It is a made up term used to push an agenda in politics, or sound. The best "legitimate" source of the name would be with the German "Sturmgewehr," which would roughly translate to "storm gun" or "assault gun." Because this was the first firearm of its kind to actually be mass produced, it has been off and on used to refer to firearms that are capable of firing in either semi or fully-automatic or burst-fire modes from a closed bolt. The military DOES NOT use this terminology however, and TC 3-22.9 uses only the designations "rifle" or "carbine." The description given to both (which every soldier has to memorize) could be applied to virtually any gas-operated rifle or carbine interchangeably.
In modern politician excrement-speak, "assault weapon" is a blanket term to describe basically anything that meets one or several points of criteria, ranging from "looks scary" to "painted black," and "magazine loaded," potentially encompassing everything back to and including revolvers and lever-action rifles produced in the late 1800s. More grotesque examples of ignorance are oblivious to the lack of select-fire capability in off the shelf semi-automatic rifles, which is essentially the only functional difference in rifles produced mostly during and after world war 2.
From the standpoint of what a rifle is capable of, the stock, shape, grip, sling, etc have basically no impact, and alternative parts exist solely to cater to a shooter's preference or specific needs. Barrel length does matter, though it's largely irrelevant at short ranges: In layman's terms, longer barrels produce higher velocity and some natural recoil mitigation in exchange for being heavier and sometimes harder to use in tight spaces, while shorter barrels are noticeably more snappy, louder, produce more felt kick, and if you go too short, you will see a radical loss of bullet performance at range. Optics and sights matter, but are usually independent of the firearm itself, and there is no universal best. It makes zero sense to reclassify a weapon based on any of the criteria in this paragraph however.
Since you cite the M1A by name, I'll use it because it's also a perfect example. The baseline M1A is sold with no shorter than a 16" barrel, usually 20-22" in a wooden or composite stock that strongly resembles a traditional hunting stock you could find on any rifle. You can remove the stock and drop everything else into a Sage or Blackfeather chassis, and it would look radically different aesthetically (more "militaristic" as some would say due to the collapsible stock and pistol grip), but it's still the exact same rifle and it's not going to do anything remarkably different.
Assault rifle vs assault weapon.
Assault rifle has a real definition. It's a shorter, easier to handle, and lower powered rifle. It has selective fire - meaning it can fire single shots, and has either burst mode or full auto mode. There is a way to switch between the firing modes. A lot of people think an assault rifle is high power. It's the opposite. They were intentionally designed as a lower power rifle.
Assault weapon. This is the term you hear about most often in debate. This is a political and media term that has no real meaning. It's used to confuse people. What some politicians and the media call an assault weapon is NOT an assault rifle. It does not meet the definition. Most importantly, what they call an assault weapon is NOT full auto. They LOOK similar to assault rifles, but don't have the functionality of an assault rifle. They are regular rifles and are single shot.
"How do they operate? "
I'm not going to attempt to answer this. It's pretty technical and I don't know enough of the detail to give a good answer.
"Do they have wood stocks?"
The stock is irrelevant. It's not built into the definition of assault rifle, but I think they are all made of composite material that's lighter than wood.
"What if a rifle was dropped by the military for not meeting assault rifle criteria"
The military is always making decisions about weapons and everything else. They use all kinds of weapons that are not assault rifles. If they quit using a weapon, it's because that specific weapon no longer met the requirement for whatever it was used for.
"Is it’s civilian cousin the M1A an assault rifle?"
There are no civilian assault rifles except a very small number of old legacy rifles. The only legal assault rifles have been around for decades. They are legal to own *IF* they were originally bought legally back when they were still legal. When they were legal, they were very hard to buy. The buyer had to jump through all kinds of hoops and have an extensive background check - plus pay a lot of money for the license. Those legacy rifles can be legally sold or given away *IF* the person receiving it goes through the same steps I just mentioned. I think there's a special exception if the weapon is inherited, but I'm not sure about that. You can't buy new assault rifles.
"What is the barrel length of assault rifles?
I don't know the length, but it's shorter than other rifles.
Isn't an assault riffle classified by its magazine size and fire rate? doesn't it have to have full auto?
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It's a generic term for a rifle that far exceeds the purpose of hunting. Another really generic word. We're stuck with layman terms because the gun manufacturing lobbyists legally bribe government lawmakers to avoid clarification or any understanding of what a gun does to avoid scrutiny.
With the common layman's understanding, an assault rifle is a rifle with a lot of rounds per minute and excessive bullets loaded in a magazine. So a bolt action would slow down firing rates. Then limit magazines to 8 like a plugged shotgun.
Outside of mass murdering people, these higher capability guns are overkill any practical use.
You're not that old and decrepit not to remember where you put your Microsoft Encarta CD's, are you?
Perhaps you're trying to remember where you put the quill and scrolls where the founding fathers defined them...
It’s a deliberately vague term that is intentionally meant to sound scary to take away more gun rights.
The Left knows they will never just get a total banning of guns. It is too big of an ask. So they gradually ban this gun or that gun, ban sights or modified grips, ban ammo and set limits on the amount of bullets in a clip. It’s all very obvious.
It is a fully automatic rifle, usually with a short stock. It is designed primarily for military use. They are not what the media usually calls an assault rifle. Those are not fully automatic.
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine.
Musgave, Daniel D., and Thomas B. Nelson, The World's Assault Rifles, vol. II, The Goetz Company, Washington, D. C. (1967): 1
An assault rifle is any rifle the gun control nuts believe people will buy.
Not a gun expert but I'm pretty sure an assault rifle is one that can switch from burst and full auto or something like that. Now an assault weapon, there's no such thing.
In its time the British brown bess musket was an assault weapon. It was not considered ideal as a hunting weapon.
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