Patent Application
20130074394
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to tactical firearms that are utilized by tactical and special operations personnel for military and law enforcement activities. More particularly, the present invention concerns a firearm sight mount system providing a for co-witnessing metal and optical sighting devices. Even more specifically the present invention concerns sight mount devices that provide for co-witnessing of metal and optical sighting devices on firearms having minimal length or space for mounting sighting devices due to the presence of thin, typically stamped metal receiver covers and other receiver components to which sight mounts cannot be secured for serviceable use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Millions of reasonably light-weight and inexpensive tactical firearms have been manufactured in various countries and have been in wide use throughout the world by military and law enforcement personnel. Examples of these inexpensive tactical firearms include the Avtomat Kalashnikova Model 1947, widely known as the AK-47, which was developed by a Russian Army Sergeant, Michail Kalishnikov, and placed in service during 1947. This particular firearm has been widely used by the military and law enforcement services of many other countries. Another example of an inexpensive, widely used tactical firearm is known as the AK 100. Tactical firearms of many other manufacturers are similar in that the firearm has a relatively short or compact forward receiver or sight block section, which is a machined component, on which a rear sighting device, typically a pivotal metal leaf sight, also known as an adjustable “iron sight” is mounted. The receiver of these types of firearms has a receiver cover that is composed of stamped sheet metal and thus lessens the weight and also the cost of the firearm. Being composed of sheet metal, the receiver cover cannot be drilled and tapped and thus cannot provide efficient and durable support for attachment of any other type of sight mount device that might be desired.
Of late, it has been deemed desirable to provide tactical firearms and firearms of general character with various types of sighting devices, including co-witnessing sighting devices. Typical sighting devices for this type of firearm is a metal rear sight, also referred to as an “iron sight”. The rear iron sight typically has a sighting notch with which a blade or post front sight mounted near the muzzle of the barrel is aligned. A co-witnessing sighting device is typically typically employs an optical sighting device, such as an electronic reflex sight, such as the precision electronic red dot sighting devices that are sold under the trade designation “Comp M2” and “Comp M3” by Aimpoint, AB, Jagershillgatan 15, SE-213 75, Malmo, Sweden. These electronic optical sighting devices display a precision red dot that is visible to the user of the firearm during sighting. For precision aiming of the firearm the red dot is positioned on the target. When the position of the red dot of the optical sighting device is properly adjusted relative to the optical lens the bullet being fired by the firearm will strike on or very near the apparent location of the red dot in relation to the target. Thus, with the red dot of the optical device appearing as if it were on the target the user will fire a bullet and it will strike the intended spot on the target, subject of course to conventional variables such as wind, distance to the target and the inherent accuracy of the rifled bore of the barrel. A conventional sighting system employing a post or blade front sight and a mechanical rear sight defining a rear sighting notch is employed in conjunction with the optical sighting device. When viewing through the optical sighting device, the conventional mechanical sighting system is visible, thus establishing the co-witnessing relationship of the two sighing systems. The user of the firearm can visualize either or both of the sighting systems as desired.
The rear metal sight is often provided in the form of a pivotally mounted sight device, a part of which is typically moveable to adjust the sighting mechanism for elevation and part of which is fixed to the receiver or rear sighting device of the firearm. Another popular rear sight form is an elongated sight, also known as a sight leaf that is pivotally supported for sight adjustment movement. The elongated sight leaf is marked with range identifying indicia and a leaf slide member providing a sighting slot is capable of being positioned at any desired location along the length of the elongated sight leaf. The leaf slide member typically engages one or more tapered ramps that establish elevation control for the rear portion of the sighting slot for purposes of elevation control to compensate for the trajectory of the bullet as it travels from the muzzle of the firearm barrel to the target. For lateral sight control, to compensate for windage, the leaf slide member can be provided with an adjustment mechanism for lateral movement of the rear sighting slot or the front sight of the firearm may be laterally adjustable for windage.
Co-witnessing of the metal and optical sighting devices occurs when the front sight of the firearm is visible when the user of the firearm is aiming the firearm by looking through the optical sight. And when an electronic red dot type sighting marker is being used, the front sight of the firearm and the red dot of the reflex type optical sight each indicate the striking position of the bullet on the target. This enables the user of the firearm to employ both the metal front sight of the firearm and the red dot of the electronic reflex optical sight simultaneously or alternatively. While red dot optical devices are widely used for reflex type sighting devices, dots of any other suitable color may be used as well. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited by or restricted to the use of red dot sighting indicators.
Since many of the inexpensive tactical firearm models, such as the AK-47, have small exposed receiver sections known as rear sight blocks for rear sight mounting, typically only the factory supplied metal rear sights can be employed. The sight mount seats of the receivers are sufficiently small that they can accommodate only the typical rear leaf sight assembly. Only due to the development of the present invention has it become possible to also mount an electronic reflex optical sighting device in co-witnessing relation with a metal rear sight mechanism, providing a sighting capability that has heretofore been considered unavailable for the AK-47 and other similar inexpensive tactical firearms.
Recognizing the need for co-witnessing sights on standard AK-47/AKM/AK-74/AK-100 series rifles, attempts have been made to attach mounts to the rifle structure. Though side mounts and side rails have been developed for such purpose the results have been deemed ineffective. Applicant has developed a modern optic mount for Mikhail Kalashnikov's famed Avtomat rifle, also known as the AK-47. Unfortunately the standard AK-47/AKM/AK-74/AK-100 series of rifle does not lend itself to this particular endeavor. This is simply due to the minimal length of the rear sight block and the presence of a removable stamped sheet metal top receiver cover extending rearwardly from the rear sight block. The top receiver cover protects the receiver structure from contamination, but it is composed of thin sheet metal and lacks sufficient structural integrity to provide support for any kind of sight mount attachment. The Russian arms development system encountered this same issue when it attempted to mate early night vision devices with the basic rifle design. The Russian solution was to mount a universal optics rail onto the left side of the rifle's receiver. This short side rail allowed a day/night optic to be easily mounted/removed though side mounting of the optics has been found cumbersome and the optics is easily damaged during use of the weapon in field conditions.
During the design phase applicant's intention intention was to develop a simple yet rugged mount which could be easily attached in the field, without requiring any modification of the rear sight block of the rifle. The optical sight needed to be low enough to co-witness with the factory iron sights. Additionally the optical sight needed to mount a simple electronic red dot sight to improve the hit probability of the rifle at commonly encountered engagement distances. In addition, the co-witnessing sight mount and sight installation needed to be affordable, bearing in mind the low manufacturing cost of AK 47 type rifles.
It was discovered that using the mounting structure for the factory rear iron sight as an attachment point a sighting system could employ a mechanical rear sight system and an optical sight system. By doing so a very lightweight and simple mount can be employed which is low enough to have a co-witnessing relation with a replacement rear sight. In addition, the pivotally mounted sight can be pivoted upwardly to allow the top-cover of the rifle to be removed for routine maintenance.
The sight mount of the present invention is of simple design and construction and adds significantly to the usefulness of AK-47 and similar rifles that are acquired under field conditions. The dual co-witnessing sight mount simply replaces the conventional rear sight without requiring any modification of the rear sight mounting system of the rifle. The mount body is machined from steel and features a hardened steel rear sight blade/leaf-spring. The sight base of the mount seats snugly down in the channel designed for the stock rear sight, allowing clearance between the base and the receiver cover. Mounted onto a cantilevered plate of the base is a Burris FastFire Micro Red Dot Sight. This features a 4 MOA dot with automatic brightness control via a forward-facing sensor. The sight is Parallax free at 50 yards and is recoil-resistant to 1000 Gs. The lens is multi-coated and it is powered by a common CR 2032 lithium battery. To better manage battery life, the sight has an On/Off switch mounted on the side. Operating temperature of the sight is −10 to 130 degrees F. To protect the sight from impacts, an aluminum shroud covers the top. The shroud has cutouts for access to the ballistic adjustments and the on/off switch. The finish of the sight mount is a matte black and the total weight of the mount and optic is under 3.5 ounces. With the optic mounted the iron sights co-witness in the lower one third of the field of view. This allows the user to accomplish an instant transition to the iron sights in the event the electronic optic should fail.
It is a primary feature of the present invention to provide a novel sight mounting mechanism for tactical firearms having short or small receivers with insufficient mount seat space for mounting metal and optical sighting devices, that simply and efficiently adapts the standard AK-47 and related firearms with the capability for co-witnessing metal and optical sights.
It is another feature of the present invention to provide a novel co-witnessing sight mounting mechanism for tactical firearms, having a leaf-spring sighting member that is releasably mounted to a one-piece sight mount base and serves both as a metal sighting member and for minimizing or retarding free pivotal movement of the one-piece sight mount base.
It is also a feature of the present invention to provide a novel co-witnessing sight mounting mechanism for tactical firearms having magnet members that attract a rear portion of the one-piece sight mount base to the conventional rear sight block of an AK-47 type tactical firearm and thus ensure that the co-witnessing sighting mechanism is properly positioned for accurate aiming of the firearm for each ammunition round that is fired.
It is an even further feature of the present invention to provide a novel co-witnessing sight mounting mechanism for tactical firearms having a cantilevered mount plate or section that permits removable assembly of an optical sighing device, such as an electronic reflex red-dot or colored indicator sight device in co-witnessing registry with the metal sighting system of the firearm.
It is also a feature of the present invention to provide a novel co-witnessing sight mounting mechanism for tactical firearms having a pivotally mounted sight base member that is interchangeable with a conventional leaf sight mechanism of an AK-47 type tactical firearm without any requirement for modification of the rear sight block of the firearm in any manner whatever.
Other and further objects and features of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art upon a thorough review of the various apparatus and method that is discussed in this disclosure.
So that the manner in which the above recited features, advantages and objects of the present invention are attained and can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to the preferred embodiment thereof which is illustrated in the appended drawings, which drawings are incorporated as a part hereof.
It is to be noted however, that the appended drawings illustrate only a typical embodiment of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.
Referring now to the drawings and first to
The rear sight block 10 defines a pair of spaced, generally parallel and upstanding sight mount ribs 13, as shown in
As shown in
It is desirable that the sight mount base 11 of the present invention be stabilized relative to the rear sight block 10 during aiming and firing of the firearm so that precision firearm use can be accomplished and effectively maintained even during conditions of rapid fire. To accomplish this feature, the sight mount base 11 is composed of a non-magnetic material, such as machined stainless steel or an aluminum alloy or titanium material and defines a pair of downwardly facing magnet receptacles 30 and 32 within which magnet devices 34 and 36 are located as shown in
A cantilevered sight mount plate 42 extends rearwardly from the mount body 26 and, when the co-witnessing sight mount base 11 is in aiming and firing position relative to the rear sight block of the firearm, the cantilevered mount plate 42 will be disposed in spaced relation or in touching relation with the thin sheet metal receiver cover 12, but will not be connected to or supported by the receiver cover. The cantilevered mount plate 42 is preferably formed integrally with the mount body 24, so that the co-witnessing sight mount base 11 can be provided in the form of a one piece member. Alternatively, however, the co-witnessing sight mount base 11 can be composed of interconnected structural components without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
The cantilevered mount plate 42, which is shown in detail in
It is desirable to provide the co-witnessing sight mount base 11 with a metal sighting device that can be removed and replaced with a different metal sighting device if desired. To accomplish this feature, the forward elongated portion 23 and the body structure 24 of the sight mount base 11 defines a substantially planar surface 56, as shown in
The lock or keeper member 20, which is shown in
To remove the lock or keeper member 20, the rear portion of the leaf-spring sight member will be manually lifted to disengage the locking projection 62 from the retainer opening 80, thus causing slight bending of the leaf-spring sight member. With this accomplished, sufficient manual force is applied to the leaf-spring sight member to move it forwardly until the large openings 64 and 66 are in registry with the locator posts 58 and 60. Then the leaf-spring sight member 14 can be separated from the one-piece sight mount base 11 and can be replaced with another lock or retainer member of a different character if desired.
Since the one-piece sight mount base 12 is pivotally mounted to the sight mount block of the receiver of firearms, such as the AK-47, it is desirable to prevent pivotal movement of the mount while the mount is located at its aiming position, such as shown in
In view of the foregoing it is evident that the present invention is one well adapted to attain all of the objects and features hereinabove set forth, together with other objects and features which are inherent in the apparatus disclosed herein.
As will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, the present invention may easily be produced in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The present embodiment is, therefore, to be considered as merely illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the claims rather than the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalence of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.
