TWO PIECE RAIL SYSTEM FOR FIREARM
A firearm handguard having two identical halves, or half guards, can engage the barrel nut of certain firearms to thereby provide a mounting rail system. The barrel nut attaches the barrel to the receiver. The half guards can be separately positioned in engagement with the barrel nut before fastening them together. The fastening operation can cause the half guards to clamp onto the barrel nut. Alternatively, the front handguard cup of some firearms can prevent the handguard from slipping forward while the rear barrel nut engagement prevents handguard rotation. Free floating variants, however, must clamp onto the barrel nut.
This patent application claims the priority and benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/143,795 filed on Jan. 11, 2009 entitled “Firearm Vertical Fore Grip and Rail System” and which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
TECHNICAL FIELDEmbodiments relate to the fields of small arms, rifle handguards, carbine handguards, and mounting rails.
BACKGROUNDCurrent small arms use mounting rail systems for attaching accessories to the small arm. For example, M4 and M16 carbines are often fitted with a single piece handguard that incorporates up to four Picatinny rails. Picatinny rails are well known mounting rails that meet the specifications contained in MIL-STD-1913 and MIL-STD-1913 Notice 1. Another mounting rail called the Weaver rail is a notoriously well known variation of the Picatinny rail. Battaglia discloses a mounting rail system in U.S. Pat. No. 6,792,711 while Olson discloses another in U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,363.
Typically, the handguard is a “clamshell” arrangement made of two pieces, an upper piece and a lower piece, that fit between the delta ring 203 and front handguard cup. As such, the handguard is not as rigidly attached as is often desired. Systems and methods for rigidly attaching a handguard with integral mounting rails are needed.
BRIEF SUMMARYThe following summary is provided to facilitate an understanding of some of the innovative features unique to the embodiments and is not intended to be a full description. A full appreciation of the various aspects of the embodiments can be gained by taking the entire specification, claims, drawings, and abstract as a whole.
Systems and methods are needed for rigidly attaching a handguard with integral mounting rails to a firearm that uses a barrel nut to attach a barrel to the receiver. The barrel nut has a toothed barrel nut sprocket for gripping and turning the barrel nut.
The handguard includes two identical half guards fastened together. Each half guard has a mounting rail, an inner engagement, an outer engagement, and a portion that engages the barrel nut, typically at the barrel nut sprocket. The half guards are semi-cylindrical such that an assembled handguard is cylindrical. Fasteners passing through open holes in the outer engagements are threaded into threaded holes in the inner engagements. A complete, rigid, and cylindrical handguard is produced when the fasteners are tightened.
Tightening the fasteners can cause the handguard to clamp onto the barrel nut or barrel nut sprocket. Optionally, the half guards can include clamping mechanisms such that an assembled handguard can be slipped onto a barrel nut and clamped directly onto it. In some embodiments, the half guards include sprocket slots such that the sprocket slot of each half guard is slipped onto the barrel nut socket before the half guards are fastened together.
The half guards can incorporate elements to prevent the assembled handguard from rotating around the barrel nut. In some embodiments, the half guards themselves are machined, molded, or cast to include indentations that match the teeth of the barrel nut sprocket. Other embodiments can have slots into which pins fit and engage the teeth to prevent rotation.
The accompanying figures, in which like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views and which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, further illustrate the present invention and, together with the background of the invention, brief summary of the invention, and detailed description of the invention, serve to explain the principles of the present invention.
The particular values and configurations discussed in these non-limiting examples can be varied and are cited merely to illustrate at least one embodiment and are not intended to limit the scope thereof. In general, the figures are not to scale.
A firearm handguard having two identical halves, or half guards, can engage the barrel nut of certain firearms to thereby provide a mounting rail system. The barrel nut attaches the barrel to the receiver. The half guards can be separately positioned in engagement with the barrel nut before fastening them together. The fastening operation can cause the half guards to clamp onto the barrel nut. Alternatively, the front handguard cup of some firearms can prevent the handguard from slipping forward while the rear barrel nut engagement prevents handguard rotation. Free floating variants, however, must clamp onto the barrel nut.
The half guard of
It will be appreciated that variations of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications. Also that various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.
Claims
1. A handguard for a firearm, the firearm comprising a receiver and a barrel nut threaded onto the receiver, wherein the barrel nut comprises a barrel nut sprocket, and wherein the handguard comprises:
- a first half guard comprising a mounting rail, inner engagement, outer engagement, and a means for engaging the barrel nut sprocket wherein the first half guard is semi-cylindrical with the inner engagement and the outer engagement radially opposed to one another, wherein the outer engagement comprises at least one open hole, and wherein the inner engagement comprises at least one threaded hole;
- a second half guard identical to the first half guard; and
- a plurality of threaded fasteners that pass through the open holes and thread into the threaded holes to thereby attach the first half guard and the second half guard together in a radially opposed arrangement and wherein the threaded fasteners are tightened to thereby clamp the means for engaging the barrel nut sprocket onto the barrel nut sprocket.
2. The handguard of claim 1 wherein the barrel nut sprocket comprises a plurality of teeth, wherein the means for engaging the barrel nut sprocket comprises a plurality of indentations that engage the sprocket teeth and prevent the handguard from rotating around the barrel nut.
3. The handguard of claim 2 wherein the fasteners are loosened but not removed to release the handguard from the barrel nut sprocket and to thereby render the handguard removable from the firearm.
4. The handguard of claim 1 wherein the fasteners are loosened but not removed to release the handguard from the barrel nut sprocket and to thereby render the handguard removable from the firearm.
5. The handguard of claim 1 wherein the barrel nut sprocket comprises a plurality of teeth, wherein the means for engaging the barrel nut sprocket comprises a plurality of indentations that engage the sprocket teeth to prevent the handguard from rotating around the barrel nut.
6. The handguard of claim 1 wherein the firearm further comprises a front handguard cup and wherein the first half guard further comprises a cup engagement that fits into the front handguard cup to thereby retain the first half guard between the receiver and the front handguard cup.
7. A handguard for a firearm, the firearm comprising a receiver and a barrel nut threaded onto the receiver, wherein the barrel nut comprises a barrel nut sprocket, and wherein the handguard comprises:
- a first half guard comprising a mounting rail, inner engagement, outer engagement, and a means for engaging the barrel nut sprocket wherein the first half guard is semi-cylindrical with the inner engagement and the outer engagement radially opposed to one another, wherein the outer engagement comprises at least one open hole, and wherein the inner engagement comprises at least one threaded hole;
- a second half guard identical to the first half guard;
- a plurality of threaded fasteners that pass through the open holes and thread into the threaded holes to thereby attach the first half guard and the second half guard together in a radially opposed arrangement; and
- at least one clamping fastener passing through the means for engaging the barrel nut sprocket wherein the means for engaging the barrel nut sprocket clamp onto the barrel nut sprocket when the clamping fastener is tightened and to thereby attach the handguard to the receiver as a free floating handguard.
8. The handguard of claim 7 wherein the means for engaging the barrel nut sprocket comprises a sprocket slot that slips over the sprocket to thereby attach the handguard to the barrel nut.
9. The handguard of claim 8 further comprising a pin, wherein the first half guard further comprises a pin slot, wherein the barrel nut sprocket comprises a plurality of teeth, wherein the pin fits into the pin slot to thereby engage the teeth and prevent the handguard from rotating on the barrel nut.
10. The handguard of claim 7 further comprising a pin, wherein the first half guard further comprises a pin slot, wherein the barrel nut sprocket comprises a plurality of teeth, wherein the pin fits into the pin slot to thereby engage the teeth and prevent the handguard from rotating on the barrel nut.
11. A handguard for a firearm, the firearm comprising a receiver and a barrel nut threaded onto the receiver, wherein the barrel nut comprises a barrel nut sprocket, and wherein the handguard comprises:
- a first half guard comprising a mounting rail, inner engagement, outer engagement, and a means for engaging the barrel nut sprocket wherein the first half guard is semi-cylindrical with the inner engagement and the outer engagement radially opposed to one another, wherein the outer engagement comprises at least one open hole, and wherein the inner engagement comprises at least one threaded hole;
- a second half guard identical to the first half guard; and
- a plurality of threaded fasteners that pass through the open holes and thread into the threaded holes to thereby attach the first half guard and the second half guard together in a radially opposed arrangement.
12. The handguard of claim 11 wherein the barrel nut sprocket comprises a plurality of teeth, wherein the means for engaging the barrel nut sprocket comprises a plurality of indentations that engage the sprocket teeth and prevent the handguard from rotating around the barrel nut.
13. The handguard of claim 12 wherein the fasteners are tapered fasteners and wherein the open holes are oversize and countersunk such that the first half guard and the second half guard pull towards each other as the fasteners are tightened to thereby clamp the handguard onto the barrel nut.
14. The handguard of claim 13 wherein the firearm further comprises a front handguard cup and wherein the first half guard further comprises a cup engagement that fits into the front handguard cup to thereby retain the first half guard between the receiver and the front handguard cup.
15. The handguard of claim 11 further comprising a pin, wherein the first half guard further comprises a pin slot, wherein the barrel nut sprocket comprises a plurality of teeth, wherein the pin fits into the pin slot to thereby engage the teeth and prevent the handguard from rotating on the barrel nut.
16. The handguard of claim 15 wherein the fasteners are tapered fasteners and wherein the open holes are oversize and countersunk such that the first half guard and the second half guard pull towards each other as the fasteners are tightened to thereby clamp the handguard onto the barrel nut.
17. The handguard of claim 16 wherein the means for engaging the barrel nut sprocket comprises a sprocket slot that slips over the sprocket to thereby attach the handguard to the barrel nut.
18. The handguard of claim 11 wherein the firearm further comprises a front handguard cup and wherein the first half guard further comprises a cup engagement that fits into the front handguard cup to thereby retain the first half guard between the receiver and the front handguard cup.
19. The handguard of claim 11 wherein the fasteners are tapered fasteners and wherein the open holes are oversize and countersunk such that the first half guard and the second half guard pull towards each other as the fasteners are tightened to thereby clamp the handguard onto the barrel nut.
20. The handguard of claim 11 wherein the means for engaging the barrel nut sprocket comprises a sprocket slot that slips over the sprocket to thereby attach the handguard to the barrel nut.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 11, 2010
Publication Date: Jul 15, 2010
Inventor: Steve Hines (Edgewood, NM)
Application Number: 12/685,616