It would have to be the AK-47 followed very closely by the numerous SMLE variants.

I think going by numbers produced, and length of time used, that the Mosin Nagant would have to be the winner..

Karabiner 98K served the german army well for 2 WWII and has a great range of 800m.

Served them well? They lost both major wars they used it in, and were desperately trying to replace it...!

The AK-47 followed by the M1 Garand.

and what about the FN. in use for 50 years now and counting. god alone knows how many of them are still out there. AK 47 is without doubt the highest production rifle but it doesn't warrant the title "greatest" imho.

The category is the greatest. It would have to be the M1 Garand. When the U.S. came out with it, NO ONE had anything else that was issued on such a wide scale. Everybody else was mostly using bolt actions. The Garand could completely shatter an infantry attack and keep the enemies heads down when it was your turn to attack. It had no equal during WW 2 and was still breaking up human wave attacks 5 years later in Korea. There were several rifles that came out around the same time as the ak that all used reloadable magazines; M14, G3, Fn Fal etc,,,,

If people talks abt AK-47,then credit must give to SG44.AK-47 is just a slight modification of it!

"The category is the greatest. It would have to be the M1 Garand. When the U.S. came out with it, NO ONE had anything else that was issued on such a wide scale. Everybody else was mostly using bolt actions." By that mentality, the AK-47 definately deserves that title. When it was first issued, everyone with the exception of the US (who had the M1 Garand) used bolt-action rifles as their primary infantry small arm. The Garand is a significant leap in capablity over the Kar-98 or SMLE, but nowhere near as dramatic as the Kalashnikov. Terrex, the AK-47 is more than just a "slight" modification of the StG-44. And the AK-47 deserves the title much more than the German rifle on account of its longevity, proliferation, and dramatic impacts it had made on the conflicts in which it was used (apart from being cheap and reliable, it is also very good performing).

"credit must give to SG44.AK-47 is just a slight modification of it" Gah no! That is a myth, apart from their external appearance the two rifles have nothing to do with each other! Kalashnikov started designing the AK when he was in a Russian hospital, at a date before the STG44 was around. The STG uses a locking method similar to the FAL, while the AK uses a three lug rotating locking, the STG has the recoil springs going into the butt, the AK's do not etc etc...