Service rifle

"Infantry rifle" redirects here. For the British Baker rifle, officially known as the Infantry rifle, see Baker rifle.

A service rifle (or standard-issue rifle) is any rifle a military issues to its regular soldiers or infantry. In modern militaries, this is generally a versatile, rugged, and reliable assault rifle or battle rifle, suitable for use in nearly all environments and is effective in most combat situations. Service rifles are solely designated and used as the primary weapon in almost all instances of warfare and training. Almost all modern militaries are also issued service pistols as sidearms to accompany their service rifles. The term can also be used to describe weapons issued by non-military forces, such as law enforcement or paramilitaries.

If the issued weapon is not a rifle or carbine, but instead a different type of firearm intended to serve in a specialized role such as a combat shotgun, submachine gun, or light machine gun, it is called a service firearm or service weapon.

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