US20240081450A1

US20240081450A1 - Gun mitt

Info

Publication number: US20240081450A1
Application number: US18/325,949
Authority: US
Inventors: Randall T. Stoppenhagen
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2019-01-07
Filing date: 2023-05-30
Publication date: 2024-03-14
Also published as: US20200221797A1; US11659876B2

Abstract

A hand warmer for use with a long gun. The hand warmer has a fabric tunnel that attaches to the firearm such that a user's non-trigger hand is able to grasp the firearm and stay warm. The hand warmer has two variations, one for a pump action shotgun and one for a rifle or other long gun typically with a fixed stock. The shotgun version is constructed with a fabric for placement between the sliding stock or pump of a pump action shotgun and the barrel of the gun. The rifle version has a foam molded section that fits between a forward end of the scope and the barrel of the gun.

Description

PRIORITY/CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Nonprovisional application Ser. No. 16/736,780 filed Jan. 7, 2020, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,659,876, issued May 30, 2023, incorporated herein by reference, which claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/789,429, filed Jan. 7, 2019, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/842,338, the disclosures of each of which is also incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure generally relates to the field of hunting and shooting accessories and more particularly to a hunting and shooting accessories or clothing that keep a shooter's hands warm while grasping the forend of a gun and to keep a shooter's trigger hand warm.

BACKGROUND

Long guns, such as shotguns and rifles are popular for shooting and use in hunting. Hunting seasons and shooting in northern climates often occur during cold periods of the year. Typically a shooter seats a butt of the long gun against the shooter's trigger arm shoulder and grasps a forend of the gun with the shooter's opposite hand. The shooter's trigger hand pulls a trigger to fire the gun.
Cold weather can cause the shooter's hands to get cold, which can negatively impact the shooter's shooting capability or even deter a shooter from hunting or shooting in the cold. Cold hands can negatively affect a shooter's ability to load his or her firearm, to aim the gun, and/or to pull the trigger in a motion that allows for the most accurate aiming of the gun. Cold hands can be a problem particularly when the shooter is holding the gun for long periods of time, such as when sitting in a blind or tree stand. For example, during a late season hunt, the shooter (called interchangeably herein a hunter depending on the situation) may sit in a stand for many hours at a time. During the day, the hunter's hand and may get cold from grasping the gun. The hunter can remove his or her hand from the forend of the gun warm it up, but this puts the hunter at a position in which if a deer appears, the hunter will not be ready to shoot the gun at the deer, and the hunter's movement to return his or her hand to the gun could spook the deer.
One option for a shooter to keep his or her hands warm is to use a standard cold weather glove to keep his or her hand warm. However, this may provide inadequate insulation and thus not keep the shooter's hand warm. Use of a glove also prevents the shooter from having direct hand to gun contact. Some shooters believe direct hand to gun contact leads to improved accuracy when shooting the gun.
Accordingly, what is needed is a device that will keep a gun shooter's hand warm while grasping the gun, allow the gun shooter to shoot the gun without interfering with the mechanical aspects of the gun, and provide an easy-to-use interface such that a shooter can easily remove and re-insert the shooter's hand into the device without having to remove the device from the gun.

SUMMARY

The purpose of the Summary is to enable the public, and especially the scientists, engineers, and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection, the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The Summary is neither intended to define the inventive concept(s) of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the inventive concept(s) in any way.
A hand warmer is disclosed for use in shooting a long gun. The hand warmer has a sleeve that is configured to circumvolve at least a portion of shooter's forearm. The sleeve has a first end and a second end. The first end is configured to attach to a forend of a gun. The second end is configured for insertion of a shooter's hand. The sleeve is configured to attach to the forend of a gun such as to not interfere with a shooter's natural or standard grasping of the gun. This is thought to be at an angle of between approximately fifteen and forty five degrees to an axis defined by the length of a long gun frame. The first end of the sleeve is configured to connect or attach to the forend of a long gun. The first end can be open and configured to attach by a fastener, such as hook and loop fasteners, snap buttons, a zipper or other attachment. Alternatively the first end can be configured with foam or other fabric and configured to be positioned over the barrel of a long gun. Alternatively the foam or fabric can be configured to be positioned between the forend of a pump action shotgun such that the sleeve travels with the moving forend of the pump action shotgun when a shooter “pumps” the shotgun to clear the chamber of the shotgun and/or load the chamber of the shotgun.
Still other features and advantages of the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description describing preferred embodiments of the inventive concept(s), simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated by carrying out the inventive concept(s). As will be realized, the inventive concept(s) is capable of modification in various obvious respects all without departing from the inventive concept(s). Accordingly, the drawings and description of the preferred embodiments are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive in nature

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a first perspective view of an embodiment of a shooting mitt.

FIG. 2 illustrates a second perspective view of an embodiment of a shooting mitt.

FIG. 3 illustrates a back view of an embodiment of a shooting mitt.

FIG. 4 illustrates a view looking into the aperture configured for a shooter to insert one's hand and wrist to grasp a gun's forend.

FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a strap attached to the shooting mitt and configured with a look to encircle a shooter's arm to provide support in a shooting position.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a trigger hand mitt for keeping a shooter's trigger hand warm.

FIG. 8 illustrates a view of the aperture for a shooter's hand of the trigger mitt in a partially inside-out position to show the inner pocket.

FIG. 9 illustrates a view of the inside of the trigger mitt viewed through the aperture for a shooter's hand.

FIG. 10 illustrates a perspective view of a pump action shotgun having a partially removed barrel with a second embodiment of a shooting mitt installed on the forend of the shotgun.

FIG. 11 illustrates a top view of a second embodiment of a shooting mitt positioned on the forend of a pump action shotgun having the barrel removed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

While the presently disclosed inventive concept(s) is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof have been shown in the drawings and will be described below in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the inventive concept(s) to the specific form disclosed, but, on the contrary, the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the inventive concept(s) as defined herein.
In the following description and in the figures, like elements are identified with like reference numerals. The use of “e.g.,” “etc,” and “or” indicates non-exclusive alternatives without limitation unless otherwise noted. The use of “including” means “including, but not limited to,” unless otherwise noted.
FIG. 1 through FIG. 6 depict a first embodiment of a shooting mitt configured for placement around the barrel 4 and forend 6 of a gun. The shooting mitt has a passageway through which the gun barrel and forend are placed. The passageway is defined by a tunnel like structure of fabric with a top section defined of foam that is configured for a close, snug fit on the top of a barrel. Preferably this foam will be form fitting such that when snug to the barrel with tension on the foam from elastic of the mitt, the foam will compress in the shape of the barrel. In a preferred embodiment the foam is EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate) foam. The passageway for has openings 11, 10 to accommodate the passage there through of the gun barrel and forend. The mitt has a piece of elastic or a piece of rigid thin material 8 that facilitates a close fit to the upper edge of the gun barrel 4. This allows the upper portion of the depicted embodiment of the shooting mitt to be placed along the barrel but below the line of sight 16 from a scope 14 mounted on the gun barrel. The shooting mitt has a pouch or pocket extension of material 12 connected to the tunnel portion. This piece of material extends down and at an angle away from the tunnel, to facilitate a shooter's hand to pass through the aperture in the material and to grasp the forend of the gun when shooting. The fabric section has an aperture 20 shown in FIG. 4 that allows a shooter to insert the shooter's hand and wrist that is used to support the gun's forend and barrel when the shooter is shooting the firearm.
The tunnel and pouch of material are configured to allow the shooter to directly place the shooter's hand onto the gun's forend and barrel. This provides for increased feel and positioning when the shooter is shooting, and allows the shooter to avoid the use of a glove or mitten while shooting. The depicted embodiment is believed to work well in the with the use of a rifle or other scoped firearm. Preferably the gun barrel tunnel utilizes elastic sections at both ends that stretch around the forend to the foam or elastic material in order to pull the foam or elastic piece of material 8 close to the top of the barrel when in use. As discussed above, this allows for the shooting mitt to avoid the line of sight of a shooter looking down the top of the barrel of the gun or though a scope mounted to the gun.
In a preferred embodiment an arm strap 27 (depicted in FIG. 6 ) is attached to the fabric sleeve 12 proximate to the aperture configured for the insertion of a shooter's hand 20 as shown in FIG. 6 . In a preferred embodiment, the arm strap has a tightening mechanism, shown as a buckle, length of material 31 that connects to a loop 24 having an adjustable circumference. The strap 27 can be adjusted in length 28 to adjust for varying shooter capabilities. The circumference of the loop 24 can be adjusted via buckle 26. In use, the loop 24 is placed around a shooter's arm, typically a shooter's bicep, to provide an opposing force on the gun to stabilize the gun when a shooter is in a shooting position.
FIG. 7 depicts a trigger hand mitt 30 attached to the stock 34 of a gun via elastic loop 32. The mitt of FIG. 7 can be attached to a gun in order to provide a hand-warming mitt for a shooter to utilize while grasping the gun with the shooter's trigger hand. While shooting it is preferable for a shooter to fire a weapon without utilizing gloves or mittens on the shooter's hand. This allows for increased feel and improves the speed at which a shooter can reload the weapon. The depicted mitt allows a shooter to keep the shooter's trigger hand free of a glove or mitten while allowing the shooter to keep the shooter's hand warm.
In a preferred embodiment, the mitt of FIG. 7 utilizes an interior pouch 38 that has an opening 40 that is configured for accepting a pocket warmer, such as a standard commercially available pocket warmer.
FIG. 8 depicts the mitt of FIG. 7 in an “inside-out” position in which the pouch is in an exterior position the trigger mitt. In use, the shooter inserts the shooter's hand into to aperture 36 of the mitt.
FIG. 9 depicts the pocket warmer and the shooting mitt looking into the sleeve from a second end of the mitt of FIG. 7 .
In a preferred embodiment depicted in FIGS. 10 and 11 , a shooting mitt is provided that has a thin piece of elastic or similar material 46 that can fit between the barrel 46 and fore stock 48 of a shotgun. When aiming, a typical shotgun shooter looks down the top of the barrel at a bead mounted on the top of the barrel in order to aim the shotgun, thus the top portion of the tunnel is positioned between the barrel and the fore stock of the shotgun to prevent it from being in the view of the shooter of the shotgun while aiming the shotgun. To disassemble or clean a shotgun, the barrel is often removed. In order to provide a shooting mitt positioned on a pump action shotgun, the barrel is removed either in full or partially, the tunnel portion of the shooting mitt is positioned over the fore stock and the barrel is positioned in the standard position of the gun assembly. This will allow a shooter to grasp the forend of the shotgun and to operate a pump action of a shotgun with the shooter's bare hands in a warm, protected environment. Utilizing a thin piece of fabric allows the shooter to operate the pump action and have the material slide along the action along with the pump mechanism of the shotgun. The barrel 46 has a barrel screw or cap 52 that receives the thread 50 of the end 49 of the forestock 48 for preferably a threaded attachment. This allows a shooter to remove the barrel 46 to position the openings 42 of the gun mitt 44 over the forestock 48 and between the barrel 46 and forestock 48.
Preferably each embodiment discussed herein includes an internal pocket configured for the acceptance of a chemical handwarmer such as those commonly available on the retail market.
Still other features and advantages of the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description describing preferred embodiments of the inventive concept(s), simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated by carrying out the inventive concept(s). As will be realized, the inventive concept(s) is capable of modification in various obvious respects all without departing from the inventive concept(s). Accordingly, the drawings and description of the preferred embodiments are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive in nature.
While certain exemplary embodiments are shown in the Figures and described in this disclosure, it is to be distinctly understood that the presently disclosed inventive concept(s) is not limited thereto but may be variously embodied to practice within the scope of this disclosure. From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined herein.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A hand warmer and long gun combination, said hand warmer and long gun combination comprising:

a sleeve, said sleeve comprising a first end and a second end and defining a passageway and configured for insertion of a shooter's hand at said first end of said sleeve such that at least a portion of the shooter's forearm into said sleeve such that said sleeve circumvolves the shooter's forearm, and through a passageway of said sleeve; and

wherein said first end is configured to attach said sleeve to a forend of a long gun, wherein said sleeve is configured such that a shooter is able to position the shooter's hand through said sleeve to grasp the forend of a long gun when said first end of said sleeve is attached to the forend of a long gun.

2. The hand warmer and long gun combination of claim 1, wherein said hand warmer comprises a fabric tunnel at a second end of said sleeve, wherein said fabric barrel tunnel is configured for the passage of barrel and forend of a long gun and defines a horizontal axis, wherein said fabric tunnel is defined by a top section comprising a foam or elastic material, wherein said tunnel comprises a comprising an elastic material configured to pull the top section of said tunnel tightly against a top of said barrel of a long gun.

3. The hand warmer and long gun combination of claim 1, wherein said a hand passage tunnel of fabric connected to said barrel tunnel generally at an angle between fifteen and forty five degrees to the axis defining said tunnel.