Reduced-contaminant deformable bullet, preferably for small arms

• US 20040025737A1
• Filed: 12/30/2002
• Published: 02/12/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RUAG Ammotec GmbH (Government of Switzerland)
• Original Assignee: Dynamit Nobel Ammotec GmbH
• Inventors: Knappworst, Jurgen, Krause, Bernd, Muskat, Erich, Schikora, Irene, Riess, Friedrich
• Granted Patent: US 6,971,315 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 102/508
• CPC Class Codes: F42B 12/34 expanding before or on impact, i.e. of dumdum or mushroom type

Abstract

Currently, 9 mm×19 mm calibre cartridges in the form of full-jacketed round-head bullets are used for small arms, especially for arms used by police. For safety reasons, efforts are being made to replace these bullets with a type of bullet that is prevented from passing straight through the target medium. Known deformable bullets from the prior art vary considerably in terms of the energy that they release in the target medium of density (1), especially in the human body. The invention therefore provides that the bullet (1) consists of a jacketless bullet body (2), that a cavity (5) extends centrally in relation to the longitudinal axis (15) of the bullet (1) in the tapered front part (6) of the bullet body (2), said cavity consisting of a cylindrical part (16) and at least one conical part (19) adjoining said cylindrical part; that a pusher (3) which forces the projectile open forms the bullet tip and that said pusher consists of a head (7) which seals the opening (4) of the cavity (5) and a shaft (8) which extends into the cavity (5).

Claims

1. A deformable bullet having a front part tapering towards the tip of the bullet and a rear, substantially cylindrical part, characterised in that the bullet (1) consists of a jacketless bullet body (2), in that a cavity (5) extends in the tapering, front part (6) of the bullet body (2) centrally relative to the longitudinal axis (15) of the bullet (1), which cavity is composed of a cylindrical part (16) and at least one conical part (19) adjacent thereto, in that a forcing-open plunger (3) forms the bullet tip and in that the forcing-open plunger (3) consists of a head (7) sealing the opening (4) of the cavity (5) and a shank (8) extending into the cavity (5).

2. A deformable bullet according to claim 1, characterised in that the part (12) of the head (7) of the forcing-open plunger (3) sealing the opening (4) of the cavity (5) is conical in shape with a cone angle (11) of from approximately 40°

to 75°

, preferably approximately 50°

to 65°

, and in that the head (7) is supported with its conical part (12) on the chamfer-like edge (13) of the opening (4) to the cavity (5).

3. A deformable bullet according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterised in that the cylindrical part (16) of the cavity (5) exhibits a length of from approximately 2 mm to 7 mm, preferably approximately 3 mm to 5 mm, and in that its diameter is approximately between 4 mm and 6 mm, preferably approximately between 5 mm and 5.5 mm.

4. A deformable bullet according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the angle (21) of the conical part (19) of the cavity (5) is approximately between 50°

and 70°

, preferably approximately 60°

.

5. A deformable bullet according to claim 4, characterised in that the angle (21) of the conical part (19) of the cavity (5) is a few degrees larger than the cone angle (1) of the conical part (12) of the head (7) of the forcing-open plunger (3).

6. A deformable bullet according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that the conical part (19) of the cavity (5) is approximately 1 mm to 2 mm, preferably approximately 1.5 mm, long.

7. A deformable bullet according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the shank (8) of the forcing-open plunger (3) is held in the blind hole (25) by a press fit.

8. A deformable bullet according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the shank of the forcing-open plunger (3) is approximately 2 mm to 7 mm, preferably approximately 1 mm to 3 mm, long.

9. A deformable bullet according to claim 8, characterised in that the blind hole (25) is adapted to the length of the shank (8) and is a few tenths of a millimetre longer.

10. A deformable bullet according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterised in that the bullet rear (27) comprises, centrally relative to the longitudinal axis (15), a conical recess (28) with a cone angle of approximately between 70°

and 120°

, preferably approximately 90°

.

11. A deformable bullet according to claim 10, characterised in that the depth of the recess (28) amounts to approximately 0.5 mm to 3 mm, preferably approximately 1 mm to 2 mm.

12. A deformable bullet according to one of claims 10 or 11, characterised in that the recess (28) is closed off at the base by a circular surface (30) with a diameter of approximately 0 mm to 2 mm, preferably approximately 1 mm.

13. A deformable bullet according to one of claims 1 to 12, characterised in that the material composition of the bullet body (2) is as follows:

55% to 100% copper, 0% to 45% zinc and 0% to 4% lead.

14. A deformable bullet according to one of claims 1 to 13, characterised in that the tensile strength R_m of the material of the bullet ranges from 250 N/mm² to 450 N/mm² and the yield point R_p0.2 thereof from N/mm² to 250 N/mm².

15. A deformable bullet according to one of claims 1 to 14, characterised in that the forcing-open plunger (3) consists of a lead-free material.

16. A deformable bullet according to claim 15, characterised in that the materials of the forcing-open plunger (3) are plastics, for example polyethylene, preferably biodegradable plastics, or metals, for example tin, zinc, aluminium or copper.

17. A deformable bullet according to one of claims 1 to 16, characterised in that metal powder is added to a head (7) of the forcing-open plunger (3) of non-metals.

18. A deformable bullet according to claim 17, characterised in that the metal powder is barium sulfate (BaSO₄).

19. A deformable bullet according to one of claims 1 to 18, characterised in that the forcing-open plunger (3) comprises in its cap (9) a cylindrical or conical or cone-shaped or rounded bore central relative to the longitudinal axis (15) of the bullet body (2), said bore having a diameter of from approximately 0.5 mm to 4 mm, preferably approximately 2 mm, and a depth of from approximately 0.5 mm to 4 mm, preferably approximately 1 mm to 2 mm.

20. A deformable bullet according to one of claims 1 to 19, characterised in that the bullet body (2) is tinned and in that the tin layer exhibits a thickness of from approximately 1 μ

m to 150 μ

m, preferably between 2 μ

m and 5 μ

m.