The combination of Minié ball and rifling changed the history of the world. Before these two technologies, firing a gun involved a lot of guesswork and luck. Muskets were the rifle's forebearers, and they were accurate about 40 percent of the time, in the hands of an expert. This was the weapon with which Washington's soldiers were expected to fight the war. When the American revolutionaries got their hands on rifles, they went straight into the hands of their best shots, who could make the most out of the rare and expensive bleeding edge military technology.

Today, rifles are the default long gun. Shotguns, the descendants of the blunderbuss, still occupy a prominent place in sport, law enforcement, and military life, but the rifle is the gold standard projectile weapon, with thousands of variations and types.

Some rifles rely on more modern innovations including the use of escaping gas from a round to load the next cartridge into the chamber, or a lever action to manually advance another round, or laser sights to improve accuracy. All rifles, regardless of their bells and whistles, still use the same basic technology: the conical bullet and spiral grooves inside the barrel, called rifling.

With so much variation, you may wonder which rifle matches your personality. Wonder no more! Take this quiz, and we will sort you out.