A
selective fire firearmA firearm is a device which projects either single or multiple projectiles at high velocity through a controlled explosion. The firing is achieved by the gases produced through rapid, confined burning of a propellant. This process of rapid burning is technically known as deflagration...
fires
semiautomaticallyA semi-automatic, or self-loading firearm is a gun that after being fired, ejects the empty round that has been fired, loads a new cartridge, and cocks itself...
and at least one
automaticAn automatic firearm is a firearm that fires, automatically extracts the used cartridge case from the barrel and ejects it, then loads a new case into the barrel; generally by harnessing the recoil of the cartridge's explosion...
mode by means of a selector depending on the weapons design. Some selective fire weapons utilize
burst fireIn automatic firearms, burst mode or burst fire is a firing mode enabling the shooter to fire a predetermined number of rounds at a time with a single pull of the trigger—this firing mode is commonly used in submachine guns, assault rifles and carbines. Other types of firearms, such as machine...
mechanisms to limit the maximum or total number of shots fired automatically in this mode. The most common limits are two or three rounds per pull of the trigger.
Selective fire weapons, by definition, have a semiautomatic mode, where the weapon automatically reloads the
chamberIn firearms, the chamber is that portion of the barrel or firing cylinder in which the cartridge is inserted prior to being fired. Rifles and pistols generally have a single chamber in their barrels, while revolvers have multiple chambers in their cylinder and no chamber in their barrel.The act of...
after each fired round, but requires the trigger be released and pulled again before firing the next round.
A
selective fire firearmA firearm is a device which projects either single or multiple projectiles at high velocity through a controlled explosion. The firing is achieved by the gases produced through rapid, confined burning of a propellant. This process of rapid burning is technically known as deflagration...
fires
semiautomaticallyA semi-automatic, or self-loading firearm is a gun that after being fired, ejects the empty round that has been fired, loads a new cartridge, and cocks itself...
and at least one
automaticAn automatic firearm is a firearm that fires, automatically extracts the used cartridge case from the barrel and ejects it, then loads a new case into the barrel; generally by harnessing the recoil of the cartridge's explosion...
mode by means of a selector depending on the weapons design. Some selective fire weapons utilize
burst fireIn automatic firearms, burst mode or burst fire is a firing mode enabling the shooter to fire a predetermined number of rounds at a time with a single pull of the trigger—this firing mode is commonly used in submachine guns, assault rifles and carbines. Other types of firearms, such as machine...
mechanisms to limit the maximum or total number of shots fired automatically in this mode. The most common limits are two or three rounds per pull of the trigger.
Selective fire weapons, by definition, have a semiautomatic mode, where the weapon automatically reloads the
chamberIn firearms, the chamber is that portion of the barrel or firing cylinder in which the cartridge is inserted prior to being fired. Rifles and pistols generally have a single chamber in their barrels, while revolvers have multiple chambers in their cylinder and no chamber in their barrel.The act of...
after each fired round, but requires the trigger be released and pulled again before firing the next round. This allows for rapid and (in theory) aimed fire. In some weapons, the selection is between different rates of automatic fire and/or varying burst limiters. The selection is often by a small rotating switch often integral with the safety catch or a switch separate from the safety—as in the British
SA80The SA80 is a British family of 5.56mm small arms. It is a selective fire, gas-operated weapon. SA80 prototypes were trialled in 1976 and production was completed in 1994....
-family.
Some selective fire weapons offer a burst mode as the second option, where each pull of the trigger automatically fires a predetermined number of rounds (generally two or three), but won't fire any more until the trigger is pulled again. The current U.S. standard
assault rifleAn assault rifle is a rifle designed for combat, with selective fire . Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies, having largely superseded or supplemented larger and more powerful battle rifles such as the M14, FN FAL and the Heckler & Koch G3...
, the M16A2, and the M4A1 carbine variant of this rifle fire a maximum of three rounds with each pull of the trigger in
burst modeIn automatic firearms, burst mode or burst fire is a firing mode enabling the shooter to fire a predetermined number of rounds at a time with a single pull of the trigger—this firing mode is commonly used in submachine guns, assault rifles and carbines. Other types of firearms, such as machine...
. In this design, it retains the count of previously fired rounds and may fire fewer than three rounds. Other designs reset the count with each trigger pull allowing a uniform three round burst as long as rounds remain.
A common version of the
Heckler & Koch MP5The Heckler & Koch MP5 is a 9mm submachine gun of German design, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch GmbH of Oberndorf am Neckar.It is currently used by the armed forces and law enforcement units of over 40 countries...
submachine gunA submachine gun is a firearm that combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol, and is usually between the two in weight and size...
(widely used by
SWATA SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in American and some international law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
teams and
militaryA military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. As an adjective the term "military" is also used to refer to any property or aspect of a military...
special operations personnel) fires single shots, three-round-bursts, and fully-automatically. A special variant uses a two-round-burst to minimize the chances of missing with a third round. Some automatic cannons have larger burst limiters to coincide with higher rates of fire.
Selective fire weapons are regulated in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
under the
National Firearms ActThe National Firearms Act , 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, , enacted 1934-06-26, currently codified as amended as ) is an Act of Congress passed in 1934 that, in general, imposes a statutory excise tax on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms and mandates the registration of those NFA....
of 1934; their new manufacture for the civilian market was prohibited by the
Firearm Owners Protection ActThe Firearm Owners' Protection Act , Pub. L. No. 99-308, 100 Stat. 449 , codified at et seq., is a United States federal law that revised many statutes in the Gun Control Act of 1968.-Federal Firearms License regulatory reform:...
of 1986. Those still in circulation often command prices significantly higher than similar models still available to law enforcement and military agencies.
Labels
Several labels can be used on selectors, depending on the model:
- S (Safe), E (Semi-automatic), 3F (Burst fire), F (Fully-automatic)
- S (Safe), 1 (Semi-automatic), 3 (Burst fire), 30 (Fully-automatic)
- A picture of a white bullet (Safe), a black bullet in a closed box (Semi-automatic), three bullets in a closed box (Burst fire), several bullets in an open ended box (Fully-automatic)
See also
- List of firearms
- Bump fire
Bump firing is the act of using the recoil of a firearm to fire multiple shots in rapid succession. This process involves holding the foregrip with the non-trigger hand, releasing the grip on the firing hand , pushing the rifle forward in order to apply pressure on the trigger finger from the...
- a technique to simulate fully-automatic firing with a semi-automatic rifle