Ammunition projectile having enhanced aerodynamic profile

• US 7,036,433 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2003
• Issued: 05/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lone Star Future Weapons LLC (True Velocity, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Harold F. Beal
• Inventors: Beal, Harold F.
• Primary Examiner(s): CLEMENT, MICHELLE RENEE
• Assistant Examiner(s): Thomson, M.
• Application Number:
  US10/391,881
• Publication Number:
  US 20040016357A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,140 Days
• Field of Search: 102/519, 102/514, 102/507
• US Class Current: 102/519
• CPC Class Codes: F42B 10/46 Streamlined nose cones; Windshields; Radomes F42B12/105 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F42B 12/34 expanding before or on impact, i.e. of dumdum or mushroom type
• CPC Class Codes: F42B 12/74 of the core or solid body

Abstract

A projectile 10 for gun ammunition of a size not greater than 50 caliber comprising a solid metal jacket 82 of generally cup-shaped geometry and having a closed end 102 and an open end 88, a core 84 formed from a mixture of metal powders, not including lead, which mixture is cold-pressed into a self-supporting compact and disposed within said jacket, the core incompletely filling the jacket, an ogive 14 having an outer surface and defined on the initially open end of said jacket, and a conical tip 122 defined on the distal end 118 of said ogive, the tip having an outer surface 22 which defines an angle with respect to the longitudinal centerline 24 of the projectile that is greater than the angle defined by the ogive with respect to the longitudinal centerline of the projectile. A method is disclosed.

Claims

1. A projectile having a longitudinal centerline and formed from one or more metal powders cold pressed into a core which is disposed within a cup-shaped jacket having a closed end and an open end, the open end being infolded to define an ogive portion of the projectile, comprising a further infolded conical distal tip defined on the extreme distal end of the ogive portion of the projectile, said ogive portion being defined by a first curved surface which is rotated about the longitudinal centerline of the projectile and said further infolded conical distal tip being defined by a second curved surface which is rotated about the longitudinal centerline of the projectile, said second curved surface having a greater angular value relative to the longitudinal centerline of the projectile than the angular value of said first curved surface of said ogive portion relative to the longitudinal centerline of the projectile, wherein said tip defines a continuous outer surface of said ogive portion of the projectile.

2. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said tip extends inwardly from the extreme distal end of the ogive portion of the projectile a distance less than the total length of the ogive portion of the projectile.

3. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said tip closes the open end of the projectile to a greater extent than does the ogive without the tip.

4. The improvement of claim 1 wherein said tip is of conical geometry and whose outer surface defines an angle of between about 2 and not greater than 45 degrees with respect to the longitudinal centerline of the projectile.

5. The improvement of claim 2 wherein said tip extends inwardly from the extreme distal end of the ogive of the projectile a distance of between about 0.003 and about 0.010 inch.

6. A method for the formation of a projectile having a longitudinal centerline comprising the steps of

disposing a core in a cup-shaped jacket having a closed end and an open end and a continuous wall extending between said closed end and said open end thereof,

at least partially closing said open end of said jacket to define an ogive having a distal end and an outer surface comprising a curved surface rotated about the longitudinal centerline of the projectile,

further infolding said distal tip of said ogive to define a conical distal tip on the extreme distal end of said ogive portion of the projectile,

said ogive portion being defined by a first curved surface which is rotated about the longitudinal centerline of the projectile, and said further infolded conical distal tip being defined by a second curved surface which is rotated about the longitudinal centerline of the projectile, said second curved surface having a greater angular value, relative to the longitudinal centerline of the projectile than the angular value of said first curved surface of said ogive portion relative to the longitudinal centerline of the projectile.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said angular relationship of each of said conical tip and said ogive to said longitudinal centerline of the projectile is defined at the intersection of a tangent to the curved surface of a respective one of said tip and said ogive and said longitudinal centerline of the projectile.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said acute angle of said tip relative to the longitudinal centerline of the projectile is of a value between about 2 and not greater than 45 degrees.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the depth to which said tip extends in an inwardly direction of said projectile from said extreme distal end of said ogive is a distance of between about 0.003 and about 0.4 inch.