Originally created by Amerigo Cei, an officer in the Italian army, in 1890, the Cei-Rigotti rifle was extensively modified by Rigotti in 1900, and is often regarded as the first assault rifle. Over the next few years (1903 and 1911) there were improvements to its internal functions, such as its gas operation. This is also what made the Cei-Rigotti so modern, the fact that it was the first time a gas operated action was successfully used in a rifle. The rifle also featured 6.5x52mm munition in what was probably a 25 round detachable box magazine. The system, although not actually used by any army (possibly because of unreliability), was remade in Switzerland, Russia, Austria. These variations featured 8x56mm munition (Austria) and 7,62x54mm (Russia).


The first true assault rifle was probably the Italian-made Cei-Rigotti, which was developed around the beginning of the 20th century but never entered military service. The first service assault rifle was the Russian Federov Avtomat of 1916 chambered for the Japanese Arisaka 6.5×50 mm rifle cartridge, which due to supply problems was only used in small numbers.

Germany, like other countries, had studied the problem since World War I, and their factories made a variety of non-standard cartridges, so they had less incentive to remain with their existing calibers. At first they were still using the 8×57JS and 8mm Mauser. The 7.92×30 mm cartridge was the best of that production, and in 1941 it was improved to 7.9×33 mm Infanterie Kurz Patrone. In 1942 it was improved again as Maschinenkarabiner Patrone S and in 1943 Pistolen Patrone 43mE, then finally Infanterie Kurz Patrone 43. All these names follow the troubled creation of the Sturmgewehr 44. In 1942 Walther presented the Maschinenkarabiner (automatic carbine, abbr. MK), named MKb42(W). In the same year, Haenel presented the MKb42(H), designed by Hugo Schmeisser as a result of this program. Rheinmetall-Borsig (some said Krieghoff) presented its FG-42 (Fallschirmjaeger Gewehr 42) though this was was in a different role, and using a heavy 8×57 mm cartridge. (This weapon did not use an intermediate cartridge). The FG-42 was sponsored by Hermann Göring. War-time tests in Russia indicated the MKb42(H) was the best of the three. Schmeisser developed it first as the MP43, then MP43/1 and finally as the Stg 44. It immediately entered large scale production. More than 5,000 pieces had been produced by February 1944, 55,000 by the following November.

STG44....

Originally Posted by ruger322003

I think the true first assalt rifle was the stg44.I think it was Germen and was developed in WWII used during the last part of the war.I think it was issued to certain troops.

Your right
The STG44 was issued mainly to paratroopers and german special forces.
The standard german rifle was the kar98 although it sucked at close quarters combat because of its bolt action design.
The mp40 was the german gun for C.Q.B
The mg42 was used to lay down suppressing fire.

Has anyone read this article? I think 1916 pre-dates 1943.

Federov Avtomat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Avtomat Fedorova model 1916The Federov Avtomat was the first service assault rifle, designed by Vladimir Federov and made in Russia in 1916. About 3,000 Federov Avtomats were produced, and the weapon was used in the Russian Civil War. It was chambered for the Japanese Arisaka 6.5x50 mm rifle cartridge and used a short-recoil action.

Originally Posted by Missileer

Has anyone read this article? I think 1916 pre-dates 1943.

Same thing I was thinking....

The Federov Avtomat was the earliest assault rifle used by a military and there were ones used before then too. It using the smaller intermediate round. It has select fire and lighter than a full size rifle so has all the features one would use to classify it as an assault rifle.

Originally Posted by http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/STG-44

The MP43, MP44, and StG44 were names for a nearly identical weapon with only small production differences and dates. The last, the StG44, was called "Sturmgewehr" literally "Storm rifle", or more commonly translated as assault rifle. It combined the traits of submachine guns (SMG) and automatic rifles. The translation "assault rifle" became very popular to describe this class of weapon, but it was far from being the first of this type. M16A2 assault rifle. ... A submachine gun is a firearm which combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the ammunition of a pistol, and is between the two in weight and size. ... An automatic rifle is any rifle capable of fully-automatic fire; a type of automatic firearm. ...

but it was far from being the first of this type...sorry that link just seems to scream that it wasn't the first...

I think it would be stg44.

Originally Posted by Obvious

Mp40(MachinePistol 1940) is a submachine gun that fires 9mm and only auto. Besides Stg 44 is worlds first true assault rifles which comes from the german name: SturmGewehr. Besides The Commie Russians stole the plans for the Stg 44 and made the Ak47 out of it. Look at the specs.

StG44

Caliber: 7.92x33 mm (7.92mm Kurz)
Action: Gas operated, tilting bolt
Overall length: 940 mm
Barrel length: 419 mm
Weigth: 5.22 kg
Rate of fire: 650 rounds per minute
Magazine capacity: 30 rounds
Muzzle Velocity: 650 m/s

Ak47

Caliber 7.62x39 mm
Action: Gas operated, rotating bolt with 2 lugs
Overall length: 870 mm
Barrel length: 415 mm
Weight, with empty magazine: AK 4,3 kg; AKM 3,14 kg
Magazine capacity 30 rounds (40 rounds box magazines and 75 rounds drums from RPK also may be used)
Cyclic rate of fire 600 rounds per minute
Maximum effective range: about 400 meters
Effective Range: 450m

Look at the pics:
Ak47
STG44

Russians stole the plans from WWII when then raided a bunch of munition factories. LOOK AT IT!

Ive never heard of a stg44.

ohoh... much to learn for you...