I Learned It From YOU OK?

What makes a battle rifle?

What distinguishes it from an assault rifle?

Easy, right?

Turns out, it's nothing official.

The M16 isn't called an assault rifle.  It's just a rifle.  "Rifle, 5.56mm, M16" in fact.

Change that to M16A1, M16A2, M16A3 or M16A4 as needed.

Surely the M14 is a battle rifle then?

Nope, "Rifle, 7.62mm, M14."

Yet.

We know what we mean when we say "assault rifle" and "battle rifle" don't we?

They're informal designations.

Looked at one way, "assault rifle" can mean any rifle used in an assault.  A battle rifle can be any rifle used in battle.

But we typically mean that an assault rifle is select fire, detachable magazine fed and firing an intermediate power round.

A battle rifle is the same, but firing full power rounds.  Right?

But isn't a Garand a battle rifle?  K.98k?

Not so clear cut is it?

Especially since battle rifle is used informally for any military issue rifle, regardless of if it's full power or intermediate.

I know where I first saw the distinction.  Twilight: 2000.  The FAL and G3 were battle rifles.  The M16A2, AKM and AK-74 were assault rifles.  I am sure they didn't invent the terms.