EP1606574B1 - 5.56mm small arms ammunition - Google Patents

5.56mm small arms ammunition Download PDF

Info

Publication number
EP1606574B1
EP1606574B1 EP04720915A EP04720915A EP1606574B1 EP 1606574 B1 EP1606574 B1 EP 1606574B1 EP 04720915 A EP04720915 A EP 04720915A EP 04720915 A EP04720915 A EP 04720915A EP 1606574 B1 EP1606574 B1 EP 1606574B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
projectile
grooves
rifling
barrel
body portion
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 - Lifetime
Application number
EP04720915A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP1606574A1 (en
Inventor
Derek Booth
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.)
BAE Systems PLC
Original Assignee
BAE Systems PLC
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 BAE Systems PLC filed Critical BAE Systems PLC
Publication of EP1606574A1 publication Critical patent/EP1606574A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1606574B1 publication Critical patent/EP1606574B1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime 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
    • F42B12/72—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
    • F42B12/78—Projectiles, missiles or mines characterised by the warhead, the intended effect, or the material characterised by the material of the casing of jackets for smallarm bullets ; Jacketed bullets or projectiles
    • 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
    • F42B12/74—Projectiles, missiles or mines characterised by the warhead, the intended effect, or the material characterised by the material of the core or solid body

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a combination of a gun having a rifled barrel and a round of ammunition to be fired from said gun, and to a projectile for use in the combination, as described in FR 2540239 A , which gives a basis to independent claim 1.
  • the invention is especially, but not exclusively related to an improved form of projectile for small arms ammunition.
  • a 7.62mm bullet formed from a steel alloy, having a forward body portion whose diameter corresponds to the diameter of the barrel defined by the rifling lands of an associated gun, and a rearward body portion having a greater diameter, and provided with annular grooves.
  • the body is provided with a coating which can be of copper.
  • the copper coating acts as a lubricant, and is less thick than the depth of the rifling.
  • the rifling therefore cuts through the copper coating so that the steel body of the bullet is engraved by the rifling.
  • the steel of the body must be soft, so as to permit this engraving to occur without undue barrel wear.
  • the maximum value for the hardness of the steel body mentioned in the disclosure is 210 Brinell, which equates to a Vickers Hardness of 213, i.e. very much less than the desirable minimum value of 550 Vickers Hardness.
  • the bullet disclosed in US Patent No 5686693 will lack the desirable target penetration capability.
  • the present invention also provides a projectile for use in the combination as claimed in claim 1; the projectile comprising: a body comprising a substantially cylindrical body portion comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending knurl lines or splines producing a corresponding plurality of grooves which extend lengthwise along a section of the substantially cylindrical body portion; and a deformable jacket substantially surrounding the section of the substantially cylindrical body portion;
  • the projectile will also have an ogival nose portion of the body forward of said substantially cylindrical body portion, although other forms are possible.
  • the body of the projectile (i.e. excluding the deformable jacket) should have a diameter which is not greater than that defined by the rifling lands.
  • the deformable jacket of the projectile has an outer diameter which is designed so that upon firing of the projectile the rifling lands engage the deformable jacket which is designed to deform into the groove air gaps between said splines or knurl lines.
  • the engagement of the deformable jacket with the rifling lands induces spin in the projectile due to the twist of the rifling.
  • This deformation gives the projectile an interference fit with the rifling so as also to provide effective obturation by restricting or preventing the escape of propellant gases past the projectile via the rifling grooves.
  • the length and precise diameter of the projectile should be designed with these factors in mind.
  • the depth of said grooves in the projectile or knurl lines should preferably be between about 1% and 10% of the nominal calibre of the projectile, and an optimum design may be between 2% and 6%.
  • the material selected for the projectile body will depend partly upon the function which the projectile is to perform, but in the case of High Performance Ammunition should not be below a Vickers Hardness of 550 HV.
  • steel is a suitable material, as it is inexpensive and can be readily formed into the desired shape, eg. by a cold-forming process.
  • Tungsten is another possible material because hardness is an important characteristic for target defeat, as are alloys of tungsten, and tungsten carbide.
  • the invention is particularly but not exclusively applicable to small arms weapons systems, having a nominal calibre of 20mm or less, especially 9mm or less, such as 5.56mm.
  • a small arms ammunition projectile 1 comprises a body comprising a cylindrical body portion 2, a tip portion 3 and along the substantially cylindrical body portion a plurality of grooves or knurl lines 4 extending lengthwise along a section of the substantially cylindrical body producing a corresponding plurality of splines 5 and air gaps, or grooves, 6.
  • the projectile body is of elongate form and is cold formed from steel having a Vickers Hardness of at least 550. It can subsequently be given a heat treatment to provide the desired hardness or other physical properties.
  • the projectile Because of the substantial hardness of the projectile body material, the projectile is highly effective at penetration of targets such as titanium/kevlar body armour. Moreover, the hardness also serves to minimise ablation of the projectile tip profile, thus further contributing to its effectiveness in target penetration.
  • Figures 2A and 2B show representative cross sections A-A on Figure 1.
  • Figure 2A the detail of the knurl lines 9 and associated 'groove' air gaps 6 of the projectile body 7 is shown when the projectile body 7 is located within a surrounding deformable jacket 11.
  • Figure 2B the splines 5 and associated 'groove' air gaps 8 of the projectile body 7 is shown when the projectile body 7 is located within a surrounding deformable jacket 11.
  • the jacket material 11 When the body 7 and deformable jacket 11 passes from the gun chamber into the rifled part of the barrel, by virtue of its diameter, the jacket material 11 is deformed by the lands of a rifled barrel into the corresponding groove air gaps 6, 8 corresponding to the splines 5 or knurl lines 9.
  • the outer diameter 10 of the jacket material 11 should be substantially equal to the diameter of any rifling grooves (not shown).
  • the presence of the grooves 6, 8 facilitates the necessary deformation of the jacket 11, thus enabling the rifle engraving to take place with a substantially reduced axial force.
  • the fact that the jacket material 11 can deform into the grooves 6, 8 contributes considerably to a dramatic reduction in the axial force required for engraving to occur.
  • the projectile which forms part of the combination of gun and ammunition according to the invention is also considerably less expensive to manufacture than a corresponding conventional projectile in, for example, a gilding metal jacket.
  • the invention is particularly but not exclusively applicable to small arms ammunition.
  • the invention has been successfully applied to 5.56mm gun and ammunition.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Thermal Sciences (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Aiming, Guidance, Guns With A Light Source, Armor, Camouflage, And Targets (AREA)
  • Toys (AREA)
  • Structure Of Telephone Exchanges (AREA)
  • Ladders (AREA)
  • Extrusion Moulding Of Plastics Or The Like (AREA)
  • Fishing Rods (AREA)
  • Shafts, Cranks, Connecting Bars, And Related Bearings (AREA)
  • Powder Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Telescopes (AREA)
EP04720915A 2003-03-27 2004-03-16 5.56mm small arms ammunition Expired - Lifetime EP1606574B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GBGB0307274.1A GB0307274D0 (en) 2003-03-27 2003-03-27 5.56 small arms ammunition
GB0307274 2003-03-27
PCT/GB2004/001108 WO2004085953A1 (en) 2003-03-27 2004-03-16 5.56mm small arms ammunition

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1606574A1 EP1606574A1 (en) 2005-12-21
EP1606574B1 true EP1606574B1 (en) 2008-01-02

Family

ID=29286765

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP04720915A Expired - Lifetime EP1606574B1 (en) 2003-03-27 2004-03-16 5.56mm small arms ammunition

Country Status (8)

Country Link
US (1) US20050000385A1 (ja)
EP (1) EP1606574B1 (ja)
JP (1) JP4249219B2 (ja)
AT (1) ATE382843T1 (ja)
DE (1) DE602004011031T2 (ja)
ES (1) ES2295839T3 (ja)
GB (1) GB0307274D0 (ja)
WO (1) WO2004085953A1 (ja)

Families Citing this family (13)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20050183617A1 (en) * 2004-02-23 2005-08-25 Macdougall John Jacketed ammunition
JP5244010B2 (ja) * 2009-03-30 2013-07-24 旭精機工業株式会社 小火器用弾丸
US11231257B2 (en) * 2010-11-10 2022-01-25 True Velocity Ip Holdings, Llc Method of making a metal injection molded ammunition cartridge
ITMI20110506A1 (it) * 2011-03-29 2012-09-30 Fiocchi Munizioni Spa Pallottola per arma da fuoco, e relativa arma
US8857343B2 (en) * 2012-05-29 2014-10-14 Liberty Ammunition, Llc High volume multiple component projectile assembly
US9581402B2 (en) * 2014-06-04 2017-02-28 The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Army Projectile for use with a tapered bore gun
US11808551B2 (en) 2015-07-23 2023-11-07 Federal Cartridge Company Cartridge with improved penetration and expansion bullet
US9863746B2 (en) 2015-07-23 2018-01-09 Vista Outdoor Operations Llc Cartridge with improved penetration and expansion bullet
US10551154B2 (en) 2017-01-20 2020-02-04 Vista Outdoor Operations Llc Rifle cartridge with improved bullet upset and separation
US11333472B1 (en) * 2018-07-16 2022-05-17 Vista Outdoor Operations Llc Reduced stiffness barrel fired projectile
CN109446737B (zh) * 2018-12-19 2024-06-28 南京工业大学 一种具有负泊松比效应的子弹头及其设计方法
DE102019121112A1 (de) * 2019-08-05 2021-02-11 Ruag Ammotec Ag Geschoss, Verfahren zum Herstellen eines Geschosses, Stempel zum Herstellen eines Geschosses und Verfahren zum rotatorischen Sichern eines Geschosskerns bezüglich eines Geschossmantels eines Geschosses
DE102022121811A1 (de) 2022-08-29 2024-02-29 Rws Gmbh Geschoss mit reduzierter Laufbelastung

Family Cites Families (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE309293C (ja) *
GB697172A (en) * 1950-06-17 1953-09-16 Birmingham Small Arms Co Ltd Improvements in or relating to armour-piercing cores for projectiles
US3349711A (en) * 1964-12-07 1967-10-31 Remington Arms Co Inc Process of forming jacketed projectiles
DE2839120C2 (de) * 1978-09-08 1983-09-08 Diehl GmbH & Co, 8500 Nürnberg Geschoß mit einem rohrförmigen Körper
FR2540239A1 (fr) * 1983-02-02 1984-08-03 Antoine Robert Projectile a noyau et revetement ductile et cartouche comprenant un tel projectile
HU197441B (en) * 1983-06-22 1989-03-28 Branscomb Corp Nv Cartridge for guns
US5686693A (en) 1992-06-25 1997-11-11 Jakobsson; Bo Soft steel projectile
ES2161061T3 (es) * 1997-08-26 2001-11-16 Ruag Munition Proyectil blindado con nucleo duro.
US6305293B1 (en) * 1998-04-14 2001-10-23 Laser Ii, Llc Multiple-component projectile with non-discarding sabot sleeve

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP1606574A1 (en) 2005-12-21
DE602004011031D1 (de) 2008-02-14
GB0307274D0 (en) 2003-10-29
WO2004085953A1 (en) 2004-10-07
US20050000385A1 (en) 2005-01-06
ES2295839T3 (es) 2008-04-16
JP2006515056A (ja) 2006-05-18
ATE382843T1 (de) 2008-01-15
DE602004011031T2 (de) 2009-01-02
JP4249219B2 (ja) 2009-04-02

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