[M1903A1]

Yes, some countries did, and they actually lasted into the 1990s in some countries.

Many countries that issued 7.62 NATO battle rifles (the FAL, L1A1 etc.) issued them in semiauto-only mode, both to fit with their existing fire discipline tactics, and because a 7.62 NATO rifle in “burp” mode proved to be less than desirable. Granted, there were often unofficial tricks among the troops to put them in “go-fast mode”, but they were still issued and deployed as semiauto rifles.

[tacticalogic]

I understood the classic definition of "assault rifle" being a rifle designed to use smaller caliber rounds (resulting in higher capacity mags) and be able to fire full-auto. The theory being that smaller caliber rounds were more likely to maim than kill, and the higher capacity mags made full-auto fire practical. If you kill an enemy soldier, he can't fight any more, but he'll just get left behind. If you seriously injure him he still can't fight any more, but neither can the guy that's going to have to carry him.

Larger caliber rifles resulted in lower capacity mags, making full-auto use impractical. The larger caliber round was designed to kill, and semi-auto encouraged making every shot count.