Patent Application
20100212204
This application claims the foreign priority benefit under Title 35, United States Code, §119 (a)-(d) of Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-038314, filed on Feb. 20, 2009 in the Japan Patent Office, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gun for use in shooting matches and hunting and more specifically to a variable bend attached to a gunstock so as to fit in resting one's cheek, a variable bend suitably applied to a gun attached with a high rib and to a gun attached with the variable bend.
2. Description of Related Art
Fighting in shooting in cases of using sporting guns (trap, skeet, double-trap and others), hunting guns and shotguns in particular is set in a moment, so that it is important how a marksman can rest his cheek and shoulder against the gun when the marksman takes a shooting position in order to be able to naturally adjust on a shooting line. Although each marksman has a different physical frame, a different face, a different habit and a different preference in taking a shooting position, a gunstock of an ordinary ready-made gun is made in a so-called standardized size that is a greatest common denominator of users.
By the way, a gun sight has been widened lately and a high rib has come to be used as what functions advantageously for sporting guns such as a gun for clay shooting in particular. Among the high ribs, there is even proposed a high rib that is attached afterward to a normal rib.
Conventionally, there is proposed a gunstock in which an upper part of the gunstock is cut and a cheek piece or a cheek piece integrated with a shoulder pad is vertically movably and fixably attached to the cut part as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. H05-215498 and H08-121994 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,553 for example. Still more, there is proposed a gunstock in which a recess is formed in a rear-end thereof, a slider having a shoulder pad is engaged vertically movably with a slider receiver and a stock-end plate including the shoulder pad the slider is attached to the stock by screws as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-322497 for example.
However, those guns described above require to cut the upper part and/or rear-end face part of the stock and to work upon the cut parts in order to attach the cheek piece (cheek rest), the cheek piece and the shoulder pad or the shoulder pad to the stock. That is, the gun is customized for a specific marksman or game and the gun cannot be returned to its original shape once it is worked upon. Therefore, such a gun is used exclusively for the individual (user) and a commercial value of the gun drops. Still more, such a gun spreads only among a few numbers of players due to an emotional hesitation that the precious gun might be impaired.
Still more, although it is necessary to heighten a cheek-rest part (high bend) when the aforementioned removable high rib is attached to the barrel in order to match with the heightened rib, the high rib may not be able to match with the customized stock that cannot be returned to its original shape as long as the high rib is removable. That is, even if an attachment high rib having an equal performance with a lightweight gun whose barrel itself is made as a high rib is developed, this mismatch would restrain its spread.
Further, although there is one for adjusting the bend by winding a ringed stock guard made of an elastic material around the stock and by inserting an intermediary material made of sponge into a part between the stock guard and the upper part of the stock, it is unable to provide a stable bend position and does not permit to obtain an accurate point of impact.
Accordingly, in order to solve the aforementioned problems, the present invention seeks to provide a variable bend as well as a gun attached with the same that allows the cheek rest part (bend) to be accurately adjusted and to be firmly fixed to the gunstock without impairing the gunstock.
According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a variable bend for used with a gun having a barrel and a stock and attached to the stock. The variable bend includes a pad base having an interposed portion interposed between a rear-end face of the stock and a shoulder pad and a coupling portion formed at an upper end of the interposed portion and having a coupling slid;
a bend frame having a joint portion that may be joined to an upper part of the stock and an attachment plate formed so as to rise at a center part of the joint portion in a width direction and having a plurality of elongate holes; and
a cheek piece having a slit that fits with the attachment plate;
wherein the interposed portion of the pad base is fixed between the rear-end face of the stock and the shoulder pad, the bend frame is attached to the stock by fitting and fixing the attachment plate into the coupling slit of the coupling portion of the pad base and by fixing the joint portion to the upper part of the stock, and the cheek piece is fixed to the bend frame by fitting the attachment frame of the bend frame to the slit of the cheek piece while adjusting its height by the elongate holes and screws.
According to the first aspect of the invention described above, the bend frame is firmly fixed to the stock by fixing the rear end portion of the attachment plate to the coupling portion of the pad base and by fixing the joint portion thereof to the upper part of the stock and the cheek piece is fixed to the bend frame by engaging its slit with the attachment plate of the bend frame while adjusting its height by the elongate holes and screws, so that the variable bend may be readily attached to the stock. Accordingly, it becomes possible to set a cheek rest position fitting with the marksman and the gun and to modify an ordinary gun as a gun having the same performance with a custom-made gun or as a gun for shooting match in particular readily at low cost.
Still more, because the pad base is fixed by being interposed between the rear-end face of the stock and the shoulder pad and the joint portion of the bend frame is fixed to the upper part of the stock by means of adhesive or the like, the variable bend may be attached to the stock without specifically working upon the stock and may be removed, when it becomes unnecessary, to return to the original gun.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the joint portion of the bend frame has a number of cuts formed so as to extend from the outside in a width direction toward the attachment plate and has a number of split pieces split in a longitudinal direction; and
each of these split pieces is made to be plastically deformable in conformity with a shape of an upper part of the stock.
According to the second aspect of the invention described above, the joint portion of the bend frame is formed of the split pieces, so that it may be readily plastically deformed in conformity with the contour of the upper part of the stock by hands. Therefore, the joint portion may be adhered in conformity with the contour of the upper part of the stock and the bend frame may be readily and firmly fixed to the stock by means of the adhesive or the like.
According to a third aspect of the invention, a vertically elongate hole having a recess is formed through the interposed portion of the pad base so as to insert a slidable nut into the elongate hole having the recess;
a coupling portion of the pad base is fixed with the attachment plate of the bend frame vertically adjustably by the elongate holes and screws; and
the interposed portion of the pad base is fixed to the rear-end face of the stock and the sliding nut is screwed into the interposed portion so as to be able to adjust the shoulder pad in a vertical direction.
According to the third aspect of the invention described above, the interposed portion of the pad base having the sliding nuts is fixed to the rear-end face of the stock and the shoulder pad may be vertically movably fixed to the stock by the sliding nuts, so that the position of the shoulder pad may be readily adjusted so as to fit with a body frame of the marksman, a type of the gun, position of the variable bend and others. That is, the marksman can improve the shooting performance by adjusting the shoulder pad in conformity with position of his shoulder.
Still more, although the shoulder pad is fixed to the rear-end face of the stock by two wood screws in general, positions for screwing the screws vary depending makers, countries and others. However, the sliding nut described above allows the variable bend including the shoulder pad to be attached to the stock without impairing the stock and without creating new holes through the shoulder pad by using the existing holes of the stock by matching with the original wood screw position of the shoulder pad. The gun may be returned to its original shape just by removing the variable bend.
According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the attachment plate of the bend frame has a concave portion formed so as to allow a string, a band or the like to be would around together with the stock at an end thereof opposite from the coupling portion of the pad base.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention described above, the bend frame has the concave portion and the string, band or the like may be wound around the concave portion and the stock, so that the bend frame may be temporarily joined together with the stock in adhering the joint portion. Or, the bend frame may be fixed to the stock by solely winding the string around them or by winding it around them in conjunction with the adhesion of the joint portion.
According to a fifth aspect of the invention, there is provided a gun having the stock attached with the variable bend described above and the barrel attached with a removable high rib that extends along the barrel at a predetermined height.
According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the variable bend is removably attached to the stock of the gun in which the removable high rib is attached to the barrel, so that the widened sight caused by the high rib improves the shooting performance or performance in clay shooting in particular. However, it is possible to return the gun to the original ordinary gun without leaving any scar to the gun just by removing the variable bend and the high rib.
According to a sixth aspect of the invention, the high rib includes a plurality of mount sections fixed to the barrel while sandwiching a rib formed along the barrel; and
a top rib section fixed to the upper part of the mount sections vertically adjustably by elongate holes and screws;
wherein the plurality of mount sections is formed of a plastic material split in a width direction and the top rib section is made of an aluminum material; and
the respective split mount sections are fixed to the barrel while sandwiching the rib of the barrel and the frame formed under the top rib.
According to the sixth aspect of the invention described above, the high rib has the plurality of mount sections made of plastic such as glass-reinforced polycarbonate for example and the top rib section made of aluminum, so that the lightweight high rib may be realized while keeping required strength. Thus, it can remarkably reduce an inertial load during firing of the gun attached with the high rib. Still more, the vertical position of the top rib is adjustable, so that it becomes possible to adjust an aim line and a point of impact readily and accurately while adjusting the bend by the variable bend. Thus, the invention allows the inexpensive attachments to be attached to the gun without working upon the body of the gun and the same performance with an expensive custom-made gun to be acquired.
Still more, because the respective mount sections are split into two parts, they may be mounted by sandwiching the rib of the barrel and can also readily sandwich the frame of the top rib section. Due to the flexibility of the plastic, the high rib of the invention can sandwich the rib of the barrel even if a width of the rib is different.
According to a seventh aspect of the invention, a front edge mount section among the plurality of mount sections has a seat member that is fixed so as to project out of the front edge mount section and that may be grounded in placing down the gun on the ground.
According to the seventh aspect of the invention described above, the seat member that is fixed so as to project out of the front edge mount section may be grounded in placing down the gun on the ground during a shooting standby time for example, so that it is possible to prevent a gun muzzle part from being soiled or damaged.
According to an eighth aspect of the invention, an upper surface of the top rib section is matte-finished.
According to the eighth aspect of the invention described above, the upper surface of the top rib section is matte-finished by means of shot blast, sand blast and others, so that it prevents reflection in aiming at a target and improves aiming performance.
It is noted that the summary of the invention described above does not necessarily describe all necessary features of the invention. The invention may also be a sub-combination of the features described above.
The invention will now be described based on a preferred embodiment with reference to the drawings, which do not intend to limit the scope of the invention, but exemplify the invention. All of the features and the combinations thereof described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to the invention.
The ready-made gun (over-under) 1 has a barrel 5, a stock 6 and a machinery section not shown.
The high rib 3 has a front mount section 17a, a rear mount section 17b and three middle mount sections 17c as well as a top rib section 19 fixed across upper ends of those mount sections. The mount sections 17a, 17b and 17c are fixed respectively to a rib 5a formed along the barrel 5. A sighting device 20 (see Japanese Utility Model No. 3043520) devised by the same inventor and applicant with the present invention is attached at an end of the top rib section 19. The sighting device 20 is constructed so as to help aiming at a moving target by looking through a colored transparent member such as an acrylic material from a rear cylindrical part. Noted that although it is preferable to attach the sighting device 20 because aiming precision improves, it is not always necessary to attach the device.
The pad base 9 is composed of the interposed portion 12 having substantially the same plane shape with the rear-end face 6a of the stock 6 (see
The coupling portion 13 is formed so that upper right and left side faces are tapered as tapered faces 13a and a lower face fits along the upper part of the stock as a curved surface 13b. The coupling portion 13 also has a coupling slit 13d at a center part in a width direction from an upper flat face 13c to the lower curved surface 13b. Still more, the coupling portion 13 has a hole that penetrates through right and left side faces 13e. One side of the hole is a thread hole 13f1 and the other side is a stepped hole 13f2 into which a head of a bolt having a hole for a hexagonal rod spanner may be fitted.
The interposed portion 12 of the pad base 9 is fixed to the rear-end face 6a by two-sided adhesive tapes and/or wood screws while facing the recesses 22 against the stock 6 in a state in which the sliding nuts 23 are fitted into the upper and lower recessed elongate holes 21 having the recesses. Then, the shoulder pad 7 is fixed to the interposed portion 12 thus fixed to the stock 6 on the side thereof opposite from the rear-end face 6a by screwing bolts 25 into the sliding nuts 23. The sliding nuts 23 are vertically adjustable along the upper and lower elongate holes 21 and recesses 22 at this time, so that the shoulder pad 7 may be fixed to the stock 6 by moderately screwing the bolts 25 into the sliding nuts 23 while adjusting their position corresponding to the body frame, preference and habit of the marksman, to the height of the cheek piece 11 (while adjusting the variable bend) and to whether or not there is the high rib 3. Then, the bolts 25 are fastened into the nuts 23.
The shoulder pad 7 is fixed to the rear-end face 6a of the stock 6 by two upper and lower wood screws in general. Accordingly, even if a distance between holes of the wood screws is different depending on the European-type and American-type guns and depending on makers, the pad base 9 permits to adjust the vertical position of the shoulder pad 7 and to fix it to the stock 6 while using the conventional shoulder pad 7 as it is even for any gun regardless of the distance between the wood screws by inserting the bolts 25 into the holes of the wood screws in the stock in the original state (without working anything upon it) because the two upper and lower sliding nuts 23 are movable.
The bend frame 10 is fixed to the stock 6 by plastically deforming the split pieces 15a of the joint portion 15 along the curved surface of the upper part 6b of the stock 6 and by joining the joint portion 15 to the upper part 6b by a two-sided adhesive tape or the like. Note that it is possible to fix the bend frame 10 accurately and firmly at an adequate position of the stock 6 by temporarily attaching to the stock during adhesion by winding and fastening a string, a band, a rubber band or the like around the recess 30 and the stock at this time. After completing the adhesion of the joint portion, the winding member such as the band is removed. It is also possible to use the front part of the bend frame 10 by firmly fixing the part to the stock by winding and fastening the band or the like around the recess 30 when they are not adhered by means of the two-sided adhesion tape due to reasons that the bend frame 10 is used temporarily or no trace of the adhesive is wanted on the stock.
Meanwhile, the bend frame 10 is fixed to the pad base 9 fixed to the rear-end face of the stock by fitting a rear end portion of the attachment plate 16 of the bend frame 10 into the coupling slit 13d of the coupling portion 13 by screwing a bolt not shown into the screw hole 13f1 and the stepped hole 13f2 through the rear elongate hole 27 of the attachment plate 16. Accordingly, the bend frame 10 is fixed to the stock 6 by plastically deforming the joint portion 15 in conformity with the curved surface of the upper part 6b of the stock and by screwing the bolt into the pad base 9 that is fixed to the stock. Although there may be a slight misalignment between the elongate hole 27 of the attachment plate 16 and the pad base 9 fixed to the rear-end face of the stock depending on guns at this time, the rear elongate hole 27 is formed to have a wide width to accommodate with the misalignment. Still more, the joint portion 15 fits to the upper part of the stock by the plastic deformation of the split pieces 15a, so that the bend frame 10 may be firmly fixed to an appropriate position of the stock 6.
The cheek piece 11 is fixed to the bend frame 10 by fitting the slit 41 with the attachment plate 16 of the bend frame 10 and by moderately screwing the bolts into the thread holes 39a and 40a and the stepped holes 39b and 40b while penetrating through the elongate holes 29 of the attachment plate 16. At this time, the elongate holes 29 permit to adjust a height and an angle in the longitudinal direction of the cheek piece 11. Then, the cheek piece 11 is fixed to the bend frame 10 by firmly fastening the bolts by means of a hexagonal rod spanner. Thus, the cheek piece 11 having an appropriate contour is firmly fixed to the bend frame 10 while adjusting its cheek rest position and aim line. Therefore, even if the marksman rests his cheek against the cheek piece 11 with a quick action, the cheek piece 11 will not fall down or displaced, so that it becomes possible to shoot quickly and accurately because the accurate aim line and the appropriate close contact with the shoulder pad 7 may be attained.
Next, the high rib 3 appropriately matched with the variable bend 2 described above will be explained with reference to
As shown in
As shown in
The rear mount section 17b also has a triangular shape whose hypotenuse is long when seen from the front side as shown in
The high rib 3 is fixed to the barrel 5 by fastening the bolts and nuts while sandwiching the rib of the barrel by the right and left (half) pieces of the lower coupling portions 42, 50 and 53 of the respective mount sections. At this time, the elongate holes 57 permit to adjust a height and an angle in the longitudinal direction of the high rib 3, so that it becomes possible to adjust a supporting point and a point of impact. Still more, because the respective mount sections 17a, 17b and 17c are made of plastic having flexibility and the respective columnar portions can sandwich the frame 19b of the top rib section 19 and the rib 5b of the barrel with its elastic deformation, the high rib 3 may be attached to most of guns even if a width of the rib of the barrel is different.
The sighting device 20 devised by the inventor of the present invention and described above may be attached to the front edge of the top rib section 19 or a seat member 60 shown in
The gun 1′ (see
The variable bend 2 is positioned at the high-bend position matching with the high rib 3 and permits to adjust the height and aim line. Still more, the cheek piece 11 does not fall or is displaced even if the marksman rests his cheek quickly and roughly and always permits to assure an adequate cheek resting position fitting with the marksman. Further, the variable bend 2 may be attached to the body of the gun without impairing the gun and may be removed, when it is not necessary, together with the removable high rib 3 described above. That is, the gun 1 may be returned to the original state as shown in
Note that although it is preferable to use the variable bend together with the high rib, it is not always necessary to use it together with the high rib. For instance, the variable bend may be used for a gun attached with a scope or a gun attached with various optical sighting device. Still more, the variable bend may be used solely for a normal gun.
Although the invention has been described by way of the exemplary embodiments, it should be understood that those skilled in the art might make many changes and substitutions without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is obvious from the definition of the appended claims that the embodiments with such modifications also belong to the scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-038314 | Feb 2009 | JP | national |
