Firearm accessory mounting system
A hand guard adapted for use in a firearm having a barrel and a line of sight in a sight plane. The hand guard surrounds a portion of the barrel and comprises a guard casing and fastening features coupled to the guard casing. Peripheral device mounting rails are coupled to the fastening features and located in a generally “Y” shape pattern. The generally “Y” shape pattern has a first peripheral device mounting rail located on a lower portion of the guard casing and second and third peripheral device mounting rails located on opposing sides of an upper portion of the guard casing. The peripheral device mounting rails are placed where peripheral devices mounted on the peripheral device mounting rails do not interfere with the line of sight.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/564,895, filed Apr. 23, 2004.
BACKGROUND1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a firearm accessory mounting system and, more particularly, to a mounting system for mounting accessories on M4 and M16 firearms.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
Combat firearms typically require a hand guard assembly to allow a user to effectively grip the firearm, to facilitate barrel cooling and protect the user from high temperature surfaces. As an example, Tatro, U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,875 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a hand guard assembly for a rifle barrel with mating sections. In this example, the hand guard has a highly ergonomic elliptical cross-section, and includes outer and inner liners for improved cooling and lower temperatures of contact surfaces that are highly desirable. It is further desirable to attach various accessory devices, such as flashlight, sighting devices, grips, supports to the firearm and in particular, to the hand guard. As an example, Olson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,363 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a rail adapter system to support accessory devices on a hand guard. A problem arises when the user desires the flexibility of mounting the accessories on different locations of the hand guard without mounting features, such as rails, being provided in positions that are not populated by accessories An additional problem arise when the user desires the flexibility of mounting the accessories on different locations of the hand guard without an excessively heavy or thermally inefficient hand guard assembly. Accordingly, there is a desire to provide a thermally efficient, light weight firearm hand guard assembly that provides flexible accessory mounting without interfering with the handling surfaces for the user.
SUMMARY OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTSIn accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a hand guard adapted for use in a firearm having a barrel and a line of sight in a sight plane is provided. The hand guard surrounding a portion of the barrel comprises a guard casing and fastening features coupled to the guard casing. Peripheral device mounting rails are coupled to the fastening features and located in a generally on shape pattern. The generally “Y” shape pattern has a first peripheral device mounting rail located on a lower portion of the guard casing and second and third peripheral device mounting rails located on opposing sides of an upper portion of the guard casing. The peripheral device mounting rails are placed where peripheral devices mounted on the peripheral device mounting rails do not interfere with the line of sight.
In accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, an accessory mounting system adapted for use in a firearm having a barrel and line of sight in a sight plane is provided. The accessory mounting system comprises peripheral device mounting rails and a hand guard casing having fastening features. The fastening features are adapted for coupling the peripheral device mounting rails to the hand guard. The fastening features allow a user to relocate one of the peripheral device mounting rails from a first location on the hand guard casing to a different second location on the hand guard casing. The fastening feature and the hand guard casing cooperate with the peripheral device mounting rails to locate the peripheral device mounting rails in a predetermined orientation relative to the barrel.
In accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a rifle is provided having a receiver and a barrel connected to the receiver. The hand guard has a sleeve extending longitudinally along and surrounding at least a portion of the barrel and a firearm accessory mounting member for mounting firearm accessories to the rifle. The mounting member is located exterior of and being removably mounted to the sleeve. The sleeve is of a different material than the mounting member and forms a thermal break between the mounting member and a heated region inside the sleeve.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThe foregoing aspects and other features of the exemplary embodiments are explained in the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
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Firearm 30 may be gas operated, like examples, such as the M4 or M16 type. Firearm 30 may have operational features such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,726,377, 5,760,328, 4,658,702 and 4,433,610, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. Firearm 30 is illustrated in
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Rails 52, 54 may be short mini-rails, longer rails, or multiple rails of same or different length mounted in multiple locations where the insert(s) or rail(s) may be made to accommodate two or more locations on the hand guard 20 and where the insert or rail mounting position(s) can be selectable by the user. The rails mounted to the hand guard may also be selectable from different rails having different configurations that can be mounted to the hand guard 40. For example, the user may select to mount longer or shorter rails to the hand guard, or may select a longer rail for mounting on one side and a shorter rail for mounting on the other side of the hand guard. Rails 52, 54 may be extruded and have extrusion feature(s) that locates them relative to hand guard 40 and may locate on features molded or formed on hand guard 40 or on inserts. Rails 52, 54 may be extruded in shape and have mounting features for peripheral devices, where the mounting features may be disposed so that the peripheral devices are collimated with the bore of barrel 34 and parallel to the bore of barrel 34 upon mounting to the rails. In alternate embodiments, rails 52, 54 may be bonded or fastened to the hand guard 40. In alternate embodiments, hand guard 40 may be modified to change the exterior to provide mounting pads for orienting the rail or the bottom section of the rail (52, 54) may be modified and given angularity to establish different orientation of the mounting surface to maintain collimating. Hand guard 40 may have an integrally molded collimating plane or mounting platform or platforms molded in hand guard 40. Rails 52, 54 are shown mounted at 40 degrees for optimal sight so there is no interference with the sight plane but not so low as to make the peripheral devices difficult to use. As a result, these locations allow optimal rail placement for devices without hindering the sight plane. In alternate embodiments, other angles or multiple angles could be provided. Rails 52, 54 are shown as left and right side rails for ambidextrous use. In alternate embodiments, rails 52, 54 may be mounted further forward or rearward or at different angles. In alternate embodiments, more or less rails could be provided.
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It should be understood that the foregoing description is only illustrative of the invention. Various alternatives and modifications can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the present invention is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variances which fall within the scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. A hand guard adapted for use in a firearm having a barrel and line of sight in a sight plane, the hand guard surrounding a portion of the barrel comprising:
- a guard casing;
- fastening features coupled to the guard casing; and
- peripheral device mounting rails coupled to the fastening features and located in a generally “Y” shape pattern;
- wherein, the generally “Y” shape pattern has a first peripheral device mounting rail located on a lower portion of the guard casing and second and third peripheral device mounting rails located on opposing sides of an upper portion of the guard casing, and wherein the peripheral device mounting rails are placed where peripheral devices mounted on the peripheral device mounting rails do not interfere with the line of sight.
2. The hand guard of claim 1, wherein the upper and lower portions of the guard casing comprise first and second shells, and wherein the first and second shells are removable from the firearm.
3. The hand guard of claim 2, wherein the first and second shells have venting features for allowing cooling air to pass there through, and wherein the fastening features do not substantially prevent the cooling air from traveling through the guard casing.
4. The hand guard of claim 1, wherein the fastening features allows a user to selectably move one of the peripheral device mounting rails from a first longitudinal location along the guard casing to a different second longitudinal location along the guard casing.
5. An M4 or M16 type firearm having the hand guard of claim 1.
6. The hand guard of claim 1, wherein the second and third mounting rails are symmetrically located on opposing sides of the upper portion of the guard casing.
7. The hand guard of claim 1, wherein the first mounting rail is located nominally at a six o'clock position, and wherein the second and third mounting rails are symmetrically located nominally at a two o'clock and ten o'clock position on opposing sides of the upper portion of the guard casing.
8. The hand guard of claim 1, wherein the guard casing comprises a composite thermo set molding, and wherein the peripheral device mounting rails comprise a metallic material bonded to the hand guard.
9. A user selectable rail configuration comprising:
- the hand guard of claim 1; and
- a different selectable hand guard section having differently located and arranged peripheral device mounting rails than the hand guard of claim 1;
- wherein, the user may selectively interchange the hand guard of claim 1 and the different selectable hand guard section on the firearm.
10. An accessory mounting system adapted for use in a firearm having a barrel and a line of sight in a sight plane, the accessory mounting system comprising:
- peripheral device mounting rails; and
- a hand guard casing having fastening features, the fastening features adapted for coupling the peripheral device mounting rails to the hand guard;
- wherein, the fastening features allow a user to relocate one of the peripheral device mounting rails from a first location on the hand guard casing to a different second location on the hand guard casing, and wherein the fastening feature and the hand guard casing cooperate with the peripheral device mounting rails to locate the peripheral device mounting rails in a predetermined orientation relative to the barrel.
11. The accessory mounting system of claim 10, wherein the peripheral device mounting rails comprise first, second and third mounting rails located in a generally “Y” shape pattern comprising the first mounting rail located on a lower portion of the hand guard casing and the second and third mounting rails located on opposing sides of an upper portion of the hand guard casing, and wherein the peripheral device mounting rails are placed where peripheral devices mounted on the peripheral device mounting rails do not interfere with the line of sight.
12. The accessory mounting system of claim 10, wherein the hand guard casing comprises first and second molded shells, and wherein the fastening feature comprises a metal insert bonded to an interior surface of the hand guard casing.
13. The accessory mounting system of claim 12, wherein the metal insert is molded, at least partially, into the hand guard casing.
14. The accessory mounting system of claim 10, wherein a peripheral device mounted on one of the peripheral device mounting rails is located having a peripheral device centerline parallel to a barrel firing centerline.
15. The accessory mounting system of claim 10, wherein a peripheral device mounted on one of the peripheral device mounting rails is located having a peripheral device centerline intersecting a barrel firing centerline at a nominal target position.
16. The accessory mounting system of claim 10, wherein the hand guard casing has a taper angle, and wherein the peripheral device mounting rails have a matching taper angle.
17. The accessory mounting system of claim 10, wherein the hand guard casing has a taper angle and support surfaces located parallel to a barrel firing centerline, and wherein the peripheral device mounting rails are located on the support surfaces.
18. The accessory mounting system of claim 10 further comprising a heat shield mounted within the hand guard casing, wherein the hand guard casing has venting features adapted to allowing cooling air to pass there through, and wherein the fastening features do not substantially prevent the cooling air from traveling through the hand guard casing.
19. The accessory mounting system of claim 10 wherein the hand guard casing comprises an upper shell and a lower shell, and wherein the upper and lower shells are separable, and wherein the upper and lower shells are molded shells, and wherein the fastening features comprises a metal inserts either bonded to an interior surface of the hand guard casing or molded, at least partially, into the hand guard casing.
20. A rifle comprising:
- a receiver;
- a barrel connected to the receiver;
- a hand guard comprising a sleeve extending longitudinally along and surrounding at least a portion of the barrel; and
- a firearm accessory mounting member for mounting firearm accessories to the rifle, the mounting member being located exterior of and being removably mounted to the sleeve, wherein the sleeve is of a different material than the mounting member and forms a thermal break between the mounting member and a heated region inside the sleeve.
21. The rifle of claim 20, wherein the mounting member is metallic and the sleeve is non-metallic.
22. The rifle of claim 20, wherein the mounting member is aluminum and the sleeve is thermo set composite plastic.
23. The rifle of claim 20 further comprising a heat shield between the sleeve and the barrel.
25. The rifle of claim 21 further comprising inserts coupled to the sleeve, the inserts adapted to couple the accessory mounting member to the sleeve.
26. The rifle of claim 25, wherein the inserts are removable from the sleeve.
27. The rifle of claim 25, wherein the inserts are permanently coupled to the sleeve.
28. The rifle of claim 25, wherein the mounting member is selectably mountable on the sleeve at a number of different selectable location.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 25, 2005
Publication Date: Dec 8, 2005
Inventor: Vincent Battaglia (Easton, CT)
Application Number: 11/113,525