Rifle vs. Gun

[Bob Seijas]

IMO the insistence on "rifle" is only USMC tradition and jargon, like "deck" for "floor." According to the dictionary definition, rifles qualify as guns, just as pistols do. It seems to be fading... in the "American Sniper" book by SEAL Chris Kyle just out, he uses gun all the time. I occasionally use "gun" in GCA Journal articles because rifle gets very repetitive.

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[Bill Hollinger]

And the Navy has always referred to them as "guns" on a ship. Big guns but guns

[browningautorifle]

Once out of the military, I had to learn that civvies talk this way. They don't like you to call your favorite your weapon and they don't understand the discipline of calling it rifle or pistol. They just group them all together with guns. They won't be corrected, and I found it's not worth my time to argue about it.

[Chuckindenver]

agreed, it bugs me sometimes,..but i get lazy and call it a gun from time to time...i usually use the term weapon.. in my eyes...a gun is anything over .50 cal. and a rifle is a shoulder fired weapon under .50 cal..
what bugs me the most is the term clip.... example...i had a box of AR mags for sale at a local show...guy asked how much for the clips.??said what clips...i dont have any clips?
sure those M16 clips..so i pulled out a stripper clip and guide for the M16...said here ya go..i have a few more in a box under the table....he just looked dumbfounded.
i said, i have a few Magazines to load up with these clips if you like...and then smiled...

[Sarge1998]

Sorta like if your address is 2005 Main Street, that's two-zero-zero-five.

[rugersworld]

I totally agree with you guys. It bugs the heck out of me when people use incorrect words either through laziness or lack of education.

[Bob Womack]

I live in one of the biggest Navy ports in the world. The sailors here always took pride in referring to the Iowa-class battleship main battery as her long rifles, btw.

Bob

[Woodsy]

They are all guns (ie. a device that propels a projectile by force of explosive) but they are then divided into families of various types (rifles, pistols, etc.). 'Pistols' may be further subdivided into pistols and revolvers. Everyone knows what a rifle is, and it is the terminology I prefer, even though I am a gunsmith!

[Bob Seijas]

I prefer "rifle" as well, but I'm not too strict about it. SEAL Chris Kyle holds the record for documented sniper kills (over 150) and at one point he left his weapon in the hide when they were being extracted. He realized "I had forgotten my gun..." and went back to retrieve it

[Joe W]

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