express rifle

American  

noun

1. a rifle designed for firing at game at short range.

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express rifle British  

noun

1. a high-velocity hunting rifle for big game shooting

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Etymology

Origin of express rifle

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

His white hunter will take him where the game is, stand by with an express rifle in case he misses.

From Time Magazine Archive

Stopping at the camp where I had been captured I recovered my express rifle, for which I was very thankful.

From Pellucidar by Burroughs, Edgar Rice

The velocity of a bullet rapidly decreases, and a ball shot from an express rifle, and driven by a heavy charge, soon begins to droop.

From The Life of the Fields by Jefferies, Richard

Leonard fired into one of these herds with an express rifle, for they wanted meat, and a prodigious snorting and bellowing told him that his shot had taken effect.

From The People of the Mist by Haggard, Henry Rider

At the same time I stepped from behind my boulder, drawing one of my revolvers that I might conserve the more precious ammunition of the express rifle.

From Pellucidar by Burroughs, Edgar Rice