SHOTGUN WITH AUTOCOCKING/DECOCKING MECHANISMS

Abstract

A combination of autococking and decocking mechanisms for a single barrel break-open shotgun including a body, a barrel, a trigger and a hammer is provided. The autococking and decocking mechanisms include the autococking mechanism having an autococking lever to place the hammer in a firing position when the barrel is broken open from the body and the decocking mechanism having a decocking lever to selectively place the hammer in the firing position or a decocked position.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to break open shotguns and more particularly to a break-open shotgun having autococking and decocking mechanisms and even more particularly to a break-open shotgun having autococking and decocking mechanisms with the decocking mechanism including a safety selectively moveable between a full-safe position, a fire position and a decocked position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Typical break-open shotguns, also commonly referred to as break-action shotguns, are breech loading firearms wherein the barrel is pivoted away from the receiver when extracting and reloading new shotgun shells/cartridges. Autococking shotguns include an autococking mechanism wherein the hammer is cocked to the firing position upon breaking open of the barrel. Once new shells have been loaded, the barrel is then return pivoted to seat against the face of the receiver. A user can then fire the shotgun upon squeezing of the trigger to release the hammer whereby the hammer strikes a striking pin causing ignition of the primer and powder within the shell.

The shotgun may include a safety lever which may selectively place the shotgun in a safe condition whereby the trigger cannot be squeezed thereby preventing release of the hammer. Disengaging the safety lever places the shotgun within a fire position whereby squeezing the trigger fires the shotgun. While the safety lever may prevent unwanted firing of the shotgun, accidental firings may still occur as the hammer is maintained in a cocked position even while the safety lever is engaged. However, failure of the safety lever or disengagement of the safety lever, such as upon dropping or impacting the body of the shotgun, may cause unintentional release of the hammer and unwanted, and possibly deadly, firing of the shotgun. This hazard is further compounded within hammerless shotguns wherein the entire firing mechanism is housed within the body of the firearm. As such, a user encountering a hammerless shotgun will not be able to visually see whether the hammers are cocked or whether there are live shells within the chambers.

Thus, what is needed in the art is an autococking shotgun having a decocking mechanism including a safety mechanism configured to prevent unwanted discharge of the shotgun and to selectively place the hammers within a decocked position wherein dropping or impacting the shotgun body will not cause the hammers to strike the striking pin and fire the shotgun.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses the above needs by providing in an embodiment, an autococking shotgun having a decocking mechanism including a safety mechanism configured to prevent unwanted discharge of the shotgun.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a break-open single barrel shotgun including exemplary autococking and decocking mechanisms in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an expanded view of the exemplary autococking and decocking mechanisms shown in FIG. 1 with the decocking mechanism in the fire position;

FIG. 3 is an expanded view of the exemplary autococking and decocking mechanisms shown in FIG. 1 with the autococking mechanism actuated to break open the single barrel shotgun;

FIG. 4 is expanded top view of the break-open single barrel shotgun shown in FIG. 1, showing the hammer pull and decocking mechanism in the decocked position; and

FIG. 5 is an expanded view of the exemplary autococking and decocking mechanisms shown in FIG. 1 with the decocking mechanism in the decocked position.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 illustrates a break-open single barrel shotgun 10 including exemplary autococking and decocking mechanisms in accordance with the present invention. With further reference to FIG. 2, in the exemplary shotgun 10, autococking mechanism 12 generally includes an autococking lever 14 operably coupled to hammer 16. With additional reference to FIG. 3, actuating of autococking lever 14 to release the barrel 18 from the body 20 to extract and reload a shotgun shell automatically sets hammer 16 in a firing position, whereby once barrel 18 and body 20 re-engage hammer 16 is ready to immediately fire the loaded shotgun shell upon pulling of trigger 22. As seen most clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3, decocking lever 24 of decocking mechanism 26 is placed in the firing position whereby the hammer 16 can strike the shotgun shell upon pulling of trigger 22.

Turning now to FIGS. 4 and 5, decocking lever 24 may also be selectively positioned in the decocked position. Placing decocking lever 24 in the decocked position causes hammer 16 to move to its respective decocked position. While hammer 16 is in its decocked position, hammer 16 will not engage the loaded shotgun shell even if trigger 22 is pulled. Decocking lever 24 must first be returned to its firing position before hammer 16 can strike the shotgun shell. Decocking lever 24 may be placed in the decocking position irrespective of the actuation position of autococking lever 14 or whether shotgun 10 is broken open for reloading or re-engaged for firing.

Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain aspects thereof, other versions are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the aspects contained herein.

All features disclosed in the specification, including the claims, abstract, and drawings, and all the steps in any method or process disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive. Each feature disclosed in the specification, including the claims, abstract, and drawings, can be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

Claims

1. A combination of autococking and decocking mechanisms for a single barrel break-open shotgun including a body, a barrel, a trigger and a hammer, the autococking and decocking mechanisms comprises: the autococking mechanism including an autococking lever configured to place the hammer in a firing position when the barrel is broken open from the body; and the decocking mechanism including a decocking lever to selectively place the hammer in the firing position or a decocked position.