Ammunition articles with plastic components and method of making ammunition articles with plastic components

Abstract

An ammunition article includes a molded plastic cartridge casing body having a first end and a second end, and a projectile attached to the first end of the cartridge casing body. The cartridge casing body is molded around at least a portion of the projectile. A molded plastic base for an ammunition article, a molded plastic blank cartridge, and a molded plastic cartridge casing body having a pronged web are also disclosed.

Description

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 116,232, filed Jan. 15, 1999.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to ammunition articles and methods of making ammunition articles and, more particularly, to ammunition articles with plastic components such as cartridge casing bodies and bases, and methods of making ammunition articles with plastic components. BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY [0003] Plastic cartridge casings have been known for many years but have failed to provide satisfactory ammunition that could be produced in commercial quantities with sufficient safety, ballistic, and handling characteristics. The problems evidenced by all of the known methods of producing plastic or substantially plastic ammunition include the possibility of the projectile being pushed into the cartridge casing, the bullet pull being too light such that the bullet can fall out, the bullet pull being insufficient to create enough chamber pressure, th...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Plastic cartridge casings have been known for many years but have failed to provide satisfactory ammunition that could be produced in commercial quantities with sufficient safety, ballistic, and handling characteristics.

The problems evidenced by all of the known methods of producing plastic or substantially plastic ammunition include the possibility of the projectile being pushed into the cartridge casing, the bullet pull being too light such that the bullet can fall out, the bullet pull being insufficient to create enough chamber pressure, the bullet pull being too great causing excessive chamber pressure, the bullet pull not being uniform from round to round, portions of the cartridge casing breaking off upon firing of the projectile causing damage or danger when subsequent rounds are fired or when the casing portions themselves become projectiles, and expense due to manufacturing techniques or multiple material constructions.

In the manufacture of blanks using plastic cartridge cases, similar problems to those present with prior art cartridge cases for conventional ammunition exist, as well as problems associated with portions of the cartridge cases breaking off and becoming dangerous, high velocity plastic projectiles.

However, the technique of forming a cartridge casing and then snapping a bullet into the casing is time consuming in that it involves multiple steps, is manpower and equipment intensive in that different equipment is necessary to perform various tasks in the manufacturing process, and still risks a less than perfect fit between bullet and casing in that the casings are not custom fit to each bullet.

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