Cartridge casing catcher with reduced firearm ejection port flash and noise
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army
InventorThomas W. Saur
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A catcher, in combination with a firearm having an ejection port, for receiving and retaining expended magnetically attracted shell casings through the ejection port as the firearm is discharged. The catcher includes a hollow housing having a plurality of rigid walls, and retainers. One of the walls has an opening in communication with the ejection port when the catcher is mounted to the firearm for receiving the shell casings. A seal is attached to the housing at the opening and surrounding the opening and provides controlled release of pressurized ejection port gas from inside the housing as the firearm is discharged such that noise and flash as a result of escape of the pressurized ejection port gas is reduced or eliminated.
Claims14
A catcher, in combination with a firearm having an ejection port, for receiving and retaining expended magnetically attracted shell casings through the ejection port as the firearm is discharged, the catcher comprising:
- a hollow housing having a plurality of rigid walls, wherein
- one of the walls has an opening in communication with the ejection port when the catcher is mounted to the firearm for receiving the shell casings,
- at least one of the other walls comprises a plurality of deflectors and each of the deflectors has a front face that is slanted away from the opening such that the deflectors are capable of deflecting the shell casings away from the opening and a rear face that is perpendicular to the planar surface of the housing or slanted away from the opening, and
- at least one of the deflectors, alone or in combination with one or more other of the deflectors and a respective wall, comprise a void and an aperture configured as an acoustic tuner structure tuned to provide reduction of noise emitted at the ejection port;
- a seal attached to the housing at the opening and surrounding the opening, wherein the seal comprises a resilient, compliant material in a solid, gel-sac, closed-cell foam, or skin covered foam configuration having a surface that interfaces to the firearm and the surface includes at least three resilient, compliant sealing lips that provide controlled release of pressurized ejection port gas from inside the housing as the firearm is discharged such that noise and flash as a result of escape of the pressurized ejection port gas is reduced or eliminated;
- and
- retainers at the rear face of the deflectors capable of retaining the shell casings when the catcher is in any position, wherein the retainers comprise a permanent magnetic material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.