Patent Application
20180058807
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to any reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates to a handguard of a rifle, and more particularly to a free float handguard, which is only supported by a fixed end of a barrel to encircle the barrel within the free float handguard.
A long firearm, such as a rifle, generally comprises a lengthened firearm body and a barrel extended therefrom. The shooter usually uses two hands to hold the rifle by two hands at a fired position. Especially, one hand of the shooter holds the rifle at a trigger of the firearm body and another hand holds the rifle under the barrel in order to maintain the balance of the firearm at the fired position. However, due to the heat generated along the barrel during the firing operation, a handguard must be mounted around the barrel to protect the hand of the shooter.
The conventional handguard generally comprises a locking ring attached to the barrel, an upper casing and a lower casing detachably coupled with each other to form a tubular configuration to lock at the locking ring for encircling around the barrel, wherein two ends of the handguard are mounted and supported by the barrel. As a result, any external force at the handguard will transmit to the barrel and will cause the distortion of the barrel, so as to cause the bullet deflection. In addition, the installation of the handguard is complicated to align and match the upper casing with the lower casing. Additional fasteners are required for coupling the upper casing with the lower casing that increases the overall weight of the handguard.
Most firearms may incorporate with a gas tube for releasing gas from the barrel after firing. However, the conventional handguard does not include any mechanism to retain the gas tube in position. Some improved handguards may modify the locking ring to form a slot at an inner circumferential side, such that the gas tube can pass through the slot within the locking ring. However, the size of the locking ring will be increased in order to enable the gas tube passing therethrough. As a result, the size of the handguard will also be increased by the locking ring. It is worth mentioning that since the gas tube is guided to pass through the interior of the locking ring, the gas tube does not supported by the locking ring. In fact, the locking ring is supported by the gas tube, such that the external force applied to the handguard will also transmit to the gas tube and will cause the damage of the gas tube.
The invention is advantageous in that it provides a free float handguard for a firearm, which is only supported by a fixed end of a barrel to encircle the barrel within the free float handguard.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a free float handguard, which comprises a barrel locker to lock up at the barrel of the firearm and a handguard locker to lock up with a handguard body, such that when the barrel locker and the handguard locker is interlocked with each other, the handguard body is securely locked up with the firearm to encircle around the barrel.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a free float handguard, wherein the barrel locker is rotatably adjusted to align with a gas tube of the firearm in order to guide and support the gas tube to be extended toward the barrel.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a free float handguard, wherein the handguard body can be rigidly supported around the barrel in a suspended manner to protect the hand of the shooter from the barrel.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a free float handguard, wherein the installation of the free float handguard is simply and easy by coaxially coupling with the barrel locker, the handguard locker and the handguard body with each other.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a free float handguard, wherein the locking arrangement can be incorporated with any existing handguard to be mounted to the firearm.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a free float handguard, which does not require to alter the original structural design of the firearm, so as to minimize the manufacturing cost of the firearm incorporating with the free float handguard.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a free float handguard, wherein no expensive or complicated structure is required to employ in the present invention in order to achieve the above mentioned objects. Therefore, the present invention successfully provides an economic and efficient solution for rigidly and securely mounting the handguard at the firearm to protect the hand of the shooter.
Additional advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the description which follows, and may be realized by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particular point out in the appended claims.
According to the present invention, the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained by a free float handguard for a firearm having a barrel, wherein the free float handguard comprises a handguard body and a locking arrangement.
The handguard body, which has a tubular configuration, has a first end portion and a second end portion, wherein the handguard body has a non-circular cross section.
The locking arrangement comprises a barrel locker and a handguard locker.
The barrel locker comprises a first tubular locker adapted for coaxially coupling at a fixed end of the barrel, and a second tubular locker coaxially and rotatably coupled at the first tubular locker. The handguard locker has a rear portion coaxially coupled at the first tubular locker to prevent the handguard locker from being rotated therearound, and a front portion engaged with the second tubular locker to prevent the second tubular locker from being rotated around the first tubular locker, wherein the first end portion of the handguard body is coupled at the handguard locker for locking up the handguard body around the barrel.
Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
The following description is disclosed to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the present invention. Preferred embodiments are provided in the following description only as examples and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The general principles defined in the following description would be applied to other embodiments, alternatives, modifications, equivalents, and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Referring to
According to the preferred embodiment, the free float handguard comprises a handguard body 20 and a locking arrangement coupled at the firearm to lock up the handguard body 20 that the barrel 11 is encircled within the handguard body 20.
The handguard body 20 has a tubular configuration and has a non-circular cross section. In one embodiment, the handguard body 20 has an octagonal cross section, wherein the handguard body 20 has eight elongated faces. The handguard body 20 further has a first end portion 21 extended toward the fixed end of the barrel 12 and a second end portion 22 extended toward the free end of the barrel 12, wherein the barrel 12 is coaxially aligned within the handguard body 20. Preferably, a length of the handguard body 20 is shorter than a length of the barrel 12, such that the free end of the barrel 12 is extended out of the handguard body 20 at the second end portion 22 thereof.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The handguard locker 40 has a rear portion 41 coaxially coupled at the first tubular locker 31 to prevent the handguard locker 40 from being rotated therearound, and a front portion 42 engaged with the second tubular locker 32 to prevent the second tubular locker 32 from being rotated around the first tubular locker 31, wherein the first end portion 21 of the handguard body 20 is coupled at the handguard locker 40 for locking up the handguard body 20 around the barrel 12. It is worth mentioning that only the first end portion 21 of the handguard body 20 is coupled at the barrel 12, such that the second end portion 22 of the handguard body 20 is supported in a suspended manner to generate a free float effect.
As shown in
The first tubular locker 31 further comprises a plurality of locking ribs 314 outwardly and radially extended from the rear locking portion 311 to form a plurality of locking grooves 315 between the locking ribs 314. In other words, each of the locking grooves 315 is extended along the barrel direction of the barrel 12 and is formed between two adjacent locking ribs 314. Accordingly, one of the locking grooves 315, preferably at the uppermost position, serves as a gas tube channel formed on the rear locking portion 311 of the first tubular locker 31 for guiding and supporting the gas tube 13 of the firearm extended toward the barrel 12, as shown in
The second tubular locker 32 is coaxially coupled at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31. In particular, the second tubular locker 32 has a circular inner surface 321 and a non-circular outer surface 322. An inner diameter of the second tubular locker 32 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31, such that the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 can coaxially pass through the second tubular locker 32. When the circular inner surface 321 of the second tubular locker 32 is coaxially coupled at the front coupling portion 311 of the first tubular locker 31, the second tubular locker 32 is adapted to be rotated around the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31. It is worth mentioning that a length of the second tubular locker 32 is shorter than a length of the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31.
The shape of the non-circular outer surface 322 of the second tubular locker 32 has the same cross section of the handguard body 20. In other words, the non-circular outer surface 322 of the second tubular locker 32 has an octagonal shape to define eight faces of the circular outer surface 322 of the second tubular locker 32.
The second tubular locker 32 further has a gas tube slot 323 indented on the non-circular outer surface 322 of the second tubular locker 32. Preferably, the gas tube slot 323 is indented on one of the faces of the circular outer surface 322 of the second tubular locker 32. Therefore, the second tubular locker 32 rotated at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 to align the gas tube slot 323 with the gas tube channel for guiding and supporting the gas tube 13 of the firearm extended toward the barrel 12.
Accordingly, the barrel locker 30 further comprises a retention ring 33 coupled at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 to retain the second tubular locker 32 between the rear locking portion 311 of the first tubular locker 31 and the retention ring 33. The retention ring 33 further has one or more guiding indentions 331 indented at a front edge of the retention ring 33, wherein the gas tube 13 is guided to extend from the gas tube slot 323 with the gas tube channel to the barrel 12 through one of the guiding indentions 331, as shown in
Preferably, the retention ring 33 has an inner threaded structure formed at an inner circumferential surface thereof, wherein a corresponding outer threaded structure is formed at a front end of the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31, such that the retention ring 33 is rotatably coupled at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 via the inner and outer threaded structures.
According to the preferred embodiment, the handguard locker 40 has a non-circular cross section. In one embodiment, the cross section of the handguard locker 40 matches with the cross section of the handguard body 20. In other words, the handguard locker 40 has an octagonal cross section to have eight faces.
The handguard locker 40 further has an inner circumferential surface 43 and an outer circumferential surface 44. The inner circumferential surface 43 of the handguard locker 40 at the rear portion 41 thereof is engaged with the rear locking portion 311 of the first tubular locker 31 and the inner circumferential surface 43 of the handguard locker 40 at the front portion 42 thereof is biased against the non-circular outer surface 322 of the second tubular locker 32 so as to lock up the handguard body 20 around the barrel 12. The outer circumferential surface 44 of the handguard locker 40 has a cross section matching a cross section of the handguard body 20. Accordingly, the outer circumferential surface 44 of the handguard locker 40 is coupled with the first end portion 21 of the handguard body 20. In other words, the handguard locker 40 is inserted into the handguard 20 to overlap the first end portion 21 of the handguard body 20 on the outer circumferential surface 44 of the handguard locker 40.
As shown in
It is worth mentioning that when the handguard locker 40 is interlocked with the first tubular locker 31, the handguard locker 40 cannot be rotated around the first tubular locker 31. In addition, when the front portion 42 of the handguard locker 40 is engaged with the second tubular locker 32, the second tubular locker 32 cannot be rotated around the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31. In other words, once the second tubular locker 32 is rotated at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 to align the gas tube slot 323 with the gas tube channel, the front portion 42 of the handguard locker 40 is engaged with the second tubular locker 32 to lock up rotational movement of the second tubular locker 32.
The handguard locker 40 has a C-shape defining a gas tube slit 47 between two edges thereof to align with the gas tube channel and the gas tube slot 323 for guiding the gas tube 13 of the firearm extended toward the barrel 12. In other words, once the second tubular locker 32 is rotated at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 to align the gas tube slot 323 with the gas tube channel, the handguard locker 40 is engaged with the second tubular locker 32 to align the gas tube slit 47 with the gas tube channel and the gas tube slot 323, as shown in
As shown in
The first fastening unit 51 contains a plurality of first slots 511 indented on edges of the locking ribs 314 of the first tubular locker 31 respectively, one or more first screw apertures 512 formed at the rear portion 41 of the handguard locker 40, and one or more first screw holes 513 formed at the first end portion 21 of the handguard body 20. The first fastening unit 51 further comprises one or more first screws 514. When the rear portion 41 of the handguard locker 40 is coupled at the rear locking portion 311 of the first tubular locker 31, the first screw apertures 512 are aligned with the first slots 511 respectively. When the first end portion 21 of the handguard body 20 is coupled at the handguard locker 40, the first screw holes 513 are aligned with the first screw apertures 512 respectively. Therefore, the first slots 511, the first screw apertures 512, and the first screw holes 513 are aligned with each other, such that the first screws 514 are rotatably engaged through the first slots 511, the first screw apertures 512, and the first screw holes 513 to securely couple the handguard body 20, the first tubular locker 31 and the handguard locker 40 with each other.
The second fastening unit 52 contains one or more second screw apertures 521 formed at the second tubular locker 32, and one or more second screw holes 522 formed at the front portion 42 of the handguard locker 40. The second fastening unit 52 further comprises one or more second screws 523. When the front portion 42 of the handguard locker 40 is coupled at the second tubular locker 32, the screw apertures 521 are aligned with the second screw holes 522 respectively, such that the second screws 523 are rotatably engaged through the screw apertures 521 and the second screw holes 522 to securely couple the handguard locker 40 at the second tubular locker 32.
The third fastening unit 53 contains one or more third slots 531 formed at the front portion 42 of the handguard locker 40, one or more third screws holes 532 formed at the first end portion 21 of the handguard body 20, and one or more third screw apertures 534 formed at the second tubular locker 32. The third fastening unit 53 further comprises one or more third screws 533. Accordingly, the second screw apertures 521 and the third screw apertures 534 are formed at the second tubular locker 32 at different faces thereof, wherein the second screw apertures 521 are positioned alternating with the third screw apertures 534. In addition, the third slots 531 and the second screw holes 522 are formed at the front portion 42 of the handguard locker 40 at different faces thereof, wherein the third slots 531 are positioned alternating with the second screw holes 522. When the first end portion 21 of the handguard body 20 is coupled at the handguard locker 40, the third screw holes 532, the third slots 531, and the third screw apertures 534 are aligned with each other, such that the third screws 533 are rotatably engaged through the third slots 531, the third screw holes 532, and the third screw apertures 534 to securely couple the handguard body 20 at the handguard locker 40 and the second tubular locker 32.
In order to install the free float handguard of the present invention into the firearm, the mounting method of the free float handguard comprises the following step.
(1) Coaxially couple the first tubular locker 31 to the fixed end of the barrel 12. Accordingly, the user is able to pass the barrel 12 through the first tubular locker 31 and to rotate the first tubular locker 31 for rotatably engaging the inner threaded structure 313 at the fixed end of the barrel 12. It is worth mentioning that when the gas tube 13 is provided, the user should detach the gas tube 13 from the firearm before coupling the first tubular locker 31.
(2) Couple the handguard locker 40 at the first tubular locker 31. In particular, the user is able to pass the barrel 12 through the handguard locker 40, wherein the rear portion 41 of the handguard locker 40 is coupled at the first tubular locker 31. It is worth mentioning that the gas tube channel is aligned and located along the gas tube slit 47. Then, the gas tube 13 can be re-coupled at the firearm at a position that the gas tube 13 is extended through the gas tube channel.
(3) Coaxially couple the second tubular locker 32 at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 and the handguard locker 40, wherein the front portion 42 of the handguard locker 40 is coupled at the second tubular locker 32. In addition, the retention ring 33 is coupled at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 to retain the second tubular locker 32 between the rear locking portion 311 of the first tubular locker 31 and the retention ring 33. In other words, the front ends of the engaging ribs 45 are biased against the second tubular locker 32, such that when the retention ring 33 is locked at the front end of the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31, the second tubular locker 32 will be locked at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 to prevent an axial movement of the handguard locker 40 along the barrel direction.
Accordingly, the user is able to pass the barrel 12 through the second tubular locker 32 and pass the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 through the second tubular locker 32 in order to couple the second tubular locker 32 at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 and to couple the second tubular locker 32 at the front portion 42 of the handguard locker 40. It is worth mentioning that the second tubular locker 32 is coaxially slid at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 until the second tubular locker 32 is blocked by front ends of the engaging ribs 45 of the handguard locker 40. The second tubular locker 32 is then retained at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 to align the gas tube slot 323 with the gas tube channel. It is worth mentioning that the gas tube slot 323 faces upward when the second tubular locker 32 is coaxially slid at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 to automatically align with the gas tube channel. Then, the second screws 523 are rotatably engaged through the screw apertures 521 and the second screw holes 522 to securely couple the handguard locker 40 at the second tubular locker 32.
It is worth mentioning that the gas tube channel and the gas tube slot 323 are aligned located along the gas tube slit 47. Then, the gas tube 13 can be re-coupled at the firearm at a position that the gas tube 13 is extended through the gas tube channel and the gas tube slot 323. In addition, the retention ring 33 is coupled at the front coupling portion 312 of the first tubular locker 31 to retain the second tubular locker 32 between the rear locking portion 311 of the first tubular locker 31 and the retention ring 33.
(4) Couple the handguard body 20 to the barrel 12 via the locking arrangement. The user is able to pass the barrel 12 through the handguard body 20 until the first end portion 21 of the handguard body 20 is coupled at the handguard locker 40 for locking up the handguard body 20 around the barrel 12. The first screws 514 are then rotatably engaged through the first slots 511, the first screw apertures 512, and the first screw holes 513 to securely couple the handguard body 20, the first tubular locker 31 and the handguard locker 40 with each other. In addition, the third screws 533 are rotatably engaged through the third slots 531, the third screw holes 532, and the third screw apertures 534 to securely couple the handguard body 20 at the second tubular locker 32 and the handguard locker 40. In other words, two different fastening structures are provided at the handguard body 20 to rigidly retain the position of the handguard body 20 by providing the first fastening unit 51 to fasten the handguard body 20 to the first tubular locker 31 and the handguard locker 40, and by providing a third fastening unit 53 to fasten the handguard body 20 to the second tubular locker 32 and the handguard locker 40. It is worth mentioning that the gas tube 13 is extended within the handguard body 20 after the handguard body 20 is coupled to encircle the barrel 12. It is worth mentioning the barrel locker 30 and the handguard locker 40 are encircled within the first end portion 21 of the handguard body 20, such that the barrel locker 30 and the handguard locker 40 are hidden after the handguard body 20 is mounted to encircle the barrel 12.
One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. The embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
