Rifle vs. Gun

[Cosine26]

In the pre-WWII army, the rifle was referred to as the piece . My father, a veteran of the AEF in France during WWI always referred to the rifle as his piece.
To quote from:
Manual
for
noncommissioned officers and privates of Infantry of the Organized Militia and Volunteers of the United States
1914
"78. Being at order arms 1.Present, 2 Arms
With the right hand carry the piece in front of the center of the body, barrel to the rear and ventricle, grasp it with the left hand at the balance, forearm horizontal and resting the body. Grasp the small of the stock with the right hand. "
And so it goes through out the Manual of Arms
The same nomenclature is carried forward in the
Manual of Basic Training
and
Standards of Proficiency for the National Guard
Volume 1
1927
It was not uncommon during the 1960's to ask "Got your piece on you?" when asking if one was armed.
FWIW

[Brian Dick]

"This is my rifle, this is my gun, this one's for killing and this one's for fun".

Screw the politically correct nonsense! :lol

I'm entwined in the actual terminology used on government paperwork frequently. It's Rifle, Pistol, Revolver, Shotgun and their respective approved abbreviations. Then there are machine guns, short barreled rifles and "any other weapon" or AOW's. The BATFE's own definition of an "assault rifle" is a SELECT FIRE weapon that fires an intermediate size cartridge. That's the correct definition since the introduction of the MP43/STG44 by the Germans during WWII. Unfortunately the media and unfriendly organizations and politicians have redefined the term and even folks who should know better fall into the jargon trap. It's sort of like calling the USA a democracy when it's really a constitutional republic. It makes me tired to hear politicians on both sides of the aisle use the term democracy in conjunction with the USA as originally designed. There is an agenda at play. Nuff' said.

[Aussie48]

"This is my rifle, this is my gun, this one's for killing and this one's for fun".

Screw the politically correct nonsense! :lol

That's the phrase that was drummed in to us at recruit training in the Australian Army and unless you liked doing 5 kilometre runs and a serious amount of push ups it stuck like glue.[/QUOTE]

[latigo 1]

Not only the Marine Corps uses the term "rifle" for a firearm such as the U.S. Rifle Cal. .30 M1, so does Webster. "RIFLE - A firearm with a rifled bore, designed to be fired from the shoulder. b. An artillary piece or Naval gun with such spiral grooves. ( by the way, is the use of the term "Naval gun" by Webster an oxymoron ? )
Shotguns are also "guns" not "rifles".

But I must admit, but not to my former D.I ., that I do find myself, on occasion, calling a rifle a gun, but when I do, I know I made a mistake. Semper Fi

That is an accurate description of a rifle. Webster also has a separate description for a pistol. They also have a description of a revolver. That does not rule out the fact that all of them are also guns if you use the Webster description of a GUN.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

I am with R. Lee Ermy
Oh well tried to post a link no luck. youtube "this is my rifle this is my gun"

[WarPig1976]

Here you go HOH...

[latigo 1]

I am with R. Lee Ermy
Oh well tried to post a link no luck. youtube "this is my rifle this is my gun"

I quickly got sick of hearing that. Especially when the semi educated drill sgt would end it with: "and it would beheave you to remember it".

[browningautorifle]

beheave

Did you mean behoove?

[latigo 1]

Did you mean behoove?

You missed the whole point. That is why I put the word in italics. Yes, behoove is the correct word. The "semi educated drill sergant" always said "beheave", while trying to instruct the troops in correct wording.

[Bob Womack]

That would be called irony.

Bob