So where does the mini gun fall into this??

I am not a gun guy is why i asked , to an Idiot (that would be me) the principle seems well a bit the same just with different bits moving.

(edit I am not so thick as not to understand it is for totally diffrent reasons, but really it kind of comes down to the same thing putting lead out, is this is how revolver has now evolved mainly is my question)

Minigun would be an machine gun, full auto only, you can use it on the move but not from the shoulder. A .308 medium machinegun is closest in common use.

Not they actually made an 5.56 gatling, same caliber as the assault rifle, as I understand you could fire it from the hip as the .308 machine gun.

Both are designed to be fired from an position, firing on the move is mostly an fallback if hit.

You have something called an revolver cannon, its not an real revolver but use an gatling multi chamber loading system but only one barrel.

Bonus is lighter weight, downside is that it will overheat fast. Nothing to do with revolvers except the rotating chambers as it loads bullet from an magazine or belt.

10MM, because you can shoot more in VATZ, ammo easier to buy/find, and if i remember correctly... lighter too

Gun-fu + CritBank + Grim + [censored] + GooderCrit. makes you killing machine!

Term assault gun, rifle or weapon originates in attempts around the time of WWI to provide attacking infantry with automatic weapon capable of rapid fire. It was closely related to concept of "walking fire" developed by French which resulted in to light machine guns like French Chauchant Automatic Rifle or American Brovning Automatic Rifle M1918. They were supposed to be fired from the hip on the walk in order to support advancing infantry.

In broad meaning, "assault rifle" simply means rifle used for assault. Name is defined more by purpose rather then construction. It's precise meaning is not really established since different people use different definition.

Here's good article about assault rifles which speaks \about origin of the term: http://world.guns.ru/assault-e.html

Like I said earlier. 'Assault Rifle" WAS a vague/ambiguous term at best....that has since been co-opted by the anti-gun movement. Therefore we should all just STOP using the term and use something more meaningful/better.

As somebody else pointed here, the anti-gun movement and associated problems with terms this movement use are specific for USA and rest of the world does not really care much about it.

At the end "assault rifle" is just a name which does not have established definition and anybody can use it in any way he please. What I think should stop, are complains of people that this or that assault rifle (in this case Fallout 4 one) does not fit their own random definition.

Same with pistol and revolver. Pistol also does not have established definition and is often used to mean any handgun, revolvers including.

arras - I have no problem with what you just said. You are correct.

That term just touches a nerve! Then I go on a tirade....sorry.

Maybe it would be better if in-game weaponry had meaningful names that referenced the caliber?

I would have no problem with that, although already Adolf Hitler knew that that won't sell well Assault Rifle sounds more sixy then Machine Carabine 1942 pattern or Automatic Rifle 5.56 caliber

Bye the way military does not like to use "assault rifle" either. Most of the weapons people call assault rifles are usually classified as automatic rifles or automatic carbines or something similar by militaries. So it's more an PR name really.

If the Fallout world were anything like our world. But it's not.

That said: things would get confusing for the general population. And the terminology scheme would get messed up same as it is in our own world. There are so many terms to choose from: assault rifles, battle rifles, marksman rifles, automatic rifles, submachine guns, light machine guns, carbines, etc, etc, etc.

With regards to the realism of the in-game naming scheme: you need to take into account the variation of the application of weapons terminology through history, and the many contemporary variations in terminology. A contemporary North American English terminology wouldn't necessarily work for anyone who's not from North America, and even many North Americans would disagree with any chosen terminology.

True. Hitler coined Sturmgewehr. Any word with "Sturm" in it was vastly popular in Nazi propaganda. This is also the reason why contemporary Germans often avoid the term.

Still, even Germans were and are confused between the applications of Sturmgewehr, Maschinengewehr, Maschinenpistole, Maschinenkarabiner for various weapons. Definitions vary.

If we speak strictly about military (as opposed to popular) terminology then Germans designated their new gun as a Machine Carabine (carabine being shortened rifle). But since Hitler forbid development of any new classes of weapons until end of WWII, they redesignated it to Machine Pistol (term which they used for submachine guns). Under such designation it then entered service with the army. It was well received by troops and once Hitler learned about it, he renamed it to Assault Rifle.

So it was not so much a confusion as it was simply some politics involved.

I know all that. Not the point I was trying to make. Please note the italics. Also, please note that that wasn't singularly directed at the naming scheme of the StG, hence: for various weapons.

OK

Assault rifle actually has a military definition, being a select fire weapon using intermediate rifle calibers. That's the definition I use, and most people that I know do the same, that is also why the civilian M4 style weapons, ect aren't assault rifles, they don't have select fire.

It's the same terminology behind PDW, since a P90 and MP7 aren't technically submachineguns.

No, it's semi and burst, or full auto, those are fire modes.

There are plenty of people who use different definitions of assault riffle. Automatic guns using full power rifle cartridge are often called assault rifles too (examples are Swiss SIG510 or Austrian build FN FAL. So while you and people you know might use one definition, there are people who use different one.

"Safe" IS fire mode. One in which weapon can not fire.

I think only rifles with the capability of automatic fire should be called "assault rifle". The German term "Stumgewehr" (which you could translate as assault rifle) for the MP 44 was introduced in 1944, wether by Hitler or general E. Jaschke is not clear. It was prior called Maschinenpistole 44 and before this named Maschinenpistole 43, a kind of code name for the weapon which actually fired a (relatively weak) rifle cartridge (instead of a handgun round like the true submachine gun/Maschinenpistole), developed out of the Haenel Maschinenkarabiner 42 (MKb 42 (H)).

Sturmgewehr/assault rifle really describes well the capabilities of the weapons. But wether "assault rifle" is a translation of the German "Sturmgewehr" is not clear. The prefix "Sturm-" (means assault) in German military context was introduced during WWI when the German army developed a new tactic of attacking with small independent units and used it very successfully against the materially superior Entente powers. It brought with it a heavy use of automatic guns, like auto-fire pistols or submachine guns (German: Maschinenpistole). There is the theory that the English term "assault" in "assault rifle" stems from this use of automatic weapons in the first World War. But "Sturm" in "Sturmgewehr" may also reflect the assault companies of WWI.

@ OP: I'm with you, it hurts to name a revolver a pistol nowadays although it was long custom to do so as said in the thread correctly in several posts. Names should be clear and enlightening and constructions so different as a semi-automatic magazine-fed handgun and a wheel handgun deserve different names. Although there are also some who name the cylinder of a revolver a magazine (which it is by purpose), so all is possible...

And they are wrong. The point of a definition is to describe something. Rifles firing full power cartridges are called Battle Rifles, not assault rifles, full auto on them is a bad idea due to horrible recoil. Every definition besides the one used by ignorant libtards I've heard used for an assault rifle is intermediate cartridge. I've heard some people call the .308 SCAR an assault rifle, but it isn't because of the cartridge, though the 5.56 SCAR is. It's the same idea behind machineguns and submachineguns, the cartridge defines it. LMG's shoot light and medium cartridges, MMG or GMPG shoot full sized rifle rounds like .308, and HMG shoots 50 BMG. SMGs shoot pistol rounds. A rifle is still a rifle even if it's shorter than a submachinegun. Hope that helped explain things better.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_rifle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle

Also, safe isn't really considered a fire mode, not in the description of select fire. Select fire means different firing modes, which are burst, full auto, and semi. Not firing isn't a fire mode, because it's not firing.

Why, because you said so?

Wikipedia might be useful at times, but it should not be used as a authoritative source for anything. Any high school teacher will tell you that. It's hobbled together by bunch or random hobbyists.

What next, zero is not a number?

No because the definition of assault rifle is "select fire weapon using intermediate rifle cartridge", not because I said so. I'm aware of wikipedia's limitations, but they get the general idea right. Anyone who knows anything about guns will give you the same definition of assault rifle.

I already explained why safe isn't considered a fire mode in regards to select fire. Not in reference to changing fire modes. It is a mode on the weapon, for safe, but not considered a fire mode. Not sure why you are arguing this.

Safe is NOT a 'fire mode', as the weapon CANNOT fire......... semi-auto, burst, and full-auto are fire modes. When you pull the trigger, something happens.

This, Safe is often on the handle who sett fire mode, G3 has safe, single and auto, other guns also have burst. This make safe one of the options but as you can not fire its not an fire mode.

Earlier combat rifles did not have auto mode just semi automatic, many machine guns only have full auto.

Its pretty easy to convert an semi automatic to full auto, so easy this might happen because of fails.