability, increasing the lifespan of weapon parts by reducing instances of malfunctions under prolonged periods of extreme high rate of fire and suppressed shooting. The short-stroke operating system is available both on military ( HK416 lineage , LMT MARS ) and civilian markets as an alternative or retrofit to

2016-460: The bolt-action rifle as a standard infantry weapon of their respective nations— Germany produced 402,000 Gewehr 43 rifles, and over 14,000,000 of the Kar98k . Another gas-operated semi-automatic rifle developed toward the end of World War II was the SKS . Designed by Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov in 1945, it came equipped with a bayonet and could be loaded with ten rounds, using a stripper clip . It

2072-543: The cartridge energy being used to reload, can give the advantage of reduced recoil . Reduced recoil helps keep the rifle on target for successive shots, improving overall accuracy. A self-loading mechanism, tuned for specific cartridge dimensions and power, may fail to reload dirty or bent cartridges that would otherwise fire. It can also struggle to extract low-power training cartridges or may be damaged by high-power rounds. Some rifles require lubricated cartridges, making them prone to collecting dirt. Reliability issues in

2128-440: The early 20th century, several manufacturers had introduced semi-automatic .22 rifles, including Winchester , Remington , Fabrique Nationale , and Savage Arms , all using the direct blowback system of operation. Winchester introduced a .351 Winchester Self-Loading semi-automatic rifle, the Model 1907, as an upgrade to the Model 1905, utilizing a blowback system of operation, offering more power than its .22 counterpart. Both

2184-406: The energy to motion that, in turn, cycles the action of the firearm. As the resulting motion is forward toward the muzzle of the gun, some sort of mechanical system is needed to translate this into the rearward motion needed to operate the bolt. This adds to the complexity of the mechanism and its weight, and the placement of the trap generally results in a longer weapon and allows dirt to easily enter

2240-448: The first patent on a gas-operated repeating rifle but subsequently failed to develop that idea further. Between 1883 and 1885, Hiram Maxim filed several patents on blowback-, recoil-, and gas-operation. In 1885, one year after Maxim's first gas-operated patent, a British inventor called Richard Paulson, who a year before had patented a straight blowback-operated rifle and pistol, again, one year after Maxim’s first blowback patent, patented

2296-463: The first semi-automatics sold on the civilian market. Semi-automatic rifles are sometimes used for self-defense . Most semi-automatic rifles are rather lightweight and simple to operate, without compromising accuracy. Range-adjustable sights are also common, allowing their use in different environments. Johnson, Melvin M. (1944). Rifles and Machine Guns . New York: William Morrow and Company. Gas-operated reloading Gas-operation

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2352-438: The front of the floating chamber. The .22 caliber Colt Service Ace conversion kit for the .45 caliber M1911 pistol also used Williams' system, which allows a much heavier slide than other conversions operating on the unaugmented blowback mechanism and makes training with the converted pistol realistic. A floating chamber provides additional force to operate the heavier slide, providing a felt recoil level similar to that of

2408-520: The gas engine on barrel and increase accuracy, but his sniper rifle wasn't adopted due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union . With a long-stroke system, the piston is mechanically fixed to the bolt group and moves through the entire operating cycle. This system is used in weapons such as the Bren light machine gun , AK-47 , Tavor , FN Minimi , FN MAG , FN FNC , and M1 Garand . The primary advantage of

2464-491: The long-stroke gas piston system used on the M1 Garand the piston assembly is integrated with the operating rod and moves with the bolt group. The caveat of this system is that it has heavier moving mass than modern long-stroke gas piston systems used on rifles like the AK-47 , Tavor , FN FNC , etc. Hence firearms using this system do have higher felt recoil than their equivalent modern long-stroke gas piston counterparts. The bolt

2520-403: The long-stroke system is that the mass of the piston rod adds to the momentum of the bolt carrier enabling more positive extraction, ejection, chambering, and locking. The primary disadvantage to this system is the disruption of the point of aim due to several factors such as: the center of mass changing during the action cycle, abrupt stops at the beginning and end of bolt carrier travel, and

2576-515: The mechanism can negate the advantage of faster firing , potentially lowering the rate of fire compared to manually loaded rifles if not designed for easy manual reloading. The United Kingdom regarded the reliable rate of fire from manually loaded rifles to be nearly as high as self-loading rifles as recently as World War II . Semi-automatic rifles are uniquely susceptible to slamfire malfunctions caused by abrupt cartridge acceleration during self-loading. Slamfire discharges are unlikely to hit

2632-400: The mechanism. Despite these disadvantages, they use relatively low pressure gas and do not require a hole in the barrel, which made them attractive in early designs. The system is no longer used in modern weapons. Hiram Maxim patented a muzzle-cup system in 1884 described in U.S. patent 319,596 though it is unknown if this firearm was ever prototyped. John Browning used gas trapped at

2688-827: The more prominent firearms in sport shooting . There are various types of sport shooting, ranging from rapid fire shooting; target shooting, which is predominantly accuracy based; and distance shooting. Shooting clubs in America became increasingly commonplace in the 1830s, and have since grown in popularity. Semi-automatic rifles are used in various sport shooting events, including target shooting and rapid-fire competitions, which has invited more people, specifically women and children, to compete as well. Semi-automatic rifles have grown in status among hunters. Some hunters use semi-automatic rifles, including AR-15 style models, citing their compact design and customisation options, effectively making it easier to traverse rugged terrain while tracking

2744-617: The muzzle to operate a "flapper" in the earliest prototype gas-operated firearm described in U.S. patent 471,782 , and used a slight variation of this design on the M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun "potato digger". The Danish Bang rifle used a muzzle cup blown forward by muzzle gas to operate the action through transfer bars and leverage. Other gas-trap rifles were early production M1 Garands and German Gewehr 41 (both Walther and Mauser models). The American and German governments both had requirements that their guns operated without

2800-492: The subsequently manufactured American M1 Garand . The M1917 was fielded during the latter stages of World War I , where it did not receive a favorable reception among troops. However, its shortened and improved version, the Model 1918, was used more during the Moroccan Rif War from 1920 to 1926. Still, the bolt-action Lebel Model 1886 rifle remained the standard French infantry rifle until being replaced in 1936 by

2856-509: The target and may cause collateral damage . The time required for changing or reloading magazines can weaken the effectiveness of a rifle, as it imposes an effective duration limit on the continuous rate of fire of any rifle . High-capacity magazines increase the weight of the rifle and typically reduce feeding reliability due to the varying spring tension from a full to a nearly empty magazine. Detachable magazines in general are usually less durable than internal magazines. The complexity of

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2912-654: The unsuccessful trials, the inventors developed a new design, known as the M1896 Flaadens Rekylgevær . This model was also tested by the Danish military, and this time it was found to be reliable. As a result, 60 units were procured for the Danish Navy, making it one of the earliest semi-automatic rifles to be officially adopted by a military force. In the final years of the 19th century and early 20th century, experiments and patents with gas-operated reloading were developed by Hiram Maxim and Richard Paulson as well

2968-412: The use of the barrel as a fulcrum to drive the bolt back. Also, due to the greater mass of moving parts, more gas is required to operate the system that, in turn, requires larger operating parts. With a short-stroke or tappet system, the piston moves separately from the bolt group. It may directly push the bolt group parts, as in the M1 carbine , or operate through a connecting rod or assembly, as in

3024-457: Was a successor to earlier rifles that required manual cycling of the weapon after each shot, such as the bolt-action rifle or repeating rifles . The ability to automatically load the next round results in an increase in the rounds per minute the operator can fire. The main advantage of semi-automatic rifles is the ability to fire sequential shots in rapid succession without adjusting the aiming position to manually chamber cartridges . Engaging

3080-417: Was offered in .25 , .30 , .32 , and .35 caliber models. It gained some popularity among civilians as well as some law enforcement officials who appreciated the combination of a semi-automatic action and relatively powerful rifle cartridges. In 1936, the Model 81 superseded the Model 8, and was offered in .300 Savage as well as the original Remington calibers. In 1908, General Manuel Mondragón patented

3136-447: Was the first widely issued rifle to use the 7.62×39mm cartridge. By the end of World War II, however, semi-automatic rifles had been largely superseded in military usage by their fully automatic and select-fire counterparts - weapons such as the AK-47 , FN FAL and M16 limited the viability of widespread deployment of semi-automatic rifles. Gradually, military doctrine evolved to place less emphasis on individual marksmanship, as

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