rifle: see small arms small arms, firearms designed primarily to be carried and fired by one person and, generally, held in the hands, as distinguished from heavy arms, or artillery .

Early Small Arms

The first small arms came into general use at the end of the 14th cent.
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rifle

Firearm whose barrel is rifled (i.e., has spiral grooves cut inside it to give a spin to the projectile). Though usually applied to a weapon fired from the shoulder, the name can also refer to a rifled cannon. Rifled firearms date to at least the 15th century, when it was discovered that imparting a spin to the bullet improved its range and accuracy. The earliest muzzle-loading rifles were more difficult to load than smoothbore muskets, but the invention of metallic cartridges made possible the development of breech-loading mechanisms. Bolt-action rifles, which use a manually operated cylinder to drive the cartridge into the rifle's chamber, are the most common type for hunting. See also assault rifle.

rifle [′rī·fəl]

(design engineering)

A drill core that has spiral grooves on its outside surface.

(engineering)

A borehole that is following a spiral course.

(ordnance)

A firearm having spiral grooves upon the surface of its bore to impart rotary motion to a projectile, thereby stabilizing the projectile and ensuring greater accuracy of impact and longer range; it may fire projectiles automatically or semiautomatically, or successive rounds may be manually loaded.

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Early Small Arms

rifle

rifle
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