1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to firearms, and more specifically to ammunition magazines for firearms.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Many firearms utilize ammunition magazines to hold ammunition to be loaded into the firing chamber of the firearm and eventually fired. Specifically, handguns, and particularly semi-automatic handguns, often house an ammunition magazine in a cavity in the handle or grip portion. With such a configuration, the magazine is generally inserted upward into the cavity via an opening on the bottom surface of the firearm handle.
Often, ammunition magazines will include a magazine base pad attached to the lower portion of the magazine housing. As is understood in the art, the magazine base pad provides a surface external to the magazine cavity of the firearm that allows a user to interface with the magazine. Amongst other benefits, this allows a user to quickly orient the magazine for proper insertion during a reload as well as provides a bottom surface which allows a user to forcefully insert the magazine into its proper position within the magazine cavity.
Currently, a magazine base pad connects to the magazine housing by utilizing a base pad retaining plate to hold the magazine base pad in place. The base pad retaining plate typically comprises a cylindrical or square shaped protrusion on its lower surface which interacts with a corresponding through-hole in the magazine base pad. An ammunition magazine spring existing inside the magazine housing exerts downward forces on the base pad retaining plate to maintain the position of the protrusion inside the through-hole. The physical interference between the protrusion and the walls of the through-hole in turn keep the magazine base pad from sliding off the magazine housing.
With these known configurations, a sharp blow to the magazine (either from forceful insertion into the magazine cavity or dropping the magazine) can dislodge the protrusion from the through-hole allowing the magazine base pad to slide off the magazine housing resulting in catastrophic disassembly of the magazine. This condition is most probable when the magazine is fully or partially empty, which corresponds to less compression of the magazine spring and lower forces exerted on the base pad retaining plate. Thus, a more stable configuration that is resistant to impact forces is desired to eliminate catastrophic disassembly of the magazine.
Additionally, known base pads often closely match the dimensions and contours of the corresponding firearm's handle or grip. This makes it difficult to grasp or remove a magazine that is stuck within the magazine cavity of the firearm. Further, such a configuration results in an elongated front toe portion of the magazine base pad. This increases the likelihood that the magazine can catch on surfaces (such as other magazines or fingers) when extracting another magazine stored on a user's body in close proximity (i.e., in a pouch or magazine carrier). Moreover, the longer toe can inhibit proper palm indexing of the magazine for users with smaller hands. Thus, a magazine base pad that diverges from the contours of the firearm handle or grip is desired.
Several embodiments of the invention advantageously address the needs above as well as other needs. In one embodiment, the invention can be characterized as a base pad retaining plate configured to engage a magazine base pad and a magazine spring and comprising at least one protrusion for engagement with at least one through-hole on the magazine base pad. The protrusion may comprise a shaft portion, a flange portion having a cross sectional diameter larger than a cross sectional diameter of the shaft portion, and a longitudinal slot along the longitudinal axis of the flange portion and at least a portion of the shaft portion.
By another embodiment, a kit comprises the above described base pad retaining plate and a magazine base pad. By yet another embodiment, a method of modifying an ammunition magazine comprises installing a magazine base pad and the above described base pad retaining plate on the ammunition magazine housing.
In other embodiments, a magazine base pad comprises a through-hole and scalloped recesses on a front edge and on each lateral side of the magazine base pad. In further embodiments, the magazine base pad may comprise a front edge existing at a distance no more than about 0.440 inches from a front edge of the ammunition magazine housing; tapering lateral sides; dimples on the lower surface; and/or a counter sink surrounding the through-hole.
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of several embodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from the following more particular description thereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings. Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention.
The following description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of describing the general principles of exemplary embodiments. The scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.
Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.
Referring first to
The base pad retaining plate 100 further comprises at least one protrusion 114 on the bottom surface 106. By one embodiment, the protrusion 114 extends from the approximate center of the planar plate portion 102. By at least one other embodiment, the protrusion 114 can be located on a rear section of the bottom surface 106 of the planar plate portion 102. Various other placements and quantities may exist and are contemplated by this application.
The protrusion 114 may be an independent piece that is affixed or otherwise connected to the planar plate portion 102. By another approach, the protrusion 114 is fully integrated with the planar plate portion 102, possibly as the result of injection mold processes or other known processes. By at least one embodiment, the protrusion 114 is formed of plastic or fiber-reinforced plastic (such as fiberglass, carbon fiber, or aramid fiber reinforced plastic) or other rigid yet flexible materials. In the instance that the protrusion 114 and the planar plate portion 102 are integral, they may be composed of the same material and from the same molding process.
Referring now to
Although depicted in
By one embodiment, the flange portion 204 comprises a surface 212 on the end attached to the shaft portion 202. This surface 212 may be substantially flat and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 210 of the shaft and flange portions 202, 204, though other configurations are possible.
The protrusion 114 comprises a longitudinal slot 214 along the longitudinal axis 210 of the flange portion 204 and shaft portion 202. By one embodiment, the longitudinal slot 214 exists along the entire longitudinal axis 210 of the flange portion 204 and at least a portion of the longitudinal axis 210 of the shaft portion 202. The longitudinal slot 214 is illustrated as running from the front to the back of the base pad retaining plate 100, however any orientation is possible. So configured, the flange portion 204 of the protrusion 114 is capable of being laterally compressed due to lateral forces such that the cross sectional diameter 206 of the of the flange portion 204 decreases.
With reference now to
In one embodiment, the magazine base pad 300 comprises a scalloped recess 314 on the front edge 310 and scalloped recesses 316 on each lateral side 308. The scalloped recesses 314, 316 provide a surface to aid a user in stripping the ammunition magazine 600 from a firearm if, for example, it were to become stuck inside the magazine cavity of the firearm, or to aid a user in the retention of the ammunition magazine 600 in their hand as they remove it and insert a new fully loaded ammunition magazine 600.
In another embodiment, the lateral sides 308 can taper upwards. Such a taper may result in, for example, an angle 506 between the bottom surface 306 of the magazine base pad 300 and at least a majority of the surface of each lateral side 308 measuring between 75 degrees and 85 degrees. By one example, the angle 506 is 80 degrees. The tapered lateral sides 308 can aid a user in gripping the ammunition magazine 600 during removal from the firearm as the contours of the magazine base pad 300 are divergent from those of the handle of the firearm and provide a slightly flared bottom surface 306 to improve downward grip.
By one approach, the bottom surface 306 of the magazine base pad 300 can comprise a plurality of dimples 318. The dimples 318 can be arranged in a simple manner, such as two straight lines, and may be of any suitable quantity (such as 8 as shown), shape, or depth. So configured, the dimples 318 allow a user to mark individual ammunition magazines 600 for identification purposes.
Further, by reducing the distance 604, an improved palm index in the hand is achieved during reloading. This palm index is a position achieve by placing the front edge 310 of the magazine base pad 300 in the center of the palm of the support hand and extending the index finger up the front edge 606 of the magazine housing 602 during reloading. This aids the user to quickly insert the magazine 600 into the magazine cavity and to exert force on the bottom surface 306 of the magazine base pad 300 with the lower part of the palm to place the magazine 600 in the proper operational position within the firearm. For users with smaller or medium sized hands, an overly large distance 604 serves to push the magazine housing 602 away from the palm and make a proper index more difficult. Therefore, reducing the distance 604 promotes proper palm indexing for such users.
Turning now to
Referring next to
Once expanded, a surface 212 of the flange portion 204 attached to the shaft portion 202 will interfere with a surface around the through-hole 302, be it the bottom surface 306 of the magazine base pad 300 or a countersink 402 formed therein (as depicted in
Once attached, the base pad retaining plate 100 will inhibit forward movement of the magazine base pad 300 in relation to the magazine housing 602 as a front edge 108 of the base pad retaining plate 100, possibly via one or more optional structures, detents, or contours 110 on the front edge 108, will interfere with the interior surface of the front edge 606 of the magazine housing 602. This interference prevents the base pad retaining plate 100 from moving forward, which in turn prevents the magazine base pad 300 from moving forward and off of the magazine housing 602 through interference between the shaft portion 202 or flange portion 204 of the protrusion 114 and the interior walls or surrounding area of the through-hole 302.
Further, because the flange portion 204 inhibits the protrusion 114 from exiting the through-hole 302, the base pad retaining plate 100 will remain attached to the magazine base pad 300 even when sharp forces are applied to the bottom surface 306 of the magazine base pad 300 (such as when the magazine 600 is forcefully inserted into the firearm or if the magazine 600 is dropped on the ground). Previous designs did not include a flanged protrusion 114 and relied solely on the force of the magazine spring 702 to remain seated within the through-hole 302. As the magazine spring 702 weakened or decompressed as the magazine 600 emptied, the magazine spring 702 applies less force to the top of the base pad retaining plate 100 such that sharp forces applied to the bottom surface 306 of the magazine base pad 300 could cause the base pad retaining plate 100 to hop up off of the magazine base pad 300. When this occurs, the non-flanged protrusion exits the through-hole 302 thereby allowing the magazine base pad 300 to slide forward and off of the magazine housing 602, resulting in catastrophic disassembly of the magazine 600. The use of a protrusion 114 including the flange portion 204 eliminates this problem.
Moreover, the designs disclosed herein allow for removal of the magazine base pad 300 from the magazine housing 602 without the use of special tools. The user can quickly use their fingers or some other sharp surface (i.e., the edge of another magazine 600 or a bullet) to compress the flange portion 204 to push the protrusion 114 up and out of the through-hole 302 allowing for quick disassembly of the magazine 600 (even in the field) when such disassembly is intended. If a countersink 402 is utilized, the bottom surface 1002 of the flange portion 204 can be situated at or above the plane of the bottom surface 306 of the magazine base pad 300 such that it will not stick out beyond that plane. This reduces the chance that the flange portion 204 will accidentally become compressed to allow the protrusion 114 to unintentionally exit the through-hole 302.
By another embodiment, a kit is provided comprising the magazine base pad 300 and the base pad retaining plate 100 as described herein. By yet another embodiment, a method of modifying an ammunition magazine 600 for a firearm includes installing the magazine base pad 300 and the base pad retaining plate 100 as described herein on the magazine housing 602.
It is understood that this disclosure contemplates an ammunition magazine 600 manufactured or modified with any number of the above described components (including, but not limited to the magazine base pad 300, the base pad retaining plate 100, the magazine housing 602, and the magazine spring). Additionally, this disclosure contemplates a method of modifying an ammunition magazine 600, being modified by a factory, a dealer, or an individual, to replace any number of factory standard components with any number of the above described components. Additionally still, this disclosure contemplates assembly, distribution, sales, or otherwise providing of a parts kit comprising any number of the above described components. Additionally even still, this disclosure contemplates installation of any number of the above described components onto an ammunition magazine 600.
Though other applications may exist, this disclosure is ideally suited for magazines intended for use with an M&P™ 9 mm or 0.45 handgun firearm produced by Smith & Wesson®.
While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, examples and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.