Talk:Rifle

Latest comment: 3 months ago by FK1954 in topic The word "Rifle"

The word "Rifle"

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The article states: "The word "rifle" originally referred to the grooving, and a rifle was called a "rifled gun.""

What an odd statement. If the word "rifle" no longer refers to the spiral grooving, what then does it refer to nowadays? I had always believed that noun "rifle" is derived from the verb "rifle," and that both are current usages. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.180.68.65 (talk) 00:05, 21 October 2012 (UTC)Reply

I read that "rifle" is derived from German "Riffel" = groove". --FK1954 (talk) 10:05, 17 August 2024 (UTC)Reply

The word "Assault"

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I wanted to bring to the table a request to remove the term "Assault Rifle" from the pages that have it. This term means nothing it is a media buzzword and doesn't belong in the articles IMHO. In the cases I refer to are semi, burst and auto fire rifles. Also I have fixed a few references to "Clips" when the contributor meant "Magazines". But I have in the past replaced "Assault" with "semi, burst, or auto fire" and have seen it edited to "Assault". What gives?Bjbeardse (talk) 23:49, 17 October 2017 (UTC)Reply

"Assault rifle" is a genuine military term for a specific type of rifle such as the M16 and AK-47. "Assault weapon" is the dubious political and media term for semi-automatic military-style rifles that is often conflated with "assault rifle". As long as "assault rifle" is used in the correct context here, it's fine. - BilCat (talk) 03:59, 18 October 2017 (UTC)Reply
The term 'assault rifle' was derived from the late-WW II German 'Sturmgewehr', the StG 44. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.149.173.52 (talk) 15:17, 27 December 2017 (UTC)Reply

Smooth Bored Shotguns called Rifles

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As written, this piece says, "rifle is now often used for any long-shaped handheld ranged weapon designed for well-aimed discharge activated by a trigger." But no source is given there. It seems that you would include smooth bored shotguns with this definition. This claim seems doubtful to me. (TerryKave (talk) 18:02, 4 December 2023 (UTC))Reply

This piece says, "In many works of fiction a rifle refers to any weapon that has a stock and is shouldered before firing, even if the weapon is not rifled or does not fire solid projectiles (e.g. a "laser rifle")." Yet no source is provided for this claim. Perhaps somebody has done a survey of popular writings / fiction works, and come up with percent as to out of a million works which use the term "rifle," some percent use the term as claimed. (TerryKave (talk) 18:08, 4 December 2023 (UTC))Reply