Eh!
The definition of 'assault rifle' is of a multi-purpose selective-fire infantry personal weapon that in the 1950s was intended (and claimed) to allow a single rifle / cartridge to replace a range of others and thereby not only improve the infantryman's effectiveness, but to simplify manufacturing and logistics requirements.
The M14's prospectus as sold to the US forces, public, and government was that it was a one-shop wonder-weapon that replaced the .45 'Grease Gun' SMG, .30 Carbine M1/M2 carbines, M1 .30-06 rifle, M1918 .30-06 squad support LMG. It didn't, simply because it (and all other such 7.62 rifles such as the FAL and HK91) couldn't handle full-auto fire through excess recoil and barrel heating.
If full-auto fire wasn't an essential ingredient of the product why were millions of dollars spent on M14 development and testing that included it, and as early as 1943/44 John C. Garand and Springfield Armory given high-priority tasking to develop a 20-round magazine capacity, selective-fire uprated M1 rifle, seen as essential for standard issue to US ground forces in the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands in late 1945? (The latter project produced a viable if over-long and heavy rifle that reached working prototype stage and IIRC a primary barrier to full-issue was the conflict between the need for a large/long muzzle brake and a bayonet fitting, it being a case of one or other but not both.)
One can argue (and people inside and outside of the military have from long before assault rifles were ever dreamt of) whether such policies were correct and the mass fire v highly trained individual rifleman / precision shooting schools of tactics goes back a couple of hundred years, but the first generation of 'assault rifles' were indubitably intended to be selective-fire and infantry tactics were expected to reflect and utilise that capacity fully. In effect, Warsaw Pact countries got that capability, NATO didn't with nearly all of its first gen 7.62s issued with the full-auto mode either omitted or locked-out.
At my age I crossed from the M2 as my secondary and a 1911 as my side arm, all the way into the M4 as secondary and the Barretta 9MM as my side arm.
First there is no one firearm fits all solution.
Second in my opinion the 7.62x51 for military applications at the time and now was and is a poor compromise. It made a good specialty round for the military and a very good hunting round.
Third precision aimed fire is less than 1/2 of 1% of military fire, close quarter engagements, other engagements within 300 yards with aimed rapid fire, suppressive fire are the vast majority of situations.
The 5.56x45 NATO from its inception unto now with the M855A1 in my opinion has been so successful that the military has been negligent in developing an improved replacement. My guess is that the 6.8x51 and the associated rifle in the end will not provide the desired result. A 16 pound rifle? PLEASE! Today the weight carried by troops vastly out classes my day, hell we didn't have body armor.
The improved alternatives such as 6MM ARC, 6.5 Grendel and 6.8SPC in the AR15 platform in my opinion all need to be pass extreme stress testing. Make 200 rifles each and beat them to death with 10,000 rounds. Then we'll know!
The 6MM ARC and 6.5 Grendel show much better promise in close and out far. For civilian use I went with the 6MM ARC, it will never see 6,000 rounds in my hands and the cartridge makes a great general purpose truck/horse back/family rifle in the AR15.
In the 90's I was playing with CMP shoots we had one guy just hated the M1 Carbine and the AR15, they were crap! PIECES OF JUNK! BB guns! The only rifles worth anything we're the M1 Garand and the M14.
As 20 years passed, so did he, it was then I found out that he served in Germany. He never used any weapon ever in any real capacity.
Let me suggest this, grab an M1 Carbine, an M4 in 5.56, an AR15 A2 in 5.56 and an M14 in 7.62x51. Run some drills, in close, out to 300 yards then out to 800 yards. Assess the needs for yourself.
From my experiance I suggest a rifle that is about 8 pounds, works in close like the M1 Carbine and extends the 5.56x45, 300 yard energy to 800 yards, bests the 308 at 800 yards in the wind and with drop. Try it yourself.
Yes in my opinion Jeff Cooper was only about 1/3 right and Rex Applegate was THE MAN!
