Segmented Magazine for Automatic Gun Recoil Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Automatic weapons with caseless ammunition face significant hit pattern scatter due to recoil forces, leading to inefficient ammunition usage as the entire magazine must move back with the weapon during long bursts of fire, resulting in wasted ammunition.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a dual magazine system where a main magazine for powder and projectile bodies is fixed to the weapon housing, with smaller revolving sub-magazines that follow the weapon's recoil path, allowing only a limited number of powder and projectile bodies to be transferred after each burst, reducing the need for large loops of the ammunition belt.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the entire magazine moves back with the weapon during long bursts of fire, then the weapon can maintain a defined recoil path, but the ammunition belt must run in large loops causing waste and inefficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The magazine is divided into two separate magazines: a first magazine that moves back with the weapon during recoil, and a second magazine that remains fixed relative to the weapon housing. This segmentation allows each magazine to perform its specific function without the drawbacks of a single unified magazine system.
2Reliability
If a fixed magazine is used with a recoiling weapon, then the ammunition supply position remains stable, but the entire magazine must constantly move back with the weapon during bursts of fire
Solution Approach 1:
The magazine system is segmented into a movable first magazine and a fixed second magazine, allowing the ammunition supply mechanism to remain stable while only the necessary portion moves during recoil.
Solution Approach 2:
A transfer mechanism acts as an intermediary between the two magazines, enabling ammunition to be transferred from the fixed second magazine to the movable first magazine, thus decoupling the stability requirement from the movement requirement.
3Productivity
If the weapon is guided in a housing with a long recoil path, then uninterrupted firing during bursts is enabled, but the ammunition belt must be pulled back and forth in large loops
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the magazine into movable and fixed portions, the system enables long recoil paths for burst firing while the fixed portion prevents the ammunition belt from needing to run in large loops, thus reducing waste.
4Measurement precision
If shot limitation is imposed to counteract weapon ascent, then hit pattern scatter is reduced, but long bursts of fire are restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The dual magazine system allows the weapon to fire for longer durations by providing a continuous ammunition supply through the fixed second magazine, while the movable first magazine maintains accurate feeding, thus enabling long bursts without severe hit pattern scatter.
Data Source
AI summary
The magazine (18) for non-cartridge ammunition, is at an automatic weapon (10) with a linear movement in a weapon housing (14), with an unbraked and defined recoil path on each shot. The magazine structure fixed at the weapon housing has a main magazine (22) for a large number of propellant bodies (24) and a main magazine (18) for a large number of projectiles (20). Moving with the weapon, during firing, is a part-magazine (26) for a small number of propellant bodies and a part-magazine (28) for a small number of projectiles matching the number of propellant bodies. The magazines can be a sticks, drums or belts.