M14 rifle in the context of Drill team

The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of assault rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-round magazine.

In 1964, the XM16E1 entered US military service as the M16 and in the following year was deployed for jungle warfare operations during the Vietnam War. In 1969, the M16A1 replaced the M14 rifle to become the US military's standard service rifle. The M16A1 incorporated numerous modifications including a bolt-assist ("forward-assist"), chrome-plated bore, protective reinforcement around the magazine release, and revised flash hider.

The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, bottlenecked, centerfire rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries.

First developed in the 1940s, the cartridge had first been introduced in U.S. service in 1954 for the M14 rifle and M60 machine gun.

An AR-15–style rifle is a lightweight semi-automatic rifle based on or similar to the Colt AR-15 design. The Colt model removed the selective fire feature of its predecessor, the original ArmaLite AR-15, which is a scaled-down derivative of the AR-10 design (by Eugene Stoner). It is closely related to the military M16 rifle.

ArmaLite sold the patent and trademarks for both to Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1959 after the military rejected the design in favor of the M14. After most of the patents for the Colt AR-15 expired in 1977, many firearm manufacturers began to produce copies of the rifle under various names. While the patents are expired, Colt has retained the trademark to the AR-15 name and is the sole manufacturer able to label their firearms as such.

A ceremonial weapon is an object used for ceremonial purposes to display power or authority. They may be used in parades and as part of military dress uniforms, or presented as gifts on formal occasions. Although they are descended from weapons used in actual combat, they are not normally used as such. Their form and, especially, their finishing and decoration are typically designed to show status and power and to be an impressive sight, rather than for practicality as a weapon. Quite often, ceremonial weapons are constructed with precious metals or other materials that make them too delicate for combat use. With ceremonial swords, an example of this is that the sword may be poorly balanced. Historically, however, many ceremonial weapons were also capable of actual combat, most notably in the military.

Maces, halberds, daggers, and swords are the most common form of ceremonial weapons, but in theory almost any weapon can become ceremonial. The Sergeant at Arms in some parliaments carries a ceremonial mace. The Swiss Guard in the Vatican carry both ceremonial weapons (halberds and swords) and 21st century weapons (semi-automatic pistols). Mid-20th century rifles such as the American M14 and the Russian SKS, fitted with polished wood stocks, chrome plating and other decorative finishes, are common ceremonial weapons for honor guard units.

The M1 Garand or M1 rifle is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War.

The rifle is chambered for the .30-06 Springfield cartridge and is named after its Canadian-American designer, John Garand. It was the first standard-issue autoloading rifle for the United States. By most accounts, the M1 rifle performed well. General George S. Patton called it "the greatest battle implement ever devised". The M1 replaced the (bolt-action) M1903 Springfield as the U.S. service rifle in 1936, and was itself replaced by the (selective-fire) M14 rifle on 26 March 1958.

A designated marksman rifle (DMR) is a modern scoped high-precision rifle used by infantry in the designated marksman (DM) role. It generally fills the engagement range gap between a service rifle and a dedicated sniper rifle, at around 300–600 metres (330–660 yd).

DMRs are distinguished from sniper rifles in that they are semi-automatic to provide higher rates of fire (with some also having selective fire to switch to burst or automatic) and have larger magazine capacities (10, 20, or 30 rounds depending on the firearm and operational requirements) to allow rapid engagement of multiple targets.