the.com/rifle
a metal tube that spins lies into truths over a mile away
means A long-barreled firearm with spiral grooves cut inside the bore to spin the bullet for accuracy over distance (or, as a verb, to ransack a place or steal).
from From the verb 'rifle' meaning to grasp, plunder, or search through — borrowed from Old French 'rifler' (to scratch, scrape, or strip bare), of Germanic origin and possibly related to words for tearing or grazing. The gun sense grew from a separate but related notion: the spiral grooves are 'rifling,' from the same idea of scratching or scoring a surface. So the weapon is literally named for the gouges raked into its barrel — and shares deep roots with the act of ransacking.
- the name
- rifling means the spiral grooves carved inside the barrel
- spin stabilized
- twisting bullets stay accurate like a thrown football
- record shot
- confirmed kills past 3,500 meters, over two miles
- musket era
- smoothbore guns missed badly past 80 yards
- olympic sport
- shooters control breathing between heartbeats to steady aim
m16 — primary infantry rifle used by us military from 1969-2015, fired ~27 million rounds in vietnam
ak-47 — mikhail kalashnikov's 1947 design, most widely produced rifle in history with ~100 million copies
lee-enfield — british bolt-action rifle used 1895-1956, could fire 15 rounds per minute in wwi