US2391423A - Means for unloading magazines of firearms - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 25, JENKINS ON MEANS FOR UNLOADING MAGAZINES OF FIREARMS Filed May 3, 1944 Patented Dec. 25, 1945 MEANS FOR UNDOADING MAGAZINES OF FIREARMS Robert L. Jenkinson, Teaneck, N. J., assignor to The Marlin Firearms Company, New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application May 3, 1944, Serial No. 533,830

9 Claims.

This invention relates to means for unloading magazines of firearms, and more articularly to the removal of unused cartridges from the magazines of repeating firearms which are provided with a gate in the side of the receiver through which the shells are introduced into the magazine and through which also the unused shells may be removed from the magazine when the gun is to be unloaded.

As illustrated, the invention is applied to a lever-action repeating rifle, although it will be understood that it is not limited to this type of gun. Such guns are commonly provided with an opening in the side wall of the receiver through which the cartridges are introduced into a magazine against the action of a spring which tends to force them rearwardly into the receiver to be lifted into a position to be thrust into the chamber when the action lever is actuated. This opening is usually closed or covered by a spring-pressed gate, which gate is opened inwardly by the pressure of a cartridge against it as the cartridge is being inserted into the magazine. When it is desired to unload a gun of this type, the gate is pressed inwardly by the thumb or finger, thus permitting the cartridges in the magazine to be forced rearwardly by the spring at the fore end of the magazine through the opening. The pressing of the gate inwardly by the thumb or finger is disadvantageous for several reasons. In the first place the gate must be held inwardly during the time the cartridges issue from the opening, and the thumb or finger which presses upon the gate will stand in the path of these cartridges and interfere to some extent with their egress. Also the gate usually overlaps to a slight extent the upper and lower edges of the opening, and the fiesh of the thumb or finger is sometimes caught between the gate and the edges of the opening when the gate is allowed to close.

In the present invention I avoid the disadvantageous features of prior constructions by mounting a pivoted cam or arm adjacent the gate,

adapted when rotated about its pivot to bear against the gate and force it to open position. This arm or cam is relatively small, and will not interfere with the egress of the cartridges from the opening, and is located at the extremeend of the opening so that there is plenty of room for the cartridges to emerge. Moreover, the rear cartridge of those in the magazine is held in such a position forwardly of the gate that when the latter is opened the usual spring at the front end of the magazine will force all the cartridges in the magazine rearwardly through the opening,

so that the magazine will be entirely unloaded merely by operation of the pivoted cam, while at the same time the cartridges, upon actuation of the action lever, will pass rearwardly into the receiver to be lifted upwardly into the path of the bolt by which they are thrust forwardly into the chamber.

One object of the present invention is to provide improved means for unloading the magazine of repeating firearms.

A further object of the invention is to provide a firearm of the type having a side opening through which cartridges are admitted into and discharged from the magazine, with a gate normally closing this opening, and means to move this gate to open position to permit unloading of the magazine, which means may be readily and conveniently actuated, and which does not bar the passage of the cartridges through the opening.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a repeating firearm of the type having a side opening for the introduction of cartridges into the magazine and a gate closing this opening, with a simple device for moving the gate to open position when it is desired to unload the magazine, which device may be readily installed upon firearms of standard makes without change in the construction of the parts.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.-

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. l is a fragmentary side elevational view of a repeating firearm embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, showing the gate in closed position;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 2, showing the gate in open position, and a cartridge emerging from the gate opening; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 44 of Fig. 1, showing the manner of mounting the cam arm which holds the gate in open position.

To illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention I have illustrated in the drawings a firearm having a receiver ID, a bolt II, a stock l2, barrel l3, forearm l4, and magazine I5. As illustrated, the firearm is a repeating rifle of the lever-action type, the action lever being shown at l6, which lever is pivoted to the lower portion of the receiver as at IT. This lever is provided with a forwardly extending arm I8, which, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, engases the bolt I l and moves the latter rearwardly when the action lever is operated, this structure The opening I9 is normally closed by a gate 20, the gate being provided with a resilient tail portion 2! secured at 2 2 to the side wall of the receiver, so that the tail portion acts as a spring to normally hold the gate in closed position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. It will be understood that the gate may be moved inwardly against the tension of the spring portion 2| by pressure thereon, but that when this pressure is released the gate will return to closed position.

In order to provide means for opening the gate, a small shaft or pin 23 is rotatably mounted in the side wall ofthe receiver in which is formed the opening l9, this pin or shaft being disposed adjacent the rear edge of this opening, and, in fact, passes through a recess 24 in the receiver wall which communicates with the opening l9.

Secured to the shaft 23 and mounted in the recess 24 is a short arm or cam member 25 extending forwardly over the rear edge of the opening I!) so 7 as to overlie a portion of the gate 20. The shaft 23 also projects downwardly through the lower wall of the receiver, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4, and on this end is an actuating element or fingerpiece 26 by which the shaft may be oscillated.

The fingerpiece 26, as is shown in Fig. 1, normally lies closely adjacent to and parallel with the outer surface of one of the lugs 2'! which carry the pivot ll of the action lever, so that this element will not'constitute a projecting part which might be objectionable.

As shown more especially in Figs. 2 and 3, the

forward end l8 of the action lever is provided with .a bump or boss 30 against which the rear end of the last cartridge A in the magazine normally rests at one side, this bump acting as a stop to prevent the cartridge being urged rear- .wardly into a position opposite the gate 20. The

forward end of the gate is provided with a V-shaped recess 3i, and the rear surface of the end of the gate 29. That is to say, the front portion of the gate and the'boss 30 form a throat which normally holds the cartridges in a forward position.

It will be understood, however, that when the action lever I6 is actuated, the arm 18 is moved in a counterclockwise direction about the pivot 11, so that it passes from engagement with the rear end of the cartridge and permits the latter to slide back past the gate into the receiver and above the lifting lever (not shown) to be introduced into the chamber.

I The action of my unloading device will now be described. When it is desired to load the magazine, the forward portion of the cartridge is pressed against the gate 20, which opens the gate and permits the i'nsertionof the cartridge into the magazine in the usual manner, the cam or arm 25 interfering in no way with this procedure. The gate 20 may be provided with a rounded-out recess 33 in its front face to facilitate the passage of the cartridges thereby. When the magazine is loaded the rear cartridge will stand in the position shown in Fig. 2. If it is desired to unload .gate is beveled slightly, as shown at 32, so that the magazine, the fingerpiece 26 is rotated from the position shown in Fig. 1 to that shown in Fig.3, which turns the shaft or pin .23 through an angle of approximately 90, moves the cam or arm 25 through the same angle. This forces the gate open, as shown in Fig. 3.

Normally the rear end of the last cartridge in the magazine overlaps slightly the upper and lower portions of the forward end of the gate at each end of the notch 3|, but the movement of the gate inwardly, on account of its cam-shaped end 32, moves the cartridge forwardly to a slight extent to permit the gate to move to open position; As'shown in Fig. 3, the cartridges may now move freely out of the magazine and through the opening I9 under pressure of the usual spring at the forward end of the magazine.

The lever l8 rearwardly of the boss 39 is provided with a shallow recess 34 to permit the gate when in open position to lie in this recess so as to afford no obstruction to the free passage of the cartridges past the end of the gate once they have cleared the boss 30.

It'will be apparent that I have provided a simple and convenient device for opening the gate of the receiver of a magazine firearm and holding the gate in open position to permit the unloading of the magazine, which device may be mounted upon standard guns in use at the present time without alteration of the parts thereof, and which may be mounted in an out-of-theway position so as not to interfere with the normal operation of the gun. Also the device renders the unloading of the magazine a simple and'convenient operation, and as the actuating cam 25 lies in a recess just rearwardly of the opening I9, it presents no obstruction to the passage of the cartridges through thisopening.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of m invention, it will beunderstood .that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine which communicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having an opening in its side wall through which cartridges may be inserted into the magazine, a gate to close said opening, said gate being mounted on the receiver to swing inwardly to open position, means normally urging said gate to closed position, and an' element pivoted on the receiver and engaging said gate by which the latter may be opened to permit unloading of the magazine.

2. A repeating firearm having a, receiver and a magazine which communicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having an opening in its side wall, a gate pivoted to the receiver to normally close said opening, a cam element movably mounted on the receiver in position to engage said'gateto move it to open position to permit unloading of the magazine and manually engageable means for moving said element to open the gate.

3.='A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine which communicates at its rear end nwith the receiver, said receiver having an openposition to permit unloading of themagazine,

the receiver having a recess communicating with and which also the rear edge of the opening, and said element being disposed in said recess.

4. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine which communicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having an opening in its side wall through which cartridges may be inserted into the magazine, a gate to close said opening, means normally urging said gate to closed position, an element pivoted on the receiver adjacent the opening and engaging said gate by which the latter may be opened to permit unloading of the magazine, and a manually operable member disposed below the receiver for moving said element.

5. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a, magazine which communicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having an opening in its side wall communicating with the magazine, a gate movably mounted on the receiver to normally close said opening, a shaft rotatably mounted in the receiver wall adjacent the edge of said opening, and an arm carried by the shaft in position to engage the gate to move it to open position.

'6. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine which communicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having an opening in its side wall communicating with the magazine, a gate movably mounted on the receiver to normally close said opening, a shaft rotatably mounted in the receiver wall adjacent the edge of said opening, and an arm carried by the shaft in position to engage the gate to move it to open position, said shaft projecting from the receiver wall and having a manually engageable member on its projecting end by which it may be operated.

7. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine which communicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having an opening in its side wall communicating with the magazine, a gate movably mounted onthe receiver to normally close said opening, a shaft rotatably mounted in the receiver wall adjacent the edge of said opening, and an arm carried by the shaft in position to engage the gate to move it to open position, said shaft projecting from the receiver wall and having a manually engageable member on its projecting end by which it may be operated, said last-named member lying below the receiver.

8. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine which communicates at its rear end with the receiver, said receiver having an opening in its side wall through which cartridges may be inserted into the magazine, a gate to close said opening, means normally urging said gate to closed position, an element pivoted on the receiver and engaging said gate by which the latter may be opened to permit unloading of the magazine, and means cooperating with the forward end of said gate to hold a cartridge in the magazine.

9. A repeating firearm having a receiver and a magazine which communicates atits rear end with the receiver, said receiver having an opening in its side wall through which cartridges may be inserted into the magazine, a gate to close said opening, means normally urging said gate to closed position, and an element pivoted on the receiver and engaging said gate by which the latter may be opened to permit unloading of the magazine, the forward end of said gate engaging the rear end of a cartridge in the magazine and being beveled to move by the end of the cartridge when the gate is opened.

ROBERT L. JENICINSON.

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