AXIALLY OFFSET FOREGRIP FOR A FIREARM AND RELATED DEVICES, SYSTEMS, AND METHODS
An axially offset foregrip assembly for a long gun has a grip portion having a first grip axis, the grip portion configured to be grasped by a hand of a user about the first grip axis. The foregrip assembly also has a coupling portion coupled to the grip, the coupling portion configured to be coupled to a fore-end of a long gun. The long gun has a barrel having a longitudinal axis and a rear grip having a second grip axis. The longitudinal axis and the second grip axis define a vertical barrel plane. The coupling portion is configured to couple the grip portion to the fore-end of the long gun such that the first grip axis is plane horizontally offset from the vertical barrel plane, and the first grip axis is substantially parallel to the vertical barrel plane.
The presently disclosed subject matter relates generally to firearm grips and more particularly to an axially offset foregrip for a firearm, and related devices, systems, and methods.
BACKGROUNDGenerally speaking, a long gun or long rifle is any rifle or shotgun that is designed to be used by a single person and fired from the shoulder. Examples of long guns include, but are not limited to, a hunting rifle, a shotgun, and military carbine type rifles, such the AR-15 rifle and the M4A1 rifle. The carbine type rifles can be semi-automatic or fully automatic weapons.
Certain long rifles, such as military carbine type rifles, can have both a rear grip (such as, for example, a pistol grip) and a foregrip (such as, for example, a vertical foregrip, front grip, forward grip, or forward hand grip). Foregrips are used, for example, to help control a muzzle of the rifle, to keep a shooter's hand away from a hot barrel, and to control recoil. A conventional rear grip and the foregrip are commonly installed in line with each other, in the vertical plane of the rifle barrel.
SUMMARYAccording to one embodiment, an axially offset foregrip assembly for a long gun is disclosed. The foregrip assembly comprises a grip portion having a first grip axis, the grip portion configured to be grasped by a hand of a user about the first grip axis. The foregrip assembly further comprises a coupling portion coupled to the grip, the coupling portion configured to be coupled to a fore-end of a long gun. The long gun comprises a barrel having a longitudinal axis and a rear grip having a second grip axis. The longitudinal axis and the second grip axis define a vertical barrel plane. The coupling portion is configured to couple the grip portion to the fore-end of the long gun such that the first grip axis is plane horizontally offset from the vertical barrel plane, and the first grip axis is substantially parallel to the vertical barrel plane.
According to another embodiment, a long gun is disclosed. The long gun comprises a fore-end comprising a barrel having a longitudinal axis. The long gun further comprises an axially offset foregrip sub-assembly coupled to the fore-end. The foregrip sub-assembly comprises a grip portion having a first grip axis, the grip portion configured to be grasped by a hand of a user about the first grip axis. The foregrip sub-assembly further comprises a coupling portion coupled between the grip portion and the fore-end. The long gun further comprises a rear grip having a second grip axis. The longitudinal axis and the second grip axis define a vertical barrel plane. The first grip axis is plane horizontally offset from the vertical barrel plane and is substantially parallel to the vertical barrel plane.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate the scope of the disclosure and realize additional aspects thereof after reading the following detailed description of the embodiments in association with the accompanying drawing figures.
The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
The embodiments set forth below represent the information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure and the accompanying claims.
Any flowcharts discussed herein are necessarily discussed in some sequence for purposes of illustration, but unless otherwise explicitly indicated, the embodiments are not limited to any particular sequence of steps. The use herein of ordinals in conjunction with an element is solely for distinguishing what might otherwise be similar or identical labels, such as “first end” and “second end,” and does not imply a priority, a type, an importance, or other attribute, unless otherwise stated herein. The terms “about” and “substantially” used herein in conjunction with a numeric value means any value that is within a range of ten percent greater than or ten percent less than the numeric value.
As used herein and in the claims, the articles “a” and “an” in reference to an element refers to “one or more” of the element unless otherwise explicitly specified.
Throughout this specification and the claims, the terms “comprise,” “comprises,” and “comprising” are used in a non-exclusive sense, except where the context requires otherwise. Likewise, the term “include” and its grammatical variants are intended to be non-limiting, such that recitation of items in a list is not to the exclusion of other like items that can be substituted or added to the listed items.
The presently disclosed subject matter now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying Drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter are shown. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. The presently disclosed subject matter may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Indeed, many modifications and other embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which the presently disclosed subject matter pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated Drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the presently disclosed subject matter is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.
Before discussing embodiments of the axially offset foregrip disclosed herein, reference will be made to a conventional carbine type rifle and foregrip. In this regard,
One drawback of this configuration is that the position of the foregrip is not ergonomically correct. For example, using the AR-15 rifle or the M4A1 rifle with a conventional foregrip can cause stress and/or discomfort on the wrist, arm, and/or shoulder, possibly leading to injury. Further, this configuration simply may not be the preferred position of the user. Therefore, new approaches are needed for using a long gun or long rifle.
Referring now to
As noted above, the conventional foregrip 30 of
In this regard, referring now to
To better illustrate the positioning and orientation of the foregrip 46,
Referring now to
Referring now to
In the L-type foregrip 46L, the T-type foregrip 46T, the U-type foregrip 46U, and the J-type foregrip 46J, fastening hardware 50 (not shown) is provided at the connector portions 48. The fastening hardware 50 is specific to the type of accessory mount system 28 (not shown). For example, the fastening hardware 50 can be Picatinny rail-specific, Weaver rail mount-specific, or KeyMod system-specific. More details of examples of the fastening hardware are shown and described hereinbelow with reference to
Referring now to
In another example,
In yet another example,
In still another example,
Referring now to
In another example,
In yet another example,
Referring again to
Referring now to
Referring now to
Certain fastening hardware 50 is mechanically coupled to the connector portion 48. In particular, the connector portion 48 is a single segment that is arranged between the center portion of the barrel-shaped grip portion 52 and the fastening hardware 50.
Referring now to
In the examples shown in
In some embodiments, the foregrip 46 and a portion of the foreend of the long gun 10 can be formed as a unitary component, such as with the barrel 14, the accessory mount system 28, a forestock (not shown) or another component. For example, the foregrip 46 could be molded together with a plastic forestock (not shown) that is secured around the barrel 14. Alternatively, the foregrip 46 could be welded directly to the barrel 14, the accessory mount system 28, or to another component at the foreend of the long gun 10. One advantage of forming the foregrip 46 as a unitary component with a portion of the foreend of the long gun 10 is that the foregrip 46 would be attached more securely to the main body of the long gun 10, thereby helping to increase stability and accuracy during firing of the long gun 10.
While
Grooves, slots, or notches can be provided inside the hollow grip portion 52 for securing the wires, ports 64, and connectors 66 to safely tuck them out of the way when using the L-type foregrip 46L. Further, the grip portion 52 can comprise a storage compartment 72. In one example, spare batteries can be stored in the storage compartment 72. Snap-fitted covers can be provided at any location for accessing the inside of the hollow grip portion 52.
The above embodiments are used with a carbine type rifle, but features of these embodiments may be applied to other types of long guns as well. In this regard,
In this regard,
It should also be understood that other arrangements are contemplated. For example, while the above example relates to a pump-action shotgun 74, it is also possible to use the above-disclosed foregrips 46, 84 with a semi-automatic shotgun (not shown), which may have a forestock 76 that is fixed with respect to the barrel 14. In some embodiments, the foregrip 84 and the forestock 76 or other components can be formed as unitary components, for example by molding or welding. One advantage of forming the foregrip 84 as a unitary component with the forestock 76 is that the forestock 76 would better able to handle and absorb the shear and twisting forces that can result from using a horizontally offset foregrip 84 with a pump action shotgun 74, as well as helping to increase stability and accuracy.
Referring now to
At block 102, the user selects the desired type of foregrip 46. For example, the user selects the L-type foregrip 46L, the T-type foregrip 46T, the U-type foregrip 46U, or the J-type foregrip 46J. By way of example, the user selects the L-type foregrip 46L shown in
At block 104, the user fastens the selected foregrip 46 to the rifle, such as rifle 10. For example, the user fastens the selected L-type foregrip 46L, T-type foregrip 46T, U-type foregrip 46U, or J-type foregrip 46J to the carbine type rifle 10. Continuing the example, the user fastens the L-type foregrip 46L shown in
At block 106, the user grasps the grip portion 52 of the foregrip 46 with his/her non-trigger support hand and prepares to fire the rifle in a comfortable and/or ergonomically correct fashion. For example, the user grasps the grip portion 52 of the L-type foregrip 46L shown in
Continuing the example, if the user is a right handed shooter, the user grasps the grip portion 52 of the L-type foregrip 46L with his/her left hand and prepares to fire the carbine type rifle 10. By contrast, if the user is a left handed shooter, the user grasps the grip portion 52 of the L-type foregrip 46L with his/her right hand and prepares to fire the carbine type rifle 10.
In this step, because the grip portion 52 of the L-type foregrip 46L is offset to the left side or right side of the vertical plane VP of the barrel 14 and not in line with the rear grip 16, its position is ergonomically correct. As a result, stress and/or discomfort on the wrist, arm, and/or shoulder of the user can be reduced, or eliminated, compared with using conventional foregrips such as foregrip 30.
It should be understood that other types of arrangements and orientations for the disclosed foregrips, including foregrips 46, 82, are contemplated. Referring now to
The distance of the top side plane TSP and the bottom side plane BSP from the horizontal plane HP can vary depending on the design and configuration of the presently disclosed foregrips 86. The distance of the top side plane TSP and the bottom side plane BSP from the horizontal plane HP can be from about 1 inch to about 6 inches in one example, or about 3 inches in another example.
Referring now to
Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the preferred embodiments of the disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein and the claims that follow.
Claims
1. An axially offset foregrip assembly for a long gun, the foregrip assembly comprising:
- a grip portion having a first grip axis, the grip portion configured to be grasped by a hand of a user about the first grip axis; and
- a coupling portion coupled to the grip, the coupling portion configured to be coupled to a fore-end of a long gun, the long gun comprising a barrel having a longitudinal axis and a rear grip having a second grip axis, the longitudinal axis and the second grip axis defining a vertical barrel plane,
- wherein the coupling portion is configured to couple the grip portion to the fore-end of the long gun such that: the first grip axis is plane horizontally offset from the vertical barrel plane, and the first grip axis is substantially parallel to the vertical barrel plane.
2. The foregrip assembly of claim 1, wherein the coupling portion is configured to couple the grip portion to the fore-end of the long gun such that the first grip axis is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.
3. The foregrip assembly of claim 1, wherein the grip portion has a top end and a bottom end, and wherein the coupling portion is configured couple the grip portion to the fore-end of the long gun such that the first grip axis and the longitudinal axis define an angle between 60 degrees and 90 degrees with respect to the top end of the grip portion and a muzzle end of the barrel.
4. The foregrip assembly of claim 1, wherein the grip portion has a top end and a bottom end, and wherein the coupling portion is configured to couple the grip portion to the fore-end of the long gun such that the first grip axis and the longitudinal axis define an angle between 90 degrees and 120 degrees with respect to the top end of the grip portion and a muzzle end of the barrel.
5. The foregrip assembly of claim 1, wherein the coupling portion is configured to couple the grip portion to the fore-end of the long gun via an accessory mounting system.
6. The foregrip assembly of claim 5, wherein the accessory mounting system comprises a rail, wherein the coupling portion is configured to couple the grip portion to the rail.
7. The foregrip assembly of claim 6, wherein the rail is a Picatinny rail.
8. The foregrip assembly of claim 1, wherein the grip portion comprises a top end and a bottom end along the first grip axis, and wherein the coupling portion comprises:
- a first fastening feature configured to fixedly attach to the fore-end of the long gun; and
- a first connector portion connected between the fastening feature and one of the top end and the bottom end.
9. The foregrip assembly of claim 8, wherein the first fastening feature is configured to fixedly attach to a side portion of the fore-end of the long gun, such that the first connector portion extends substantially horizontally from the side of the fore-end of the long gun.
10. The foregrip assembly of claim 8, wherein the first fastening feature is configured to fixedly attach to one of a top portion and a bottom portion of the fore-end of the long gun, such that the first connector portion extends substantially horizontally from the one of the top portion and the bottom portion of the fore-end of the long gun.
11. The foregrip assembly of claim 10, wherein the coupling portion is a first coupling portion, the foregrip assembly further comprising:
- a second coupling portion comprising: a second fastening feature configured to fixedly attach to the other of the top portion and the bottom portion of the fore-end of the long gun; and a second connector portion connected between the second fastening feature and the other of the top end and the bottom end.
12. The foregrip assembly of claim 1, wherein the grip portion comprises a top end and a bottom end along the first grip axis, and wherein the coupling portion comprises:
- a fastening feature configured to fixedly attach to the fore-end of the long gun; and
- an extension member connected between the fastening feature and the grip portion at a position between the top end and the bottom end.
13. The foregrip assembly of claim 1, further comprising a button disposed on the grip portion, the button configured to be pressed by the user to actuate a function.
14. The foregrip assembly of claim 13, wherein the function comprises one of a group consisting of operating a light, operating a laser, operating a camera, and operating a microphone.
15. The foregrip assembly of claim 13, further comprising an accessory port configured to receive an accessory connector of an accessory, the accessory port configured to operate the accessory via the button.
16. The foregrip assembly of claim 1, further comprising a storage compartment disposed in the grip portion.
17. A long gun comprising:
- a fore-end comprising a barrel having a longitudinal axis;
- an axially offset foregrip sub-assembly coupled to the fore-end, the foregrip sub-assembly comprising: a grip portion having a first grip axis, the grip portion configured to be grasped by a hand of a user about the first grip axis; and a coupling portion coupled between the grip portion and the fore-end; and
- a rear grip having a second grip axis, the longitudinal axis and the second grip axis defining a vertical barrel plane,
- wherein the first grip axis is plane horizontally offset from the vertical barrel plane, and
- wherein the first grip axis is substantially parallel to the vertical barrel plane.
18. The long gun of claim 17, wherein the long gun is a carbine type rifle.
19. The long gun of claim 17, wherein the long gun is a shotgun.
20. The long gun of claim 19, wherein the fore-end further comprises a forestock,
- wherein the foregrip sub-assembly is fixed with respect to the forestock, and
- wherein the forestock and the foregrip sub-assembly are movable with respect to the barrel in a longitudinal direction parallel to the longitudinal axis.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 10, 2016
Publication Date: Aug 11, 2016
Inventors: Ron Wesley Holmes (Wilmington, NC), Joshua Ward Robertson (Cary, NC), Jacob Matthew Joubert (Garner, NC)
Application Number: 15/040,462