MUNITION FOR SUBCALIBER FIREARM

Description

BACKGROUND

High density, long rod penetrators in the form of flechettes, pointed projectiles with vaned tails for stable flight, are utilized as anti-amour weapons, i.e. kinetic energy penetrators. Such kinetic energy (KE) penetrators are subcaliber and encased within a lightweight aluminum alloy or composite material sabot that surrounds and builds out the diameter of the unit to allow it to be fired from the particular caliber weapon. The sabot is typically constructed in three segments; which segments are wrapped around the penetrator and typically held together by an obturator band located near the sabot's midsection, a bourrelet ring in the front and a tipping ring at the tail end of the sabot. The sabot has a windshield and a windshield tip in the front and at its back end a tail fin. The front bourrelet ring and the tipping tail end ring are both notched or otherwise weakened, or prestressed. Upon ignition of the propellant charge inside a cartridge case which holds the sabot—the KE projectile is propelled from the gun tube—the propulsion force being provided by a seal created between the sabot and the gun tube by the obturator ring. Upon exit from the muzzle of the gun tube, typically the sabot's front scoop catches the air rushing by the projectile and forces the sabot sections apart, such that the obturator band and retaining bands about the nose and tail of the sabot break, freeing the segments of the sabot to separate and fall away from the KE penetrator, such as a typical “Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot”. After the sabot sections are discarded, the KE penetrator continues to fly down range to impact the target with enough kinetic energy to defeat its intended target.

FIELD STATEMENT

A munition designed to reduce manufacturing costs and provide smooth loading into small-caliber firearms providing an ability to attain a further range.

SUMMARY

An objective of the presented innovation is to provide a munition comprising a projectile and a sabot-ogive. The projectile is a single piece and is encased in a sabot having the ogive incorporated on the sabot (sabot-ogive), wherein the sabot-ogive is produced as a single piece made of at least two joined segments encasing the projectile.

In one embodiment the munition described herein is designed to be used in a firearm as an about 0.50 sub caliber cartridge. The projectile encased in the sabot-ogive is loaded by a loading press into the cartridge. The radius of the ogive part of the sabot-ogive ranges from about ≥0.3 caliber to about ≤30 caliber. The ogive length is about a difference between the cartridge length from the front end of the cartridge to the base end of the cartridge and a case length from the mouth of the case to the base of the case. The sabot part of the sabot-ogive has about a minimum diameter equivalent to the lands and a maximum diameter equivalent to a diameter of the rifling in the barrel of the firearm. In smooth bore rifles the sabot-ogive has a diameter equivalent to that of the bore. In an embodiment the sabot-ogive has from zero to at least 2 internal grooves.

In an embodiment the projectile has at least one external gas ring.

In an embodiment the projectile is a single piece, however, a projectile can be two or more pieces if the range is equivalent or greater than the range of the single piece projectile. In an embodiment the projectile may have no fins, a fin or at least two fins. The limitation on the number of fins on the projectile is determined by the flight of the projectile and the size of the projectile. In an embodiment the optimum projectile flight determines the number of fins on the projectile.

In an embodiment the munition cartridge is produced using a material inert to combustible gas. The projectile contained within the munition cartridge is surrounded by the sabot-ogive segments held in place by for example, a wire, a band, a snap fit, or gas rings. The projectile encased in the sabot-ogive is loaded in the cartridge using a loading press.

In an embodiment the sabot-ogive is produced by a 3D printer or by injection molding.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a cutaway model of a munition with a single piece projectile (7) with fins (4) and internal grooves (5) encased in a sabot (1) with an incorporated ogive (2) and gas rings (6) all contained in a cartridge (3).

FIG. 2 shows a cutaway of the projectile (7) having fins (4) and internal grooves (5) encased in a sabot (1)-ogive (2) with gas rings (6).

FIG. 3 shows a cutaway of the sabot (1) ogive (2) with gas rings (6) and internal grooves (5).

FIG. 4 shows a cutaway of the projectile (7) with internal grooves (5) and fins (4).

FIG. 5 shows a cutaway of the sabot (1) ogive (2) mold in 2 pieces that will be joined around the projectile.

FIG. 6 shows a 2-piece sabot-ogive.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The terms used in this specification generally have their ordinary meanings in the art, within the context of the invention, and in the specific context where each term is used. Certain terms are discussed below, or elsewhere in the specification, to provide additional guidance to the practitioner in describing the compounds, compositions, and methods of the invention and how to make and use them. Moreover, it will be appreciated that the same thing can be said in more than one way. Consequently, alternative language and synonyms may be used for any one or more of the terms discussed herein, nor is any special significance to be placed upon whether or not a term is elaborated or discussed herein. The use of examples anywhere in this specification, including examples of any terms discussed herein, is illustrative only, and in no way limits the scope and meaning of the invention or of any exemplified term. Likewise, the invention is not limited to the examples presented.

An objective of the presented innovation is to provide a munition comprising a projectile and a sabot-ogive. The projectile is a single piece and is encased in a sabot having the ogive incorporated on the sabot (sabot-ogive), wherein the sabot-ogive is produced as a single piece made of at least two segments joined by a wire, a band, a snap-fit, or gas rings to encase the projectile.

The current inventor has produced and tested numerous models and discovered an improved munition for use in a firearm.

ABOUT—As used herein, “about” or “approximately” shall generally mean within 20 percent, preferably within 10 percent, and more preferably within 5 percent of a given value or range. Other than in the operating examples, or where otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about”.

AT LEAST—As used herein, the expression “at least” means zero, one or more and thus includes individual components as well as combinations that still enable a working invention.

BARREL—The tube that contains and directs the projectile toward the target.

BORE—The inside diameter of a gun barrel.

CALIBER—Describes the projectile diameter or the diameter of the interior of the barrel, usually measured where the barrel has not been touched by a rifling tool. The caliber is designated in decimal fractions of English inches or in metric terms. A non-limiting example is 0.260 caliber or 6.5 mm.

COMBUSTIBLE GAS—Combustible gases are any type of gas that can potentially ignite when mixed with oxygen or an oxidizing agent. An oxidizing agent is a material that can cause or enhance the combustion of another material, usually by yielding oxygen.

CARTRIDGE—A self-contained round of ammunition. A typical modern cartridge consists of: the case, the projectile, the propellant, and the primer.

CASE—The external portion of the cartridge, it holds the projectile, the propellant, and the primer. The case has a top known as the mouth and a bottom known as the base. The case length is shorter than the cartridge length.

ENCASE—Enclose or cover in a case or close-fitting surround. As used herein, the close-fitting surround is the sabot.

FINS—A fin adds stability to the projectile, reducing the need for spin stabilization. A non-limiting example, fins are similar to the fletching on the base of an arrow.

FIREARM—Any type of gun designed to be easily carried and used by an individual.

GAS RINGS (external)—The sabot component in projectile design is the relatively thin, durable and deformable seal known as a driving band or obturation ring needed to trap combustible gases behind a projectile, and also keep the projectile centered in the barrel, when the outer shell of the projectile is only slightly smaller in diameter than the caliber of the barrel. Driving bands and obturators are used to seal these full-bore projectiles in the barrel because of manufacturing tolerances; there always exists some gap between the projectile outer diameter and the barrel inner diameter, usually a few thousandths of an inch; enough of a gap for combustible gasses to slip by during firing. Driving bands and obturator rings are made from material that will deform and seal the barrel as the projectile is forced from the chamber into the barrel.

INCORPORATED—To unite with something else to form a whole. As used herein, the sabot and ogive are incorporated to form a single piece on the projectile.

INERT MATERIAL—A substance that is not chemically reactive and stable under specified conditions. From a thermodynamic perspective, a substance is inert, or nonlabile, if it is thermodynamically unstable (positive standard Gibbs free energy of formation) yet decomposes at a slow, or negligible rate.

INJECTION MOLDING—Is a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting molten material into a mold. Injection molding can be performed with a host of materials including metals (for which the process is called die-casting), glasses, elastomers, confections, thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers. Material for the part is fed into a heated barrel, mixed (using a helical screw), and injected into a mold cavity, where it cools and hardens to the configuration of the cavity.

JOINED OR JOINING—Connecting two or more pieces of things together. As used herein, the sabot is joined by a wire, a band, snap-fit, or gas rings.

LANDS—The smooth part of the barrel that has not been touched by the tool that creates the grooves or rifling in the interior of the barrel.

LOADING—Assembling all the parts of a cartridge.

LOADING PRESS—A term designating the machine used to handload or automation-load the cartridge.

OGIVE—A term used to describe curves or curved shape. In a bullet it is the front form defined by the arcs of 2 circles that assists in guiding the bullet into the barrel. As used herein, the ogive is part of the sabot.

PROJECTILE—A kinetic energy penetrator (KEP), is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate an object, person, mammal, or bird.

PROPELLANT—A name for smokeless powder. Propellants burn at a controlled and predictable rate and generally all the propellant is burned by the time the cartridge exits the barrel. The burn rate determines the pressure according to the application and the firearm.

RIFLING—The cutting of the inside surface of the barrel with grooves of a specific rate of twist. A tool cuts grooves into the smooth barrel. The grooves appear as a series of channels in the barrel which imparts a spin on the projectile for increased accuracy and stability.

SMOOTH BORE—A barrel that has not but cut by a tool to introduce grooves on the inside surface of the barrel. The internal surface of the barrel keeps a single smooth surface down the length which does not impart spin on the projectile.

SABOT—Sabot is a French term that means shoe. Sabot ammunition is ammunition in which a smaller sub-caliber projectile is encased by a hollow segmented wrapper that is the size of the bore of the weapon (cannon or rifle). The full term is discarding sabot which means that after the projectile leaves the barrel, the sabot pieces peel away.

SNAP FIT—interlocking components pushed together without the need for external fasteners to hold the components together. In this embodiment the snap-fit can be the only piece on the sabot

SUB CALIBER—Noting or pertaining to ammunition of smaller caliber than the gun in which it is used.

3D PRINTING—3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. [1] It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer control, [2] with material being added together (such as plastics, liquids or powder grains being fused), typically layer by layer.

Experimental Procedure—The projectile and powder were measured using a Hornady CS-1500. A 20% Ballistics Gel was the target shot at 10 yards. Velocity was measured 5 yards away from the muzzle with penetration being measured on the ballistics gel using a standard tape measure, however if ballistics gel was completely penetrated 16 was input for the penetration.

A 308 rifle was loaded with a variety of munitions to test the Cartridge Overall Length (C.O.A.L), the case length, the bullet weight, the velocity of the cartridge when fired and the penetration of the projectile in a target (Table 1).