rifle

A rifle is a type of barreled firearm that is fired with the stock pressed against the pocket of an individual’s shoulder, and uses an explosive in a fixed cartridge to trigger one single projectile that shoots through a rifled barrel, or a barrel with spiraled grooves, A rifle can only fire one projectile at a time. The rifled barrel stabilizes the trajectory of the projectile which is suitable for long distance precision. A short-barrel rifle has a barrel of less than 16 inches or with an overall length of less than 26 inches. Some states, such as Hawaii, have additional requirements to acquire or transfer a rifle.

Rifles are defined in federal and state statutes using unique statutory language. For example, 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(7) defines a rifle as “a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of an explosive to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger.” Similarly, in New York State, a rifle is identified as “a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of the explosive to fire only a single projectile through a rifled bore for each single pull of the trigger using either: (a) fixed metallic cartridge; or (b) each projectile and explosive charge are loaded individually for each shot discharged.” See: NY Penal L § 265.00.

[Last reviewed in May of 2026 by the Wex Definitions Team]

Keywords

• firearms

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