Alliedassault - View Single Post - Assault rifle.. why is it labeled "assault" ?

Mr.Buttocks · **Re: Assault rifle.. why is it labeled "assault" ? -** 06-09-2004, 09:59 PM

[quote="Zap. USMC":81684]I've always wanted to know why they called them "assault" rifles and what classifies a rifle as a assault rifle? is it because of the caliber of the round or what??[/quote:81684]

I can answer this one because I'm a renowned historian.

I think it goes back to WW2 when US soldiers used to carry food rations with them. The bags in which they carried their condiments were poorly made and constantly burst whilst the American soldiers marched. On many occasions the condiments ended up spilling on the rifles and the soldiers got great pleasure from sucking the barrels of their weapons. When troops from other nations spotted the US soldiers sucking their guns they would often ask "What's that you've got there?" The reply was, more often than not, "A salt rifle".

This later got corrupted to the current term; "Assault Rifle".

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Mr.Buttocks is Offline Major General Posts: 12,924 Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: The Continent of Africa	Re: Assault rifle.. why is it labeled "assault" ? - 06-09-2004, 09:59 PM [quote="Zap. USMC":81684]I've always wanted to know why they called them "assault" rifles and what classifies a rifle as a assault rifle? is it because of the caliber of the round or what??[/quote:81684] I can answer this one because I'm a renowned historian. I think it goes back to WW2 when US soldiers used to carry food rations with them. The bags in which they carried their condiments were poorly made and constantly burst whilst the American soldiers marched. On many occasions the condiments ended up spilling on the rifles and the soldiers got great pleasure from sucking the barrels of their weapons. When troops from other nations spotted the US soldiers sucking their guns they would often ask "What's that you've got there?" The reply was, more often than not, "A salt rifle". This later got corrupted to the current term; "Assault Rifle".