Load balanced firearm barrel extension
AssigneeKnight's Armament Company
InventorsJoshua R. Drew, C. Reed Knight, Jr., David B. Kowalski
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A barrel extension configured to reduce the likelihood of premature bolt failure in automatic and/or semi-automatic style weapons. The barrel extension includes one or more cutouts within a body of the barrel extension. The cutouts are configured to reduce rigidity of the barrel extension proximal to the location of the cutout. As the rigidity around the extractor is lowered, the force on the bolt lugs is more evenly distributed. In one example, the cutouts are in the form of a single oval cutout positioned adjacent an extractor of the bolt.
Claims34
A system, comprising:
- a bolt having one or more lugs;
- wherein the bolt has an extractor;
- a barrel extension having one or more teeth configured to engage the lugs of the bolt;
- wherein the barrel extension has one or more weakened areas configured to reduce a risk of shearing at least one of the lugs of the bolt;
- and
- wherein the weakened areas are positioned on the barrel extension to even out an uneven shear stress distribution on the lugs created by the extractor on the bolt.
A system comprising:
- a bolt having one or more lugs;
- a barrel extension having one or more teeth configured to engage the lugs of the bolt;
- wherein the barrel extension has one or more weakened areas configured to reduce a risk of shearing at least one of the lugs of the bolt;
- wherein the weakened areas are configured to reduce the rigidity of the barrel extension proximal to the lugs of the bolt;
- wherein the weakened areas are configured to reduce shear force on the lugs of the bolt proximal to an extractor during firing;
- and
- wherein the weakened areas are configured to evenly distribute the shear force to each lug of the bolt.
A breech assembly, comprising:
- a barrel having a breech end;
- a barrel extension removably mounted to the breech end of the barrel;
- a bolt configured to selectively engage with the barrel extension during operation of a firearm;
- wherein the barrel extension defines one or more cutouts configured to decrease a risk of failure of the bolt;
- wherein the bolt defines a channel;
- wherein the bolt has a channel lug positioned along the channel;
- wherein the barrel extension has a channel tooth that is positioned to engage the channel lug;
- wherein the barrel extension has a flex band that is weakened by at least one of the cutouts;
- and
- wherein the flex band is configured to deform to lower force on the channel tooth during firing.
A breech assembly comprising:
- a barrel having a breech end;
- a barrel extension removably mounted to the breech end of the barrel;
- a bolt configured to selectively engage with the barrel extension during operation of a firearm;
- wherein the barrel extension defines one or more cutouts configured to decrease a risk of failure of the bolt;
- wherein the bolt defines a channel;
- an extractor received in the channel of the bolt;
- wherein the bolt has a pair of lugs located on opposite sides of the channel;
- and
- wherein the cutouts are positioned to face the channel in the bolt.
A breech assembly comprising:
- a barrel having a breech end;
- a barrel extension removably mounted to the breech end of the barrel;
- a bolt configured to selectively engage with the barrel extension during operation of a firearm;
- wherein the barrel extension defines one or more cutouts configured to decrease a risk of failure of the bolt;
- and
- wherein the cutouts are configured to evenly distribute shear force to each lug of the bolt.
A breech assembly comprising:
- a barrel having a breech end;
- a barrel extension removably mounted to the breech end of the barrel;
- a bolt configured to selectively engage with the barrel extension during operation of a firearm;
- wherein the barrel extension defines one or more cutouts configured to decrease a risk of failure of the bolt;
- wherein the cutouts include a pair of cutouts;
- wherein the bolt has an extractor;
- wherein the extractor has an extractor lug;
- wherein the bolt has a pair of lugs located adjacent the extractor lug;
- and
- wherein the cutouts are positioned proximal to the pair of lugs of the bolt.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.