Aself-loading rifle orauto-loading rifle is arifle with anaction using a portion of theenergy of eachcartridge fired to load another cartridge.Self-loading pistols are similar, but intended to be held andfired by a single hand, while rifles are designed to be held with both hands and fired from the shoulder.[1] Self-loading rifles includesemi-automatic rifles andautomatic rifles.
Earlybreech-loading firearms weresingle-shot devices holding a single cartridge. When that cartridge had been fired, the person using the firearm would remove the empty cartridge, find another cartridge from a pocket or other carrying apparatus, and load that cartridge into the firearmchamber before another shot could be fired. Laterrepeating rifles and pistols were equipped with amagazine holding several cartridges with aspring to push those cartridges into position to be loaded by manually operating the action of the firearm—as by a lever, bolt, or pump mechanism—thus avoiding the procedure of locating and manually positioning each new cartridge. Developed starting in the early 1900s,[2] self-loading firearms avoid manual operation of the action by using the energy of the cartridge being fired to operate the action, so the shooter may fire additional cartridges without manually operating the firearm action until the magazine is empty.[3]
Self-loading rifles types include:
Most automatic rifles featureselective-fire capability, meaning they can switch between both semi-automatic and fully automatic fire. Examples: