Rifling causes the projectile (bullet) to spin around its long axis as it travels down the barrel and through the air.

Quick Scoop

  • Rifling are spiral grooves cut inside a gun barrel.
  • These grooves grab the bullet and make it spin like a thrown football.
  • The spin gives the bullet gyroscopic stability, so it does not tumble end-over-end.
  • Because of this stability, the bullet flies straighter, with better accuracy and effective range.

What does rifling cause the projectile to do?

In simple question-answer form:

  • Q: What does rifling cause the projectile to do?
    A: It causes the projectile to spin, stabilizing it in flight and improving accuracy.

Without rifling (a smoothbore barrel), a bullet tends to wobble and can tumble, which makes it much less accurate and limits its useful range.

In many basic ballistics and forensic science questions, the correct one- word answer to “The purpose of rifling is to make the bullet do what?” is: spin.

TL;DR: Rifling makes the projectile spin, which stabilizes it, reduces tumbling, and increases accuracy and effective range.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.