Gas-powered guns of the revolver type

Improvements in gas-powered guns of the revolver type. The gun includes a barrel (10), a revolving projectile loader (11) by way of a revolver drum tiltable to one side into a loading position, a rearsight holder (14) bearing a sight (15) which is adjustable positioned by a screw (16), a striking hammer (17) rotationally actuated by a trigger (18) and a grip frame (19) housing a compressed-gas cartridge (20) whose nozzle leans against a seal (21). According to the improvements, a casing (24) moulded on the barrel (10) has an upper expansion (24a) which positionally secures a portion of the rear sight holder (14). The revolving projectile loader (11) is constituted by two pieces obtained by moulding, a first piece (29) comprising a series of tubular elements (30) provided to accommodate the projectiles and to transfer them to the barrel (10), and a second piece (32) constituting a casing and receiving in its inside the former one in a plug-in engagement. The rearsight holder (14) is provided with a mechanism for facilitating quick assembly thereof. A hammer (17) is formed by two halves (17a, 17b) detachably attached to each other.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention refers to improvements in the gas-powered guns of the 
revolver type, through the application of which important advantages of 
constructional, operational and practical character are obtained over the 
guns of this type which are known so far. The gun as per the invention 
proposes in particular the construction of a series of mouldings 
advantageously made of plastics material, as well as of some of its pieces 
comprising metal inserts in the mouldings, and of some other compound 
pieces comprising two parts of different characteristics, all this in 
order to reduce the manufacturing costs. 
Known gas-powered guns of the type to which the present invention relates 
are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,433 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,795, GB 
Patent No. 2,179,429 and EP Patent No. 0367,676. 
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The improvements of this invention concern in the first place to the 
revolving part of the gun or revolving projectile loader which, instead of 
being a simple disc, as for example in the gas-powered gun described in 
cited U.S. Pat. No. 4,442,433, consists in a cylindrical body in which the 
length predominates over the diameter, which gives the article a more 
realistic look. For this purpose and taking into account that said loader 
is according to the invention supposed to be obtained by moulding and 
advantageously of plastics material, in order to facilitate the 
manufacture, save material, make the process more economical and guarantee 
the required accuracy in the finished piece a structure is proposed for 
said loader consisting of a first piece bearing a series of tubular 
elements which are distributed in a circle, equispaced, parallel to the 
rotation axis and perfectly adjustable in coaxiality facing the barrel 
hole through rotation of the assembly, and a second piece engaged on the 
former one by way of casing and attached to it, with an outside look like 
that of the drum of a conventional gun. 
These improvements concern as well the characteristics of the rearsight 
holder, and more precisely some means for the quick assembly of said 
rearsight on a setscrew to notably simplify and lower the cost of said 
assembly. For this purpose said rearsight, instead of being integral with 
a block with a threaded through hole through which a setscrew is arranged 
for the positioning by shifting when turning said screw, as per a 
conventional structure, is now integral with a piece in the shape of a 
channel-shaped clamp which is capable of fitting into a complementary 
channel-shaped hollow provided in the rearsight holder, said 
channel-shape, which is obtained by moulding, presenting a threaded sector 
which is engageable, by simple insertion into the cavity between its 
flanks, with a setscrew for the shifting and fixing of said rearsight. The 
rearsight/screw subassembly is in this way assembled in a very quick 
manner, and its association with the rearsight holder is as well very 
simple. 
A characteristic of these improvements is as well the assembly of the rear 
sight holder on the revolver, which is very simple, said rear sight holder 
comprising for such a purpose an end portion which is distal from the 
rearsight, is situated at a lower level (said end portion presenting for 
such a purpose an offset) and has lateral tabs which fit into opposed 
throats situated directly above a hole for the assembly of the barrel, 
which in its turn presents an upper expansion formed from a casing of 
plastics material moulded on said barrel, said expansion blocking said 
tabs in the assembly position of the barrel. Moreover, said end portion of 
the rear sight holder has a through hole provided to receive through it a 
screw for the clamping of the barrel and which in its turn fastens the 
rear sight holder, which is thus directly attached to the gun body thereby 
extending on its upper part. 
These improvements concern as well the construction of the hammer, which 
consists here of two pieces which are namely a heavier one provided for 
the purpose of striking, and a second one provided to serve as a support 
and hinged connection means and made out of a plate with several bendings, 
and they also concern a particular structure and assembly of an appendage 
by way of nose associated with the trigger of the gun and provided to 
rotationally actuate said hammer. 
A protuberant configuration has been as well provided including a flat and 
a ramp ending the upper part of the hammer, so as to allow to insert the 
transversal bolt which acts as a safety bolt and has a complementary flat 
and ramp, with no need to raise said hammer to carry out said operation. 
Also characteristic of the improvements to which the invention refers is 
the way to attach the handle plates of the gun to the grip frame, at least 
one of said handle plates being removable in order to facilitate the 
replacement of a compressed-gas cartridge such as a CO.sub.2 cartridge 
equipping the assembly. 
The revolving projectile loader can be tilted to the loading position as 
per a structure known in itself, but in the proposed gun the support and 
tilting member comprises a main portion of moulded plastics material in 
which are inserted the ends of two pins extending to the outside and 
parallel to each other, one of them serving as a hinged connection with 
the gun body, and the second one serving for the mounting of said loader 
in a rotatable condition. 
According to the improvements proposed by the invention one or more holes 
have been lastly provided in the gun described herein underneath the seal 
applied against the nozzle of the CO.sub.2 cartridge, so that if said 
CO.sub.2 cartridge were removed while still containing a given volume of 
gas the latter can flow to the outside without unfavourably affecting said 
seal. 
The above and other objects, advantages and features of the present 
invention will become apparent from the following description of certain 
preferred embodiments thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
The gas-powered gun to which these improvements are applied, which is shown 
in said FIG. 1, comprises a barrel 10, a revolving projectile loader 11 by 
way of a revolver drum tiltable to one side into loading position because 
of being associated with a support 12 which is tiltable around a pin 13, a 
holder 14 bearing a sight 15 which is adjustably positioned by a screw 16, 
a striking hammer 17 rotationally actuated by a trigger 18 and a grip 
frame 19 housing a CO.sub.2 cartridge 20 whose nozzle leans against a seal 
means 21 and whose bottom rests on a cup-shaped rest 22 linked to a stem 
23 which is threadingly engaged in the body of said grip frame 19 and ends 
in a (partially illustrated) grip 23a, all this as per a structure which 
is in itself conventional in this kind of guns. The revolving loader 11 is 
maintained in its firing position (FIG. 1) through the actuation of a 
catch 61 housed in the barrel casing 24 and loaded by a spring 62 to lock 
the tiltable member 12 which supports said loader 11. Said catch 61 has an 
appendage (not shown) which is accessible from the outside for its 
retraction by compressing the spring 62. 
In accordance with the improvements of this invention, gun barrel 10 has a 
casing 24 made of plastics material which presents an upper expansion 24a 
which positionally secures the rear sight holder 14, and more precisely 
blocks an end portion 14a thereof which is distal from the rearsight 15 
and ends in lateral tabs or flanges 25 (see FIG. 4) which fit into a seat 
defined by two opposed throats 26 flanking a central recess 27 of a width 
equivalent to that of body 14 whose portion 14a is inserted in said seat 
26, 27 whereby body 14 is attached to the top or back of gun body 28 
thereby longitudinally extending thereon, as can be seen in FIG. 1. 
The rear sight holder 14, advantageously made of plastics material, has in 
the area of portion 14a a through hole 46 through which a screw 43 is 
arranged to threadingly engage in a boring provided in gun body 28 and to 
press on casing 24 made of plastics material and moulded on barrel 10 thus 
firmly attaching it to the gun. As it can also be seen in FIG. 1, a second 
screw 44 threads its way into a prismatic hole 45 which is provided in the 
rear sight holder 14 and whose shape facilitates the self-tapping 
penetration of said screw 44 whose end rests on the top of gun body 28 
thus allowing to lift body 14 to a bigger or lesser extent with respect to 
said top part of the gun. A lug 59 limits the lift of said body 14 as it 
is arranged in a rear pocket 60. 
According to these improvements the projectile loader 11 revolving around 
pin 34 adopts a cylindrical configuration with a length sensibly bigger 
than the diameter, and is formed by two pieces which are both obtained by 
moulding advantageously of plastics material and which are namely a first 
piece 29 comprising a series of tubular elements 30 to receive the 
projectiles (which are not shown) and to transfer them to barrel 10, said 
tubular elements 30 being integral with a discoidal portion 31, and a 
second piece 32 which constitutes a casing and receives in its inside the 
former one in a plug-in engagement. 
Tubular elements 30 are parallel to each other and to swivel pin 34 and the 
axis of barrel 10, in order to allow an indexed and coaxial adjustment 
with respect to the hole of said barrel by revolving the assembly. Said 
tubular elements 30 are integral with a discoidal portion 31 in which they 
end through a plurality of circular holes 33 distributed in an equispaced 
way next to its periphery to admit the ammunition which is retained in its 
seat in the initial part of said tubular elements 30 directly close to 
hole 33 with the aid of longitudinal ribs 63 which can be seen in FIG. 2 
and of which 3 are advantageously provided. The discoidal portion has on 
its circular outer surface a central toothing 35 provided to be driven by 
engagement with a ratchet 36, and a second peripheral toothing 37 
determining a rotation end stop configuration with respect to one of the 
faces 38a of a portion 38 of ratchet 36 ending in a ratchet pawl 38b. 
The attachment of cylindrical casing or shell 32 is carried out in the 
embodiment shown in FIG. 2 by fitting and locking an engaging mouth 
portion 32a by elastic deformation and locking with an anchoring profile 
31a constituted by the bearing edge of discoidal portion 31. The mutual 
attachment of pieces 29 and 32 could be achieved in an alternative way by 
simply arranging an adhesive on the correspondent profile between both 
pieces. 
As can be seen in said FIGS. 1 and 2, in a central hole of the bottom 32b 
of the casing 32, for the passage of pin 34 rotatably supporting the 
revolving loader 11 there is a ring-shaped recess 64 housing a seal means 
39 determining a friction on said pin in order to brake the loader to thus 
immobilize it during the back motion of ratchet 36 thus preventing its 
motion by friction with part 38 of said ratchet in its return travel. In 
these same FIGS. can also be seen that the support member 12 is carried 
out as a moulded block out of plastics material in which said pins 13 for 
the hinged connection and 34 for the revolving of loader 11 are inserted. 
The attachment of revolving loader 11 to its swivel pin 34 is carried out 
by means of a screw 65 housed in a central recess 66 of said discoidal 
portion 31. 
In FIGS. 4 and 5 can be seen the rearsight 15 quick assembly means 
consisting of a moulding advantageously made of plastics material in the 
shape of a channel-shaped clamp 40 integral with said rearsight 15 and 
having an inner curved sector 40a with a thread capable of riding on 
setscrew 16 ending in driving head 16a, in such a way that the assembly 
formed by channel-shaped clamp 40 and screw 16 is obtained by simple 
insertion of the latter into portion 40a of the former whose flexion 
allows said insertion, and both are thereupon introduced into a hollow 41 
of the rear sight holder 14 and the screw is axially immobilized, for 
example, by a snap ring 42 or by another suitable retaining means or 
configuration. 
The striking hammer 17 of the gun is formed (see FIG. 6) by two pieces 17a 
and 17b which are advantageously attached to each other by a screw 47. 
The first 17a of said pieces is provided to strike on a valve 67 provided 
to open the passage of gas through the intermediation of an element 68 
(shown in FIG. 1) in the shape of a rod linked to the trigger 18, in such 
a way that the striking action of portion 17a of hammer 17 on said valve 
67 is only possible through the action of the trigger 18 and cannot take 
place because of an accidental blow on the hammer, the use of said rod 68 
and its constructional structure being conventional in these gas-powered 
guns. 
Hammer 17 ends at the top in a protuberance 48 presenting a flat portion 
48a followed by a ramp 48b, and an equivalent configuration formed by a 
flat 49a and a ramp 49b appears at the end of a transversal bolt 49 acting 
as a firing safety bolt (see FIGS. 6 and 8a, 8b). Such a configuration 
allows that by arranging said bolt 49 in a hammer blocking position said 
hammer 17 can be moved away and kept at a sufficient distance "d" from its 
striking plane without the user having to previously raise said hammer or 
to load the spring 50 which is associated with the swivel pin 51 of said 
hammer 17. 
The second 17b of said pieces forming the hammer 17 and shown in FIG. 6 is 
an actual support and has been obtained from a piece of plate and by means 
of several bendings, and said piece is associated with said swivel pin 51 
and is raised by a driving nose 52 associated with trigger 18 with the 
interposition of a return spring 53 (see FIG. 1) which allows said nose 52 
to pivotally bend thus passing edge 69 of portion 17b of the hammer 17 in 
its return travel, thus facilitating the return of trigger 18 to a rest 
position. 
As shown in FIG. 7, the handle plates 55 of grip frame 19 are attached to 
said grip frame by means of appendages 56, and said appendages are engaged 
by snug insertion and elastic deformation in pockets 57 of the grip frame 
19, in at least the appendages 56 of one of the handle plates their end 
configuration being such that it allows to remove them from their pockets. 
A second handle plate 55 is generally provided with appendages ending in a 
harpoon-like configuration and which are not removable (these latter 
appendages not having been illustrated. 
FIG. 9 shows that surrounding the seal 21 against which the end of the 
nozzle 20a of the CO.sub.2 cartridge 20 is applied there is a hole 58 for 
the derivation therethrough of any flow of residual compressed-gas 
eventually remaining in the CO.sub.2 cartridge 20 when carrying out its 
replacement. An eventual deterioration or loss of said seal 21 is in this 
way prevented. The seal 21 is penetrated by punctured pin 60 including an 
axial passage 60a communicating with chamber 61 and channel 62. 
In FIG. 1 is also lastly shown a piece 71 known in itself which serves to 
block hammer 17 in the simple-action firing modality, according to which, 
as is well known, said hammer 17 is cocked without operating the trigger 
18, and when acting on the latter thereby slightly shifting it backwards 
when going to fire the loader 11 completes its revolving motion and said 
hammer 17 is released, this allowing a better control of the gun by 
minimizing the necessary effort to be exerted on the trigger 18. As 
opposite to this, in the double-action way of operation when actuating the 
trigger 18 the loader 11 revolves up to the firing position, the hammer 17 
is cocked and is then finally released to strike on the valve 67, but this 
entails a bigger effort on the trigger 18, which is the member that 
conducts the whole operation. 
In the case of the single-action modality, when raising the hammer its 
portion 70 of support 17b drives rod 68 which shifts trigger 18 backwards, 
and the latter in its turn and by means of portion 38 of ratchet 36 and 
its pawl 38b engages toothing 35 and revolves the revolving loader up to a 
position close to that wherein a tubular element 30 is facing barrel 10. 
To block hammer 17 in said position said piece 71 is employed which pivots 
on pin 72 and is provided with a bending 73 provided to lock piece 17b 
once it has turned passing said bending 73. Piece 71 has besides an ear 74 
which will be directly actuated by a lateral protuberance 75 of trigger 
18, and which when thus actuated moves said piece 71 overcoming the action 
of its spring 76, hammer 17 being then thus released while the final 
backward shifting of trigger 18 produces a final turning of loader 11 and 
thus the alignment of tubular element 30 with barrel 10, whereupon the 
firing takes place. 
The closing of valve 67 is assured by a spring 77 pressing it against its 
seal 78, all this also according to a conventional structure.