Firearm, in particular a self-loading small-caliber rifle
A firearm, in particular a self-loading small-caliber rifle, having a barrel, a breech housing having a breech held in it, with the breech and/or the breech housing being designed such that the firearm can be changed from a first assembled arrangement, which is suitable for right-handed gunners, to a second assembled arrangement which is suitable for left-handed gunners, with the firearm preferably being in the form of a rifle of the Bullpup type.
The present invention relates to a firearm, in particular to a self-loading small-caliber rifle.
A firearm of the type mentioned above is comparatively complex. In particular, a firearm such as this is frequently suitable only for right-handed gunners. The firearm can only be converted only by means of expensive additional parts to make it suitable for left-handed gunners.
One problem on which the invention is based is to provide a firearm of the type mentioned initially which can be converted at low cost and/or easily for left-handed gunners and right-handed gunners.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe firearm according to the invention may be in the form of a rifle, in particular a small-caliber rifle. However, the firearm may also be in the form of a handheld firearm, in particular a pistol or revolver.
The invention provides for the breech and/or the breech housing to be designed such that the firearm can be changed from a first assembled arrangement, which is suitable for right-handed gunners, to a second assembled arrangement, which is suitable for left-handed gunners, with the firearm preferably being in the form of a rifle of the Bullpup type. Particularly in the case of a rifle of the Bullpup type, it has been found to be extremely important to adapt the firearm for left-handed or right-handed gunners since, otherwise, powder vapors or the like emerge close to the gunner's head.
In this case, the invention makes it possible to provide the capability for the assembled arrangement which is suitable for right-handed gunners, to use essentially the same parts, in particular, the identical parts, as those used for the assembled arrangement which is suitable for left-handed gunners.
A firearm according to the invention provides the capability, by means of the arrangement of the individual parts with respect to one another, to assemble the firearm either such that it is suitable for a right-handed gunner, or else to assemble it such that it is suitable for a left-handed gunner. This avoids additional costly parts for conversion.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the breech and/or the breech housing to be essentially left/right symmetrical in the installed position. The symmetrical configuration of the breech housing allows the low-cost conversion mentioned above to be achieved using the same parts and in a very simple means.
The invention in this case makes it possible to provide for the breech housing to have cutouts both on its left-hand side in the installed position and on its right-hand side in the installed position, whose size and position correspond to one another on the left-hand side and on the right-hand side.
The invention in this case makes it possible to provide for panels as well as an injection window to be incorporated in the cutouts.
The invention in this case makes it possible to provide for a slide retraction lever to project through one of the cutouts both on the right-hand side and on the left-hand side of the breech housing, depending on the assembled arrangement.
The symmetrical arrangement of the cutouts on the left-hand side and on the right-hand side of the breech housing thus makes it possible to interchange the panels and injection windows in a very simple manner, so that the firearm can be converted from the first assembled arrangement to the second assembled arrangement in little time and at low cost.
The invention makes it possible to provide breech to in each case have a longitudinal slot and/or a circular opening on its left-hand side and right-hand side in the installed position.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the size and position of the longitudinal slot which is arranged on the left-hand side to correspond to the size and position of the longitudinal slot which is arranged on the right-hand side, and/or for the size and position of the opening which is arranged on the left-hand side to correspond to the size and position of the opening which is arranged on the right-hand side.
The invention in this case makes it possible to provide for an extractor and/or a slide retraction lever to be fitted both on the left-hand side of the breech and on the right-hand side of the breech.
The symmetrical design of the breech can thus be used to change the firearm from the first assembled arrangement to the second assembled arrangement using very simple means and at low cost.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the breech to be in the form of an MIM (metal injection molding) part, in particular in the form of an MIM part composed substantially of steel. The use of an MIM part for the breech considerably reduces the production costs for the breech. Nevertheless, a breech can be produced from steel powder for the production of this MIM part, which has approximately the same density and approximately the same characteristics as a breech which is machined from steel.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the breech housing to be manufactured at least partially from a zinc dye-casting.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the system housing to be manufactured at least partially from a zinc dye-casting.
The production of the breech housing and system housing from a zinc dye-casting reduces the production costs for these parts, with their functionality not being adversely affected, or being adversely affected only insignificantly, by the choice of a zinc dye-casting as the material. Furthermore, the use of zinc dye-cast parts reduces the weight of the firearm.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the stock to be manufactured at least partially from plastic. Manufacturing the stock from plastic reduces the production costs of the firearm, and reduces its weight.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the sear to be at least partially in the form of an MIM part, in particular, an MIM part which is composed substantially of steel. Manufacturing the sear as an MIM part also considerably reduces the production costs of the firearm.
The production of individual parts of the firearm as an MIM part, zinc dye-cast part, or plastic part offers the advantage that parts, such as these, can be removed ready for use from the corresponding mold that is used to produce them. There is no need for labor-intensive subsequent machining, thus making it possible to considerably reduce the production costs.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the barrel to be connected to the breech housing via an eccentric screw connection. The eccentric screw connection allows a very firm connection, involving very little complexity, to be produced between the barrel and the breech housing, in particular because a single screw makes it possible to provide two different contact options.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the firearm to have a stock upper part which can be connected to the breech housing via a latching connection. The use of a latching connection for connection of the stock upper part to the breech housing makes it easier to disassemble and assemble the firearm.
The invention in this case makes it possible to provide for the firearm to have a rear stock, which covers the latching connection between the stock upper part and the breech housing when the firearm is in the assembled state. The use of the rear stock to cover the area of the latching connection between the stock upper part and the breech housing results in the latching connection providing similar safety to a screw connection as is known from the prior art.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the rifle to have a magazine safety device which can block the push rod. Magazine safety devices are admittedly known from the art for handheld firearms, but not for long-barreled weapons. The present invention thus for the first time provides a magazine safety device for a long-barreled weapon.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the push rod to be connected to the trigger via a spring element, in particular via an angled spring steel rod. The connection of the push rod to the trigger via a spring element makes it possible to prevent pressure on the trigger causing damage to the firearm when the push rod is blocked by the magazine safety device, because the spring element can absorb the forces that are applied.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the firearm to have two breech springs which are parallel to one another. The use of two breech springs instead of one large breech spring, as is known from the art, makes it possible to further reduce the production costs of the firearm.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the stop damper to be manufactured from plastic. The use of plastic for the stop damper on the one hand reduces the recoil mode, while on the other hand it allows the costs for production of the firearm to be reduced.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the stop damper to have at least one holder for guiding the spring guide rod. The stop damper can thus carry out two functions, specifically on the one hand the function of damping and on the other hand the function of guiding the spring guide rod. This makes it possible to further reduce the costs of the firearm.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the firearm to have two magazine holders. Despite the rifle being of the Bullpup type, the abovementioned measure according to the invention for the first time makes it possible to also accommodate a spare magazine in a rifle such as this.
The invention makes it possible to provide for an unlocking element for removal of a magazine to be arranged in the recess, in particular on the rear face of the recess. Positioning of the unlocking element on the rear face of the recess, which is used as a thumbhole, has been found to be highly ergonomic.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the stock to have a mounting rail, and for a sight part of the sight (48) to be integrated in the mounting rail. Integration of the sight part in the mounting rail makes the firearm more compact, and can contribute to reducing the production costs of the firearm.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the sight part to be moved from a stow position to an in-use position, in particular by moving it upwards to the in-use position of the firearm. The capability to stow the sight part makes it possible to protect it against damage.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the sight to have a disk which can rotate and has grooves which are used for aiming in it, in which case different grooves can be used to select different elevation positions for aiming. The disk which can rotate and has the various grooves allows different elevation aiming positions in a very simple manner.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the safety unit to have at least one operating slide with a safety vane which is arranged on it at the end and has a colored marking, with a safety vane which has a colored marking being visible during the aiming process, in particular from above, when the firearm is in the armed state. The visibility of the safety vane with the colored marking during the aiming process improves the handling safety of the firearm according to the invention.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the firearm to have a childproof safety device which acts on the safety unit. In the prior art, childproof safety devices generally act on the trigger itself. A childproof safety device which acts on the safety unit reduces the complexity for production of a childproof safety device such as this.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the firearm to have a cocking indication. A cocking indication such as this provides the gunner at all times with information as to whether or not the firearm is cocked.
In this case, The invention makes it possible to provide for the cocking indication to be in the form of a colored marking on the rear face of the or of one of the panels, which can be inserted into one or more of the cutouts in the breech housing. The arrangement of the colored markings for the cocking indication on the rear face of one of the panels represents a very simple way to produce a capability to provide such a cocking indication.
The invention makes it possible to provide for the system housing to have the capability to be connected to the rear stock by means of at least one screw, which can be held on the rear stock by means of a flexible plastic part. The abovementioned flexible plastic part which, by way of example, can also be injection molded during the manufacture of the rear stock from plastic allows the screw to be held by very simple means.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFurther advantages and features of the present invention will become clear from the following description of preferred exemplary embodiments and with reference to the attached figures, in which:
The firearm according to the invention, which is in the form of a rifle, and of which an exploded illustration can be seen in
The detailed view of the rear section of the rifle illustrated in
In the assembled arrangement of the rifle according to the invention as illustrated in
As can be seen from
In the assembled arrangement for left-handed gunners shown in
As can be seen from
As can be seen from
The function of the magazine safety device can be seen in detail from
In this case, the front holder 38 is used for holding the magazine that is being used at that time while, in contrast, the rear holder 39 is used for holding a spare magazine.
The rifle also has a childproof safety device 47, which can likewise be seen in
- 1 Barrel
- 2 Breech
- 3 Breech housing
- 4 Trigger
- 5, 6 System housing halves
- 7 Front stock
- 8 Rear stock
- 9 Stock upper part
- 10 Grip
- 11, 12 Cutout
- 13, 14 Panel
- 15 Ejection window
- 16 Ejector
- 17 Extractor
- 18 Slide retraction lever
- 19 Longitudinal slot
- 20 Circular opening
- 21 Sear
- 22 Spring guide rod
- 23 Breech spring
- 24 Stop damper
- 25 End stop for 22
- 26 Latching tongue
- 27 Latching holder
- 28 Holding plate
- 29 Screw through 28
- 30 Threaded hole
- 31 Hole
- 32 Conical cutout
- 33 Head of 29
- 34 Spring element
- 35 Push rod
- 36 Locking element
- 37 Groove
- 38, 39 Magazine holder
- 40 Cutout behind 10
- 41 Longitudinal slot
- 42 Red marking
- 43 Safety unit
- 44 Operating slide
- 45 Red safety bracket
- 46 Red dot
- 47 Childproof safety device
- 48 Sight
- 49 Mounting rail
- 50 Sight part
- 51 Disk
- 52 Grooves
- 53 Unlocking element
- 54 Locking lever
- 55 Spring
- 56 Magazine
- 57 Screw
- 58 Flexible plastic part
- 59 Arms of the part 58
Claims
1. A firearm comprising:
- a barrel;
- a breech housing having a breech held in the housing;
- wherein the breech or breech housing enables the firearm to be changed from a first assembled arrangement, which is suitable for right-handed gunners, to a second assembled arrangement which is suitable for left-handed gunners.
2. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, wherein parts used for the first assembled arrangement are identical to parts used for the second assembled arrangement.
3. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, wherein the breech or the breech housing is essentially left/right symmetrical in an installed position.
4. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, wherein the breech housing has cutouts both on a left-hand side in an installed position and on a right-hand side in the installed position, whose size and position correspond to one another on the left-hand side and on the right-hand side.
5. The firearm as claimed in claim 4, wherein panels and an injection window are incorporated in the cutouts.
6. The firearm as claimed in claim 4, wherein a slide retraction lever projects through one of the cutouts both on the right-hand side and on the left-hand side of the breech housing, depending on the assembled arrangement.
7. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, wherein the breech has a longitudinal slot or a circular opening on the left-hand side and the right-hand side in an installed position.
8. The firearm as claimed in claim 7, wherein a size and position of the longitudinal slot which is arranged on the left-hand side correspond to a size and position of the longitudinal slot which is arranged on the right-hand side, or wherein a size and position of the circular opening which is arranged on the left-hand side correspond to a size and position of the circular opening which is arranged on the right-hand side.
9. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, wherein an extractor or a slide retraction lever is fitted both on the left-hand side of the breech and on the right-hand side of the breech.
10. A firearm comprising a barrel and a breech, wherein the breech is at least partially in the form of a metal injection molding part, composed substantially of steel.
11. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, wherein the breech housing is at least partially manufactured from a zinc dye-casting.
12. A firearm comprising a barrel and a system housing, wherein the system housing is at least partially manufactured from a zinc dye-casting.
13. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a stock, wherein the stock is at least partially manufactured from plastic.
14. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a sear, wherein the sear is at least partially in the form of a metal injection molded part, which is composed substantially of steel.
15. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, wherein the barrel is connected to the breech housing via an eccentric screw connection.
16. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, wherein the firearm further comprises a stock upper part, which is connected to the breech housing via a latching connection.
17. The firearm as claimed in claim 16, wherein the firearm further comprises a rear stock which covers the latching connection between the stock upper part and the breech housing when the firearm is in an assembled state.
18. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a trigger and a push rod, which are connected to one another via suitable connecting means, wherein the firearm has a magazine safety device which can block the push rod.
19. The firearm as claimed in claim 18, wherein the push rod is connected to the trigger via a spring element, in particular via an angled spring steel rod.
20. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, further comprising at least one breech spring, wherein the firearm has two breech springs which are parallel to one another.
21. The firearm as claimed in claim 20, further comprising a stop damper, wherein the stop damper is manufactured from plastic.
22. The firearm as claimed in claim 21, further comprising at least one spring guide rod for the at least one breech spring, wherein the stop damper has at least one holder for guiding the spring guide rod.
23. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, further comprising two magazine holders.
24. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a grip and a recess which is arranged in a stock, the recess is used as a thumb hole and is behind the grip, and wherein an unlocking element for removal of a magazine is arranged in a rear face of the recess.
25. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a sight and a stock, wherein the stock has a mounting rail, and a sight part of the sight is integrated in the mounting rail.
26. The firearm as claimed in claim 25, wherein the sight part can be moved from a stow position to an in-use position, by moving the sight part upwards to the in-use position of the firearm.
27. The firearm as claimed in claim 25, wherein the sight has a disk which can rotate and has grooves which are used for aiming, in which case different grooves are used to select different elevation positions for aiming.
28. A firearm as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a safety unit, wherein the safety unit has at least one operating slide with a safety vane which is arranged on it at an end and has a colored marking, with a safety vane which has a colored marking being visible during an aiming process, from above, when the firearm is in the armed state.
29. The firearm as claimed in claim 28, wherein the firearm has a childproof safety device which acts on the safety unit.
30. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, wherein the firearm has a cocking indication.
31. The firearm as claimed in claim 30, wherein the cocking indication is in the form of a colored marking on a rear face of one or more of panels, which are inserted into one or more of cutouts in the breech housing.
32. The firearm as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a rear stock and a system housing, wherein the system housing is connected to the rear stock by means of at least one screw which is held on the rear stock by means of a flexible plastic part.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 9, 2005
Publication Date: Oct 27, 2005
Inventors: Franz Wonisch (Arnsberg), Wulf-Heinz Pflaumer (Arnsberg), Thomas Scheunert (Arnsberg)
Application Number: 11/053,669