Editing Automatic rifle (section)

=== AVS-36 ===
[[File:AVS-36 AM.068386 (1) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|The Soviet AVS-36 battle rifle,]]
The '''[[AVS-36]]''' (from '''''A'''vtomaticheskaya '''V'''intovka '''S'''imonova 1936 model'';  (АВС-36)) was a Soviet automatic rifle which saw service in the early years of World War II. It was among the early [[selective fire]] infantry rifles (capable of both single and full-automatic fire) formally adopted for military service. The designer, [[Sergei Gavrilovich Simonov|Sergei Simonov]], began his work with a gas-operated self-loading rifle in 1930. The first prototype was ready in 1931 and appeared promising, and three years later a trial batch of an improved design was made. In 1935, a competition between Simonov's design and a rifle made by [[Fedor Tokarev]] was held. The Simonov rifle emerged as a winner and was accepted into service as the AVS-36. The AVS-36 was first seen in public in the 1938 May Day parade in Moscow, when it was displayed by the marching [[1st Guards Motor Rifle Division|1st Rifle Division]]. The American public became aware when it was covered in an August 1942 issue of the American ''[[Infantry Journal]]'', in an article by [[John Garrett Underhill Jr.]] Simonov would later design an anti-tank rifle, the [[PTRS-41]], and the [[SKS]] carbine, which employed simpler tilting bolt operation.