Editing Rifle (section)

==Terminology==

[[File:Garandparts.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Names of parts of the [[M1 Garand]] rifle, World War II era, from US Army field manual]]
Historically, rifles only fired a single projectile with each squeeze of the trigger. Modern rifles are commonly classified as single-shot, bolt-action, semi-automatic, or automatic.  Single-shot, bolt-action, and semi-automatic rifles are limited by their designs to fire a single shot for each trigger pull.  Only automatic rifles are capable of firing more than one round per trigger squeeze; however, some automatic rifles are limited to fixed bursts of two, three, or more rounds per squeeze.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

Modern [[automatic rifle]]s overlap to some extent in design and function with [[machine gun]]s. In fact, many light machine guns are adaptations of existing automatic rifle designs, such as the [[RPK]] and [[M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle]]. A military's light machine guns are typically chambered for the same caliber ammunition as its service rifles. Generally, the difference between an automatic rifle and a machine gun comes down to weight, cooling system, and ammunition feed system.  Rifles, with their relatively lighter components (which overheat quickly) and smaller capacity [[Magazine (firearms)|magazines]], are incapable of sustained automatic fire in the way that machine guns are; they trade this capability in favor of increased mobility. Modern military rifles are fed by magazines, while machine guns are generally [[Belt (firearms)|belt-fed]]. Many machine guns allow the operator to quickly exchange barrels in order to prevent overheating, whereas rifles generally do not. Most machine guns fire from an [[open bolt]] in order to reduce the danger of "[[Cooking off|cook-off]]", while almost all rifles fire from a [[closed bolt]] for accuracy. Machine guns are often crewed by more than one soldier; the rifle is an individual weapon.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

The term "rifle" is sometimes used to describe larger rifled [[crew-served weapon]]s firing explosive shells, for example, [[recoilless rifle]]s and [[naval rifle]]s.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}

In many works of fiction "rifle" refers to any weapon that has a [[stock (firearm)|stock]] and is shouldered before firing, even if the weapon is not rifled or does not fire solid projectiles (e.g. "laser rifle").{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}