A Kalashnikov is already an assault rifle - it uses a smaller and lower-recoil bullet than the full-powered rifle cartridges that came before it. An American de

A Kalashnikov is already an assault rifle - it uses a smaller and lower-recoil bullet than the full-powered rifle cartridges that came before it. An American design that only copied the assault rifle concept would have probably had a similar-weight round to an AK. The M16's even lighter round was the result of a separate American innovation, the Small Caliber High Velocity bullet, which trades bullet size for propellant size. Even smaller bullet than the AK, but a flatter trajectory (hence the improved accuracy, helped along by the M16's interesting operating mechanism), and even lighter weight than first-generation assault rifles.