If a rifle Must have full auto capability to be an assault rifle, then what was the FNC1A1 that I carried around in the '70's???
I guess my Instructors at CFB Cornwallis were misinformed!!!
John
A heavy (relatively speaking) beeyotch of a battle rifle that was as reliable as a sledgehammer?
The FN FAL series of rifles are not, and never were, "assault" rifles. They did not fire an intermediate power round, but a full-sized 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge, which has about the same ballistics (in a shorter case) as the good 'ol 30-06.
Sorry about the hijack. Now, on to the topic at hand.
I think Blaxsun made some good points there. Thanks to the media and Hollywood, everyone that doesn't know any better sees the M-16/AR-15/AK-47 silhouette and thinks "OMFG, it's an assault rifle". Blaxsun explained WHY his "assault rifles" are "commercial models", and the person he was talking to immediately understood the differences between the two.
WE, as enthusiasts, know what the differences are, but the general public, misled by the media and Hollywood, doesn't have a clue. For proof of this statement, look at the "panic" after the Aurora Colorado theater shooting (hell, look at our own Parti Quebecois shooting with the CZ 858): in the general public's eyes, the firearms used were "evil assault rifles".
Blaxsun made a convert of this person, and that's what we need to do - one citizen at a time.