Rifles for Sale

Can I Buy a Rifle Online?

Yes, you can buy a rifle online at GunBroker.* Once you have purchased your rifle, it will be shipped to the FFL (Federal Firearm License) holder of your choice, usually your local gun store. There, you will complete your purchase just as you would when buying a gun over the counter. You fill out an ATF Form 4473, submit to a NICS background check, and if approved, then the firearm is transferred to you. It’s important to check all of your local laws before purchasing any firearm, as your area may have additional permit requirements, restrictions, or regulations for buying a gun.

Types of Rifles

Rifles come in many different types, all based on the action. The “action” is simply defined as how the ammo is cycled through the gun. “Cycling” means going from a fired empty cartridge to a fresh, unfired cartridge. Here are some simplified definitions of different rifle types:

• Semi-Auto Rifles: Each time the trigger is pulled on a semi-auto rifle, the cartridge is fired, then the empty shell is ejected, and a fresh cartridge is loaded from the magazine and into the chamber.
• Burst-Fire/Fully-Automatic Rifles: Function the same way as a semi-automatic rifle, except that a fully-automatic keeps firing as long as the trigger is held (or until you run out of ammo). Burst-fire is typically three rounds per pull of the trigger. These are machine guns and are tightly restricted, but legal to own in many states with the proper fees and forms submitted and approved by the federal government.*
• Bolt-Action Rifles: These may be single-shot, but usually have a magazine. After each shot is fired, the bolt handle is lifted with the firing hand and pulled back to eject the empty shell. If it’s a magazine-fed rifle, the bolt is simply pushed forward again to load a fresh cartridge.
• Lever-Action Rifles: To work the action, the lever is pulled down with the firing hand, then pulled back up flush with the grip. Lever-actions usually have a tube magazine, although there are models that have detachable box magazines.
• Single-Shot Rifles: Usually break-action, a single-shot rifle has to have each round manually loaded into the chamber, then the action is closed. After firing, the action must be opened again to extract the empty shell, then the next round can be put into the chamber.
• Pump-Action Rifles: Using the same principles as a pump-action shotgun, each time the rifle is fired, the forend is pulled back with the supporting hand, ejecting the spent shell. The forend is then pushed forward, which loads the next round from the magazine.
• Black Powder & Muzzleloader Rifles: These are the original rifles, and the most complicated to load. This is because the components are not in a cartridge, but entirely separate from one another. There are both traditional and modern (in-line) muzzleloaders, but the basics are the same. The powder is loaded into the barrel, then the bullet is tamped down onto the powder. Finally, for percussion muzzleloaders, a cap is placed on the nipple at the rear of the barrel, the hammer is pulled back, and the rifle is ready to fire. For older flintlock designs, there is a pan that holds powder and a frizzen to create a spark from the flint on the hammer. Once the rifle is fired, this entire process needs to be repeated to reload the gun.
• Air Rifles: Although the propellant is air or gas instead of powder, air rifles use the same action types as other rifles. There are all kinds of air rifles: single-shot break-action, pump-action, lever-action (like the famous Daisy BB guns), semi-automatic, even fully-automatics that can be owned without special permits in many areas*.
• Other Rifles: There are various rifles that don’t fit into the other basic categories above. They include revolver rifles, which work just like a revolver handgun, but are configured with a barrel over 16” and a shoulder stock. A “double rifle” has two barrels and is a break-action, functioning the same way as a double-barrel shotgun. There are also break-action rifles called “drilling rifles” that have three barrels, usually two shotgun barrels and a rifled barrel, although sometimes each barrel is a different caliber. Combination guns are an over/under configuration with a shotgun barrel either over or under a rifled barrel. Even the Gatling gun falls into the other rifle category, since it is not a fully-automatic, as each of the revolving barrels fires independently with each manual turn of the crank.

*This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Always consult your local laws and regulations before purchasing firearms.