Have the terms “high-powered rifle” or “high-velocity rifle” been quantified to a general agreement?
The only time I have heard it used is by people who are generally ignorant about guns, and it seems it can be used for anything centerfire.
The closest thing to a definition that I’ve seen is in state hunting regulations. They usually include minimum energy/caliber standards for deer hunting with center-fire rifles. They may also have even higher requirements for larger game.
In the military, there’s something called a “battle rifle”, which is a center-fire rifle like the '98 Mauser, '03 Springfield, .303 Lee-Enfield, M1 Garand and M14. It excludes lighter and less powerful rifles like the M1 Carbine, M16 and AK-47.
Some people use the term for propaganda purposes, calling anything bigger than a .22 rimfire a “high-powered rifle” or “sniper rifle”.
I tend to use it more as a metaphor for determination, typically in sentences like “That helicopter may be tough, but a man with a high-powered rifle can still bring it down by taking out the pilot”, in this case the “high-power” aspect being a combination of a good rifle in the hands of a trained, competent shooter with a scope. It’s “high-powered” because this shooter can kill just about anybody up to half a mile away and means if someone is sufficiently determined to do something, they will. It has no specific quantitative value.
I think I’ve heard it used in relation to .223 Remington (or 5.56mm NATO), which isn’t all that high-powered. I think that they let people use the M-16 or AR-15 in high-power rifle matches.
To me it seems like any modern (20th century), high-velocity cartridge with a bottleneck shape gets called high-power. Do they ever apply the term to the old black-powder cartridges, such as the .45-70 or .30-30?
Very true.
To define “high power rifle,” you would first have to determine what type of “power” or energy you’re referring to. The “power” to hit a target at long distance? The “power” to make a big hole in the target? High kinetic energy of the bullet? The ability to shoot many rounds per second?
Alas, there really is no objective definition of what a “high powered rifle” is.
Notwithstanding, the NRA hosts something called High Power Rifle Competition. According to its webpage,
FYI, the .50 BMG rifle is called a Very High Powered Rifle:
Aha. So rifles are kind of like olives, substituting “power” for “jumbo.”
As indicated upthread, there is no agreement on the meaning of the term.
As a practical matter, I personally make the distinction in terms of recoil. I wouldn’t allow an unseasoned shooter to fire a “high power rifle” unless I wanted to cure them of any desire to shoot again. The .30-'06 is about as much recoil as a well trained soldier can stand and still have a rifle light enough to carry a reasonable distance. There are many higher powered cartridges than the '06 used for big game hunting. “Brutal” is an accurate discription of thier recoil when fired from an under 10 pound rifle.