A
rifle is a
gun typically with a grooved or "rifled" barrel. Rifled barrels are the norm, with the exception of shotguns and historical weapons and their reproductions, like musket
?s, muzzleloader
?s/blackpowder
?, blunderbuss
?es, etc which are considered smoothbore. Most shotguns also do not have a rifled barrels, though shotguns that are specialized for firing slugs (which are just giant self-stabilizing bullets) do. The riflings, a series of cuts and lands strategely placed to cause an existing bullet to spin, resulting in a more stable flight and hence more accuracy. A rifle typically has a longer barrel than a handgun (see single-shot pistol). Legally there are rules (usually local laws) for how short a barrel can be before a rifle turns into a handgun. There are exceptions such as firearms made by Thompson Contender that can be easily converted from pistol to rifle and back with a simple barrel change. There are a variety of receiver actions used for rifles. These include bolt actions (e.g. Sako, Remmington, Mauser, Winchester, etc.) low wall and high wall single action (Browning No.1) and various semi-auto. The most common civilian use (not military or criminal) is hunting
?, followed by
police work, and various kinds of competition (e.g. benchrest
?, bullseye
?, etc). Rifles can be used routinely to a range of 500 yards, and up to 1500 yrds with specialized equipment (e.g. scope, or a specific caliber)
see also assault rifle, sniper