what is the difference between a shotgun and a rifle?

Answer 1

Shotgun is usually used in short range situations, because of the load the shell has. Shotguns use a shell that holds shot and the shot "sprays" out when shot.
Rifle is usually used in long range situations and have a bullet that is shoots.

Answer 2

A rifle is a firearm which fires a single projectile which is spun to stabilize it during flight

A shotgun normally fires shells loaded with numerous round projectiles, which according to the shell can very in number from 6 and fairly large to 50 or more and be BB sized.
Some shotguns have rifled barrels and fire slugs, extremely large one piece projectiles.

Rifles usually have more range but a shotgun with a slug will have more power at 100 yards than a rifle in a small caliber; .22 LR for example.
Usually rifles are more accurate but a good slug gun will be more accurate than a bad rifle.

Both shotguns and rifles come in varying sizes.
Shotguns are measured in "Guage" (the .410 is an exception)which corresponds to how many pure lead balls the same diameter of the barrel it would take to equal 1 pound. Rifles are measured in caliber which is usually the diameter of the bore (size across of the bullet) in decimals of an inch, although some are commonly measured in millimeters.

Average range for a shotgun is 50 yards or less while an average rifle's range would be 300-500 yards. There are of course exceptions to this but for an overall general idea that's about it.

Answer 3

Normally a shotgun is a smooth-bore (no rifling) long gun intended to shoot 'shot,' multiple lead pellets out of the same cartridge. A rifle is a long gun with a rifled barrel intended to shoot a single projectile each time it is fired.

Normally a rifle with have a single, slender barrel (double-rifles being the notable exception). A shotgun can have two barrels configured side-by-side (a double-barreled shotgun) or piled one on top of the other (an over-n-under shotgun).

Hope that helped.

Happy New Year!

H

Answer 4

A shotgun is a firearm typically used to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot. The shot is usually fired from a smoothbore barrel; another configuration being the rifled "slug" barrel, which is used to fire a single projectile. Since the power of the burning charge is divided among the pellets, the energy of any one ball of shot is fairly low, making shotguns useful primarily for hunting birds and other small game. However, the large number of projectiles makes the shotgun useful as a close-combat weapon or defensive weapon, where the short range ensures that many of the projectiles of shot will hit the target. Ammunition for shotguns is referred to as shotgun shells. Single projectile loads are generally called shotgun slugs or just slugs.

Rifles are designed to shoot a bullet, which will be a "rifled" to enable further distance. In this case, there is always only a single projectile fired.

Answer 5

shotgun smoothbore barrel expelling a charge of pellets to form a pattern of shot used for aerial targets usually 40 yards or less can use slugs as a single projectile but the "shot" in shotgun means the pelletized shot will expand or scatter as the projectiles leave the barrel and head towards a target.

rifle term means barrel is rifled or contains lands and grooves that impart a spin on the single projectile that is expelled from the muzzle.

Answer 6

A shotgun has a smooth bore while a rifle has lands and groves (rifling)

Answer 7

A shot gun shoots what are either called slugs or a pile of pellets (measured by the gauge- like 12 gauge) and the range is usually close. A slug is like a single bullet versus a scatter of pellets at a short range. Rifles are high power bullets that can travel long distances with high accuracy, depending on what's called the calibre of the rifle. Shot guns are good for moving objects at a short range- like birds and ducks that are difficult to shoot because of their flying motion; whereas, rifles are better for larger animals like deer, moose, and bears that have a large target area to aim at from a long distance. I would say that slugs are good for large animals at shorter distances for people who have a shot gun and cannot afford a rifle.

Answer 8

A rifle is for long distance shots. It shoots long bullets, and generally a new bullet have to be placed in with each shot. Shotguns are loaded with several shells, and when fired, a new shell can be chambered by bulling the slide under the barrel back, and then forward. Shotgun's ammunition are capsules filled with BB's or pellets that open up, when fired, and spray everywhere, in a cone-shaped pattern.

Answer 9

A shotgun uses shells that are loaded with separate
projectiles. When it explodes many small metal shards
fly out to hit the target. A rifle has a shell that expels one
large projectile, i.e., use a shotgun for a smaller, flying bird
for example, and a rifle for a larger deer.

Answer 10

The Barrel of a rifle is rifled, meaning that there is twist pattern inside the barrel. This makes the bullet spin when it is fired and there for improves accuracy. The rifling was invented before the civil war. The improved accuracy is why so many soldiers were killed during the civil war.
A shotgun has a straight bore barrel and therefore sends out the pellets in a spread out pattern. To do serious harm you need to close to the object. The pistols before the Civil War were not rifled either, that is why duels were back to back, 10 paces, turn and fire. Any further apart would do little damage to the duellers.