_________   SWAT MAGAZINE ISSUE SEVENTEEN: MAY 1999   __________
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 /	           Info on Shotguns and Rifles 		    	    \
/                         By Unknown Guest                           \
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Shotguns have a smooth barrel, because they fire between 9 and 2,000 
tiny balls of lead (called "shot") in a single cartridge, usually made
of waxed paper or these days plastic.  The large the ball, the bigger 
it is, up to 00 buck cartridges, which contain 9 balls of lead about 
.3" across.  These are used for deer hunting in the US, as is the 
biggest shotgun cartridge of all, the solid slug, which is one enormous
piece of lead 0.752" across, which weighs about an ounce and is 
generally used by police for taking door hinges off when they raid 
buildings.  It is also used for deer in the US, but it obviously 
mashes a lot of meat.   You cannot legally buy solid slug in the UK in 
normal circumstances and I have never seen 00 for sale either.  In the 
UK, people generally use Number 6 or #7 shot, which are clay and bird 
cartridges - the bigger the number, the smaller the shot.  It's just 
one of those things.  I think it used to be that 7 make an ounce, or a 
quarter ounce, and so on.  Not sure.  It must be quarter ounce.
 
WIth multiple projectiles (the small pellets themselves) which spread 
out from the barrel you obviously have more chance of hitting the 
target, which is handy if you are hunting for dinner.  The downside is 
that the smaller each ball is, the less energy it retains, which means
its effective range is shorter and the less effective it is at bringing
down your dinner.  Instead, at extreme ranges the shot will bounce off 
duck feathers.  No-one wants a duck or deer dying of blood poisoning 
two weeks later - a fox will get to it before you will.  Maximum 
shotgun range is 80 yards and maximum effective range is about 50.  
For most sport shooting you want to be well inside this range and some 
duck shooting clubs say no more than 15 yards.  Shotguns are more 
accessible, in that the requirements for licences are less restrictive 
(safe place to shoot it, good reason for having one, no criminal 
record).
 
Rifles have a rifled barrel, which means grooves (usually four or five)
are cut in a spiral down the inside of the barrel.  The raised bits 
are called "lands."  The single bullet is the same size as the lands, 
so it is forced to spin as it travels down the barrel.  This means the 
bullet spins as it flies, which gives it gyroscopic directional 
stability - so it travels more predictably and has a longer range - 
which means it carries further and its weight gives it more impact and 
penetration.   Even a .22 rifle bullet will travel at least a mile and 
a half and it is dangerous over at least half a mile.  Whetehr you can 
shoot it accurately over this range is another matter entirely.  The 
smallest rifles are sub .22 calibre and are used by mink hunters in 
Russia, the largest are .458 Webley, which are used for buffalo hunting
in Africa (by safari hunters.  Locals usually use Kalishnikov assault 
rifles in 0.762. short.   (IE not the NATO .762, but a cut-down Soviet 
version).
More difficult to get a licence, you need to show safe place to shoot 
it (which the police will only accept as a range approved by the 
Ministry of Defence, except in very unusual circumstances, like owning
half of Scotland), must be a member of a club, no criminal record, no 
history of mental illness/depression and have good reason to shoot it.

  The Secretary of Bisley ranges (the biggest private shooting range 
in the UK) was once turned down by the police when he applied for his 
Firearms Certificate - every 3 years - on the grounds that he must have
been so busy organising everything that he wouldn't have time to shoot,
therefore he wouldn't need a Firearms Certificate, so they refused to 
grant him one, which meant he couldn't buy or own his own firearms.  
Ludicrous, but absolutely true).
 
So the difference is the rifling, which gives lateral stability to the 
projectile in two planes (ooer, that's a bit technical), making it 
more accurate and hence more effective at longer ranges.  
 
There are combination rifle/shotguns, called "drillings" (I don't know 
why - they just are) which are moderately popular in Italy and 
Germany, where a lot more people hunt.  They have more places they are
allowed to as well.)  Drillings have two barrels, one on top of the 
other, the top is usually the rifled barrel.  These are for walking 
about, blasting rabbits and birds in a Continental manner.