Rifle
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Rifle. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a gun of high power, long shooting range, and finding its classification among weapons, chiefly in respect to the construction of its barrel. The term rifle means a gun with a grooved barrel. Originally, this grooving was developed for the two-fold purpose of accommodating the excess carbonization from the discharge of the black powder cartridge and to impart greater definition to the bullet by contracting the internal area of the barrel. It was discovered, after long experimentation, that the most effective combination of these two qualities was attained by boring the barrel with a spiral grooving which induced the twisting or spinning motion in the discharging bullet, thereby greatly increasing its directional accuracy and diminishing or flattening the curve of its trajectory with corresponding increase in the effectiveness of the weapon for hunting, target and military practice. The progress of development in the perfection of the rifle both as a weapon for sport and an instrument of military accomplishment has known three stages. The first stage might be said to have continued from the discovery of the principle of rifling up to the period of the successful production of the breech-loading rifle. In this stage, the muzzle-loading type of rifle reached German Mauser French Lebel Belgian Mauser RIFLES its highest perfection and led to the advance from the ball form of cartridge to the sugar-loaf or elongated ball cartridge. In America this period extended to the time of the American Civil War. The Civil War and the impetus of western settlement and colonization pushed the rifle into high development and produced COCKING PIECE BOLT TRIGGER BRITISH LEE-ENFIELD RIFLE the Henry, Sharp, and Spencer rifles, all breech-loading weapons, and one, the Henry type, a lever-action gun, the ancestor of the modern repeating rifle. The problem of the breech-loading rifle was the development of a mechanism sufficiently strong and relatively small to withstand the terrific concussion of blackpowder cartridges. The third stage in rifle development was reached when the solution of the breech-loading weakness was discovered and the area of modern rifle construction was issued in with the two great contributory aids of high tension steel and smokeless powder. The superior quality and dependability of steel which offered varieties to every mechanical requirement of the delicately adjusted machinery of the modern leveraction, bolt-action, and auto-action weapons, combined with the powerful advantages of smokeless powder which made possible the lightening of the barrel together with more accurate and careful rifling, led to the production of our mod- BACK SIGHT STRIKER SPRING MAGAZINE ern hunting and military weapons. Two aspects of importance have appeared in this third and present state in the development of the rifle; the emphasis upon the mechanics of repeating shots which has resulted in several types of magazine rifles and culminated in the automatic weapons which have combined speed of action with high shell capacity; and the several spheres of shell development which have produced the high-power, long range hunting rifle of exceptional ballistic attainment and the similar military rifle possessing the same characteristics. Between these types of rifle and the rifle of shorter range or greater shocking power, FIRING PINSAFETY LOCK COCKING PIECE MAGAZINE SPRINGFIELD MAGAZINE RIFLE the variation in mechanism and rifling, with all the consequent alterations in weight cht, balance, form of stock and sight construction, have been made to depend upon the type of shell used and upon whether the weapon has been designed to employ the steel, soft-nosed or pure lead bullet in its shooting.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a hand gun having a heavy barrel, the inside of which is channeled by spiral grooves. The rifle is a later invention than the musket. It is credited to Leipsic in 1498. The superiority lies in the spiral grooves. They give a bullet a rotary motion that carries it truer to the mark. The first rifles made in this country were manufactured in Pennsylvania about 1732. The bullet was expected to fit so closely that it had to be driven in upon the charge of powder with great force. Later the bullet was made a little smaller and was wrapped in a greased patch to make it fit closer without the expenditure of so much force upon the ramrod. The Chassepot and Martini were favorite European rifles fifty years ago, but they have been replaced by the Mauser, the Lebel, the Lee-Mitford, and the Krag-Jorgensen. All modern armies are now supplied with rifles. The infantry of the United States have been armed, for instance, with Springfield rifles, the bullets of which weigh 500 grains. These are being replaced, however, by the Krag-Jorgensen with a magazine holding five cartridges. The United States marines carry Lee-Remingtons. The Lee-Remingtons, the Sharps, and the Winchester are well known American rifles. Telescopic sights have been in use for some time. Smokeless powder is one of the later inventions. Muzzle-loading guns have gone out of use altogether. The modern breechloader which permitted the insertion of a cartridge at the base of the barrel was a great invention, but it has been replaced by the repeater or chambered rifle. It is provided with a long tube or magazine which runs along the under side of the barrel and contains a supply of cartridges. One jerk of a lever throws out the discharged cartridge. Another jerk puts a fresh cartridge in its place, and the gun is ready to be fired. Hunters claim that with this firearm they are able to aim and fire several shots a minute. A recent invention is designed to muffle the sound of explosion. It consists essentially of a valve that permits the escape of the bullet, but which retards the escape of the gases, and thereby reduces the noise to from twenty to forty per cent of its former loudness.