Claims
- 1. A traced sabot projectile which comprises:
- a hard metallic penetrator core having:
- a forwardly tapered forward end;
- a cylindrical rear portion defining a central rearwardly open tracer cavity;
- a tracer charge within the tracer cavity;
- a flat annular rear surface orthogonal to the axis of the core;
- at least one spin-up on said rear surface;
- a cylindrical generally forwardly opening cup-shaped rigid plastic sabot coaxial with and surrounding the rear surface and rear portion of the core and having:
- an annular sealing surface disposed radially between the spin-up notch and the tracer cavity so as to prevent gas escape from said tracer cavity through said notches;
- a cylindrical wall defining a forwardly opening cavity adapted to receive the core;
- a metallic support plate having a central passageway passing axially therethrough, the plate being located at and forming a closed base of the cavity and the plate being symmetrical about its axis, its axis being aligned coaxially to the axis of the core;
- a base portion attached to the rear of the cylindrical wall and having at least one passageway axially therethrough from the rear to the front of the base portion, the passageway of the sabot having a diaphragm thick enough to seal the tracer charge from the environment prior to launch but thin enough to be destroyed by propellant gas pressure during launch so as to allow the propellant gases to pass through the passageway in the sabot base to ignite the tracer charge; and
- said plastic sabot being made of a plastic material with an Izod impact strength of less than 12 ft. lbs./in. of notch when tested under ASTM Test Method D256, a compressive strength of at least 15,000 psi when tested under ASTM Test Method D695, a shear strength of at least 12,000 psi when tested under ASTM Test Method D732 and a tensile strength of at least 12,000 psi when tested under ASTM Test Method D1708.
- 2. The sabot projectile of claim 1 wherein there are at least two notches on said rear surface and located symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal axis of the projectile core.
- 3. A traced sabot projectile which comprises:
- (a) a hard metallic penetrator core having:
- a forwardly tapered forward end;
- a cylindrical tubular rear portion defining a central rearwardly open tracer cavity;
- a tracer charge within the tracer cavity;
- a flat annular rear surface orthogonal to the axis of the core;
- at least one spin-up notch on said rear surface; and
- the notch being axially deeper at its outward radial end than at its inner radial end, so as to allow the inner end of the notch to be sealed against the support plate during launch, whereby to prevent gas flow into the sabot cavity through the notch;
- (b) a plastic sabot having:
- a cylindrical wall defining a forwardly opening a cavity adapted to receive the core;
- a base portion attached to the rear of the cylindrical wall and having at least one passageway axially therethrough; and
- said sabot being made of a plastic material with an Izod impact strength of less than 12 ft. lbs./in. of notch when tested under ASTM Test Method D256, a compressive strength of at least 15,000 psi when tested under ASTM Test Method D695, a shear strength of at least 12,000 psi when tested under ASTM Test Method D732 and a tensile strength of at least 12,000 psi when tested under ASTM Test Method D1708.
- (c) a metallic support plate having a central passageway passing axially therethrough, the plate being located at and forming a closed base of the cavity and the plate being symmetrical about its axis, its axis being aligned coaxially to the axis of the core.
- 4. The sabot projectile of claim 3 wherein there are at least two spin-up notches on the rear surface of the core and located symmetrically about the axis of the core.
- 5. The sabot projectile of claim 4 wherein the tracer cavity is cylindrical and of a larger diameter than the diameter of the passageway in the sabot, so as to allow the sabot to support the tracer charge during launch.
- 6. The sabot projectile of claim 2 therein the cylindrical wall of the sabot has a plurality of longitudinally extending petals extending axially along an inner surface of the sabot whereby to leave a circumferentially continuous outer bourrelet surface on the sabot to increase obturation and decreasing balloting, each petal being separated by a weakened section extending longitudinally only along a major front portion of the axial length of the inner surface between each pair of adjacent petals.
- 7. The sabot projectile of claim 6 wherein the cylindrical wall has a continuous cylindrical inner surface adjacent the base of the forward opening sabot cavity for sealing against rear portion of the penetrator to help seal the tracer charge from the environment prior to launch.
- 8. The sabot of claim 6 wherein each of said sabot petals has a circumferentially weakened section to predetermine the location of petal separation from the sabot during sabot disintegration following launch.
- 9. The sabot of claim 8 wherein the weakened section are notches on the internal surface of the cylindrical wall of the sabot.
- 10. The sabot projectile of claim 9 wherein the sabot wall has a forwardly tapered front portion.
- 11. A small caliber ammunition sabot for launching a hard metallic core which sabot comprises:
- a cylindrical wall defining a forwardly opening a cavity adapted to receive the core;
- a metallic support plate having a central passageway passing axially therethrough, the plate being located at and forming a closed base of the cavity and the plate being symmetrical about its axis, its axis being aligned coaxially to the axis of the core;
- a base portion attached to the rear of the cylindrical wall and having at least one passageway axially therethrough communicating with the passageway through the support plate;
- a rupturable diaphragm in the passageway for sealing the passageway prior to launch but rupturing in response to gun gas pressure during launch so as to allow for ignition of any ignitable mixture which is in the rear of the core; and
- the wall, base portion and diaphragm being integrally molded of a plastic material with an Izod impact strength of less than 12 ft. lbs./in. of notch when tested under ASTM Test Method D256, a compressive strength of at least 15,000 psi when tested under ASTM Test Method D695, a shear strength of at least 12,000 psi when tested under ASTM Test Method D732 and a tensile strenth of at least 12,000 psi when tested under ASTM Test Method D1708.
- 12. The sabot projectile of claim 11 wherein the cylindrical wall of the sabot has a plurality of longitudinally extending petals each separated by a weakened section extending longitudinally between each pair of adjacent petals, the weakened sections extending axially only partially along an inner wall of the sabot and the section each having a rearwardly pointed rear end.
- 13. The sabot projectile of claim 11 wherein the cylindrical wall has a continuous cylindrical inner surface adjacent the base of the forward opening sabot cavity for sealing against rear portion of the penetrator to help seal the tracer charge from the environment prior to launch.
- 14. The sabot of claim 11 wherein said wall has a circumferentially weakened section adjacent the base portion to predetermine the location of petal separation from the sabot during sabot disintegration following launch.
- 15. The sabot of claim 13 wherein the weakened section are notches on the internal surface of the cylindrical wall of the sabot.
- 16. The sabot projectile of claim 14 wherein each of the petals has a forwardly tapered front portion.
- 17. A traced sabot projectile having a longitudinal axis which projectile comprises:
- a subcaliber projectile core having a cylindrical rear portion with a tracer cavity open therein communicating with a rear end of the core;
- a solid rigid plastic sabot having a cylindrical forward wall portion sealingly surrounding the rear portion and having a cylindrical rear base portion with at least one passageway communicating the rear of the sabot with the tracer cavity and having a waterproof rupturable seal in the passageway adapted to be ruptured by gun propellant gas pressure during lauanch of the projectile whereby said tracer cavity is waterproof sealed from the environment exterior of the projectile until launch but upon launch the seal is ruptured to allow ignition of the tracer charge during launch, thus, eliminating the need for a separate seal in the tracer cavity itself; and
- said sabot being made of a plastic material with an Izod impact strength of less than 12 ft lbs./in. of notch when tested under ASTM Test Method D256, a compressive strength of at least 15,000 psi when tested under ASTM Test Method D695, a shear strength of at least 12,000 psi when tested under ASTM Test Method D732 and a tensile strength of at least 12,000 psi when tested under ASTM Test Method D1708.
- 18. The sabot projectile of claim 17 wherein said seal is a plastic barrier molded integrally with the remainder of the plastic sabot.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation-in-part of my earlier co-pending patent application Ser. No. 06/585,327, filed Mar. 1, 1984 and issued Mar. 11, 1986 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,703 entitled "High Velocity Ammunition Sabot", which is incorporated herein by reference as if set forth at length.
This invention was not developed with government funds.
The present invention relates to a subcaliber projectile and an ammunition sabot and a combination of the projectile and sabot.
Within the past year, Winchester (Winchester Group, Olin Corporation) has successfully developed a 0.50 Caliber High Velocity Saboted Light Armor Penetrating round which has significantly advanced the armor penetrating capability of the 0.50 Caliber Weapon System currently in use by most of the world's armies. The sabot for that ammunition round is the subjct matter of my parent application, Ser. No. 06/585,327. In order to utilize such improved ammunition to its fullest effectiveness, it is necessary to have a tracer ammunition round for aiming purposes. Prior to this invention there was no such tracer round capable of matching the trajectory and time of flight of the 0.50 Caliber Saboted Light Armor Penetrating round.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
| Parent |
585327 |
Mar 1984 |
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Patent Grant
4735147
