A repeating rifle is a single- barreled

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

capable of repeated discharges between each ammunition reloads. This is typically achieved by having multiple

cartridge Cartridge may refer to: Objects * Cartridge (firearms), a type of modern ammunition * ROM cartridge, a removable component in an electronic device * Cartridge (respirator), a type of filter used in respirators Other uses * Cartridge (surname), a ...

s stored in a

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

(within or attached to the gun) and then fed individually into the

chamber Chamber or the chamber may refer to: In government and organizations * Chamber of commerce, an organization of business owners to promote commercial interests *Legislative chamber, in politics * Debate chamber, the space or room that houses delib ...

by a reciprocating bolt, via either a manual or automatic

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

mechanism, while the act of chambering the round typically also recocks the hammer/ striker for the following shot. In common usage, the term "repeating rifle" most often refers specifically to manual repeating rifles (e.g.

lever-action The toggle-link action used in the iconic Winchester Model 1873 rifle, one of the most famous lever-action firearms Lever-action is a type of action for repeating firearms that uses a manually operated cocking handle located around the trigger g ...

pump-action Pump action or slide action is a repeating firearm action that is operated manually by moving a sliding handguard on the gun's forestock. When shooting, the sliding forend is pulled rearward to eject any expended cartridge and typically to coc ...

bolt-action Bolt-action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt via a bolt handle, which is most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the weapon (as most users are right-handed). Most bolt-action ...

, etc.), as opposed to

self-loading rifle A self-loading rifle or autoloading rifle is a rifle with an action using a portion of the energy of each cartridge fired to load another cartridge. Self-loading pistols are similar, but intended to be held and fired by a single hand, while rifle ...

s, which use the

recoil Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force r ...

and/or blowback of the previous shot to cycle the action and load the next round, even though all

self-loading firearm A semi-automatic firearm, also called a self-loading or autoloading firearm (fully automatic and selective fire firearms are also variations on self-loading firearms), is a repeating firearm whose action mechanism ''automatically'' loads a follo ...

s are technically a subcategory of

repeating firearm A repeating firearm or repeater is any firearm (either a handgun or long gun) that is capable of being fired repeatedly before having to manually reload new ammunition into the weapon. Unlike single-shot firearms, which can only hold and fir ...

s. Repeating rifles were a significant advance over the preceding

single-shot Single-shot firearms are firearms that hold only a single round of ammunition, and must be reloaded manually after every shot. The history of firearms began with single-shot designs, then multi-barreled designs appeared, and eventually many cent ...

breechloading A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition (cartridge or shell) via the rear (breech) end of its barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, which loads ammunition via the front ( muzzle). Modern firearms are generally bre ...

rifles when used for military combat, as they allowed a much greater rate of fire. The repeating

Spencer rifle The Spencer repeating rifles and carbines were 19th-century American lever-action firearms invented by Christopher Spencer. The Spencer was the world's first military metallic-cartridge repeating rifle, and over 200,000 examples were manufacture ...

saw use by

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

and the subsequent

American Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...

, and the first repeating air rifle to see military service was the Windbüchse rifle.

Early repeaters

* Kalthoff repeater (about 1630) * Lorenzoni repeater (about 1650) * Lagatz Rifle: a modification of the Lorenzoni System, designed by Danzig gunsmith Daniel Lagatz around the year 1700. * Harmonica gun (1742) *

Cookson repeater The Cookson flintlock rifle, a lever-action breech-loading repeater, also known as the Cookson gun, is one of many similar designs to make an appearance on the world stage beginning in the 17th century. The Victoria & Albert Museum in London has ...

(1750) * Fafting Rifle: In 1774 a rifle was invented by a Norwegian colonel by the name of Fafting capable of firing 18 to 20 shots a minute and being used as an ordinary rifle by taking off a spring-loaded container attached to the gun's lock. It was also stated that the inventor was working on a gun capable of firing up to 30 times in a minute on more or less the same principles. * The Belton flintlock was a repeating flintlock design using superposed loads, conceived by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, resident Joseph Belton some time prior to 1777. The musket design was offered by Belton to the newly formed Continental Congress in 1777. Belton wrote that the musket could fire eight rounds with one loading. *

Girardoni air rifle The Girardoni air rifle was an air gun designed by Italian inventor Bartolomeo Girardoni circa 1779. The weapon was also known as the ''Windbüchse'' ("wind rifle" in German). One of the rifle's more famous associations is its use on the Lew ...

(1779) * 1789 French Rifle: In 1791 it was mentioned in a book published in France that there existed since at least 1789 a rifle that held 5 or 6 shots and was capable of being reloaded three times in a minute for a total of 15 or 18 shots a minute. A rifle similar in type to this was also stated to be kept at the Hotel de la Guerre( fr). * Church and Bartemy/Bartholomew gun: A repeating rifle designed by the Americans William Church and Chrostus Bartemy or Bartholomew in 1813 with three separate magazines for containing up to 42 charges of ammunition and capable of firing 25 shots a minute. It could be reloaded in one minute. * Thomson Rifle: a flintlock repeating rifle patented in 1814, using multiple breeches to obtain repeating fire. * Lepage Guns: In 1819 a French gunsmith called Lepage invented and presented at the French industrial exposition of that year percussion 2-shot and 4-shot turn-over rifles In 1823 he exhibited a volley rifle that fired 7 rifled barrels simultaneously as well as a turning carbine. In 1827, the same inventor exhibited at another French industrial exposition 11 percussion and 1 flintlock firearms which included a 4-shot revolving rifle, a 'double rifle' with a cylinder with 5 charges and a 'single rifle' and a pair of pistols also with a cylinder with 5 charges. * Pirmet-Baucheron Revolving Rifle: In 1822 a French gunsmith called Pirmet-Baucheron presented a revolving rifle with 7 shots and a single lock. * Hewson Magazine Gun: In 1824 an English gunsmith called W. P. Hewson advertised, amongst other firearms and one air gun, a magazine gun. * Jobard Rifle: a turret rifle with 14 shots patented in Belgium in 1826 and presented to the government in 1835. * Henry Rifle: a French 14 shot flintlock rifle in the style of the Kalthoff and Lorenzoni rifles patented in 1831 (granted in 1835) by Francois-Antoine Henry though possibly based on an earlier design published in 1809 by the same author. * Silas Day Magazine Gun: A percussion revolving rifle to which was attached a loose-powder-and-ball magazine patented in the US in 1837. *

Colt Ring Lever rifles The Colt First Model Ring Lever rifle and Colt Second Model Ring Lever rifle are two early caplock revolving rifles that were produced by the Patent Arms Manufacturing Company between 1837 and 1841. The First Model, produced between 1837 and 18 ...

(1837) * Bailey, Ripley and Smith Magazine Rifle: In 1838 the Americans Lebbeus Bailey, John B. Ripley and William B. Smith patented a percussion repeating rifle with a gravity-operated tubular magazine which could hold up to 15 re-useable steel cartridge-chambers. * Eaton Rifle: In 1838 a percussion rifle invented in America by James Eaton was described as being capable of holding 24 rounds in a rotating magazine and discharging them all in four minutes for a rate of fire of 6 rounds per minute. * Kratsch Rifle: In 1839 it was reported that a mechanic called Kratsch from Bayreuth had invented a rifle capable of firing 30 times in a minute and being reloaded in one minute. * Devisme Guns: In 1844 a French gunsmith known as Devisme presented a variety of repeating firearms for the French Industrial Exposition of 1844 including an 18 shot pistol with no visible hammer or lock, a 6 shot pistol, a rifle with 6 shots and a 'revolving thunder' and a four shot 'double acting' rifle. * Jennings Magazine Rifle: in 1847 Walter Hunt patented in Britain a repeating rifle he called "the Volitional Repeater". He would patent it again in the United States in 1849. This rifle featured a tubular magazine beneath the barrel and a lever mechanism to raise cartridges into the chamber. Unable to finance the building of the rifle, Hunt sold the rights to George Arrowsmith who in turn had an employee, Lewis Jennings, improve the lever mechanism. Courtland Palmer placed the first order for the "Jennings Magazine rifle" for his hardware store: Robbins & Lawrence. The rifle did not sell well as the ammunition was a hollow based bullet containing gunpowder. Most of the guns were later converted to single shot rifles. Two employees working at Robbins & Lawrence: Horace Smith and

Daniel B. Wesson Daniel Baird Wesson (May 18, 1825 – August 4, 1906) was an American inventor and firearms designer. He helped develop several influential firearm designs over the course of his life; he and Horace Smith were the co-founders of two companies n ...

improved the design and sold it as the "Smith-Jennings Repeating Rifle". At first they used a slightly modified Flobert cartridge, patented in 1853, but later they would switch to a modified

Rocket Ball The Rocket Ball was one of the earliest forms of metallic cartridge for firearms, containing bullet and powder in a single, metal-cased unit. Construction The Rocket Ball, patented in 1848 by Walter Hunt, consisted of a lead bullet with a de ...

type of ammunition altered so as to function as a self-contained centerfire cartridge. * Cass Repeating Belt Gun: A percussion repeating rifle patented in 1848 in the US using a chain or belt in the stock which carried paper cartridges to the breech of the gun. * Buchel Cartridge Magazine Gun: The first tubular cartridge magazine gun to be patented in the United States in February 1849. * Perry 'Faucet-Breech' Gun: A hinged or tilting breech repeating rifle patented in the US in December 1849 by Alonzo Perry using paper cartridges contained in several gravity-operated tubular magazines in the stock and a separate magazine for fulminate pills which were used for ignition. * Porter Self-Loading Gun: In February 1851 a loose-powder-and-ball percussion magazine gun invented by a Parry W. Porter, better known for the turret rifle he invented and to which the magazine for his loose-powder-and-ball gun was to be attached, was reported on in American newspapers and later in the same year a patent was procured by the inventor. * Needham Self-Loading Carbine: A self-loading carbine demonstrated in June 1851 at the Great Exhibition by Joseph Needham. * Dixon Self-Loading and Self-Priming Gun: A repeating gun demonstrated by a C. S. Dixon which won a silver award at the Annual Fair of the American Institute in October 1851. * The first slide action patent: Issued in Britain in 1854, to Alexander Bain who modified the mechanism of a harmonica gun. * Colette Gravity Pistol: a repeating saloon gun premiered at the 1855 World's Fair. Despite popularly being known as the Colette Gravity Pistol its original inventor was actually a Belgian called Jean Nicolas Herman. *

Colt revolving rifle The Colt New Model Revolving rifles were early repeating rifles produced by the Colt's Manufacturing Company from 1855 until 1864. The design was essentially similar to revolver type pistols, with a rotating cylinder that held five or six rounds i ...

(1855) * Leroux Magazine Gun: At the

Exposition Universelle (1855) The Exposition Universelle of 1855 was an International Exhibition held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris from 15 May to 15 November 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des B ...

in France a French gunsmith called Leroux demonstrated a repeating carbine with a magazine for 36 Flobert cartridges and which featured a novel cartridge extractor. *

Spencer repeating rifle The Spencer repeating rifles and carbines were 19th-century American lever-action firearms invented by Christopher Spencer. The Spencer was the world's first military metallic-cartridge repeating rifle, and over 200,000 examples were manufacture ...

(1860) *

Roper repeating shotgun Sylvester Howard Roper (November 24, 1823 – June 1, 1896) was an American inventor and a pioneering builder of early automobiles and motorcycles from Boston, Massachusetts. In 1863 he built a steam carriage, one of the earliest automobiles. The ...

(1882/1885)

Mechanisms

Manual

Revolver action

Circuit Judge revolver mechanism carbine While some early

long gun A long gun is a category of firearms with long barrels. In small arms, a ''long gun'' or longarm is generally designed to be held by both hands and braced against the shoulder, in contrast to a handgun, which can be fired being held with a single ...

s were made using the revolver mechanism popular in handguns, these did not have longevity. Even though the revolver mechanism was fine for pistols, it posed a problem with long guns: without special sealing details, the cylinder produces a gas discharge close to the face when the weapon is fired from the shoulder, as was the common approach with rifles.

Falling block action

Although most falling-blocks were single-shot actions, some early repeaters used this design, notably the Norwegian

Krag–Petersson The Krag–Petersson was the first repeating rifle adopted by the armed forces of Norway and was one of the first repeating rifles to be adopted as standard issue by a military force,

and the U. S.

. The former loaded from a Henry-style underbarrel magazine; the latter fed from a tubular magazine in the buttstock.

Lever action

Marlin_Model_1894C_lever-action_carbine_in_.357_Magnum_caliber.html" ;"title=".357_Magnum.html" ;"title="Marlin Model 1894C lever-action carbine in .357 Magnum">Marlin Model 1894C lever-action carbine in .357 Magnum caliber">.357_Magnum.html" ;"title="Marlin Model 1894C lever-action carbine in .357 Magnum">Marlin Model 1894C lever-action carbine in .357 Magnum caliber In a classic lever-action firearm of the Henry-Winchester type, rounds are individually loaded into a tubular magazine parallel to and below the barrel. A short bolt is held in place with an over center toggle action. Once closed, the over center action prevents opening solely by the force on the bolt when the weapon is fired. This toggle action is operated by a hand grip that forms part of the trigger guard. When operated, a spring in the tubular magazine pushes a fresh round into position. Returning the operating lever to the home position chambers the round and closes the breach. An interlock (engineering), interlock prevents firing unless the toggle is fully closed. The famous Winchester rifle#Winchester Model 1873, Model 1873 Winchester is exemplary of this type. Later lever-action designs, such as Marlin leverguns and those designed for Winchester by John Browning, use one or two vertical locking blocks instead of a toggle-link. There also exist lever-action rifles that feed from a box magazine, which allows them to use pointed

bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. Bullets are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax. Bullets are made in various shapes and co ...

s. A one-off example of Lever action reloading on automatic firearms is the M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun. This weapon had a swinging lever beneath its barrel that was actuated by a gas bleed in the barrel, unlocking the breech to reload. This unique operation gave the nickname "potato digger" as the lever swung each time the weapon fired.

Pump action

The Colt Lightning .22 pump action rifle With a pump-action firearm, the action is operated by a movable fore-end that the shooter moves backwards and forwards to eject a spent round, and extract and chamber a fresh round of ammunition. Pump-actions are usually associated with shotguns, but one example of a pump-action rifle is the

Remington Model 7600 The Remington Model 7600 is a series of pump-action centerfire rifles made by Remington Arms. The Model 7600 is a progression from the original Model 760 pump-action rifle which Remington produced from 1952 to 1981. Production of the Model Six be ...

series. Rifles with pump action are also called slide-action. This style of rifle is still popular with some local law enforcement branches as a rifle that is easy to train officers who are already familiar with the pump shotgun.

Bolt action

Opened bolt on a engine_turned_finish.html" ;"title="brushed_metal.html" ;"title="Winchester Model 70. The bolt has an brushed metal">engine turned finish">brushed_metal.html" ;"title="Winchester Model 70. The bolt has an brushed metal">engine turned finish The bolt is a mechanism that is operated by hand to extract a fired cartridge, move a fresh round into the chamber and reset the firing pin, readying the weapon to fire again. The bolt closes the breech end of the barrel and contains the firing pin. The bolt is held in place with a lever that fits into a notch. Moving this lever out of the notch will release the restraint on the bolt, allowing it to be drawn back. An extractor (firearms), extractor removes the spent cartridge, which is then ejected through the lever slot. A spring at the bottom of the

pushes up the reserve rounds, positioning the topmost between the bolt and the chamber at the base of the barrel. Pushing the bolt lever forward chambers this round and pushing the lever into the notch locks the bolt and enables the trigger (firearms), trigger mechanism. The complete cycle action also resets the firing pin. The Mauser rifle of the late 19th and early 20th centuries is the most famous of the bolt-action types, with most similar weapons derived from this pioneering design, such as the

M1903 Springfield The M1903 Springfield, officially the United States Rifle, Caliber .30-06, Model 1903, is an American five-round magazine-fed, bolt-action service repeating rifle, used primarily during the first half of the 20th century. The M1903 was first ...

and the

Karabiner 98 The Karabiner 98 kurz (; "carbine 98 short"), often abbreviated Karabiner 98k, Kar98k or K98k and also sometimes incorrectly referred to as a K98 (a K98 is a Polish carbine and copy of the Kar98a), is a bolt-action rifle chambered for the 7.92×57 ...

Kurz rifle (abbreviated often as Kar98k or simply K98). The Russian Mosin–Nagant rifle, the British

Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield or Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the British Army's sta ...

, and the Norwegian

Krag–Jørgensen The Krag–Jørgensen is a repeating bolt-action rifle designed by the Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jørgensen in the late 19th century. It was adopted as a standard arm by Norway, Denmark, and the United States. About 300 we ...

are examples of alternate bolt-action designs.

Autoloading

Blowback

In blowback operation, the bolt is not actually locked at the moment of firing. To prevent violent recoil, in most firearms using this mechanism the opening of the bolt is delayed in some way. In many small arms, the round is fired while the bolt is still travelling forward, and the bolt does not open until this forward momentum is overcome. Other methods involve delaying the opening until two rollers have been forced back into recesses in the receiver in which the bolt is carried. Simple blowback action is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, but is limited in the power it can handle, so it is seen on small caliber weapons such as

machine pistol A machine pistol is an autoloading pistol capable of fully automatic fire. The term can also be used to describe a stockless handgun-style submachine gun. The term is a calque of ''Maschinenpistole'', the German word for submachine guns. Ma ...

s and

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...

Lever-delayed blowback Blowback is a system of operation for self-loading firearms that obtains energy from the motion of the cartridge case as it is pushed to the rear by expanding gas created by the ignition of the propellant charge. Several blowback systems exist ...

, as seen in for example the French

FAMAS The FAMAS (''Fusil d'Assaut de la Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne'', "Assault Rifle from the Saint-Étienne Weapon Factory") is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured in France by MAS in 1978, a year after the Austrian Ste ...

assault rifle, can also handle more powerful cartridges but is more complicated and expensive to manufacture.

Recoil-operated

M1941 Johnson rifle In a recoil-operated firearm, the breech is locked, and the barrel recoils as part of the firing cycle. In long-recoil actions, such as the

Browning Auto-5 The Browning Automatic 5, most often Auto-5 or simply A-5, is a recoil-operated semi-automatic shotgun designed by John Browning. It was the first successful semi-automatic shotgun design, and remained in production until 1998. The name of the s ...

shotgun, the barrel and breechblock remain locked for the full recoil travel, and separate on the return; in short-recoil actions, typical of most semiautomatic handguns (e.g. the

Colt M1911 The M1911 (Colt 1911 or Colt Government) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was ''Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911'' for th ...

), the barrel recoils only a short distance before decoupling from the breechblock.

Gas-operated

FN FAL battle rifle In a gas-operated mechanism, a portion of the gases propelling the bullet from the barrel are extracted and used to operate a piston. The motion of this piston in turn unlocks and operates the bolt, which performs extraction of the spent cartridge and via spring action readies the next round. Almost all modern military rifles use mechanisms of this type.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book, last=Boorman , first=Dean , title=The History of Smith & Wesson Firearms , year=2002 , publisher=The Lyons Press , isbn=1-58574-721-1 , pages=16–17 {{cite book , last=Westwood , first=David , date=2005 , title=Rifles: An Illustrated History Of Their Impact , url=http://docslide.us/documents/03-rifles-an-illustrated-history-of-their-impact.html , location=US , publisher=ABC-CLIO , page=71 , isbn=1851094016 {{Cite web, url=https://www.histoire-genealogie.com/Jean-Baptiste-Ambroise-Marcellin-Jobard?, language=fr, title=Jean Baptiste Ambroise Marcellin Jobard - www.histoire-genealogie.com, website=www.histoire-genealogie.com http://bibliotecavirtualdefensa.es/BVMDefensa/i18n/catalogo_imagenes/grupo.cmd?path=71177 {{Bare URL PDF, date=March 2022 {{Cite web, url=https://www.forgottenweapons.com/ria-colette-gravity-pistol/, title=RIA: Colette Gravity Pistol, first=Ian, last=McCollum, date=September 1, 2015, website=Forgotten Weapons {{Cite web, url=http://littlegun.be/arme%20belge/artisans%20identifies%20c/a%20colette%20precisions%20gb.htm, title=Nouvelle page 0, accessdate=14 March 2021 {{Cite web , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jf5SAAAAcAAJ&q=Henri+%22Quatorze+Coups%22&pg=PA266 , title = Archives des Decouvertes et des Inventions Nouvelles, Faites dans les Sciences, les Arts et les Manufactures, tant en France que dans les Pays etrangers, year = 1809 {{Cite web , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=so5bAAAAcAAJ&q=HENRY+Fran%C3%A7ois-Antoine+Fusil&pg=PA218 , title = Description des machines et procedes specifies dans les brevets d'invention, de perfectionnement et d'importation, dont la duree est expirée, year = 1837 Firearm actions