rifles and proof marks

1. RIFLE AND PROOF
MARKS
BY :-
Pooja Sharma

2. WHAT IS RIFLE
 A rifle is a portable long-barrelled firearm designed for precision shooting,
to be held with both hands and braced against the shoulder during firing,
and with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ("rifling") cut into the
bore walls.
 Rifles are used in warfare, hunting and shooting sports.
 a rifle's projectile (bullet) is propelled by the contained deflagration of a
combustible propellant compound (originally black powder, later cordite,
and now nitrocellulose), although other means such as compressed air are
used in air rifles, which are popular for vermin control, hunting small game,
formal target shooting and casual shooting ("plinking").
 Rifles are high powered firearms typically used to hit targets at long
distances. Rifles are designed to be fired from the shoulder. Grooves,
called rifling (hence the name rifle), are cut into the barrel of a
rifle. Rifling makes the bullet spin as it leaves the muzzle, making the bullet
much more accurate and stable in flight.

3. Types of rifle
Firearm Single-shot
 Muzzle-loading rifle, some flintlock and mostly caplock
 Breech-loading rifle
 Repeating
 Manual
 Revolving rifle
 Lever-action rifle, e.g. Winchester rifle, Spencer rifle
 Pump-action rifle, e.g. Colt Lightning Carbine
 Bolt-action rifle
 Self-loading
 Semi-automatic rifle
 Automatic rifle

4. Muzzle-loading rifle and Breech-
loading rifle
 A muzzle loading weapon is
loaded through the muzzle, or
front of the barrel (or "tube" in
artillery terms). This is the
opposite of a breech-loading
weapon or rifled
breechloader (RBL), which is
loaded from the breech-end
of the barrel.
 Chassepot (breech loading)

5. Bolt action
 Bolt action is a type of repeater firearm
action where the handling
of cartridges into and out of the
weapon's barrel chamber are operated
by manually manipulating
the bolt handle, which is most commonly
placed on the right-hand side of the
weapon (as most users are right-
handed). As the handle is operated, the
bolt is unlocked and pulled back opening
the breech, the spent cartridge case is
extracted and ejected, the firing
pin within the bolt is cocked (either on
opening or closing of the bolt depending
on the gun design) and engages
the sear, then upon the bolt being
pushed back a new cartridge (if
available) is loaded into the chamber,
and finally the breech is closed tight by
the bolt locking against the receiver.

7. manual
 Revolving rifle
 Revolving rifles were an attempt to increase the rate of fire of rifles
by combining them with the revolving firing mechanism that had
been developed earlier for revolving pistols.

8. Lever action rifle
 Lever action is a type
of firearm action which uses a
lever located around the
trigger guard area (often
including the trigger guard
itself) to load
fresh cartridges into
the chamber of
the barrel when the lever is
worked.
example :- The Knötgen
automatic rifle(two barreld)
 Colt-Burgess rifle

9. Slide action
 A pump-action or slide-action firearm is one in which a forend can
be moved forward and backward in order to eject a spent round
of ammunition and to chamber a fresh one. It is much faster than
a bolt-action and somewhat faster than a lever-action, as it does not
require the trigger hand to be removed from the trigger while
reloading. Once fired, the forend is slid rearward by hand and the
expended cartridge ejected. It is then reloaded by manually moving
the forend to the front.
 Colt- Lightning .22 Rifle

10. Semi automatic rifles
 A semi-automatic rifle, also known as a self-loading rifle ('SLR')
or auto-loading rifle, is a self-loading rifle that fires a
single round each time the trigger is pulled.
 semi-automatic weapons use gas, blowforward, blowback,
or recoil energy to eject the spent cartridge.
 Ex:M1 Garand , SKS , Gewehr 43,SVT-40

11. AUTOMATIC RIFLE
 An automatic rifle is a type
of self-loading rifle that is
capable of fully automatic fire.
Automatic rifles are
distinguished from semi-
automatic rifles in their ability
to fire more than one shot in
succession once the trigger is
pulled. Most automatic rifles
are further subcategorized
as battle rifles or assault
rifles.
 ex: M14 rifle (Battle rifle) ,
AK-47

12. OTHER TYPES OF RIFLES
 Rifles may be :
Single barreled
Double barreled
Multi barreled

13. SINGLE BARRELED RIFLES
 Rifle which have single barrel. It fires only one projectile at one time
unlike double barrel and multi barrel.

14. DOUBLE BARRELED RIFLES
 The double rifle, also known as the double-barrelled rifle, is
a rifle with two barrels mounted parallel to each other or two barrels
perpendicular to each other. The double rifle is a purely sporting
weapon with no military heritage.

15. MULTI BARRELED RIFLES
 A multiple barrel rifled firearm is any firearm with more than one
barrel (usually in the same calibre), to increase the rate of fire/hitting
probability and to reduce barrel erosion/overheating.

16. Caliber
 width of the bullet fired through a rifle's barrel. caliber is the approximate
internal diameter of the gun barrel, or the diameter of the projectile it
shoots. It is measured in hundredths or thousandths of an inch or
in millimeters. For example, a ".45 caliber" firearm has a barrel diameter of
0.45 inches (11 mm).
 For example, a small-bore rifle with a diameter of 0.22 inches (5.6 mm)
can be referred to as ".22" or a ".22 cal".
In a rifled barrel, the distance is measured between
opposing lands or grooves; groove measurements are common in cartridge
designations originating in the United States, while land measurements are
more common elsewhere in the world.
.

17. PROOF MARKS
 Proof marks are stamps applied to various parts of a weapon during
and after manufacture to show that the weapon is safe for use with
the ammunition for which it was designed.
 types of proof marks :-
 provisional proof,
 definitive proof
 Reproof

18.  Provisional proof is only for shotgun barrels in the early stages of
manufacture. This type of proof is designed to prevent the
manufacturer from continuing work on barrel blanks which may
have hidden defects.
 Definitive proof applies to all weapons and shows that the weapon
has been tested with an overcharge of propellant and missile.
Generally, this calls for between 30 and 50% increase in pressure
over the standard round of ammunition.
 Reproof is an additional test which may be applied after a
weapon has been repaired or altered in some way.

19.  Proof marks helps the examiner
 Age
 History
 Country of Origin
 Many countries have specific exemption from their firearms legislation
for weapons which are ‘ antique . At one time, the situation was simple,
with an antique being considered to be anything over 100 years old.
This, however, no longer holds true as many weapons, for example,
the Colt Single Action Army Model of 1873, are well over this age and
can fire modern centre fire ammunition.
 the proof mark could prove to be the only method of accurately
dating a weapon.