EP0063927B1 - Projectile du type explosif pour arme légère - Google Patents

Projectile du type explosif pour arme légère Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0063927B1
EP0063927B1 EP82302069A EP82302069A EP0063927B1 EP 0063927 B1 EP0063927 B1 EP 0063927B1 EP 82302069 A EP82302069 A EP 82302069A EP 82302069 A EP82302069 A EP 82302069A EP 0063927 B1 EP0063927 B1 EP 0063927B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
projectile
explosive
jacket
tantalum
mass
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
EP82302069A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0063927A3 (en
EP0063927A2 (fr
Inventor
Norman Allen
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Priority to AT82302069T priority Critical patent/ATE16850T1/de
Publication of EP0063927A2 publication Critical patent/EP0063927A2/fr
Publication of EP0063927A3 publication Critical patent/EP0063927A3/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0063927B1 publication Critical patent/EP0063927B1/fr
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F42—AMMUNITION; BLASTING
    • F42B—EXPLOSIVE CHARGES, e.g. FOR BLASTING, FIREWORKS, AMMUNITION
    • F42B12/00—Projectiles, missiles or mines characterised by the warhead, the intended effect, or the material
    • F42B12/02—Projectiles, missiles or mines characterised by the warhead, the intended effect, or the material characterised by the warhead or the intended effect
    • F42B12/20—Projectiles, missiles or mines characterised by the warhead, the intended effect, or the material characterised by the warhead or the intended effect of high-explosive type
    • F42B12/201—Projectiles, missiles or mines characterised by the warhead, the intended effect, or the material characterised by the warhead or the intended effect of high-explosive type characterised by target class
    • F42B12/204—Projectiles, missiles or mines characterised by the warhead, the intended effect, or the material characterised by the warhead or the intended effect of high-explosive type characterised by target class for attacking structures, e.g. specific buildings or fortifications, ships or vehicles
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F42—AMMUNITION; BLASTING
    • F42B—EXPLOSIVE CHARGES, e.g. FOR BLASTING, FIREWORKS, AMMUNITION
    • F42B12/00—Projectiles, missiles or mines characterised by the warhead, the intended effect, or the material
    • F42B12/72—Projectiles, missiles or mines characterised by the warhead, the intended effect, or the material characterised by the material
    • F42B12/76—Projectiles, missiles or mines characterised by the warhead, the intended effect, or the material characterised by the material of the casing

Definitions

  • This invention relates to an explosive small arms projectile, that is a projectile filled with an explosive charge.
  • projectile although strictly speaking a bullet or missile is a projectile only while in flight.
  • projectile is, however, commonly used to denote the bullet or missile while at rest or whilst in flight, and will be so used in the specification.
  • Such projectiles are used mainly in combating crime, particularly international terrorism, where, on an aircraft, for instance, an explosive projectile may be used to take out a target from within a group of innocent bystanders. Complete penetration of the target may result in harm to the bystanders and it is therefore an object of explosive projectiles to eliminate or at least minimize, total penetration of the target while maximizing the shock from the projectile within the target.
  • high explosives taken to include primary explosives such as Mercury Fulminate or Lead Azide, and secondary explosives such as pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) or mannitol hexanitrate
  • PETN pentaerythritol tetranitrate
  • mannitol hexanitrate pentaerythritol tetranitrate
  • Known small arms projectiles are commonly constructed with a jacket of a relatively light weight yet strong material such as steel and gilding metal, and a core of a relatively heavy material which may be partly filled with explosive.
  • the jacket of a conventional explosive small arms projectile is typically of a wear-resistant material such as steel which is gilded or clad with gilding metal, the steel providing mechanical strength to withstand the pressures and high temperatures resulting from burning propellants and the gilding metal being provided for the purpose of reducing friction.
  • the steel jacket is normally thin and largely non-structural, the functions thereof being containment of the lead core more than maintaining the integrity of the projectile on impact. This results in limited penetration of a target with the result that light armour is often sufficient to prevent penetration. Limited penetration of the target should be distinguished from eliminating or minimising total penetration of the target.
  • the explosive is normally carried within a narrow central bore formed in the lead core.
  • the explosive may comprise a simple explosive train of an impact sensitive primary explosive, such as, for example, lead azide, or a more complicated version comprising three stages: a first stage constituted by an impact sensitive mechanism; an initiating or primary explosive such as, for example, mercury fulminate as second stage; terminating in a third state of a secondary high explosive such as PETN.
  • Some designs have employed, as the high explosive, a poly-basic glycerol trinitrate/pyrocellulose smokeless propellant powder which is a combustible solid and an explosive, and which 'burns to detonation', but without optimal explosive utilisation.
  • French Patent No. 1,212,390-Levine- relates to a "perforating core" for an armour piercing projectile, bullet or projectile the material of which is a metal with a specific gravity in excess of 17, such as sintered tungsten or uranium 238 residue.
  • the primary concern of the inventor is the hardening of the penetrator which is obtained by mechanical, chemical or thermal treatment of the projectile or penetrator structure or by forming a layered structure by heating powders of different compositions once or successively.
  • a specific example is given of a body of sintered tungsten and an ogive of sintered tungsten carbide which are spot or compression welded and maintained under pressure until cooled. They are then annealled or heat treated at a lower temperature.
  • the primary purpose of the use of high density metal is to increase the penetrating strength of the projectile.
  • German Patent No. 737 734-Rheinmetall Borsig AG- relates to steel alloys for armour piercing projectiles which find particular application to smaller calibers of projectiles.
  • the specification and the claims mention the addition to the alloy of a small percentage (up to 1%) of one or more heavy metals such as molybdenum, vanadium, titanium, tantalum or berylium.
  • the primary purpose of the invention once again, is to increase the penetrating power of the projectile which is solid.
  • the invention provides an explosive small arms projectile, the explosive containing envelope of which shows an increase in tensile and inertial characteristics over the conventional lead or copper or steel jacketed lead projectiles which, once again, improves the penetrational power of the projectile.
  • an explosive small arms projectile comprises a jacket of metal or an aggregate and an explosive charge located therein, the jacket defining a cavity for the explosive charge and the material of the jacket having a specific gravity greater than 13, characterised in that the material of the jacket occupies a minor proportion of the total volume of the projectile, and accounts for a major proportion of the total mass of the projectile, the major proportion of the total volume of the projectile being occupied by the cavity for the explosive charge.
  • the mass of the projectile is thus largely concentrated in the jacket which, to this end, is relatively thick.
  • the jacket is of metal or an aggregate.
  • aggregate is included alloys, mixtures or compounds of metals.
  • the metal or aggregate of the jacket is tantalum or a tantalum/tungsten alloy, the densities of which approximate 16.6 to 16.9 g.cm- 3 , or includes tantalum or a tantalum/ tungsten alloy as a principal component, the object being to provide a projectile the jacket of which has a mass equal to the entire conventional explosive or other projectile.
  • the metal or aggregate of the jacket may be chosen from amongst the elements hafniuum, uranium, rhenium, osmium, platinum, iridium or gold, or alloys, mixtures or compounds of the said elements, which alloys, mixtures or compounds may include tantalum or tungsten or both.
  • the projectiles of the invention may be coated or gilded or, alternatively, the jacket may be metal-plated or metal clad on one or both sides.
  • the projectile 10 shown in Figure 1 comprises a relatively thin steel jacket 12 with gilding metal 14 and 16 plated on both the inside and outside thereof.
  • the projectile 10 is provided with a lead core 18 formed with a central bore 20 which serves as a receptacle for the explosive.
  • the explosive may be loaded in any one of a number of ways, but for the sake of clarity is shown as comprising a charge of explosive powder 22, a commercially available small arms percussion primer 24 and a closure of resin 26.
  • the purpose of the jacket is to withstand the pressures and high temperatures resulting from the burning propellants and to withstand the frictional forces between the lands and grooves of the barrel, of the firing weapon and the accelerating projectile.
  • the lead core 18 functions to increase the mass of the projectile whereby the momentum of the projectile may be increased.
  • the primer 24 is intended to detonate the explosive 22 on impact, but it will be appreciated that the projectile 10 will have penetrated the target to a certain extent by the time detonation occurs due to the velocity of the projectile.
  • the projectile shown in the drawing is enlarged for clarity and in a .38 caliber projectile the central bore 20 will have a diameter of 5 mm.
  • a .38 caliber projectile containing a three-stage explosive column in which detonation is initiated in flight has been found to suffer non-detonation of 10-14% of its explosive column when detonation occurs within an air-filled space.
  • the reason for this is that the conventional explosive projectile can sacrifice only a limited proportion of its total volume to explosive content in order to retain the mass thereof thus leading to an explosive column of relatively narrow diameter, in which the explosive shock wave front is propagated inefficiently particularly under the high velocity rotational condition of actual use.
  • the thin steel jacket 12 performs a containment function more than anything else and possesses sufficient mechanical strength merely to withstand the frictional forces existing between the projectile and the lands and grooves of the barrel during firing.
  • the jacket is not possessed of the mechanical strength required to maintain optimal integrity of the projectile when the projectile penetrates the target.
  • the disadvantages of the projectile 10 described above are therefore firstly, the sacrifice of a significant proportion of the mass, as much as 20% of the leaden mass, to accommodate a certain amount of explosive, secondly, the use of a narrow diameter explosive column, thirdly, the relatively limited tensile strength and unsatisfactory inertial characteristics of the jacket or envelope and fourthly, the unsatisfactory mass distribution thereof resulting in relatively low rotational stabilising energy values compared to the projectile of the present invention.
  • a compromise must be struck between the core mass which is normally represented by the amount of lead in the core and the diameter of the explosive column. It is not possible, with conventional small arms explosive projectiles, to combine both the attributes of high mass and a large amount of explosive or at least an explosive column of a larger diameter.
  • the projectile 100 of the invention comprises a jacket 102 of a Tantalum/Tungsten alloy (TaW) although other metals of suitably high specific gravity may be used. Because of the high specific gravity of the jacket 102 no internal high density core is required and the whole of the internal space can be filled with explosive.
  • a three-stage explosive column is shown comprising a commercially available small arms percussion primer 104, a lead azide primary explosive layer 106, a secondary high explosive layer of PETN 108, and a sealing cap of resin 110.
  • the eventual mass of the projectile 100 is arranged to be at least equivalent to that of the projectile 10 described above.
  • the provision of the heavy metal jacket 102 may not remedy entirely the mass lost in providing the projectile 10 with the explosive core, but the diminished mass is at least distributed more efficiently so as to render the mass of the projectile susceptible to investment with a higher level of rotational stabilizing energy than is possible with the projectile 10.
  • the projectile mass is efficiently redistributed away from the rotational axis of the projectile and closer to its periphery in contact with the bore of the weapon so as to equal and exceed, in flight, the ballistic rotational stabililiz- ing force and energy present in conventional small arms high explosive projectiles of similar total mass and configuration.
  • This re-distribution and increased rotational stabilizing force provides for improved accuracy at longer range.
  • an explosive pistol bullet according to the present invention is bracketed between a conventional non-explosive projectile as fired from a rifle and a conventional non-explosive projectile as fired from a big game- hunting rifle.
  • the present invention provides, in a highly manoeuverable .45 Calibre hand-gun, muzzle energies 50% in excess of those provided by a heavy service rifle such as the US Caliber .30 M1, and nearly ten times that of the non-explosive .45 Caliber ACP Projectile when both are compared by firing from an identical .45 Caliber Automatic Pistol.
  • zzle energy is used here to denote the maximum theoeretical energy the projectile can deliver to the target.
  • the energy expended in the target will, discounting frictional and gravitational energy loss, be more or less equal to the energy of the projectile at the muzzle of the weapon. If the projectile penetrates the target, substantially less of the energy of the projectile will be communicated to the target depending on the nature of the penetration; with explosive projectiles, however, the projectile will, in virtually every case, transfer all of its energy to the target.
  • any increase in jacket thickness will have to be made at the expense of a decrease in the core mass leading inevitably to a decrease in the total projectile mass.
  • the jacket 102 can, within certain limits, be increased to any desired thickness to increase the tensile and mass characteristics of the jacket according to specific requirements, for instance, to increase the penetrational ability of the projectile.
  • the twin functions of energy absorption by a heavy mass and the jacket features of mechanical, structural and tensile strength are condensed into a single entity.
  • the energy absorbing heavy mass was provided by the lead core and structural integrity was provided, to a limited extent, by the steel or copper jacket.
  • the improved stability achieved by the projectile of the present application provides increased accuracy and this combined with the greater structural strength of the jacket provides for better penetration of light armour.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Thermal Sciences (AREA)
  • Aiming, Guidance, Guns With A Light Source, Armor, Camouflage, And Targets (AREA)
  • Drilling And Exploitation, And Mining Machines And Methods (AREA)
  • Toys (AREA)
  • Powder Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Manipulator (AREA)
  • Pressure Welding/Diffusion-Bonding (AREA)

Claims (3)

1. Un projectile du type explosif pour arme légère (100) comprenant une enveloppe (102) faite 06 métal ou d'un agrégat et une charge explosive (104, 106, 108) située à l'intérieur, l'enveloppe (102) constituant le logement de la charge explosive (104, 106, 108) et le matériau de l'enveloppe (102) ayant une densité supérieure à 13, caractérisé en ce que le matériau de l'enveloppe (102) occupe une partie minime du volume total du projectile (100) et constitue la plus grand partie de la masse totale du projectile (100), la plus grande partie du volume total du projectile (100) étant occupée par le logement de la charge explosive (104, 106, 108).
2. Un projectile selon la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce que le métal ou l'agrégat constituant l'enveloppe est du tantale ou un alliage tantale/tungstène ou comprend comme principal composant du tantale ou un alliage tantale/ tungstène.
3. Un projectile selon la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce que le métal ou l'agrégat constituant l'enveloppe est choisi parmi les éléments hafnium, uranium, rhénium, osmium, platine, iridium ou or, ou des alliages, mélanges ou composés desdits éléments, lesquels alliages, mélanges ou composés peuvent comprendre du tantale ou du tungstène ou les deux.
EP82302069A 1981-04-23 1982-04-22 Projectile du type explosif pour arme légère Expired EP0063927B1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AT82302069T ATE16850T1 (de) 1981-04-23 1982-04-22 Explosivgeschoss fuer handfeuerwaffen.

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
ZA812677 1981-04-23
ZA812677 1981-04-23

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0063927A2 EP0063927A2 (fr) 1982-11-03
EP0063927A3 EP0063927A3 (en) 1983-02-02
EP0063927B1 true EP0063927B1 (fr) 1985-12-04

Family

ID=25575353

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP82302069A Expired EP0063927B1 (fr) 1981-04-23 1982-04-22 Projectile du type explosif pour arme légère

Country Status (5)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0063927B1 (fr)
JP (1) JPS5828997A (fr)
AT (1) ATE16850T1 (fr)
CA (1) CA1207186A (fr)
DE (1) DE3267756D1 (fr)

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4940404A (en) * 1989-04-13 1990-07-10 Westinghouse Electric Corp. Method of making a high velocity armor penetrator
FR2840402B1 (fr) * 2002-05-31 2004-07-16 Giat Ind Sa Enveloppe generatrice d'eclats, charge explosive et munition mettant en oeuvre une telle enveloppe

Family Cites Families (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE104738C (fr) *
CH8049A (de) * 1894-02-23 1894-08-15 Franz Tscherin Neues Geschoß
DE554538C (de) * 1926-06-13 1932-07-09 Elek Sche App M B H Ges Geschoss aus einer Wolfram-Nickel-Legierung
DE737734C (de) * 1934-11-14 1943-07-22 Rheinmetall Borsig Ag Gehaertetes Panzergeschoss
FR1212390A (fr) * 1959-05-26 1960-03-23 Emploi de nouveaux matériaux pour éléments de munitions et procédés d'obtention de ces éléments
LU54097A1 (fr) * 1967-07-13 1969-04-29
GB2021739B (en) * 1978-05-24 1982-04-28 Oerlikon Buehrle Ag Spin-stabilised sabot projectile

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE3267756D1 (en) 1986-01-16
JPS5828997A (ja) 1983-02-21
CA1207186A (fr) 1986-07-08
JPH0321840B2 (fr) 1991-03-25
ATE16850T1 (de) 1985-12-15
EP0063927A3 (en) 1983-02-02
EP0063927A2 (fr) 1982-11-03

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