The Evolution of Automatic Rifles in the US Army

Fully-automatic weapons – though not prohibited in most of the United States – are tightly regulated on the private market. American adults with no criminal record or history of mental illness can legally own an automatic firearm, provided they pay a $200 tax and receive approval from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Even then, the weapon in question has to have been made before May 19, 1986, the day the Hughes Amendment went into effect. 

Because of the Hughes Amendment, the number of automatic weapons – defined as those capable of firing more than one shot with a single trigger pull – available to firearm enthusiasts in the U.S. is necessarily limited. 

While the number of practical applications for an automatic weapon is limited in a civilian setting, the same cannot be said of the military. Used in combat to maximize the odds of a hit and also suppress enemy troop movement, fully-automatic firearms, including machine guns, sub-machine guns, and assault rifles, have been widely used by the U.S. Army for more than a century.

Using data from the military report Survey of U.S. Army: Uniforms, Weapons, and Accoutrements, 24/7 Wall St. identified the automatic weapons that have been most commonly used by the U.S. Army since World War I. Firearms are listed in the order in which they were adopted by the Army, from the oldest to the newest. 

While this list is focused on infantry weapons, such as carbines and rifles with fully-automatic and burst fire capabilities, we also included heavier machine guns that are widely used in the Army, such as the M60 and M249 SAW. 

Many of the firearms on this list had a short lifespan, used for only a few years before being retired. The Thompson submachine gun, for example, was first adopted by the Army in 1938. However, by the end of World War II, less than a decade later, it was replaced by the M3 “Grease Gun.” Others, meanwhile, like the M60 machine gun and variations of the M16 rifle, lasted for decades in the U.S. Army before being replaced. (Here is a look at every standard issue U.S. military rifle since the American Revolution.)

Our list also includes the two newest firearms in the U.S. Army – the M7 rifle and M250 light machine gun. Made by Sig Sauer, the company that won the contract in 2022, these two automatic weapons are being rolled out starting in 2023, and they will eventually replace the M4 carbine and M249 SAW. (Here is a look at every firearm currently used by the U.S. military.)

Click here to see the automatic weapons used by the US Army over the years.

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