US 9,879,957 B2Granted

Shotshell having wad with enhanced fin deployment

AssigneeVista Outdoor Operations LLC

InventorsAdam J. Moser, Erik K. Carlson, Matthew S. Schroeder, Gary Hendrickson, Frank Gerzina

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Abstract

A shotgun shell has a polymer wad with a forward shot cup portion and a rearward propellant cup, the wad in a casing, shot in the shot cup, propellant in the propellant cup, and a primer. The rearward propellant cup portion having enhanced fin deployment such that the shells are operative with shotguns with no chokes, shotguns with ported chokes, and shotguns with conventional chokes. The forward shot cup portion has axial slits that are sized to preclude shot from passing therethrough while providing sufficient air circulation to provide compaction relief of the shot pack. The enhancement may include gussets on the fins, axially movable disks to engage cam surfaces on the fins and urge them outwardly, and fins that have reduced bending regions compared to prior art wads.

Claims13

Dependent claims

A shotshell cartridge comprising:

a casing with a head portion and a primer,
a polymer wad positioned in the casing, the wad having a rearward propellant cup portion defining a rearward cup interior, a forward shot cup portion defining a forward cup interior, a partition separating the rearward cup interior from the forward cup interior, the rearward propellant cup portion having an interior surface and a bottom;
propellant positioned in the propellant cup portion;
and
shot positioned in the shot cup portion;
wherein the rearward propellant cup portion of the wad having a tubular portion with a plurality of axially extending slits defining a plurality of circumferentially arranged fins extending rearwardly in a prefiring position, each respective fin having a gusset extending axially on an inward side surface of each said respective fin and extending radially inward toward a central region of the partition, the gusset positioned such that an outward bending of each respective fin to a yield position deforms the respective gusset such that the gusset is elongated inhibiting the fin from returning to the prefiring position and thereby providing a deployed position.

3 more elements

A shotshell cartridge comprising a wad with a forward shot cup portion defining a forward cup interior and rearward propellant cup portion defining a rearward cup interior, a partition separating the forward cup interior from the rearward cup interior, the rearward propellant cup portion having a rearward edge and a plurality of slits extending from the rearward edge toward the partition, the plurality of slits defining a plurality of deployable fins, the plurality of deployable fins each having a first undeployed position and a second deployed position, the partition having a star shaped projection extending into the rearward cup interior, the star shaped projection having a central projection portion and a plurality of ray portions extending radially outward from the central projection portion, each of the plurality of ray portions oriented toward and centered with a respective one of the plurality of deployable fins, each of the deployable fins movable and retainable at the second deployed position after they are rotated outwardly beyond the second deployed position, the forward shot cup portion having a sidewall with a forward edge and a plurality of axially extending linear elongate slit segments extending through the sidewall and spaced from the forward edge.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.