WO1988010404A1

WO1988010404A1 - Magazine assembly for firearm

Info

Publication number: WO1988010404A1
Application number: PCT/GB1988/000492
Authority: WO
Inventors: Anthony Charles Blackshaw
Original assignee: Blackshaw Anthony C
Priority date: 1987-06-25
Filing date: 1988-06-24
Publication date: 1988-12-29
Also published as: GB8714894D0

Abstract

A magazine assembly for a firearm has a casing (1) integrally moulded in a rigid plastics material, which may be transparent. Recesses are found externally in the casing wall for releasable location of the assembly in the firearm. A spring (12) loading a platform (15) for the cartridges the casing is to contain is seated on a base plate (10) also integrally moulded in plastics material from which resilient walls (14) extend upwardly into the casing. The walls have out-turned projections (16) making a snap fit through apertures in the casing wall. The projections (16) are squeezed together to effect separation of the base plate (10) and the casing (1).

Description

MAGAZINE ASSEMBLY FOR FIREARM DESCRIPTION

The invention relates to a magazine assembly for use in a firearm, for example, in a hand gun or pistol, 5 which might be automatic or semi-automatic.

Such magazine assemblies are conventionally of metal construction, with a box-like main casing formed from metal sheet material. The sheet metal has to be shaped, and abutting edges welded together, prior to 0 surface finishing steps, so production is slow and expensive. The upper end portion of the casing, from which cartridges are fed from the magazine into the firearm has to be accurately shaped, but because it is formed from sheet metal, this upper end portion can be 5 quite readily distorted if the magazine is dropped or experiences an impact, so that the magazine will not feed correctly and has to be replaced. The conventional magazine is held in place in the firearm by releasable catch elements engaging in apertures 0 formed in the main casing wall, and further apertures or a slot have to be provided in the wall if the user is to be able to see how many rounds remain within the magazine at any given time. The provision of these apertures is an additional manufacturing complication 5 and the apertures permit ingress of dirt into the magazine.

In the conventional magazine, an end plate closes the lower end of the main casing and supports a spring

Q acting on the cartridge received within it. The base plate is mounted for sliding transversely of the main casing when the magazine is to be stripped down for cleaning, after release of a catch of relatively complicated structure. These arrangements represent further manufacturing complications, and also some difficulty for the user, particularly in holding the spring compressed when the base plate is being replaced. The invention is accordingly concerned with an improved magazine assembly of the type comprising a casing closed at one end by a base plate and containing a spring urged platform or follower, in which these disadvantages are reduced or overcome. Thus, the magazine assembly of the invention makes use of plastics material for certain components and the invention can thus provide a magazine assembly of the type described in which the main casing is made of a rigid durable plastics material, such as a polycarbonate. Such a main casing can be produced by a simple moulding operation and is then ready for use, so that only a single manufacturing step is involved.

^" The plastics material of the main casing can be transparent or translucent, so that the number of rounds it contains can be readily observed without the need to provide a slot or apertures in the casing wall.

The casing wall can have sufficient thickness for recesses to be formed therein for co-operation with a releasable catch provided on the firearm, to permit releasable secure ent therein of the magazine assembly, so again no aperture need be made for this purpose.

As the main casing is made by a moulding process, its wall thickness need not be uniform, so that the upper end region defining the orifice from which the rounds are expelled can be of substantial thickness so

^r(-~>~ι n~~< U≥: >«_5 i : m SHEET as to be of strong construction. With an appropriately chosen material, this provides the magazine assembly main casing with high resistance to damage.

The invention also provides a magazine assembly of the type described in which the lower end of the main casing is closed by a base plate which makes a snap fit with the main casing, as by being formed of a suitable plastics material.

The base plate may thus have portions for reception within the main casing and provided with formations co-operable with formations provided in the main casing wall, the base plate portions being resiliently biassed to effect engagement of the co¬ operating formations. Preferably, the base plate portions comprise outwardly biassed parallel portions with upstanding outwardly protruding catch formations for reception within opposed apertures constituting the wall formations. Disassembly of the base plate from the main casing is effected by squeezing together the catch formations to release them from the casing wall apertures. The base plate is thus removed and replaced by movements generally axially of the end fitting, so that removal is assisted by the spring, and the base plate holds the spring during the replacement movement which is in a direction to compress the spring.

The upstanding base plate portions can moreover provide lateral support for the spring, as is desirable when the magazine is fully loaded and the spring fully compressed. The base plate can be made of a strong resiliently flexible plastics material, for example a polyvinyl chloride, and may be made by a single moulding operation.

The invention is further explained below, by way of illustration, with reference to the accompanying

SUBSTITUTE drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a magazine assembly embodying the invention; and

Figures 2 and 3 are respectively side and rear or end views of the magazine assembly of Figure 1.

The illustrated magazine assembly comprises a' tubular main casing 1 , moulded of a hard rigid polycarbonate material, and of generally rectangular cross-section, with a flat rear wall .and side walls 4 joining a front wall 5 by way of curved corner portions.

The casing 1 is closed at its lower end by a base plate member 10 moulded of a polyvinylchloride material, comprising a base plate 11, the shape of which resembles that of the cross-section of the casing, but which is of slightly larger dimensions, so as to protrude outwardly of the casing along its side and front walls. Within the casing 1 are received a generally rectangular coiled compression spring and a platform or spring follower 15 which may again be moulded of a polyvinyl chloride material. The platform 30 has spaced front and rear portions 16,17 received within the upper end of the spring. The magazine assembly is adapted to contain sixteen rounds of ammunition in two staggered stacks which are merged together as they are fed upwardly in the casing 1 by the platform 15 under pressure from the spring 12 until they are ejected from the casing through an outlet orifice at its upper end. This orifice and the upper surface of the platform 15 are conventionally shaped for feeding the rounds into the breech of a fire arm with which the illustrated magazine assembly is designed to co-operate, for example, the handgun described and illustrated in EP 0 025.343 to which reference may be made. Internally, the casing 1 is shaped to guide the cartridges correctly to the orifice and the corners between the side and front walls 4 and 5 are thickened internally for this purpose as indicated at 6 in Figure 1. Also, each side wall 4 is provided with an inwardly projecting elongate ridge 7 which extends upwardly to the orifice. The wall thickness in the region of the upper orifice is increased, as appears best from Figure 3, to provide extra strength to ensure that the orifice cannot be distorted by impact.

Externally, the corners of the casing 1 between the side and front walls 4 and 5 are provided with D- shaped recesses 9, which co-operate with spring catch elements on the firearm, so that the magazine assembly is releasably held in operative relationship with it. These recesses 9 can be of adequate depth, because of the internal thickening, shown at 6, of the casing wall at these corners.

The baseplate member 10 is integrally formed with parallel opposed upstanding wall portions 14 which engage the inner sides of the casing side walls 4. The wall portions 14 are slightly biassed away from each other, so that they have to be lightly squeezed together when they are inserted into the main casing or withdrawn from it. Each baseplate wall portion is provided externally with a projection 16 shaped to be received in a respective one of holes 17 provided in the casing side walls 4. The opposed aligned holes 17 are each defined by forward and rear semi-circular ends spaced by upper and lower margins parallel to the baseplate.

Reception of the proj ections 1 6 into the holes 1 7 releasably secures the ba s eplate member 1 0 to the casing 1 , with the lower end of the casing in abutment w i th the ba s ep l a t e 1 1 , a n d t h e s h a p e s o f t h e projections and the holes co-operate to prevent any relative movement of the baseplate relative to the casing. The baseplate member 10 is additionally located within the casing 1 by a further small upstanding integrally formed wall portion 19 which engages the inner surface of the front wall 5.

The wall portions 14 and 19 serve also to guide and support the lower end of the spring 12, and the side wall portions 14 may be tapered outwardly at their upper ends as shown best in Figure 3 to facilitate this.

Removal of the baseplate member 10 to permit cleaning of the magazine assembly can be effected readily by squeezing together the two projections 16 until these lie wholly within the casing 1, so that the baseplate can be removed, with the assistance of the spring 12. Replacement is effected by squeezing together the baseplate side wall portions 14 so that these can enter the lower end of the casing 1. When the baseplate is pushed sufficiently into the casing against the bias of the spring 12, the projections 16 will snap out into the holes 17, so that the assembly assumes the assembled condition illustrated. The upper surface of the base plate 11 may be recessed between the side wall portions 14 and 19 to provide a seating for the spring.

It will be evident that the invention can be carried into effect in magazine assemblies other than that specifically described and illustrated.

Claims

1. A magazine assembly for a firearm comprising_^a casing having an end releasably closed by an end member and containing a spring-urged platform for expulsion of rounds from the opposite end, the casing being moulded in plastics material and the end member and casing being assembled together by a snap fit connection.

2. A magazine assembly for a firearm comprising an elongate open-ended casing integrally moulded from plastics material, a platform slidable within the casing under spring pressure to urge rounds within to casing towards one end of the casing, and an end member releasably closing the other casing end.

3. A magazine assembly as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the end member comprises an end plate and resilient wall means extending therefrom into the casing adjacent the casing wall, at least one projection on the wall means being received through an aperture in the casing wall, whereby the end member can be separated from the casing by manual pressure on the projection to release this from the aperture by deformation of the wall means.

4. A magazine assembly for a firearm comprising a casing, a spring and a platform within the casing, the platform being urged by the spring towards one end of the casing, and an end member releasably closing the other end of the casing, the end member having a portion extending therefrom, and the end member portion and the casing wall having co-operating formations whereby the portion is releasably engaged with the casing wall.

5. A magazine assembly as claimed in claim 4 wherein the end member comprises a plate portion abutting the other end of the casing, the end member portion comprises laterally opposed resilient wall eans extending from the plate portion, and wherein the co-operating formations comprise outwardly turned projections adjacent the free ends of the wall means and apertures in the casing wall receiving the projections therethrough.

6. A magazine assembly as claimed in claim 3 or 5 wherein the wall means provide lateral support for the spring.

7. A magazine assembly as claimed in claim 1 , 4 or 5 wherein casing is integrally moulded in transparent or translucent plastics material.

8. A magazine assembly as claimed in claim 1, 3, 5 or 6 wherein the relative movement of the end member and the casing to effect the connection effects compression of the spring.

9. A magazine assembly as claimed in claim 1 , 2 or 7 wherein the casing is moulded with external recesses for co-operation with catch means of the firearm whereby the assembly can be assembled with the firearm.

10. A magazine assembly as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the end member is integrally moulded in plastics material.

BSTITUTE SHEET