Soviet AT rifles

[Hanny]

ORIGINAL: 56ajax

Out of curiosity when does a rifle become a gun?

Shoulder firearms are either rifled or not, (hand guns are either rifled or not, they just all have been as long as ive been around!) rifling changes the terminology.

[joelmar]

Yes, in fact from my understanding a rifle has grooves while a gun doesn't. A gun will be shooting with arcs while a rifle shoots in a straight line. A rifle is thereby more precise than a gun.

In wikipedia, the definition of rifle goes like this:

"A rifle is a single-person portable, long-barrelled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ("rifling") cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with both hands and braced against the shooter's shoulder for stability during firing.

The term was originally rifled gun, with the verb "rifle" referring to the early modern machining process of creating groovings with cutting tools. By the 20th century, the weapon had become so common that the modern noun "rifle" is now often used for any long-shaped handheld ranged weapon designed for well-aimed discharge activated by a trigger (e.g. personnel halting and stimulation response rifle, which is a laser dazzler)."

[Hanny]

Exactly,smoothbore muskets became rifled muskets, and then simply rifles as they became the norm in production and use. Shotguns otoh have always been shotguns. Hand cannons eventually became hand guns, any firearms used in the hand, a pistol is a type of hand gun, and is the same as hand axes, and two handed axe, because of number of hand use.