Abstract:
A pellet for a compressed gas powered weapon, such as a pellet gun, is disclosed. The pellet includes a forward head portion, a rearward tail portion having a hollow propulsion gas pocket, and an intermediate waist portion, the head portion having a front end, a centrally positioned penetration point protruding from the front end and a blade having a cutting edge extending between the penetration point and the front end for promoting penetration of the pellet into a target and improve penetration in addition to a shock wave generated by the front end.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/926,497 filed Jan. 13, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The invention relates to ammunition and in particular to pellets for compressed gas powered weapons, for example air rifles or air guns. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Air gun pellets have either been designed for deep penetration or for “mushrooming” upon impact. The two designs have opposite objectives and have entirely different effects. Pellets designed for deep penetration typically have pointed tips to drive the pellet deeper into the target. Pellets that are designed to mushroom open upon impact typically have a cup-shaped head which spreads open upon impact with the target. Mushrooming defines the deformation radially outwardly and subsequently towards the back of portions of the head of the pellet. Both designs have their advantages and disadvantages with respect to hunting. 
         [0004]    Deep penetrating pellets drive further into the body of an animal but do not cause much damage with the result that, unless a vital organ or structure is hit, the animal is not struck down and thus, can escape. Cup headed pellets are designed for mushrooming and spread open in the body, but do not penetrate deep enough into the body to damage major organs. They operate on a shock wave principle and may strike down an animal, but not permanently so that again the animal may escape. 
         [0005]    It is not desirable when hunting to only wound an animal and permit the wounded animal to escape, since this will not only result in loss of the animal, but will expose it to prolonged suffering. Thus, the effectiveness of both penetrating and mushrooming pellets requires improvement. Mushrooming pellets with central penetration points have been suggested, but they tend to still suffer from the same problems as pure mushrooming pellets. Thus, a pellet is desired which has both penetrating and shock wave generating capability. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    It is an object of the invention to provide a pellet for a weapon powered by compressed gas such as air, or CO2, the pellet having a head designed for both impact and penetration. 
         [0007]    This is achieved with a pellet for a compressed gas powered weapon including a pellet head for mushrooming on impact and a central penetration point formed by one or more pointed blades protruding from the pellet head. The pellet head may have circumferential rim which is designed to spread open on impact and mushroom while the central pointed blade will provide penetration into the target, resulting in a larger and longer wound channel. 
         [0008]    The pellets are preferably made of a relatively soft material which will allow for mushrooming upon impact, such as lead. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a sectional view of one embodiment of a pellet in accordance with the invention; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a top view of the pellet of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a top view of a variant of the pellet of  FIG. 2 , including two blades; 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a sectional view of a second embodiment of a pellet in accordance with the invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is a top view of the pellet of  FIG. 3 ; 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is a sectional view of a third embodiment of a pellet in accordance with the invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  is a top view of the pellet of  FIG. 6 ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  is a sectional view of a fourth embodiment of a pellet in accordance with the invention; and 
           [0017]      FIG. 9  is a top view of the pellet of  FIG. 8 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0018]    Exemplary embodiments of a pellet  10  in accordance with the invention will now be described in the following with reference to the attached  FIGS. 1 to 9 . In general, pellet  10  has the conventional features of a forward head portion  11 , and a rearward tail portion  18  including a waist portion  12  intermediate the tail and head portions, a hollow, conical skirt  14  defining a conical propulsion air pocket  13 , and a land portion  15  extending along the annular rear end of the skirt  14 , as well as the novel feature of a forwardly protruding blade  30  mounted to the head portion  11 . 
         [0019]    In the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , the blade  30  has a flat, triangular body with a pair of cutting edges  31  and a base  32 . The base  32  preferably includes a stem  34  which is anchored in a recess  36  in the head portion  11 . The stem  34  and pocket  36  can have any geometric shape, as long as they are sufficiently congruent to ensure a reliable connection of the blade  30  to the head portion  11 . The stem  34  can be screwed, pressed, soldered or glued to the head portion  11 . The blade  30  can also be fastened to the head portion  11  in other ways, as long as a reliable connection between the blade  30  and the head portion  11  is achieved which will permit firing of the pellet and will avoid disintegration of the pellet on impact. The head portion  11  preferably further includes a circumferential bulge or rim  22 . The rim may be provided with a plurality of radial slits  21  extending partially or completely radially through the wall of the rim  22 . The rim is thereby divided into sections or expansion panels as disclosed in detail in US  6 , 244 , 186 , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The head portion  11  typically has at least four radial slits  21  to allow the expansion panels to open radially outward and curl backward upon impact with a target. In the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , the head portion is of circular cross-section. In the embodiment of  FIG. 3 , the head portion  11  is of circular cross section with an annular rim  22 . The radius of the head portion  11  depends on the caliber of the gun in which the pellet is to be used. Although heads of different cross section are conceivable, their cross section should be symmetrical to a longitudinal axis of the pellet and preferably circular. Any number of slits  21  can be used to define any number of rim sections or expansion panels, as long as the circumferential ring or rim  22  reliably separates into the expansion panels for “mushrooming” on impact. Mushrooming increases the shock wave created upon impact. 
         [0020]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , the head  11  of the pellet  10  is further provided on the forward face with a centrally located penetration point  16  which is formed by the blade  30  which conically widens towards its base  32 . The point  16  serves to promote deeper penetration of the target after the initial impact, while the cutting edges  31  of the blade  30  provide for increased penetration depth and cutting of internal vessels and organs. The blade  30  and cutting edges  31  provide for vastly increased penetration over that of pellets with a pointed head only, or mushrooming head pellets with a central penetration point, such as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,244,186. The penetration point  16  of blade  30  is preferably a sharp point and the cutting edges  31  are preferably manufactured to be sharp or are sharpened. The blade  30  on the pellet  10  can be compared in construction and function to the point of an arrow or harpoon. Processes for the manufacture of cutting blades with sharp points and edges are known and need not be described herein. The cutting edges  31  can be straight as illustrated in  FIG. 1  or concave as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , but convex cutting edges can also be used. 
         [0000]    Moreover, the blades may be smooth or serrated. 
         [0021]      FIG. 3  illustrates a pellet  10  including a pair of blades  30  arranged orthogonal to one another to form a star shaped penetration blade with a penetration point  16  and four cutting edges  32 . 
         [0022]      FIGS. 4 and 5  illustrate a pellet  10  including a rim  22  and a blade  30  with convexly curved cutting edges  31 . The blade  30  is sized to fit within the recess defined by the circumferential rim  22 . The rim  22  includes slits  21  to allow mushrooming of the pellet. 
         [0023]      FIGS. 6 and 7  illustrate a pellet  10  including a rim  22  and a blade  30  with convexly curved cutting edges  31 . The blade  30  is sized to extend to the outside of the rim  22 . In other words the lower corners of the blade  30  extend into and are embedded in the rim  22 . The blade  30  may be inserted into pre-existing slits  21  in the rim  22  or forced into the rim  22  during assembly. The rim  22  also includes separate slits  21  to allow mushrooming of the pellet. 
         [0024]      FIGS. 8 and 9  illustrate a pellet  10  including a rim  22  and a central cone  40  mounted to the head portion  11  by way of a plug  42  extending into the socket  36  described above. One or more blades  30   a  are embedded into the cone  40  for reliably connecting the blades with the head portion  11 . The blades  30  are only partially embedded so that their cutting edges  31  protrude from the cone  40 . The blades  30  may be embedded sufficiently to fit within the recess defined by the circumferential rim  22  or may with their cutting edges  31  extend into the rim  22 . The rim  22  may further include slits (not shown) to further assist mushrooming of the pellet. 
         [0025]    The blades  30  are preferably made of steel, but can be manufactured from any other material which will guarantee that the blade  30  will provide the pellet with improved penetration and not collapse on impact. 
         [0026]    Any number of blades  30  can be used as long as there are arranged symmetrically about the axis of the pellet  10 . 
         [0027]    Although the expansion panels in the preferred embodiment as illustrated are completely separated by the intermediate slits  21  produced by cutting the rim  22 , the rim can be sectioned in a variety of ways. The term section or sectioned as used herein is intended to cover a rim which is partitioned by any means which provides a dividing of the rim  22  into individual expansion panels before or upon impact for reliably achieving a mushrooming effect. For example, the slits  21  can be replaced with lines of perforations extending through the rim  22  or lines of weakness in the form of scratches, grooves, indentations, etc. located on the inside wall , the outside wall, or both sides of the rim. Partial cuts or slits  21  can be used as well, or any combination of these means for partitioning the rim. 
         [0028]    The rearward portion  18  including the waist portion  12 , the hollow, conical skirt  14 , and the land portion  15  is conventional and comprises a generally frustoconical bore  17  widening rearwardly towards the land portion  15 . Multiple variations of this general construction are commonly known in the art and can all be used in the pellet in accordance with the invention so that no detailed discussion thereof need be provided for a full understanding of all rearward portion variants by the person skilled in the art. 
         [0029]    Although the pellet  10  is illustrated with a frustoconical pocket  13  used for thrusting the pellet forward from the barrel of the gun, the head  11  may be applied with any configuration of rearward portion  18  used to propel the pellet  10  forward from the barrel of a gun. 
         [0030]    The effect of using a pellet  10  that has a head  11  which combines the features of both multiple expansion panels  23  and a central penetration point  16  on a cutting blade  30  with cutting edge  31  is to cause deeper internal damage to the target. This creates immediate internal damage to vital organs such as heart, lungs, arteries, etc. Thus, loss of the target animal and its unnecessary prolonged suffering is substantially avoided. 
         [0031]    Various modifications to the shape and construction of the head portion  11  and the tail portion  18  are possible, provided that the head portion includes both a mushrooming structure and at least one penetrating and cutting blade  30 . 
         [0032]    The head portion  11  in another preferred embodiment is triangular in shape instead of a circular cross section or has a polygonal shape. The tail portion  18  can have a cylindrical shape (either internal, external or both) instead of the conical shape shown in the drawings, and a rearward portion whose land portion was not in continuous contact with the rifling of the gun barrel could be used as well, as long as a sufficient seal with the barrel is achieved for reliable propulsion of the bullet in and from the barrel. 
         [0033]    When the pellet  10  includes the rim  22 , the height of the blade  30  with penetration point  16  preferably always exceeds the height of the rim  22 . In the preferred embodiment, the height of the blade  30  from base  34  to the penetration point  16  can even be larger than the diameter of the head portion  11 , depending on the degree of penetration desired. 
         [0034]    The expansion panels  23  are preferably of equal shape and size to provide symmetrical mushrooming of the head  11 . However, expansion panels of different shape and size can also be used. The differing panels are then preferably arranged symmetrically to the longitudinal axis of the pellet. The land portion  15  can be omitted, but is preferred for improved sealing of the skirt  14  against the barrel wall (not shown). 
         [0035]    Comparative testing of conventional pellets with a penetration point and the pellet design of the present application at 45-50 meters distance and a muzzle velocity of 820 feet per second showed that the conventional pellet did not exit the target (small game; jack rabbit), while the pellet of the present invention went clean through the target and could not be found in the vicinity of the target. It is expected that the pellet of the invention will be able to penetrate the hide of larger game and penetrate to vital organs in view the significantly improved penetration capability achieved with the provision of the blade or blades. 
         [0036]    Changes and modifications in the specifically described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope of the invention which is intended to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.