Gun firing method for dispersion of projectiles in a pattern

• US 7,017,495 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2003
• Issued: 03/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Richard Sexton
• Original Assignee: Richard Sexton
• Inventors: Sexton, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Carone, Michael J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bergin, James S.
• Application Number:
  US10/431,786
• Publication Number:
  US 20040231550A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,057 Days
• Field of Search: 102/501, 102/438, 102/439, 102/460, 102/457, 102/489, 102/513, 102/293, 244/3.23, 89/11
• US Class Current: 102/439
• CPC Class Codes: F42B 10/48 Range-reducing, destabilising or braking arrangements, e.g. impact-braking arrangements; Fall-retarding means, e.g. balloons, rockets for braking or fall-retardingF42B10/34 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F42B 30/02 Bullets

Abstract

A method for the dispersion of projectiles from guns capable of firing multiple projectiles in rapid succession whereby some of the projectiles are modified by moving the center of mass of the projectile away from it'"'"'s central axis and oriented prior to firing. This, in combination with bring fired from a rifled gun barrel, imparts velocity to the projectile upon exiting the gun barrel at right angles to the barrel. This velocity along with the higher muzzle velocity will cause the modified projectile to diverge away from the trajectory of a standard projectile. The magnitude of the divergence will vary with the distance the projectile'"'"'s center of mass is away from its central axis, and the placement of the modified projectile strikes around the bull'"'"'s-eye will be determined by the loading orientation of the modified projectile. Firing a multiplicity of standard and modified projectiles in rapid succession will produce an accurate dispersion pattern on a target, increasing the hit probability on that target.

Claims

1. A system for projectile dispersion to improve the hit probability on a target comprising:

a plurality of projectiles each having a main body, having a front end, a back end and a side;

wherein each said projectile has a central axis located longitudinally from said back end to said front end of said projectile in the center of said projectile;

wherein at least two projectiles of said plurality of projectiles have centers of mass which are offset some distance from said central axis of said projectiles;

a gun having a means to impart spin upon said plurality of projectiles and capable of firing at least two of said plurality of projectiles in rapid succession;

wherein there is a means to orient said offset center of mass of each said projectile radially in relation to said central longitudinal axis of each said projectile prior to firing whereby a predetermined pattern is created when at least two of said projectiles of said plurality of projectiles are fired in rapid succession by said gun on a target.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein,

said offset centers of mass of each said projectile are located at substantially the same distance from said central longitudinal axis.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein,

said means to orient each projectile of said projectiles with, offset centers of mass is arranged to provide orientation of said projectiles having said offset centers of mass radially at substantially different vectors.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein,

said gun is arranged to fire said projectiles in a burst.

5. The system of claim 4 further comprising,

at least one standard projectile with a center of mass along its said central axis interspersed among said projectiles whose offset centers of mass have said differing vectors of orientation.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein,

said burst consists of sequentially fired in rapid success on one said standard projectile followed by said projectiles with said offset centers of mass with said differing vectors of orientation.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein,

said means to orient each projectile of said projectiles with offset centers of mass is arranged to provide orientation of said projectiles with offset centers of mass whereby the predetermined pattern created is substantially linear and horizontal.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein,

said gun is arranged to repeatedly fire said burst.

9. The system of claim 3 wherein,

said means to orient each projectile of said projectiles with said offset centers of mass is arranged to provide for orientation of each successive said projectiles having said offset centers of mass radially at a vector which is 180 degrees from the vector of orientation of the previous said projectile having said offset center of mass.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein,

said gun is arranged to fire said projectiles in a burst.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising,

at least one standard projectile with a center of mass along its said central axis interspersed among said projectiles whose offset centers of mass have said 180 degree opposing vectors of orientation.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein,

said burst consists of sequentially fired, in rapid succession, said standard projectile followed by two of said projectiles with said offset centers of mass with said 180 degree opposing vectors of orientation.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein,

said gun is arranged to repeatedly fire said three round burst.

14. The system of claim 3 wherein,

said means to orient each projectile of said projectiles with offset centers of mass is arranged to provide orientation of successive projectiles having said offset centers of mass radially 90 degrees from the previous said projectile having, said offset center mass.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein,

said gun is arranged to fire said projectiles in a burst consisting of sequentially fired, in rapid succession, at least four of said projectiles with said offset centers of mass with said 90 degree differing vectors of orientation whereby the predetermined pattern created is substantially shaped as a diamond around the aim point from said gun.

16. The system of claim 14 further comprising,

at least one standard projectile with a center of mass along its said central axis interspersed among said projectiles whose offset centers of mass have said 90 degree differing vectors of orientation.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein,

said burst consists of sequentially fired, in rapid succession, one standard projectile followed by four of said projectiles with said offset centers of mass with said 90 degree differing vectors of orientation whereby the predetermined pattern created is substantially shaped as a diamond around a central hit point from said standard projective.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein,

said gun is arranged to repeatedly fire said five round burst.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein,

said offset centers of mass of each projectile are located at substantially different distances from said central longitudinal axis.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein,

said means to orient each projectile of said projectiles with said differing offset centers of mass is arranged to provide orientation of said projectiles having said differing offset centers of in mass radially at substantially different vectors.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein,

said gun is arranged to fire said projectiles in a burst.

22. The system of claim 21 further comprising,

at least one standard projectile with a center of mass along its said central axis interspersed among said projectiles whose differing offset centers of mass have said differing vectors of orientation.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein,

said burst consists of sequentially fired, in rapid succession, one said standard projectile followed by said projectiles with said differing offset centers of mass with said differing vectors of orientation.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein,

said means to orient each projectile of said projectiles with offset centers of mass is arranged to provide orientation of said projectiles with offset centers of mass whereby the predetermined pattern created is substantially linear and horizontal.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein,

said gun is arranged to repeatedly fire said burst.

26. The system of claim 1 further comprising,

a means of indicating said radial orientation of said projectiles with said offset centers of mass.

27. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein,

the means to impart spin on said plurality of projectiles is a rifled barrel.

28. The system of claim 1 further comprising,

a means to offset said centers of mass of said projectiles selected from the group consisting of extraction of mass from said side of said projectile attachment of mass to said side of said projectile, replacement of portions of said body of said projectile with a less dense material than the material comprising the projectile, replacement of portions a of said body of said projectile with a more dense material than the material comprising the projectile, replacement of certain portions of said body of said projectile with said less dense material and simultaneous replacement of other portions of said body with a more dense material, and formation of at least one void within said body of said projectile.

29. A system for projectile dispersion to improve the hit probability on a target comprising:

shifting the center of mass a distance away from a central longitudinal axis of at least two of a plurality of projectiles;

firing said projectiles in rapid succession from a gun having a means to impart spin upons said plurality of projectiles and capable of firing at least two of said plurality of projectiles in rapid succession;

orienting said offset center of mass radially in relation to said central longitudinal axis of each said projectile prior to firing said plurality of projectiles from said gun whereby a predetermined pattern is created when at least two of said projectiles of said plurality of projectiles are fired in rapid succession by said gun on a target.

30. A method as recited in claim 29 wherein,

shifting the offset centers of mass of each said projectile involves locating the offset centers of mass at substantially the same distance from said central longitudinal axis.

31. A method as recited in claim 29 wherein,

shifting the offset centers of mass of each said projectile involves locating the offset centers of mass at substantially different distances from said central longitudinal axis.

32. A method as recited in claim 31 wherein,

orienting said projectiles with said differing offset centers of mass radially at substantially different vectors.

33. A method as recited in claim 32 wherein,

firing said projectiles in a burst.

34. A method as recited in claim 33 further comprising,

interspersing at least one standard projectile with a center of mass along its said central axis among said projectiles whose differing offset centers of mass have said differing vectors of orientation.

35. A method as recited in claim 34 wherein,

firing said burst includes sequentially firing in rapid succession, one said standard projectile followed by said projectiles with said differing offset centers of mass with said differing vectors orientation.

36. A method as recited in claim 35 wherein,

orienting said projectiles with said differing offset centers of mass with said different vectors of orientation is performed whereby a predetermined pattern is created that is substantially linear and horizontal.

37. A method as recited in claim 36 wherein,

firing said burst is performed repeatedly.

38. A method as recited in claim 29 wherein,

orienting said projectiles with said offset centers of mass radially at substantially different vectors.

39. The method as recited in claim 38 wherein,

firing said projectiles from said gun is performed in a burst.

40. The method as recited in claim 39 further comprising,

interspersing at least one standard projectile with a center of mass along its said central axis among said projectiles whose offset centers of mass have said differing vectors of orientation.

41. The method as recited in claim 40 wherein,

firing said burst includes firing in rapid succession, one said standard projectile followed by said projectiles with said offset centers of mass with said differing vectors of orientation.

42. The method as recited in claim 41 wherein,

the step of orienting said projectiles with said offset centers of mass with said different vectors of orientation is performed whereby a predetermined pattern is created that is substantially linear and horizontal.

43. The method as recited in claim 42 wherein,

the step of firing said three round burst is performed repeatedly.

44. The method as recited in claim 38 wherein,

orienting each successive projectile of said projectiles having said offset centers of mass radially at a vector which is 180 degrees from the previous projectile having said offset center of mass.

45. The method as recited in claim 44 wherein,

firing said projectiles from said gun is performed in a burst.

46. The method as recited in claim 44 further comprising,

interspersing at least one projectile with a center of mass along its said central axis among said projectiles with said offset centers of mass having said 180 degree opposing vectors of orientation.

47. The method as recited in claim 46 wherein,

firing in said burst includes firing, in rapid succession, one said standard projectile followed by said projectiles with said offset centers of mass with said 180 degree opposing vectors of orientation.

48. The method as recited in claim 47 wherein,

the step of firing said three round burst is performed repeatedly.

49. The method as recited in claim 38 wherein,

orienting each successive projectile of said projectiles having said offset centers of mass radially at a vector which is 90 degrees from the previous projectile having said offset center of mass.

50. The method as recited in claim 49 wherein,

firing said projectiles from said gun is performed in a burst consisting of sequentially firing, in rapid succession, at least four of said projectiles with said offset centers of mass with said 90 degree differing vectors of orientation whereby the predetermined pattern created is substantially shaped as a diamond around the aim point from said gun.

51. The method as recited in claim 49 wherein,

interspersing at least one standard projectile with a center of mass along its said central axis among said projectiles with said offset centers of mass having said 90 degree differing vectors of orientation.

52. The method as recited in claim 51 wherein,

firing said projectiles from said gun is performed in a burst consisting of sequentially firing, in rapid succession, one said standard projectile followed by four of said projectiles with said offset centers of mass having said 90 degree differing vectors of orientation whereby the predetermined pattern obtained by firing said burst from said gun is substantially shaped as a diamond around a central hit point.

53. The method as recited in claim 52 wherein,

the step of firing said five projectile burst from said gun is performed repeatedly.

54. The method as recited in claim 29 wherein,

firing said projectiles from a gun is performed with a gun having a rifled barrel.

55. The method as recited in claim 29 further comprising,

indicating said vector of radial orientation of said projectiles with said offset centers of mass.

56. The method as recited in claim 29 wherein

shifting the center of mass off the central longitudinal axis of each projectile is performed by a step selected from the group consisting of extracting a portion of mass from said side of said projectile adding mass to said side of said projectile, replacing portions of said body of said projectile with a less dense material than the material comprising the projectile, replacing portions of the body of said projectile with a more dense material than the material comprising the projectile, replacing certain portions of said body of said projectile with a less dense material than the material comprising the projectile while simultaneously replacing other portions of the body of said projectile with a more dense material than the material comprising the projectile, and forming at least 1 void within the body of said projectile between said side and said central longitudinal axis.