Editing Automatic rifle (section)

===Sturmgewehr 44===
[[File:MP44.jpg|thumb|The German [[StG 44]], the first assault rifle manufactured in significant numbers]]
The Germans were the first to pioneer the [[assault rifle]] concept, during World War II, based upon research that showed that most firefights happen within 400 meters and that contemporary rifles were over-powered for most small arms combat. The Germans sought to develop a select-fire intermediate powered rifle combining the firepower of a submachine gun with the accuracy and range of a rifle. This was done by shortening the standard [[7.92×57mm Mauser|7.92×57mm]] cartridge to [[7.92×33mm Kurz|7.92×33mm]] and giving it a lighter 125-grain bullet, that limited range but allowed for more controllable automatic fire. The result was the [[Sturmgewehr 44]].<ref name="janesrecog">Jane's Guns Recognition Guide, Ian Hogg & Terry Gander, HarperCollins Publisher, 2005, p.287</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/ttt07/stg44-assault-rifle.html |title=Machine Carbine Promoted: MP43 Is Now Assault Rifle StG44, WWII Tactical and Technical Trends, No. 57, April 1945 |publisher=Lone Sentry |date=2007-05-10 |access-date=2012-08-23}}</ref><ref name="HoggWeeks243">{{cite book|last1=Hogg|first1=Ian V.|last2=Weeks|first2=John|title=Military Small Arms of the 20th Century|edition=7th|publisher=Krause Publications |year=2000|page=243|isbn=978-0-87341-824-9}}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Major Thomas P. Ehrhart [https://web.archive.org/web/20100219165722/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA512331&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf Increasing Small Arms Lethality in Afghanistan: Taking Back the Infantry Half-Kilometer]. US Army. 2009</ref>