Device for a small arm

The invention relates to a device for feeding cartridges (15) from magazines to small arms, in particular to rifles with a cartridge feed device (3-7, 25-29), which transports the cartridges from a tubular magazine (11) to the barrel (1) by means of a device, in particular a rocker/spoon (3, 25-29). Said device comprises a breech, which receives the cartridges from the cartridge feed device, slides them into the barrel and closes the latter. The rocker/spoon of the cartridge feed device can be removed from the intermediate chamber between the tubular magazine and the lock (13) and an interchangeable cartridge magazine (16) can be inserted in the empty intermediate chamber (21). In a first embodiment, the rocker (3) can be displaced from a front position into a rear position. In a second embodiment, the rocker (3) can be pivoted from an upper, approximately horizontal position into a lower, approximately perpendicular position. In a third embodiment, the rocker (3) is surrounded by a box, which together with the rocker can be removed from the weapon, in a similar manner to the interchangeable magazine.

The invention relates to a device for feeding cartridges from a magazine in a small arm, in particular guns with a cartridge-feeding system that shifts cartridges from a tube magazine to the barrel by a device, in particular a carrier, and with a breech that takes the cartridges from the cartridge feeder, slides them into the barrel, and closes the rear end of the barrel.

The slide-action repeater rifles used by United States police are provided with tube magazines and appropriate feed devices, with a magazine capacity of between four and six cartridges. In an emergency, reloading such a gun takes too long, so that the officer, once he has shot all the cartridges from his rifle, resorts to a short arm (automatic or revolver). This historically leads to bad results in a fire fight.

It is known to supply individual barrels of small arms by specifically constructed magazines. A tube magazine of standard design entails a limited fire power and time-consuming reloading. If however switchable detachable magazines are used, the gun has a clumsy shape and is difficult to handle, in particular when being transported or readied for use.

In addition according to the state of the art (U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,252, U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,758, U.S. Pat. No. 5,456,153, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,533) it is known to provided a repeating small arm having a tube magazine with a separate detachable box magazine as a retrofit. In this manner, however, the capacity of the tube magazine is reduced.

The solution in the cited prior art, to empty the cartridges out of the tube magazine, and thereafter to feed cartridges to the barrel from a detachable magazine by means of the cartridge feeder, requires numerous modifications and creates a considerable risk of mechanical failure.

In addition the above-cited additional box magazines make handling of the gun at times very dangerous.

It is an object of the invention to construct the cartridge feeder of a small arm having a tube magazine such that the same barrel can be supplied by two different magazines, switching between the two magazines only taking a few seconds while retaining the normal handling as well as the capacity of the gun with its standard magazine.

This object is achieved in that the device, in particular a carrier of the cartridge feeder, can move out of the space between the tube magazine and the latch plate and/or out of the space between the cartridge supply and the receiver and a detachable magazine can be fitted to this space.

The present invention relates to a cartridge feeder for repeating small arms that allows the use of both the standard tube magazine and a separate detachable magazine. The advantages of the system according to the invention is in the optionally increasable loading capacity of the pump-action gun. In addition to about six shells held in the built-in tube magazine one can, if necessary when it is empty, very quickly fit a standard detachable magazine. The handing of the gun without the detachable magazine is the same as before, but there is always the option to use a detachable magazine without changing the firepower by expensive retrofitting.

With guns outfitted according to the present invention in addition all of the advantages of the well-established tube magazine are retained, and in case of an incident it is possible in seconds to reload with a detachable magazine holding five or eight cartridges, and this reloading can be done again by the use of further standard detachable magazines.

The solution of the instant invention is an evolution of the cartridge feeder of a tube-magazine gun by one degree of freedom. In a first of the two preferred variants the feeder, more particularly the carrier and its drive, is slidable in the receiver so that a front and back movement is possible. In the front latched position the various parts function as usual, that is the cartridges are taken out of the tube magazine and fed to the barrel of the gun. If the movable parts are in the rear latched position, the space is free for a detachable magazine that is latched in place by an appropriate mechanism.

In a second favored variant the above-described parts are held in a frame that itself is used as a detachable magazine. The purpose of this “service magazine” is to pull the cartridges out of the tube magazine and feed them to the barrel of the weapon. As a rule at the start of use of the weapon it is important to be able to handle the gun as normal while picking it up. Once the tube magazine has been emptied, the device according to the invention is ejected as in an automatic pistol by pushing a button and a fully loaded standard detachable magazine is fitted.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

As a result of the features of claim12without any intermediate mechanism cartridges can be taken directly from the detachable magazine. In this manner a standard or only slightly modified detachable magazine can be used.

A standard slide-action repeater rifle with a trigger14has a closed receiver2in which the bolt, ejector, and safety as well as the breech22with plate (control block)23shown inFIG. 3for the unillustrated repeating mechanism and the cartridge feeder3-7. The cartridge feeder has a carrier (spoon)3with a pivot pin4, a drive4for the carrier (spoon), a spring6for shifting it, and an abutment7with a track10for the spring. Below the barrel1is a tube magazine11.

In a slide-action repeater, drawing back the action slide opens the breech22, which extracts the spent shell as it moves back and loads the bolt spring. When the breech22reaches its rear-end position, a cartridge15is released from the tube magazine11and shifted by spring force to the cartridge feeder3-7.

The forward return movement of the action slide makes the cartridge feeder shift the cartridge15to the barrel1whereupon the breech22slides it home and closes the rear end of barrel1toward the bolt. In an autoloading gun, this process is powered by the hot gases or recoil produced by the shot.

If there are no more cartridges15in the tube magazine the shooter shifts the cartridge feeder3,4,5,6,7via the actuator12along a groove track8from the latched front-end position19in which the cartridge feeder3,4,5,6,7is effective into a rear latched inactive position9. To this end the longitudinal groove8has at end seats9and19.

In an unillustrated embodiment this step is automatic in that when the last cartridge15leaves the tube magazine11the actuator12is operated by the guide rod of the unillustrated autoloading mechanism.

The receiver2is open downward between the tube magazine11and the lock plate13so that the intervening space21can receive a detachable magazine16with cutouts17(in which the here unillustrated and in this mode functionless guide rod fits), which is held in place by the magazine latch20and the guide18of the lock plate13.

The function of the gun is the same as described above. The only difference is that the cartridges15are fed by the breech22shown inFIG. 3directly from the detachable magazine16to the barrel1.

It is thus possible to supply the same barrel from different magazines, in particular a tube and a detachable magazine, because the feeder has one more degree of freedom than if it only was used by one type of magazine.

The various needs of the police and sport shooters can be met by various variants of the invention. Thus for example for the police market an embodiment is of particular interest whose feed device retracts into or swings out of the receiver when magazine type changes.

The demands of sport shooters on the other hand are met by an embodiment wherein the feed device for the tube magazine is built as a type of “auxiliary magazine” that can be constructed and used like a detachable magazine and that is described more closely above as the “second favored variant.” The sport shooter thus loads the barrel of his gun cartridges either directly from a standard detachable magazine or via the feed device according to the invention from the tube magazine. This embodiment is ideal when used in combination with a modified latch plate as retrofit.

In the embodiment ofFIG. 3the breech22longitudinally movable in the receiver (housing) has a lower horizontal plate23that can slide on the breech and that actuates a latch as soon as the breech reaches the closed position in which it closes the barrel behind a fresh cartridge. To this end the latch moves into an inner seat or behind an abutment of the receiver so that the breech is blocked against moving back when the cartridge is fired.

The lower side of the breech22has a projection24in the shape of a longitudinally extending profile that projects downward past the plate23and which engages with its front edge against the uppermost cartridge15in the detachable magazine16when the breech22is moved by the action slide forward toward the barrel. In this manner the uppermost cartridge is slid from the detachable magazine into the barrel.

In the embodiment ofFIGS. 4to6the carrier is formed of two parts with a back part25pivoted on a pin28and a front part29that projects into the space21when it serves to shift the cartridges out of the tube magazine11and feed them to the barrel. On the other hand before fitting a detachable magazine16, the part29is swung down and out from the space21.

Pivotally mounted on the part25is a stop (slide26) by means of which the part29can be latched in the horizontal working position.

Parts List