Mount for mounting accessories on a weapon

A mount for mounting an accessory (19) on a weapon comprises a base plate (12) with an upper surface and a lower surface, to be connected with the accessory. The base plate (12) is clamped to a rail (10) on the weapon with the lower surface engaging the rail. Two aligned first grooves (23) in the upper surface extend in the longitudinal direction of the rail and a third groove (24) in the upper surface of the base plate, extends transversely of the first grooves. First protrusions (25) on the lower surface of the accessory guidingly engage the first grooves, and a third protrusion (26) on the lower surface of the accessory located between the first protrusions engages the third groove (24) to prevent displacement of the accessory along the first grooves.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a mount for mounting on a weapon an optical sight, a magnifier, a night vision device, or any other accessory of the weapon, comprising a base plate having an upper surface and a lower surface, to be connected with the accessory, and means for clamping the base plate to a rail on the weapon with the base plate extending in the longitudinal direction of the rail and with the lower surface engaging the rail.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A primary object of the invention is to provide a mount of the kind referred to above which excludes play between the accessory and the weapon and thus maintains stability and accurate position of the accessory mounted to the weapon by means of the mount even at prolonged exposure to recoil forces generated at firing of the weapon.

A further object of the invention is to provide a mount of the kind referred to which allows accessories of different kinds to be mounted to weapons of different types and at different levels in order to align optical axes of the accessories along the weapon. For example, if an optical sight of the red dot type is mounted to the weapon a magnifier can easily be combined with the sight by mounting the magnifier to the weapon at such level that the optical axis of the magnifier is aligned with the optical axis of the sight.

These and other objects which will be apparent from the description which follows are achieved according to the invention by providing a mount of the kind referred to above which is characterized by two aligned first grooves in the upper surface of the base plate extending in the longitudinal direction of the rail when the accessory is mounted to the rail adjacent ends of the grooves being mutually spaced, a third groove in the upper surface of the base plate, extending transversely of said first grooves, first protrusions on the lower surface of the accessory guidingly engaging said first grooves, and a third protrusion on the lower surface of the accessory located between said first protrusions and engaging said third groove to prevent displacement of the accessory along said first grooves.

Further features of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The mount of the invention shall be connected to a weapon by means of a rail fastened to the weapon and extending in the longitudinal direction of the barrel of the weapon. The rail can be a Picatinny rail (military arms) or a Weaver rail (hunting arms) and includes a uniform array of transverse notches. A cross bar on the mount is engaged with one of these notches at the desired position on the rail.

FIG. 1discloses such a rail at10having notches11, and the mount comprises a base plate12on the lower surface of which said crossbar is provided although not shown in the drawings. The base plate forms an undercut groove13along one longitudinal edge thereof to be engaged with the rail, and a longitudinal rib14along the opposite longitudinal edge thereof (FIGS. 2 and 3). A jaw15forms a groove16to receive rib14therein and is connected to the base plate by means of a screw the thread of which engages a threaded blind hole in the base plate. A knob17is connected with the screw over a ratchet clutch18allowing the screw to be rotated manually in order to clamp the base plate on the rail the base plate engaging the rail in groove13and jaw15engaging the rail at groove16. Ratchet clutch18will disconnect the screw from knob17if the torque applied to the knob exceeds a predetermined value.

Base plate12is connected with an accessory such as a red dot sight19or any other accessory to be mounted on the weapon by means of the mount. The connection is effected by means of screws20having heads countersunk in the lower surface of base plate12and extending with clearance through apertures in the base plate. The screws are screwed into threaded bottom holes in the lower surface of sight19and secure the sight to the base plate either with the lower surface of the sight engaging the upper surface of the base plate or alternatively with the lower surface of the sight engaging the upper surface of a spacer plate21,FIG. 1, the lower surface of which engages the upper surface of the base plate, screws20passing with clearance through apertures in the spacer plate.

The mount is disclosed in combination with the spacer plate inFIGS. 2 and 3, and the spacer plate alone is disclosed inFIGS. 4 to 6.

The spacer plate forms two circular apertures22for screws20. The upper surface of the spacer plate, shown inFIG. 4, is a plane surface with two aligned grooves23which are milled from opposite ends of the spacer plate and extend in the longitudinal direction thereof. The side surfaces of the grooves are inclined at an angle of e.g. about 20° to the vertical. Adjacent ends of the grooves are mutually spaced, and in the space between the ends a groove24extends transversely of grooves23: This transverse groove is milled in the upper surface of the spacer plate from one of the longitudinal edges of the spacer plate.

It should be noted that the upper surface of base plate12shall have grooves arranged in the same manner as described with reference to the spacer plate. In other words, the design of the upper surface of the base plate shall be identical with the design of the upper surface of the spacer plate.

The lower surface of spacer plate21, shown inFIG. 5, is plane and forms three aligned protrusions25,25and26. The side surfaces of protrusions25extending in the longitudinal direction of the spacer plate are inclined and form an angle of e.g. about 20° to the vertical. The lower surface of the sight or any accessory to be mounted to the weapon shall have protrusions arranged as described with reference to the spacer plate. Thus, the lower surface of any accessory should be identical with the lower surface of the spacer plate. Protrusions25each fit into one of grooves23when a lower surface of a spacer plate or an accessory is engaged with the upper surface of the base plate or the spacer plate. However, protrusions25are slightly wider than the matching grooves23; the difference in width at the bottom surface of the protrusion and the groove, respectively, is of the order of e.g. 0.1 mm. As a consequence thereof the accessory or the spacer plate, respectively, will engage at the inclined side surfaces and thus will be supported by said surfaces leaving a space27between the flat bottom surface of the groove and the flat bottom surface of the protrusion received therein as disclosed inFIG. 7. By this arrangement the accessory is mounted to the weapon without play so that the position of the sight dot of a sight mounted to the weapon cannot change at firing. Moreover, the tolerance requirements for grooves and protrusions can be reduced.

Protrusion26engaging groove24forms a recoil stop taking up the recoil forces generated during firing of the weapon. No radial forces will act on screws20and deformation of these screws and apertures22will be prevented.

The mount can be used for mounting an accessory directly to the base plate of the mount, or for mounting an accessory with one or more spacer plates or described inserted between the accessory and the base plate of the mount in order to bring the accessory to a level required e. g. for aligning an optical axis of the accessory with an optical axis of another accessory attached to the same rail on the weapon. The possibility of inserting spacer plates of different thickness to provide such axial lineup also allows adjustment of the mounting so as to adapt the mounting to weapons of different types.