Slide assembly for a firearm

Abstract

A slide assembly for a firearm comprising a slide and an extractor assembly is provided. The slide includes a mounting recess about a top side of the slide, and a housing recess about a proximal end of the slide. The extractor assembly is mounted within the housing recess and includes a distal end for engaging a cartridge and a proximal end opposite the distal end. The proximal end terminates at a position adjacent about a mid-portion of the mounting recess. One or more retaining holes are provided within a proximal region of the mounting recess spaced from the proximal end of the extractor assembly. Firearm sights are attachable to the mounting recess via fasteners engaging the retaining holes. The retaining holes are arranged such that they do not interfere with the extractor assembly or other components within the housing recess of the slide.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The exemplary embodiments of the subject disclosure relate generally to firearms and, more specifically, to a slide assembly for a firearm.BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE[0002]For years, handgun users and manufacturers have experimented with methods of affixing optical sights to handguns, including reflexive or holographic bright dot sights, such as the Trijicon® Ruggedized Miniature Reflex (“RMR”) sight. A bright dot sight is particularly advantageous, as it operates to project within a transparent viewfinder a virtual or holographic reticle or “dot” which, when superimposed on a target, tracks the hit trajectory of a fired bullet, regardless of the orientation of a user's eyes with respect to the handgun. In this manner, the bright dot sight permits the user to focus most of his / her attention on the target, rather than on alignment of rear and forward iron sights for aiming the handgun. By reducing the effort required to aim, the bright dot sight also allo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]Various embodiments of the subject disclosure position (or adjust the position of) various internal components of the slide in order to reduce or eliminate interference between these components and fasteners used to affix a sight to the slide. In this manner, various embodiments of the subject disclosure permit formation of a deep recess within the slide for receiving the sight without need for bosses or other reinforcing structures. Various other embodiments provide the recess with multiple threaded hole patterns for accommodating multiple different types / brands of sights.

Problems solved by technology

In the case of semi-automatic handguns, forces created by the abrupt rearward movement of the slide upon firing, followed by a subsequent, forward movement and closure of the slide under spring force, are particularly damaging to mounting systems of early sights.

Large and sturdy mounting systems were developed previously to address these issues, but they added undesirable bulk and weight that rendered them impractical for tactical and law enforcement use.

Unfortunately, it is oftentimes difficult to mill the recess as deep as desired without interfering with internal working components of the slide, such as, for example, an extractor assembly of a Glock® handgun positioned within the slide.

Further constraints on recess depth are dictated by the length of the threaded fasteners used to mount sights, as these fasteners also cannot extend too far into the slide so as to interfere with internal working components.

Even when the recess is milled shallow enough to avoid these issues, milling too much material from the slide reduces grip between the fasteners and the slide, thereby increasing the chance of fastener breakage resulting from shearing forces created when the slide reciprocates.

It also limits the ability to interchange sights, for example, when bosses milled into a handgun slide are not compatible with a desired sight.

While intermediate mounting plates allow for modularity, they limit the depth at which sights can be positioned relative to handgun slides.

By adding an additional component, intermediate plates also increase the probability of forming failure points within sight mounting systems.

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