[Mazryonh]

Hmm, I thought the M14, FN FAL, G3, and M1 Garand were Battle Rifles thanks to the cartridge used for them. The SKS is what you call a semiautomatic-only rifle, which could in theory be turned into a Designated Marksman or Sniper Rifle depending on how it's deployed. The M1 Carbine is, well, a semiautomatic-only carbine. And wasn't the FG 42 really just an prototypical assault rifle (before the STG-44 breakthrough) meant for paratroopers?

I don't believe any major military uses that semiautomatic-only carbine weapon class anymore because compact assault rifles and Personal Defense Weapons have made that weapon class obsolete. About the only military equivalent I can think of in the "semiautomatic weapon of carbine length that fires shortened battle rifle cartridges or comparable performance cartridges" that would be a shotgun loaded with slugs, but that's rare.

I think the designations of Assault Rifle, Battle Rifle, Designated Marksman/Sniper Rifle still have merit because they can easily denote what class the weapon fits into, which is usually dependent on the cartridge used and what firing modes are available with that specific weapon. There are plenty of pages with quite a few gun entries already, and alphabetical order can only do so much to make it easier to read.

I really think that "culture" and a gun's "public relations status" really shouldn't have a place on the wiki entries. If people want to discuss gun politics or a weapon's public image, they should do so on the forums. There's no reason we can't be civil, and those who won't or can't be really should not be allowed to muck up the website for everyone else.

I would counter-propose this: that stuff like the M1 Carbine and SKS go into a section titled "semiautomatic-only rifles/carbines" that are NOT explicitly Designated Marksman or Sniper Rifle variants with the necessary accessories (at a minimum a scope with some degree of magnification, not only with iron sights or a no-magnification red dot sight or the like). They are different from, say, an M4A1 (which is also a carbine but capable of burst or fully automatic fire and now generally accepted as a "compact assault rifle") or an M14 (which is a Battle Rifle also capable of fully automatic fire unless it's a Designated Marksmen /Sniper Rifle variant), but not (in my opinion) enough cause to lump all "rifle-class small arms" together.