rifles can work in different ways. some rifles have what is called a bolt action. a small handle is used to move a part of the rifle called a "bolt". by moving the bolt backward, then forward, allows the shooter put a bullet in the chamber ready for firing. it also ejects any spent shells still in the chamber from any previously fired rounds. the rifle in the picture above is a bolt action. some rifles are semi-automatics, where a bullet is loaded (automatically) and fired each time the trigger is pulled. some are fully automatic, which work like semi-automatics but allow the shooter to fire more than one bullet at a time by holding down the trigger. the automatic rifle stops firing when the trigger is released or it runs out of ammunition.