Claims
- 1. Ammunition for small arms weapons, comprising:
- primed cartridge case means adapted to hold a projectile and to contain a propellant mixture for propelling a projectile through a gun barrel, and
- a single unitary elongate projectile operatively related to said case means, said projectile being symmetrical about a center longitudinal axis and having a forward end and an aft end, and a hollow nose at said forward end with a hard relatively undeformable sharp annular leading edge contiguous with a bore hole center cavity extending rearwardly from said nose to a solid closure wall proximate the aft end of said projectile, the geometrical shape of the projectile exterior being a modified cylinder wherein the projectile diameter is narrowed at the front end, and tapered to increase, straight line, over a first region of the projectile, thence increasing again, straight line, in a bevelled second contiguous region, until equalling the cylinder diameter at end of said second region, being of smaller slope than that in the said first region; the aft end of said projectile also straight line tapered so that the projectile is narrower at its end; the center cavity bore hole modified so that it is widened at the front end of said projectile and its diameter tapered to decrease straight line over a third region until it equals that of the bore's diameter; the said sharp annular leading edge being formed by intersection of the frusto-conical surfaces of the said exterior first tapered surface, with that of the inner surface at the front end of said center cavity.
- 2. The structure in claim 1, further including
- rotational force-transmitting means including a mass of relatively soft metal secured about said projectile and adapted to engage lands and grooves in said gun barrel and to input said force to said projectile.
- 3. The structure in claim 2 above, wherein
- said mass consists of an outer jacket layer over said projectile intermediate said forward and aft ends.
GOVERNMENTAL INTEREST
The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalties thereon.
This invention relates to improvements in small arms ammunition and more particularly to improved small arms ammunition having a conventional primed cartridge case and a hollow point projectile in tubular outer form.
While the present invention is of general application to all forms of ammunition and small arms ammunition in particular, the same was developed in connection with a program to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of personal defense weapons, such as pistols, and, hence, the invention will be described in association with a discussion of this type weapon. However, as will be readily appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, the concepts for improvement of ammunition herein disclosed are fully applicable to all forms of small arms ammunition and will have special application where the weapon being considered is not highly accurate, otherwise exhibits characteristics which are viewed as detracting from its effectiveness, or to add to the terminal effectiveness of said weapons.
Automatic pistols are not generally viewed as accurate weapons when employed by the average shooter. The mass of moving parts associated with recoil, counter-recoil, ejection and feeding functions represents a substantial proportion of the total gun, whereby in use, shooters are distracted and apprehensive in aiming and firing the weapon. Also, the typically heavy slug results in lower missile velocity at the same total impulse than would a lighter bullet.
In an effort to improve weapon effectiveness and overcome some of the noted deficiencies of conventional solid projectiles, hollow tubular rounds have been recently developed for small arms use. This type of round has a passage completely through the round from the nose to the base thereof oriented about its center longitudinal axis. The objective of such rounds is to reduce total drag by allowing airflow to occur through the projectile rather than build up resistance at the nose. Ammunition of this type is more costly to manufacture than conventional bullets, mainly because hollow bullets cannot be accelerated through a gun barrel by force of propellant gas unless the hollow center of the bullet is blocked to prevent escape of pressure therethrough. Thus, in addition to the tubular projectile itself, separate and independent components must be used in conjunction with the round to transmit, and such propellants are commercially available. Pusher disc and an obturator or sabot, must separate from the hollow projectile as soon as it exits from the muzzle and without disrupting the bullet path, such as by application of sudden lateral or unsymmetrical forces during displacement and separation from the bullet. Among the principal disadvantages of this design are (a) extra components in addition to the projectile are required to fire the projectile from the gun barrel, (b) the size and weight of the projectile are limited because of these extra components, (c) these components occupy space in the cartridge case reducing the volume available for propellant, (d) these components reduce the reliability and accuracy in performance of the round because their separation from the projectile as they exit the gun barrel may cause minute perturbations which produce magnified disruptions in ballistic effects, particularly in lightweight projectiles common to small arms. Finally, since the pusher disc and sabot or obturator are both precision-formed parts, their manufacture and subsequent assembly by delicate operations into a complete round of ammunition add a huge cost increment to the normal mass production costs of conventional ammunition involving only a single unitary projectile.
Another drawback of tubular projectiles is their typically low ratio of transferred energy to total momentum at impact. Thus, a round which exits a target mass after penetrating the same obviously has retained much of its momentum even after impacting the target. This retained energy compromises the lethality of the round, since maximum effectiveness of any round is achieved only when 100 percent of the energy from a round is transferred into the target and nothing is retained in the round.
Some ammunition improvements of the type discussed have resulted in modest gains in accuracy, effectiveness against targets and penetration capability against modern protective materials, no single bullet design has yet combined all of these advantages in a single round, especially with regard to economical production costs.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide improved small arms ammunition capable of being employed in conventional weapons.
A further object of this invention is to provide small arms ammunition exhibiting markedly improved accuracy and effectiveness against targets.
An additional object of this invention is to provide improved small arms ammunition capable of high muzzle velocity without increasing total impulse such as would increase wear and tear of weapons.
Another object of this invention is to provide improved small arms ammunition exhibiting higher energy deposit characteristics in soft targets.
A further object of this invention is to provide improved arms ammunition capable of penetrating currently available armor without a significant loss in target penetration.
An additional object of this invention is to provide improved small arms ammunition combining the performance advantages stated above, but capable of manufacture at a cost closely comparable to the cost of conventional ball type ammunition.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become clear from the following description of an illustrative embodiment thereof.
This invention eliminates the need for pusher discs and obturators, while retaining the terminal effectiveness of tubular projectiles. A conventional primed cartridge case and a simple unitary, one-piece projectile in a modified tubular geometric form are provided wherein the projectile includes a main body portion and a nose of circular cross-section expanding back to the main body portion in the same manner generally as a hollow tubular round. However, as an intermediate reaction between the nose and tail of the projectile, an internal wall or partition is integrally formed within the projectile which totally interrupts the continuity of the airflow which would otherwise occur through the projectile if it were hollow.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Foreign Referenced Citations (3)
| Number |
Date |
Country |
| 29367 |
Jul 1907 |
ATX |
| 11365 |
Feb 1910 |
FRX |
| 826145 |
Mar 1938 |
FRX |
Patent Grant
5092246
