any of various guns (including sporting and military rifles)
developed by Austrian firearms designer
Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher (1848-1904). Several of Mannlicher's guns incorporated
advanced innovations (such as the
cartridge clip, a metal container that held ammunition and automatically fed it into the
gun when
firing), and became widely used in Europe. In all, more than 150
different types of guns were
developed and tested by Mannlicher, many of which were
automatic (capable of
firing continuously until out of ammunition or the trigger is
released). Mannlicher rifles were used during
World War I (1914- 1918) and
II (1939-1945) by various countries, including
Austria,
Hungary,
Italy,
Bulgaria and Greece.