Non-lethal projectile ammunition

Non-lethal ammunition adapted to launch a projectile from a tube, comprising:

• a cup-shaped shell casing having a primer end and a payload expelling end, said primer end including a high energy expansion chamber for burning propellant gases and a cup-shaped gas diffuser plug for the controlled delivery of said burnt gases, said gas diffuser plug including an interior cavity for receiving burnt gases from said expansion chamber, at least one outlet port for radially discharging burnt propellant gases from said interior cavity, and a replaceable delay sleeve of degradable material, said delay sleeve being disposed in closing relation with said outlet port and of a material adapted to substantially simultaneously permit the propellant to burn completely and the sleeve material to degrade whereby to expose the outlet port and permit burnt propellant gases to pass through the outlet port;
• a generally cylindrical bi-chambered projectile body of non-rupturable material expellably mounted in the expelling end of said shell casing, said projectile body including a rearward end portion mounted to the expelling end and in spaced relation to the gas diffuser plug, a forward end portion remote to the casing, a bulkhead dividing the interior of the projectile body into first and second chambers, and an exterior driving band to cooperate with the interior wall of the launching tube to spin-stabilize the projectile when launched, said first chamber being disposed in said rearward end portion, shallow, generally cup-shaped, and in juxtaposed spaced relation to said gas diffuser plug to form, with said casing, a low pressure chamber for receiving and distributing burnt propellant gases across the bulkhead, and said second chamber being disposed in said forward end portion;
• a nose removably mounted in said second chamber,
• wherein an assembly of said projectile body and said nose have a center of mass proximate to the forward end of the projectile body to enable the projectile to fly and impact nose first while describing a desired ballistic trajectory.

A cartridge for the controlled delivery of a fluid comprising:

• a cup-shaped shell casing, having a closed lower end, an open upper end, and a continuous vertical cylindrical side wall thereby defining a hollow interior;
• a high energy expansion chamber provided in said lower end;
• an explosive propellant charge in said expansion chamber;
• a percussion cap in operable relation with said charge to explode the propellant;
• and
• a cup-shaped gas diffuser plug having an open lower end, a closed upper end, and a continuous vertical cylindrical wall thereby defining a hollow interior cavity, the upper end portion of said cylindrical wall including a plurality of generally equiangularly spaced outlet ports for passing burnt gases radially from the interior cavity to the hollow interior, and
• a replaceable delay sleeve of degradable material disposed in said interior cavity and in closing relation with the outlet ports, communication of burnt gases into said interior cavity causing the material of the sleeve to degrade, over time, and be removed from closing relation with the outlet ports.

Non-lethal ammunition for the controlled delivery of a projectile to a target, comprising:

• a cup-shaped casing, said casing including a high-pressure expansion chamber to receive an explosive propellant;
• a cylindrical projectile, said projectile being expellably mounted in said casing and consisting of a polymeric material adapted to remain intact and not burst into pieces following a violent impact, said projectile including, respectively, rearward and forward end portions, said rearward end portion and said casing cooperating to form a low pressure chamber when the projectile is mounted to the casing;
• an impact nose secured to the forward end portion of said projectile;
• and
• a reusable gas diffuser system for receiving high pressure propellant gases from the high-pressure expansion chamber and delivering the high pressure propellant gases from the high-pressure expansion chamber into the low-pressure chamber following substantially complete and uniform burning of the explosive propellant, said diffuser system being axially spaced from said projectile and comprising a replaceable delay sleeve of degradable material.