An
automatic rifle is a type of
magazine-fed rifle that uses either its
recoil or a
portion of the gas propelling the projectile to remove the spent cartridge case, cock the rifle, load a new cartridge and fire again repeatedly, as long as the trigger is held down or until the magazine is exhausted. Automatic rifles are distinguished from semi-automatic rifles in their ability to fire more than one shot in succession once the trigger is pulled. Many automatic rifles are select-fire weapons which are capable of firing in fully
automatic and
semi-automatic modes, or in some cases, even being capable of
burst-fire.