Each person had to hear the words "rifle" and "carbine", as well as see the corresponding images of both types of weapons. At the same time, many immediately have a lot of questions, why is such an outwardly similar weaponry referred to in two words at once? Confusion arises and many people who are not versed in the topic ask the main question: is there any difference at all between a rifle and a carbine?
There are two short answers at once. The first is no, there is no difference. The second - yes, there is a difference and quite serious. Sounds like some kind of schizophrenia? Not really. However, to understand the issue, you will have to go a little from afar and from the side. First of all, two things should be remembered. First, it is customary to negotiate about concepts, not argue. Secondly, even today, the terminology of firearms is an extremely fragile matter that changes dynamically, and most importantly, is filled with contradictions. The last of the most commonplace things are growing: each arms manufacturer in each individual country uses its own terminology, which is often very different from the terms used in other countries. Moreover, with the development of weapons, the practice of using certain categories also changes.
A simple example, the word "machine". In the first half and middle of the 20th century in the Soviet Union, in official documents, this term was applied to weapons, which today are customarily referred to at once into two different categories: automatic rifles chambered for an intermediate cartridge and a submachine gun. By all modern concepts, the "Fedorov automatic rifle" of 1917 was an automatic rifle. At the same time, the Shpagin submachine gun was also called "automatic" in the documentation. Another example is the word "gun". In modern terms, the word "gun" applies only to smooth-bore weapons. At the same time, in the USSR there were "anti-tank guns" that were not smooth-bore. Thus, designers often use "incorrect" but related terms to refer to weapons. This is done either for some nomenclature reasons (documentation, protection from confusion between projects during the development of related projects), as well as for commercial reasons.
Realizing all this, we are finally getting close to the cherished carbines and rifles. It is generally accepted that in Europe the term "rifle" appeared in the 17th century and was applied to long-barreled rifled weapons. Today it is customary to refer to rifles as any rifled weapon, shooting from which is carried out with two hands with the butt resting on the shoulder. The first rifles were very bulky, and therefore only infantrymen could use them in modern times. However, the cavalrymen also needed firearms. Wanting to get something more powerful and long-range than a pistol, people came up with special shortened rifles for cavalrymen. It was they who, back in the New Time, began to be called carbines. Smaller dimensions and weight made it possible to use such new rifles, including with one hand.
Until the 20th century, a carbine in Europe, including in Russia, was primarily called a shortened cavalry rifle. However, progress did not stand still: the new rifles became noticeably smaller and shorter than those used at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. As a result, the difference between a carbine and a "real" rifle began to blur more and more. The size of the weapon was no longer different. Therefore, it was only the designer himself who decided which word to use in the name of this or that weapon. As a result, by the end of the 20th century, Europe and the United States even started talking about the fact that all modern rifles are precisely carbines, not rifles. And although there is a grain of truth in this, all these arguments did not have any real impact on the practice of using the terms.
In the Soviet Union, the term "carbine" in the post-war period was often applied to civilian hunting rifles. There were, of course, army carbines, for example SKS - Simonov's self-loading carbine. At the same time, the SCS documents are often called (what a surprise!) - a self-loading rifle! In modern Russia, specific GOSTs apply to weapons. Like 300-400 years ago, current regulations define a carbine as a “short rifle”. However, as the real arms market shows, when choosing names for new models, domestic marketers often ignore all sorts of rules, calling them carbines - rifles and rifles - carbines.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should definitely read about The Makarov pistol: why modern models have a black handle, if in the USSR it was brown.