Patent ID: 6955125

Claim:
A practice projectile for use with a gun system, comprising: a fuze, wherein the fuze has an elongated stepped shape comprised of a forward end, an intermediate end, and a narrower rearward step; a hollow projectile body including an open front end and a closed rear end; wherein the front end of the projectile is secured to the fuze; a boom assembly secured to the closed end of the projectile body; a center vent tube located entirely within the projectile body, having a forward end that is secured to the fuze abutting the inner wall of the projectile near the forward end of the projectile body, and a rearward end that abuts against the inner wall of the projectile body near the rear end of the projectile body, whereby an empty chamber is formed inside the hollow projectile body between the inner wall of the projectile body and the outer wall of the vent tube to form a smoke chamber and to provide added weight to control a center of gravity of the projectile, said vent tube having a wall located within, near its forward end, the wall entirely plugging the inner portion of the vent tube and disposed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the vent tube, the rearward step of the fuze extending into the vent tube and engaging the wall located inside the vent tube; wherein the rear end of the projectile body includes a plurality of normally closed vent holes that are disposed in close proximity to the boom assembly, in fluidic communication with the smoke chamber; and a plurality of vent plugs that fit in the vent holes to plug the vent holes, wherein the vent plugs become unplugged from the projectile body upon function of the fuze, and allow smoke that accumulates inside the smoke chamber to be released so as to provide a signature for the projectile, said vent plugs being generally cylindrically shaped bodies with dome shaped ends, said cylindrically shaped bodies disposed inside the vent holes with a portion extending into the hollow interior of the projectile body and where said dome shaped ends extend entirely outside the projectile body and abut against the outer wall of the projectile body.