AMMUNITION HOLDER
A method of providing extra ammunition for a firearm includes providing an ammunition holder with an array of cartridge receiving cavities; increasing cartridge retaining pressure of at least one cavity by compressing a resilient tubular member mounted adjacent to the cavity; and decreasing the cartridge retaining pressure of at least one cavity by decompressing a resilient tubular member mounted adjacent to the cavity.
In many situations involving firearms, it is desirable to have extra ammunition stored at a location convenient for quick reloading.
SUMMARYAn ammunition holder including a generally cylindrical cartridge receiving first cavity with an open first end sized to allow insertion of a cartridge therein and a second cavity contiguous with and in fluid communication with the first cavity. A cartridge tensioning assembly is operably mounted in the second cavity.
A method of providing extra ammunition for a firearm includes providing an ammunition holder with an array of cartridge receiving cavities and increasing the cartridge retaining pressure of at least one cartridge receiving cavity by compressing a resilient member mounted in a cavity adjacent to the cartridge receiving cavity.
A method of making an ammunition holder with cartridge receiving cavities with variable cartridge retaining force includes mounting a resilient material in a cavity adjacent to and in communication with each cartridge receiving cavity. This method may further include providing a compression device that adjustably compresses or decompresses the resilient material to adjust the force required to move a cartridge into or out of the cartridge receiving cavity.
In one example embodiment (not shown) cavities are provided with lower end restrictions of different depths so that different cartridges will project to different heights above the top edge 13 of the holder 10. Such an arrangement may be desirable when the user wishes to carry different types of ammunition in the ammunition holder 10, for example, shotgun pellets and slugs. In this embodiment, the different types of ammunition could be identified by the different height that a cartridge projects above the holder 10. For example, pellet cartridges could be mounted in deep cavities and slug cartridges could be mounted in shallow cavities. Such an arrangement would be advantageous in low light conditions in which other types of indicia such as numbers, colors or other marking would be more difficult to observe.
Adjustment of the amount of force required to withdraw a cartridge, e.g.,14, from an associated cavity, e.g., 24, will now be described.
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Each rectangular cavity 42, 44, 46, 48 has an associated tensioning assembly 62, 64, 66, 68 mounted in it. (Although the cavities 42, 44, 46, 48 in the illustrated embodiment have rectangular cross-sectional shapes, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that cavities having other cross-sectional shapes could also be used.)
The structure of a tensioning assembly 62 is illustrated in
As best shown in
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Although certain embodiments of an ammunition holder have been specifically described in detail herein, the ammunition holder may be variously otherwise embodied, as will be obvious to persons skilled in the art after reading this disclosure. For example, pistols are often provided with integral Picatinny rails that extend beneath the barrel of the pistol with ribs that extend horizontally rather than vertically when the pistol is in a normal operating position. In this mounting application the cartridge receiving cavities and cartridges mounted therein would extend horizontally rather than vertically. Because of the adjustable cartridge retaining pressure provided by the ammunition holder, such an orientation of the holder would not interfere with its functionality. The cartridge retaining pressure could be increased to prevent the cartridges from falling out of the holder 10 even if they are not vertically upright or even if they were inclined downwardly. Also, if desired, the orientation of the cartridge receiving portion of the holder could be modified relative to the bracket portion so that the cartridge receiving portion is oriented vertically when the bracket portion is attached to a horizontally oriented Picatinny rail. Similarly, the ammunition holder may be mounted with suitable modifications on most firearms including pistols, rifles, shotguns and other portable projectile firing devices. An ammunition holder with cartridge holding cavities positioned in a linear array has been specifically described, but the cavities could also be arranged in a two-dimensional array or a curved array. It is intended that the appended claims be broadly construed to cover all such alternative embodiments, except to the extent limited by the prior art.
Claims
1. An ammunition holder comprising:
- a cartridge receiving first cavity with an open first end sized to allow insertion of a cartridge therein;
- a second cavity contiguous with and in fluid communication with the first cavity, and
- a cartridge tensioning assembly operably mounted in the second cavity.
2. The ammunition holder of claim 1, wherein the tensioning assembly is adapted to apply pressure to a side surface of a cartridge received in the cartridge holding cavity to urge the cartridge against a first cavity interior wall surface.
3. The ammunition holder of claim 2, wherein the tensioning assembly comprises a length of elastomeric material that expands radially in response to longitudinally applied pressure.
4. The ammunition holder of claim 3, wherein the length of elastomeric material comprises a length of elastomeric tubing with a central longitudinal cavity.
5. The ammunition holder of claim 4, wherein the elastomeric tubing comprises at least one of rubber tubing and plastic tubing.
6. The ammunition holder of claim 4, the tensioning assembly further comprising a screw assembly having a screw shaft received in the longitudinal cavity of the elastomeric tubing that co-acts with the tubing to urge the cartridge against the first cavity interior wall surface when the screw is rotated in a first direction.
7. The ammunition holder of claim 5, wherein the screw shaft co-acts with the length of elastomeric material to reduce the force urging the cartridge against the first cavity interior wall surface when the screw is rotated in a second direction.
8. The ammunition holder of claim 1 comprising a plurality of cartridge holding cavities and cartridge tensioning cavities.
9. The ammunition holder of claim 8, wherein the cartridge holding cavities are positioned in a linear array.
10. The ammunition holder of claim 8, wherein the cartridge holding cavities each terminate at a bottom wall.
11. The ammunition holder of claim 8, wherein the cartridge holding cavities bottom walls have openings extending therethrough.
12. The ammunition holder of claim 1, further comprising a bracket assembly for mounting the ammunition holder on a firearm.
13. The ammunition holder of claim 12, the bracket having a generally C-shaped cross section with an upper hook portion and a lower hook portion.
14. The ammunition holder of claim 13, wherein the upper hook portion is attached to the lower hook portion by screws.
15. The ammunition holder of claim 13, the bracket assembly comprising a plurality of spaced apart ribs.
16. The ammunition holder of claim 14, the plurality of spaced apart ribs having a spacing compatible with ribs of a Picatinny gun rail.
17. A method of providing extra ammunition for a firearm comprising:
- providing an ammunition holder with an array of cartridge receiving cavities; and
- increasing the cartridge retaining pressure of at least one cavity by compressing a resilient tubular member mounted adjacent to the cavity.
18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:
- decreasing the cartridge retaining pressure in at least one cavity by decompressing a resilient tubular member mounted adjacent to the cavity.
19. The method of claim 18 wherein said increasing the cartridge retaining pressure comprises turning a screw that is operably mounted on the ammunition holder in a first direction and wherein said decreasing the cartridge retaining pressure comprises turning the screw in a direction opposite the first direction.
20. A method of making an ammunition holder with cartridge receiving cavities comprising mounting a resilient material in a cavity adjacent to and in communication with each cartridge receiving cavity and providing a compression device that adjustably compresses or decompresses the resilient material so that it adjustably moves into or out of the cartridge receiving cavity.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 4, 2022
Publication Date: May 9, 2024
Applicant: MCE Digital Media, Inc. (Wheat Ridge, CO)
Inventor: David George Barwin (Centennial, CO)
Application Number: 17/980,858