Downvoters: /msg me with your reasons.      UPDATE! - 13/06/2001
Technically, a rifle is a firearm that has a barrel length of 18
inches or more and whose bore has rifling grooves.  A long arm
with a barrel length below 18 inches is considered a short
barreled rifle or SBR and is considered to be an entirely
different animal in the eyes of the law, it is categorized Class
III, along with shorty shotguns and burst capable firearms.  A
shotgun with a rifled barrel is still considered a shotgun since
it only fires shotshells and/or slugs.  In the military sense,
the term 'rifle' technically refers to any projectile weapon
possessed of a rifled barrel - the term originated in the 1500s
and was coined to distinguish such weapons from the smoothbore
cannon and muskets which they gradually replaced. When
introduced, rifles were more accurate than their smoothbore
cousins on account of the spin the rifling imparted on the
projectile; however, it took almost two centuries for the
smoothbore firearm to be completely