Rifle categories, military vs civilian

[streetstang67]

I've been trying to create a list of rifle categories when I noticed that there are obviously two sections: military firearm categories and civilian categorys.

Military classes:
Assualt Rifle
Battle Rifle
Sniper Rifle
Machine Gun
Submachine Gun

Civilian Categories:
Scout rifle
Varmint rifle
Hunting rifle
Express rifle

This is hard, but I'm trying to combine these two lists and create a single rifle category list. How similar are these classes? Scout rifle seems similar to Assault rifle, Hunting rifle seems comparable to sniper rifle. Any help?

 

[Thefabulousfink]

Well and Assault Rifle is capable of selective fire (full-auto or burst) and most scout rifles that I have seen are bolt action or semi-auto and good for medium range. I would say that the scout rifle is closer to the Designated Marksman Rifle (a new concept) or the more traditional carbine.

Hunting and Battle Rifle could be mearged since they are both ment to engage large targets out to @ 600m. I would think Varmit and Sniper Rifles are similar (even though caliber size is different) because they both tend to be very precise rifles.

Other than that I don't think there is much cross over.

 

[DMK]

You have carbine, which fits in both catagories. ie. M1 Carbine, Marlin 1894 or 336.


There's also the utility rifle. Where would you fit in an SU-16 or a Mini-30?

 

[Devonai]

I doubt you're going to be able to combine every class. Varmint rifles are usually meant for shooting animals while sniper rifles are meant for killing humans. Obviously the same rifle could fill both roles. To combine the two categories the only thing I can imagine is "accurized scoped rifle."

The military doesn't distinguish between assault rifles and battle rifles. US Rifle, M1, caliber .30; US Rifle, M14, caliber 7.62; US Rifle, M16A2, caliber 5.56. They're all rifles meant to be carried and operated by one man, the Rifleman. Civilians might call them "defensive rifles" or "sport utility rifles." Since the rules for the use of justified force apply regardless of the weapon, I see no reason why transferrable Class III rifles wouldn't apply here as well.

I would propose:

Defensive/Utility Rifles (includes rifles also useful for hunting)
Accurized Scoped Rifles (includes rifles also useful for hunting)
Automatic Rifles (machine guns or Class III)

While a weapon could fall under two of these categories, it could not fall under all three unless you get down to the literal definition of a rifle (grooves in the barrel).

 

[streetstang67]

So, combining assualt/battle rifles with scout rifles for a Defensive/Utility Rifle as you suggested; Sniper and Hunting rifles could also compose a class of medium caliber, accurate, scoped rifles. Need a good name for that category. And then you have automatic rifles left.

Thats seems to be a good list to combine the military and civilian categories.

Thanks a lot

 

[Sam]

All too ofthe people are confusing sniping with just plain long range shooting.
Sniping is a technique/tactic not necessarliy equipment driven or limited. Most effective one I ever ran into used a 30 carbine and made us absolutely miserable till we got a dog on him. Do not confuse the eqpt with the technique.



Sam

 

[Don't Tread On Me]

Assuming we're ignoring select fire attributes...

Military classes to what it would most likely be in civilian categories:

Assualt Rifle -- magazine fed, semi-automatic small to medium caliber rifles.
Battle Rifle -- bolt action or semi-automatic mag fed medium bore iron sighted rifles.
Sniper Rifle -- medium bore, scoped, bolt action rifles.
Machine Gun -- nothing relates to this in civilian terms.
Submachine Gun -- pistol cartridge, magazine fed, semi-automatic carbines.

Civilian Categories as what they'd be in military categories:

Scout rifle -- nothing relates to this in military terms.
Varmint rifle -- Perhaps a sniper rifle.
Hunting rifle -- assuming the hunting rifle is scoped, then a sniper rifle. If not scoped, then perhaps a "battle rifle"
Express rifle -- nothing relates to this in military terms unless you go back to the 1800's and the .45/70.


Of course, there's problems with all of this. For one, many of these terms are not real. *** is a "battle rifle"...that is falls more along the lines of the internet jargon of armchair generals who hate the 5.56 or 7.62x39mm. Why? Because the characteristics of all rifles commonly called "battle rifles" are wildly different. So much so, that the only common feature is that they shoot a caliber .30 or similar, but not "big bore"..


Sniper rifle is another one...sniping is action, not a feature. So any rifle used by a sniper is by default - the sniper rifle or the sniper's rifle. Most people associate a sniper rifle with the following characteristics: 1] Bolt action, .30 cal or at least 7mm to 8mm, accurate, magnified optics from 4x to 10x. Of course, there's the Dragunov, which is semi-auto...but that is probably more of a designated marksman rifle that was ahead of its time.


The main differences between a varmint rifle and a hunting rifle, assuming the hunting rifle is a bolt-action scoped rifle, is that varmint rifles are often 1] heavy barreled (whereas a common deer gun does not have to be) 2] usually .20cal to .25cal 3] have stocks suited for bench or rest shooting 4] optics are usually 12x or greater. Beyond that, they are similar. Hunting rifle, which could commonly mean "deer rifle" is typically anything from .243 to any .30cal, typically 3x to 9x optics (or sometimes irons), and bolt action. Like sniper rifle, hunting is an action...not a feature. So anything you hunt with - is a hunting rifle. Hard to define it.


The main characteristic of machinegun is belt-fed and fully automatic. Can't get around that. What is belt-fed in the civilian world assuming you can try and ignore the automatic fire? Nothing really.


Submachinegun, if we can ignore the full-auto fire which is a huge part of what a submachinegun is and does...could be related to high-capacity, magazine fed, pistol caliber carbines. Like the Beretta, Kel-Tec, etc...