EP0727637A1 - Firearm sight rib and method for manufacturing a barrel provided therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

The barrel rail (2) is for a firearm esp. a rifle and is made of a material whose thermal conductivity is distinctly poorer than the barrel (4). The rail consists entirely or partly of plastics, partic. thermosetting plastics. One or more reinforcing pieces are integrated into the plastics and are in the form of glass fibres. Recesses (8) are provided between the rail and the barrel.

Description

The invention relates to a running rail for a firearm, in particular a shotgun, and a method for producing a barrel provided with a running rail.

In order to be able to easily capture a target with firearms, in particular shotguns (shotguns), a running rail is attached to the top of the barrel, which is aimed at when shooting. This extends at least over part of the barrel and is connected to the barrel in a fixed or fixed manner.

Known shotgun runners are milled from metal and soldered to the barrel. During manufacture, the barrel and track are made ready for white, then soldered together and finally burnished together. Milling the running rail is extremely labor intensive and soldering onto the running is difficult.

In order to simplify the manufacture of a revolving course with a running rail, it is known to produce the running rail from die-cast zinc and with its ends on the Attach the muzzle of the barrel or to the frame of the revolver. With a shotgun, however, this is not possible since such a running rail, which is only fastened at its ends, is not sufficiently rigid. An additional screwing the running rail between its ends on the barrel is not possible because of the generally small wall thickness of the barrel.

Running rails are usually attached to single-barreled shotguns (shotguns, repeating or self-loading shotguns) or over-and-under shotguns. But it is also possible to use runners in connection with weapons, in which two - and theoretically more - barrels lie one above the other or next to each other, such as over-and-under shotguns, over-and-under rifles and over-and-under rifles. A running machine is often attached to single-barrel rifles (such as drop-barrel or bolt action rifles). The running rail can have a flat surface or a surface bent downwards (so-called hollow rail). The cross section of a running rail can be straight upwards (towards the line of sight) or curved so that the running rail forms a flat channel, so to speak.

If several shots are fired in succession from a shotgun barrel, as is often the case when hunting or shooting pigeons, then the barrel heats up considerably. As a result, the air around the barrel also heats up. This means that the shooter does not see a clear, but a more or less flickering image when looking over the line of sight. This effect is further enhanced by the conventional, soldered running rail, since it forms a cooling fin of the running, on which a particularly intensive heat exchange with the ambient air takes place.

In order to reduce the formation of streaks in the area of the line of sight, so-called ventilated running rails are used, in particular with sports shotguns, which have recesses on their side adjacent to the barrel. These can be flowed through by cooling air and thus represent ventilated gaps between parts of the running rail and the top of the barrel facing it. The above gaps are separated from one another by bridge-pillar-like sections of the running rail which reach to the barrel and are soldered to it. No ventilation occurs in the area of these sections, so that at least at these sections there is still significant streaking.

Ventilated runners also have the advantage that they are lighter than solid runners. This not only reduces the overall weight of the shotgun, but also makes it easier to track a moving target with the shotgun. A disadvantage of the ventilated running track is its increased manufacturing effort, since the recesses must be milled out cleanly.

The invention now aims to provide an improved running track and, as a result, an improved running. The track should be easy to manufacture and attachable to the barrel.

According to the invention, this object is achieved by the subject matter of claims 1, 11 or 15.

According to claim 1, the running rail for a firearm, especially a shotgun, consists of a material with poor thermal conductivity, ie significantly worse than that of the barrel, which is usually made of steel.

Due to its poorly heat-conducting material, the running rail according to the invention has the effect that its surface facing the line of sight is significantly colder than the other running surface when the barrel is shot hot. The formation of streaks occurs least in the area of the line of sight above the running rail according to the invention.

In addition, the running track prevents the streaking caused by the neighboring running surface from interfering with the line of sight, because the heated air can only rise on both sides of the running track and thus leaves the line of sight unimpeded.

Furthermore, a running rail made of a material with poor thermal conductivity is also in principle simple to produce, since no special shaping is required to reduce the formation of streaks.

Horn or a precious wood can be used as material for the running track, i.e. any material with low thermal conductivity that has been used in the gunsmith's trade up to now. However, a ceramic material is also possible.

However, the running rail preferably consists entirely or partially of plastic, particularly preferably of thermosetting plastic. This measure prevents even if the barrel is unusually hot-shot that the running rail is reduced in strength (claim 2).

In a further preferred embodiment, one or more reinforcing means are embedded in the running rail (claim 3). This ensures improved dimensional stability and rigidity even when the base material forming the running rail is, for example, relatively should be flexible plastic. Such a base material - at least in the area adjacent to the barrel - has the advantage that the barrel can expand freely when heated. In addition, the shape of the running rail can be adapted to that of the running surface.

As a reinforcing means, for example, a metal sheet could be considered, which forms part of the surface of the running rail facing away from the barrel and closest to the line of sight and is roughened, matted or guilloche on the surface in the usual way.

According to the preferred embodiment of claim 4, the reinforcing means are fibrous. Fibers have the advantage that their course can be adapted to the course of the running rail with simple means, so that the manufacture of the running rail according to the invention is simplified.

Fibers made of various materials for embedding in plastic are known. According to claim 5, however, glass fibers are preferred because they are inexpensive and can be easily processed because of their relatively high cross-loading capacity.

Since such a running rail is considerably lighter than a metal rail and at the same time is particularly dimensionally stable due to its fiber content, it is also possible to attach this running rail to the system with its rear end and in certain cases to rivet it to the running wall with its front end.

In a further preferred embodiment, the running rail is fastened to the running by adhesive (claims 6 and 13). High-strength, heat-resistant adhesive bonds, for example using epoxy resins, are known in the art. For example, to fasten the outer skin of high-speed aircraft. Such an adhesive bond is not only simple and has a strength that is equivalent to that of a soft solder joint, but also has the advantage, when choosing a limitedly flexible adhesive, that it distributes local stresses and thus reduces them. It is therefore sufficient to have a relatively small surface area, on which the running rail is glued to the running, in order to ensure a permanent and reliable hold of the running rail.

Because of the low thermal conductivity of the running rail according to the invention, it can be solid. It is also essential here that a possibly fiber-reinforced plastic has a much lower weight than the steel previously used for the running rail. Such a running rail does not interfere with the rapid target acquisition by means of a rifle, even if it should be unusually high and wide.

In a further preferred embodiment, the running rail has recesses on its side facing the running (claim 7). So it is similar to the well-known ventilated running track. However, these recesses do not serve, as in the known running track, for ventilation and thus for reducing the formation of streaks, but primarily for reducing the weight and maintaining the appearance that the shooter is used to from a quality weapon.

However, there is an additional advantage: at the points where the running rail according to the invention lies against the outer surface of the run, less heat can be given off than at other areas of the run. The recesses not only ensure that heat can be released unhindered in their area, but also to ensure that heat can also be dissipated in the axial direction of the barrel from the remaining areas where the running rail bears against the barrel. This prevents the build-up of heat that could otherwise lead to weakening or even damage to the bond between the barrel and the running track if the barrel is shot unusually hot.

At the same time, the arrangement of the above-mentioned recesses enables the use of a wider running rail which, if appropriate, for example with an ordnance weapon, can also be designed as a mounting base for additional devices, for example for a special target device (red dot sight, laser aiming device, etc.).

In a further preferred embodiment, the side of the running rail facing away from the barrel is designed as a flat surface (claim 8). As already mentioned several times above, this is advantageous. In particular, the running rail extends over the entire length of the run.

In another preferred embodiment, the side facing away from the barrel is slightly bent towards the barrel in the central region (claim 9). This results in a hollow rail that is often preferred by the hunter to the straight rail. A manufacturing advantage of this hollow rail is that the running rail has the same height over the length of the run, so that a limited flexible strand material can be simply pressed against the run and glued to it in a tensioning device for producing the running rail. In this case, the ends of the running rail are preferably only adapted to the length of the run after the gluing.

As already noted at the beginning, the slide rail according to the invention is used with preference for single-barrel weapons, which also include repeating shotguns (pump guns) and self-loading shotguns. However, it is also possible to use the slide rail according to the invention in connection with weapons in which two shotgun barrels lie side by side. Here, the running rail can be extended downwards so that it forms receptacles for gluing the two shotgun barrels on both sides. The running rail according to the invention is particularly advantageously arranged on two superimposed runs. The lower barrel can be a rifle barrel, but is preferably - like the upper barrel - also a shotgun barrel. With such a double-barreled shotgun, which is particularly used as a sporting shotgun, relatively high runners are often used to provide a flat surface slightly inclined to the line of sight from the rear edge of the system to the muzzle. Here, the invention enables the use of a high, yet light, running rail, and thus the use of systems of higher construction and therefore more stability than can currently be used for sports shotguns.

Known runners are regularly surface-treated like the barrel next to them and are therefore usually black (burnished) or gray (buffed).

The use of plastic for the running machine allows other colorations, which can be achieved simply and permanently by using a colored plastic, or the formation of colored zones, such as a colored central stripe, for example by applying a colored plastic adhesive, preferably by means of a particularly easily Pull tab.

According to claim 10, it is particularly advantageous that a shock or fluorescent color is used to color the running rail according to the invention; this facilitates the precise detection of a target even at dusk.

In the method according to the invention for producing a barrel provided with a running rail according to claim 11, a running rail made of a material with poor thermal conductivity and the run are first produced separately and then connected to one another.

While up to now the running rail and the barrel were mostly soldered to each other ready for white and then finished together, it is particularly advantageous according to the invention, on the one hand, to completely finish and burnish the barrel, on the other hand also to finish the running rail completely and only then to connect the barrel and the running rail, for example to glue. It is possible to wipe or wash off any leaking adhesive, as long as it is still spreadable, from the burnished or phosphated running surface without scratching or otherwise damaging it.

In a further preferred method, a blank made of glass fiber-reinforced plastic is inserted into a heatable mold, heated, pressed and optionally hardened in order to produce the running rail.

To the extent that the running rail according to the invention is mixed with fibers, it is particularly advantageous for the production thereof to be preformed from glass fibers so-called prepregs and then heated. In this way, even a complicated shaped track can be produced in a particularly economical and simple manner. The surface facing the line of sight can also be molded in

Be roughened and the desired surface coloring of the running rail can be achieved by appropriate coloring of the plastic wetting the fibers.

After removal from the mold, the running rail produced by the method according to the invention must at most be deburred. No further general post-processing is required.

Furthermore, it is possible to insert the shotgun grain, which is usually made as a small ball from metal or plastic, the color of which contrasts with that of the running rail, into the shape and to form it. It is also possible and possibly advantageous to retrofit a conventional threaded hole for such a grain into the running rail. This enables the shooter to equip his weapon with a grain of his own choice.

In the case of shotguns for ordnance purposes, it is also possible to arrange a coarse rifle grain on the muzzle-side end of the running rail. This can be formed in one piece with the running rail and thus together with it.

The running rail according to the invention can be produced as a separate part and can advantageously be attached to the running by means of an adhesive (claim 13) or an ultrasound bond (claim 14); the first method only requires a simple device for clamping the running rail to the barrel while the adhesive is curing, while the second method has the advantage that it can be carried out particularly quickly and cleanly, since no leaked adhesive has to be removed.

Under certain circumstances, however, it is also possible and often advantageous to shape and / or form the running rail according to the invention directly on the running (claim 15).

For this purpose, a hollow shape is used, which has a recess for receiving the finished barrel and a recess adjacent to it, which is intended to form the running rail.

This hollow mold is either designed as an injection mold, with molten plastic being injected into the recess forming the running rail after inserting the barrel, or as a heatable mold, in which a prepreg is inserted into the recess forming the running rail after inserting the barrel. The prepreg is impregnated with an adhesive plastic or has an adhesive additive. Then the prepreg and barrel are pressed together and heated.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to exemplary embodiments and the accompanying drawing.

Fig. 1

eine schematische Seitenansicht einer ventilierten Laufschiene auf einem Flintenlauf;

Fig. 2

eine Darstellung ähnlich Fig. 1, mit durchgesenkter, massiver Laufschiene;

Fig. 3

einen Darstellung ähnlich Fig. 1 und 2 mit geradlinig verlaufender, massiver Laufschiene;

Fig. 4

ein schematischer Querschnitt durch eine Hohlform zur Herstellung einer gesonderten Laufschiene; und

Fig. 5

ein schematischer Querschnitt durch eine Hohlform zum Anformen der Laufschiene an einem Lauf.

In the drawing is:

Fig. 1

a schematic side view of a ventilated running rail on a shotgun barrel;

Fig. 2

a representation similar to Figure 1, with sunken, solid track.

Fig. 3

a representation similar to Figures 1 and 2 with a straight, solid track.

Fig. 4

a schematic cross section through a hollow mold for the production of a separate running rail; and

Fig. 5

a schematic cross section through a hollow shape for molding the running rail on a barrel.

In all three figures a shotgun barrel 4 is shown, the mouth of which is on the left in the drawing and the end of the bearing is on the right in the drawing. The longitudinal dimension of the respective shotgun barrel 4 is greatly shortened.

In Fig. 1, a shotgun barrel 4 is shown, on the upper side of which a ventilated running rail 2 is attached. This ventilated running rail 2 has a flat surface on its side facing away from the running 4. On its side facing the barrel 4, the slide rail 2 has elongated, longitudinally extending recesses 8, so that the slide rail 2 only touches the barrel 4 with columnar sections between two adjacent recesses 4. The running rail 2 is glued to the running 4 at these sections.

At the mouth end of the running rail 2, a shotgun grain 6 is attached in a conventional manner on the upper side thereof.

As can be seen, the barrel 4 does not have a cylindrical or continuously conical outer shape, but instead has an outer diameter that tapers towards the front from the end of the bearing, as corresponds approximately to the barrel internal pressure when fired. Towards the mouth, however, the outside diameter of the barrel 4 increases again, since it has a receptacle for interchangeable choke inserts at its mouth. If such a recording is not provided, then barrel 4 tapers to the mouth. The running rail 2 is in any case adapted to the running side 4 of the latter.

Fig. 2 shows a barrel 4, which is designed as such as the barrel 4 of Fig. 1. However, the running rail 12 differs from that of Fig. 1 in that it is massive. In addition, its surface, which faces away from the barrel, does not run flat, as in the running rail 2 of FIG. 1, but is slightly bent towards the barrel in the middle region of the barrel 4, forming a hollow rail. On the mouth side, the running rail 12 has a shotgun grain 6 which corresponds to the shotgun grain 6 of the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 1. The line of sight 18, which runs from the rear upper edge of the running rail 12 over the shotgun sight 16, thus does not coincide with the surface of the running rail.

Fig. 3 shows a run 4, which as such corresponds to the runs 4 shown so far. The contour of the running rail 22 essentially corresponds to the running rail 2 of FIG. 1, but does not have recesses 8 like this, but is either solid or - for further weight and material savings - hollow. Furthermore, a coarse bush grain 6 'is integrally formed on the running rail 22 near the mouth.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, the height y compared to the core axis (central axis of the barrel 4) is considerably greater than the height x of the track 22 at the mouth. This training is based on the fact that unusually heavy shotgun projectiles, tear gas containers or shot shots are fired at relatively low speed, especially with large-caliber shotguns, so that not only is the effective shooting distance short, but also a very strongly curved trajectory is to be expected. The line of sight must therefore be inclined downwards with respect to the axis of the soul.

All the rails 2, 12, 22 shown are made of glass fiber reinforced plastic.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic cross section through a hollow mold for producing a separate running rail. The hollow mold is formed from two mold halves 5 and 7, which enclose a mold cavity 9.

The two mold halves 5, 7 are either locked together in the closed state and a molten plastic is injected into the mold cavity 9, or a prepreg (a glass fiber strand impregnated with plastic) is inserted into the open mold cavity 9 when the mold is open. The mold halves 5, 7 are then heated and pressed together, a separate running rail 4 being formed as a casting or as a compact.

5 shows a schematic cross section through a hollow mold for producing a running rail connected from the outset to the barrel 4; the hollow mold is formed from two mold halves 15 and 17, which enclose a mold cavity 19.

The two mold halves 15, 17 are either closed after inserting the barrel into the open mold and then locked together. A molten plastic is then injected into that part of the mold cavity 19 that is not taken up by the barrel and is adjacent to its outer circumference. Alternatively, with the mold open, the barrel 4 and a prepreg are inserted into the open mold cavity 19. Then the mold halves 15, 17 are heated and pressed together. As a result, a barrel 4 with a molded-on running rail 4 is produced as a composite casting or as a composite compact.

Claims (17)

Running rail (2; 12; 22) for a firearm, in particular a shotgun, made of a material whose thermal conductivity is significantly poorer than that of the barrel (4). Running rail (2; 12; 22) according to claim 1, which consists entirely or partially of plastic, in particular thermosetting plastic. Running rail (2; 12; 22) according to one of the preceding claims, in which one or more reinforcing means are embedded. Running rail (2; 12; 22) according to claim 3, in which the reinforcing means are fibrous. Running rail (2; 12; 22) according to Claim 4, in which the reinforcing means comprise glass fibers. Running rail (2; 12; 22) according to one of the preceding claims, which can be fastened to the barrel (4) by adhesive. Track (2) according to one of the preceding claims, which has recesses (8) on its side facing the barrel (4). Running rail (2; 22) according to one of the preceding claims, whose side facing away from the running (4) is designed as a flat surface. Running rail (12) according to one of claims 1 to 7, the side of which is remote from the barrel (4) is slightly bent towards the barrel in the central region. Running rail (2; 12; 22) according to one of claims 1 to 9, of which at least one section is colored in a shock or fluorescent color. Method for producing a barrel (4) provided with a running rail (2; 12; 22), in which first a running rail (2; 12; 22) according to one of the preceding claims and the barrel (4) are produced separately and then connected to one another . Method according to Claim 11, in which, in order to produce the running rail (2; 12; 22), a blank made of glass-fiber-reinforced plastic is placed in a heatable mold (5, 7, 9), heated in it, pressed and optionally cured. Method according to claim 11 or 12, in which the running rail (2; 12; 22) is glued to the running (4). Method according to Claim 11 or 12, in which the prefabricated running rail (2; 12; 22) is ultrasonically welded to the running (4). Method for producing a barrel (4) provided with a running rail (2; 12; 22), in which a running rail (2; 12; 22) according to one of claims 1 to 10 is formed in a hollow mold (15, 17, 19) and the barrel (4) forms a boundary wall of this hollow shape. Method according to Claim 15, in which the running rail (2; 12; 22) is integrally molded on the running (4) in a common casting mold (15, 17, 19) in a composite casting. Method according to Claim 15, in which a blank (prepreg) containing an adhesive is placed together with the barrel (4) in a hollow mold (15, 17) and is heated, pressed and cured in the hollow mold against the barrel (4) under constant contact.

Images