Today we have a couple more galleries of Russian Fedorov rifles, both from Russian museums. One set comes to us from our friend Hrachya, and the other is courtesy of DishModels.ru. The Fedorov is interesting for being often considered the first military assault rifle, using the strict definition of that term. Is it really? Well, maybe. It’s a select-fire design using detachable magazines, but it’s a bit of a stretch to classify the 6.5×50 as an intermediate power cartridge.Me? I think it’s a coincidence that it comes so close to fitting the definition. It’s much closer to guns like the Farquhar-Hill, Scotti X, and Mauser 1916 Selbstlader in style and intent rather than the M2 Carbine or MP44. What do you think?
Historically, it is interesting to note that the Fedorov was initially designed for a proprietary 6.5mm cartridge designed by Fedorov himself, but ultimately adopted in 6.5×50 Japanese. You can see all our Fedorov photos and a video of Fedorov disassembly over on the Fedorov page in the Vault.
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