BACKGROUND
In many situations involving firearms, it is desirable to have extra ammunition stored at a location convenient for quick reloading.
SUMMARY
An ammunition holder including a generally cylindrical cartridge receiving first cavity with an open first end sized to allow insertion of a cartridge therein and a second cavity contiguous with and in fluid communication with the first cavity. A cartridge tensioning assembly is operably mounted in the second cavity.
A method of providing extra ammunition for a firearm includes providing an ammunition holder with an array of cartridge receiving cavities and increasing the cartridge retaining pressure of at least one cartridge receiving cavity by compressing a resilient member mounted in a cavity adjacent to the cartridge receiving cavity.
A method of making an ammunition holder with cartridge receiving cavities with variable cartridge retaining force includes mounting a resilient material in a cavity adjacent to and in communication with each cartridge receiving cavity. This method may further include providing a compression device that adjustably compresses or decompresses the resilient material to adjust the force required to move a cartridge into or out of the cartridge receiving cavity.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a firearm with ammunition holders mounted thereon.
FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of an ammunition holder.
FIG. 3 is an end perspective view of the ammunition holder of FIG. 2.
FIG. 4 is a rear bottom perspective view of the ammunition holder of FIG. 2.
FIG. 5 is a top front perspective view of a cartridge tensioning assembly for an ammunition holder.
FIG. 6 is a schematic front view of a Picatinny rail showing a broken away portion of one rib of an ammunition holder mounted thereon.
FIG. 7 is an end elevation view of the ammunition holder of FIG. 2 mounted on a Picatinny rail.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a firearm, in this case a shotgun 11, equipped with a Picatinny gun rail 80. Two ammunition holders 10A and 10B are mounted on the Picatinny gun rail 80. (With some firearms, a Picatinny gun rail is integrally formed with the firearm and with others it is a custom attachment.) It may be seen from FIG. 1 that cartridges 12A, 14A, 16A, 18A and 12B, 14B, 16B, 18B are positioned to be conveniently and efficiently withdrawn from the ammunition holders 10A, 10B and conventionally hand loaded into the shotgun 11. The cartridges are securely, yet easily removably held within the holders 10A, 10B. Although ammunition holders 10A, 10B, with 4 cartridges in each holder, are shown in the illustrated embodiment, it is to be understood that the ammunition holders may hold different numbers of cartridges as needed for different shooting applications.
FIG. 2 is a top perspective view and FIG. 3 is an end perspective view of an ammunition holder 10. The ammunition holder 10 includes a relatively rigid body member 20, which may be made from metal, high strength plastic, high strength nylon or other relatively high strength, rigid material. The body member 20 defines a plurality of generally cylindrical cavities 22, 24, 26, 28. However any number of cavities may be provided depending upon the application of the ammunition holder 10. Each of the cavities has an open upper end portion 32, which is sized to allow close fitting, sliding insertion of a cartridge, e.g., 22, into an associated cavity, e.g., 12, FIG. 3. The lower end 34 of each cavity, e.g., 22, is provided with a restriction, e.g., bottom wall 35, which prevents the cartridge 22 from moving past a predetermined lowermost position in the cavity 22. In the illustrated embodiment, each bottom wall 35 has a central opening therein. Thus, a predetermined length 11, FIG. 3, of each cartridge, e.g., 18, extends above a top edge 13 of an associated cavity, e.g., 28, a sufficient distance, e.g., 1 inch, to enable the cartridge to be easily grasped and withdrawn.
In one example embodiment (not shown) cavities are provided with lower end restrictions of different depths so that different cartridges will project to different heights above the top edge 13 of the holder 10. Such an arrangement may be desirable when the user wishes to carry different types of ammunition in the ammunition holder 10, for example, shotgun pellets and slugs. In this embodiment, the different types of ammunition could be identified by the different height that a cartridge projects above the holder 10. For example, pellet cartridges could be mounted in deep cavities and slug cartridges could be mounted in shallow cavities. Such an arrangement would be advantageous in low light conditions in which other types of indicia such as numbers, colors or other marking would be more difficult to observe.
Adjustment of the amount of force required to withdraw a cartridge, e.g.,14, from an associated cavity, e.g., 24, will now be described.
As best illustrated in FIG. 2, adjacent to each cartridge receiving cavity 22, 24, 26, 28, is a generally rectangular cavity 42, 44, 46, 48 that is in fluid communication with the associated cartridge receiving cavity. In other words, each rectangular cavity 42, 44, 46, 48 opens into each associated cartridge receiving cavity 22, 24, 26, 28.
Each rectangular cavity 42, 44, 46, 48 has an associated tensioning assembly 62, 64, 66, 68 mounted in it. (Although the cavities 42, 44, 46, 48 in the illustrated embodiment have rectangular cross-sectional shapes, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that cavities having other cross-sectional shapes could also be used.)
The structure of a tensioning assembly 62 is illustrated in FIG. 5. Tensioning assembly 62 includes a length of resilient material, which in this example embodiment is a length of resilient tubing 53, such as rubber or plastic tubing. The Tensioning assembly 62 also includes a screw 52 having a head of approximately the same diameter as the resilient tubing 53. The shaft of the screw 52 extends through an elongate central cavity 63 in the resilient tubing 53.
As best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the lower end of the screw 52 is threaded into a threaded hole or nut 55, etc., at the bottom of the associated rectangular cavity 42. Rotating the screw 62 in a first direction moves the screw head downwardly, compressing the resilient tubing 53 and causing the tubing to become shorter along its longitudinal axis LL and to expand in a radial direction RR. The radial expansion of the resilient tubing 53 causes it to move into the associated cartridge receiving cavity 24. This in turn causes the cartridge 14 to be urged against the sidewall of the cavity 24, increasing the frictional force that must be overcome to move the cartridge 14 up or down in the cavity 24. Rotating the screw 52 in the opposite direction relieves pressure on the resilient tubing 53, causing it to move radially away from the wall of the cartridge receiving cavity 24 so that it exerts less radial force on the cartridge 14. As a result less force is required to move the cartridge 14 up or down in the cavity 24.
FIG. 6 is a schematic front view of a Picatinny rail and a fragment of the cartridge holder 10 mounted thereon, and FIG. 7 is a side elevation view of a Picatinny rail 80 and cartridge holder 10. A Picatinny rail is one very common gun rail by which the ammunition holder 10 may be mounted on a firearm, as will now be described.
As shown by FIG. 6, a Picatinny rail 80 has a plurality of spaced depart ribs 92, 94, 96, 98 projecting outwardly from a flat surface 89 on which the ribs are formed. As shown by FIG. 7, the top and bottom edges 84, 86 of the Picatinny rail 80 are generally pointed. The ammunition holder 10 has mounting structure adapted to co-act with the spaced apart ribs 92, 94, etc., and the pointed upper and lower edges 84, 86 of the Picatinny rail 80.
As best shown by FIGS. 3, 4 and 7, a rear portion of the ammunition holder 10 has a generally C-shaped bracket 70 provided there on. The C-shaped bracket 70 includes an upper hook-shaped portion 72, which is integral with rigid body 20. The C-shaped bracket 70 also includes a lower hook-shaped portion 74 which is not integral with the upper hook-shaped portion 72. The lower hook-shaped portion 74 is removably attached to the upper hook-shaped portion 72, as by connector screws 76, FIGS. 2 and 3. The two hook-shaped portions 72, 74 abut at interface 75. By separating the two hook shaped portions 72, 74, positioning them about the upper and lower edges 84, 86 of the Picatinny rail 80 and then reattaching them with connector screws 76, the ammunition holder 10 may be securely mounted on the Picatinny rail 80. As shown by FIGS. 4 and 6, a rear flat face surface 71 of the generally C-shaped bracket 70 of ammunition holder 10 has parallel spaced apart ribs 78 projecting outwardly therefrom, which are adapted to be positioned between the space depart ribs 92, 94, 96, 98, etc. of the Picatinny rail 80, FIG. 6, to stably mount the ammunition holder 10 on the Picatinny rail as illustrated in FIG. 1.
Although certain embodiments of an ammunition holder have been specifically described in detail herein, the ammunition holder may be variously otherwise embodied, as will be obvious to persons skilled in the art after reading this disclosure. For example, pistols are often provided with integral Picatinny rails that extend beneath the barrel of the pistol with ribs that extend horizontally rather than vertically when the pistol is in a normal operating position. In this mounting application the cartridge receiving cavities and cartridges mounted therein would extend horizontally rather than vertically. Because of the adjustable cartridge retaining pressure provided by the ammunition holder, such an orientation of the holder would not interfere with its functionality. The cartridge retaining pressure could be increased to prevent the cartridges from falling out of the holder 10 even if they are not vertically upright or even if they were inclined downwardly. Also, if desired, the orientation of the cartridge receiving portion of the holder could be modified relative to the bracket portion so that the cartridge receiving portion is oriented vertically when the bracket portion is attached to a horizontally oriented Picatinny rail. Similarly, the ammunition holder may be mounted with suitable modifications on most firearms including pistols, rifles, shotguns and other portable projectile firing devices. An ammunition holder with cartridge holding cavities positioned in a linear array has been specifically described, but the cavities could also be arranged in a two-dimensional array or a curved array. It is intended that the appended claims be broadly construed to cover all such alternative embodiments, except to the extent limited by the prior art.
Patent Application
20240151495
