GB2131925A

GB2131925A - Projectile

Info

Publication number: GB2131925A
Application number: GB08235507A
Authority: GB
Inventors: James Henry Thomas Harrington
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1982-12-13
Filing date: 1982-12-13
Publication date: 1984-06-27
Also published as: GB2131925B

Abstract

A projectile for use in air-operated weapons comprises a bullet member (1) made of synthetic plastics material and having a cylindrical body portion (2) which tapers to a point (3) at the front. A hollow cavity (4) is provided in the bullet member and a weight (7) is located in the cavity to provide stability of trajectory and flight of the projectile. The rear end of the bullet member (1) is provided with slits (9) in its side wall (8) to permit the wall portions located between said slits to flare outwardly under the action of compressed air when the projectile is being fired so as to provide a seal between the sides of the bullet member and the walls of the barrel of a weapon from which the projectile is being fired. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Projectile This invention relates to projectiles and in particular to bullets for use in air operated weapons.

It has been known for some time that bullets made of plastics material can be used in firearms for a variety of purposes. To this end, blanks have been constructed which will fire, from rifles, plastic or so called rubber bullets. Such bullets provide natural firing simulation for, for example, military exercises and are also usable in circumstances where it is desired to minimise the injurious effect of being hit by a bullet but while requiring a similar type of action, for example in police riot control.

While such bullets have been effectively incorporated in cartridges carrying a firing charge, albeit of reduced charge, similar types of arrangement cannot be applied to air operated weapons, such as .22 air rifles, because they operate on a different principle and also because of the reduced size involved.

It is to be understood that while the specification refers to the term "bullet" this term is intended to cover not only bullets in the normally accepted sense but also projectiles of relatively reduced length, such as those normally referred to as "slugs".

The invention seeks to provide a plastics projectile suitable for use in an air operated weapon.

According to the invention, a plastics projectile suitable for use in air operated weapons comprises a bullet element having a cylindrical body portion which is tapered to a point at the front, the element having a hollow therein which is situated a weight to provide stability of trajectory and other flight characteristics.

Preferably, the hollow in the bullet comprises a cylindrical chamber open to the rear end of the bullet. The cylindrical chamber may be terminated towards the front of the bullet in a hemisphere, and a lead shot or like spherical metal ball may be located at the bottom of a cavity so as to seat in the hemisphere.

Preferably, the diameter of the chamber is slightly less than the diameter of the lead shot or other ball so that the ball can be retained in the bore as a frictional press fit.

The rear portion of the walls of the chamber may have longitudinally extending slits therein so as to weaken the walls of the chamber and permit the bullet to flare outwardly under the action of the compressed air so as to provide a seal between the sides of the bullet and the walls of the barrel of the weapon. In this way the effect of the compresed air on the bullet is maximised by preventing the passage of substantial amounts of compressed air past the bullet.

The invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example, with refer ence to the drawings in which: Figure 1 is a side elevation of one embodi ment of a bullet according to the invention; Figure 2 is a section taken on the line ll-ll in Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a cross-section similar to that shown in Fig. 2 but showing a shortened form of projectile commonly referred to as a "slug".

Referring firstly to Figs. 1 and 2, the bullet shown comprises a moulding 1 of a suitable plastics material which has the outer shape of a conventional bullet. To this end, it com prises a cylindrical body portion 2 which tapers to a point 3 at the front end of the bullet.

The interior of the bullet comprises a cavity 4 which is open to the rear of the bullet and extends in the form of a cylindrical passage way 6 to a position approaching the front end of the bullet. At this end, the cavity termi nates in a hemispherical portion 5 of the same diameter as the cylindrical passageway 6 of the cavity 4.

In this cavity is suitably positioned a lead shot 7 or other weighted metal ball which is used to provide an increased mass for the bullet so as to increase its projectile capabilities by stabilising its trajectory on being fired and, to some extent, controlling the attitude of the projectile during flight.

Suitably, the diameter of the cylindrical passage 6 of the cavity 4 is slightly less than the diameter of the ball 7 to be inserted so that the ball is a press or friction fit thereinto.

The side walls 8 of the cavity 4 are slit longitudinally in four places 9 spaced at 90" apart. This weakens the side walls of the bullet and enables them to splay outwardly under the action of compressed air so as to form a seal with the barrel of the weapon from which it is being fired. This enables the full pressure of the compressed air to act on the bullet with a view to propelling it from the weapon, the amount of air lost by leakage past the sides of the bullet being substantially reduced.

The above described projectile is of gener ally normal bullet shape but it will be appreci ated that the invention is equally applicable to bullets of reduced length such as the "slugs" or pellets which are very often used with air operated weapons.

Fig. 3 shows such a slug 11. It will be seen that this slug is of generally similar construc tion to the bullet shown in Fig. 1 but is of reduced length. In order to accommodate the lead shot 7 or other weight, it has a taper which comes to a point 3 at for example an angle of 90 thus allowing greater room for the cavity 4 which then penetrates closer to the nose of the slug.

As can also be seen from Fig. 3, the cylindrical part of the slug is again split at 9 for sealing purposes but, unlike the situation which exists in Fig. 1, the lead shot extends not only within the solid walled portion of the cavity 4 but also some distance along the slit part of the cavity 4.

To give a typical example of a bullet or slug suitable for use in a .22 air rifle, a bullet length of between .31 inches and .45 inches (.79cm and 1.14cm) will require a weight of 8.75 grams located at a centre between 0.16 and 0.318 inches (.4cm and .8cm) respectively from the rear end. Slits of a length between .16 and .2 of an inch (.4cm and .5cm) and of .008 inches (.02cm) wide may be provided in the cylindrical portion of the cavity.

It will be appreciated that various modifications may be made to the above described embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, while the bullets described are suitable for use in a .22 air rifle, the same principle may be applied to other sizes of barrelling particularly those sizes typically used for other forms of air rifle or air pistol.

The circular metal ball provided as the weight may be replaced by other weighting means. These may be for example of cylindrical shape or may be in the form of a regular polygon in cross-section. Even a suitable semicircular weight could be used. Furthermore, it is not essential for the cavity to be entirely open at the rear, it may be closed if desired, provision being made to ensure that flaring of the rear portion of the body is possible.

Claims

1. A projectile for use in air-operated weapons, said projectile comprising a bullet member made of synthetic plastics material and having a cylindrical body portion which is tapered to a point at the front and which has a cylindrical chamber open to the rear end of said bullet member, a weight being located in said chamber to provide stability of trajectory and flight of the projectile, wherein the said rear portion of said bullet member is provided with a plurality of longitudinally extending slits in its side wall to permit wall portions of the bullet member between said slits to flare outwardly under the action of compressed air when the projectile is being fired so as to provide a seal between the sides of the bullet member and the walls of the barrel of a weapon from which the projectile is being fired.

2. A projectile according to claim 1, wherein the cylindrical chamber terminates towards the front of the bullet member in a hemisphere and wherein a lead shot or like spherical metal ball is located in the chamber so as to seat in said hemisphere.

3. A projectile according to claim 2, wherein the diameter of the chamber is slightly less than the diameter of the lead shot or other ball so that the ball is retained in the chamber by a frictional press fit.

4. A projectile according to any preceding claim, wherein four slits are provided which are spaced apart by 90 .

5. A projectile substantially as described herein with reference to the drawings.