Free-floating rifle rail and barrel locking system(S)/assemblies

Abstract

A free-floating rifle rail and barrel locking system that provides a barrel assembly and rail assembly, which is detachable from the main body of a rifle without tools. This is advantageous for quick field breakdown and/or rifle modification. The user has the option to disassemble the rifle for easy transport, to change barrel length, to change barrel caliber or change rail configurations. The rails are free-floating, meaning the rails do not come in contact with the barrel and thus do not impact the precision of the rifle.

Claims

1. A rifle comprising: (a) a rifle assembly for attachment to a release assembly that forms the rifle when completely assembled, the release assembly, comprising: (b) a rail assembly including: (i) a sleeve configured to directly attach to the rifle assembly; (ii) an elongate rail mount having a first end and second end that are spaced apart from one another, wherein: the first end of the elongate rail mount securely receives the sleeve of the rail assembly therein, and the spaced apart second end of the elongate rail mount has flared portions that are configured to securely mate within a rail of the rail assembly; and (iii) a rail having a first end and second end that are spaced apart from one another, wherein: the first end of the rail is configured to receive and securely mate with the flared portions of the second end of the elongate rail mount to align the sleeve, elongate rail mount, and rail along the longitudinal axis of the rail assembly, the first end of the rail further includes a plurality of securing levers positioned externally thereon with a first securing lever configured to engage and disengage the elongate rail mount and a second securing lever configured to engage and disengage a barrel assembly to release the rail and barrel assemblies from the rifle assembly, and the second end of the rail is configured to receive the barrel assembly therein; and (c) the barrel assembly including a barrel having a first end and a second end that are spaced apart from one another, wherein: a portion of the barrel assembly is configured to advance through the rail of the rail assembly and is securely received within the second end of the elongate rail mount such that the second securing lever of the rail assembly securely engages the barrel assembly such that the barrel assembly and rail assembly are aligned to form an internal channel in fluid communication with the one another when the rifle is assembled.

2. The rifle of claim 1, wherein the barrel assembly further comprises a bushing configured for fastening around the first end of the barrel of the barrel assembly, the bushing having an opening that receives an arm of the second securing lever therein when the second securing lever is in an engaged position thereby securing the barrel assembly to the rail assembly.

3. The rifle of claim 1, wherein an inner diameter of the first end of the elongate rail mount securely engages the outer diameter of the sleeve of the rail assembly.

4. The rifle of claim 1, wherein the flared portions of the elongate rail mount extend beyond an outer diameter of a main body of the elongate rail mount and are configured to align and securely mate within openings positioned on the rail.

5. The rifle of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of securing levers is coplanar or recessed relative to an outer surface of the rail when in an engaged state.

6. The rifle of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of securing levers is perpendicular relative to the longitudinal axis of the rail assembly when in a disengaged state.

7. The rifle of claim 1, wherein the rail assembly, barrel assembly, or a combination thereof are detachable from the rifle assembly without the use of any additional tools.

8. A quick release assembly configured for attachment to a rifle assembly, the quick release assembly comprising: (a) a rail assembly including: (i) a sleeve configured to attach to the rifle assembly; (ii) an elongate rail mount having a first end and second end, wherein: the first end of the elongate rail mount securely receives the sleeve of the rail assembly therein, and the spaced apart second end of the elongate rail mount has flared portions that are configured to securely mate within a rail of the rail assembly; and (iii) a rail having a first end and second end, wherein: the first end of the rail is configured to receive and securely mate with the flared portions of the second end of the elongate rail mount to align the sleeve, elongate rail mount, and rail along the longitudinal axis of the rail assembly, the first end of the rail further includes securing levers positioned externally thereon with a first securing lever configured to engage and disengage the elongate rail mount and a second securing lever configured to engage and disengage a barrel assembly to release the rail and barrel assemblies from the rifle assembly; and (b) the barrel assembly including a barrel having a first end and a second end, wherein: a portion of the barrel assembly is configured to advance through the rail of the rail assembly and is received within the second end of the elongate rail mount such that the second securing lever of the rail assembly securely engages the barrel assembly such that the barrel assembly and rail assembly are aligned to form an internal channel.

9. The quick release assembly of claim 8, wherein the barrel assembly further comprises a bushing configured for fastening around the first end of the barrel of the barrel assembly, the bushing having an opening that receives an arm of the second securing lever therein when the second securing lever is in an engaged position thereby securing the barrel assembly to the rail assembly.

10. The quick release assembly of claim 8, wherein an inner diameter of the first end of the elongate rail mount securely engages the outer diameter of the sleeve of the rail assembly.

11. The quick release assembly of claim 8, wherein the flared portions of the elongate rail mount extend beyond an outer diameter of a main body of the elongate rail mount and are configured to align and securely mate within openings positioned on the rail.

12. The quick release assembly of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of securing levers is coplanar or recessed relative to an outer surface of the rail when in an engaged state.

13. The quick release assembly of claim 8, wherein each securing lever is perpendicular relative to the longitudinal axis of the rail assembly when in a disengaged state.

14. The quick release assembly of claim 8, wherein the rail assembly, barrel assembly, or a combination thereof are detachable from the rifle assembly without the use of any additional tools.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention are better understood when the following detailed description of the invention is read with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is an Isometric view of the rail and barrel assemblies;

(3) FIG. 2 is a Front view of the rail and barrel assemblies;

(4) FIG. 3 is a Left Section View of FIG. 2;

(5) FIG. 4 is a magnified Detail View of FIG. 3;

(6) FIG. 5 is a Top Section View of FIG. 3 further depicting the rail and barrel assemblies;

(7) FIG. 6 is a magnified Detail View of FIG. 5;

(8) FIG. 7 is a Section View of FIG. 6;

(9) FIG. 8 is a Front view of the rail and barrel assemblies;

(10) FIG. 9 is a Section view of FIG. 8;

(11) FIG. 10 is a magnified Detail view of FIG. 9;

(12) FIG. 11 is a Section view of FIG. 8;

(13) FIG. 12 is a magnified Detail view of FIG. 11;

(14) FIG. 13 is an Exploded isometric view of the rail and barrel assemblies;

(15) FIG. 14 is another Exploded isometric view of the rail and barrel assemblies;

(16) FIG. 15 is another Isometric view of the rail and barrel assemblies;

(17) FIG. 16 is a magnified Detail view of FIG. 15;

(18) FIG. 17 is a Top view of the rail and barrel assemblies;

(19) FIG. 18 is a Side view of the rail and barrel assemblies;

(20) FIG. 19 is a Bottom view of the rail and barrel assemblies;

(21) FIG. 20 is a Front view of the rail and barrel assemblies;

(22) FIG. 21 is a Rear view of the rail and barrel assemblies; and

(23) FIG. 22 is an Isometric view of the rifle assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(24) The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. However, the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the representative embodiments set forth herein. The exemplary embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be both thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention and enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make, use and practice the invention. Like reference numbers refer to like elements throughout the various drawings.

(25) Referring to FIGS. 1, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21, the rail assembly 1 and barrel assembly 2 are an integral part of the AR-15 rifle assembly 3. The rail assembly 1 and barrel assembly 2 are detachable from the main AR-15 rifle assembly 3 by means of 3 attachment points as described herein.

(26) Referring to FIGS. 13 and 14, the barrel assembly 2 includes the barrel 39, gas block 53, gas tube 54, rail front cover 24, and barrel extension 22, to provide a locking interface composed of the barrel bushing aperture 39 and barrel bushing aperture face 17. The barrel assembly 2 is fitted with barrel bushing left 18 and barrel bushing right 19 attached to barrel 39 by means of a plurality of barrel bushing screws 40. A plurality of set screws 42 are provided in the barrel bushing right 19 to allow for a tight fit regardless of manufacturing tolerance of barrel 39.

(27) Referring to FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, the rail mount system 1 includes the rail 4, top rail mount 51, the assembly rail lever right 30 and the assembly rail lever left 31. The top rail mount 51 is designed to accept commercially available accessories for the AR-15 rifle. The top rail mount 51 is attached to the rail 4 by means a plurality of rail stud projections 47 nesting in a rail groove 46 on each side of the top rail mount 51. Rail 4 includes a plurality of keyhole slots 50. In this embodiment, slots are designed to accept KeyMod type commercially available accessories. In other embodiments the slot configuration can be changed to accept M-Lok or other types of commercially available accessories.

(28) Assembly rail lever right 30 includes rail lever mount 44, rail lever pin 29, rail lock lever 35, rail lever retainer 32, rail lever spring 37 and rail lever spring rivet 36. Rail lock lever 35 is attached to rail lever mount 44 by means of rail lever pin 29 captured in pin aperture 58 in rail lever mount 44. Rail lever spring 37 is attached to rail lever mount 44 by means of rail lever spring rivet 36. The rail lever mount 44 then snap-fits into rail lever aperture 61 on rail 4 by means of tab lock 59. The parts and attachments of assembly rail lever left 31 are identical to assembly rail lever right 30 and is located on the opposite side of rail 4. This provides increased mechanical stability when the rail mount system 1 is attached to AR-15 rifle assembly 3.

(29) Referring to FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 7 and 14, the rail mount assembly 1 also provides mounting of the barrel lock lever 7 to rail 4. Barrel lock 7 is attached to barrel lever mount 9 with pin 8 captured in barrel lever pin aperture 64. Barrel lever spring 10 is attached to barrel lever mount 9 by means of rivet 11. Barrel lever mount 9 then snap-fits into barrel lever aperture 63 on rail 4 by means of tab lock 59.

(30) Referring to FIGS. 4, 6, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 22, rail mount 5 is attached to the AR-15 rifle assembly 3 by means of interface sleeve 6 threaded onto receiver interface 62 on upper receiver 21. Rail mount 5 is attached to interface sleeve 6 by a polarity of cone set screws 60 tightened into the Interface sleeve notch 14. Referring to FIGS. 15 and 16, alignment pins 43 are pressed into the rear surface of rail mount 5 to align rail mount 5 to the upper receiver 21. This becomes the attach point for rail assembly 1 and barrel assembly 2.

(31) Referring to FIGS. 2, 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21, in the fully assembled and locked position, rail assembly 1 is slid onto rail mount 5. Rail mount 5 is permanently secured to upper receiver 21 on AR-15 rifle assembly 3. The rail 4 is tightly positioned on rail mount 5 by the interior surface 56 of rail 4 contacting the rear mating surfaces 52 on rail mount 5. The rail 4 is also positioned by a plurality of raised projections 48 contacting the front mating surface 49 on rail mount 5.

(32) Rail lock lever 35 is in position so the rail lever stop 27 is in contact and interferes with the rail mount face 28, biasing rail 4 against the mount stop 57 on rail mount 5. The opposite lever is part of assembly rail lever left 31 is also in the closed lock position. Each of these levers are locked in this position by means of rail lever retainer 32 sliding in rail lever retainer slot 38 to a position where the rail lever retainer pawl 34 on rail lock lever 35 is captured by the rail lever retainer notch 33 on the rail lever retainer 32. The rail lever spring 37 biases the rail lock lever 35 so the rail lever retainer 32 remains in place. This forms a detent-type lock that can only be released if rail lever spring 37 is depressed by rail lock lever 35 to release the rail lever retainer 32.

(33) Referring to FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 7, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21, in the fully assembled and locked position, barrel assembly 2 is slid into the rail mount inside cavity 65 of rail mount 5. This provides a tight slip fit 41 between the barrel bushing left 18 and barrel bushing right 19 on barrel 39. Barrel lock lever 7 is in position so the barrel lever stop 15 passes through barrel bushing aperture 20 is in contact and interferes with the barrel bushing aperture face 17, biasing the barrel bushing left 18 and barrel bushing right 19 against barrel extension face 26 on barrel extension 22. This bias presses the barrel assembly 2 by means of barrel extension 22 into the upper receiver cavity 23 on the upper receiver 21. A polarity of barrel lever stop adjustment screws 16 in barrel lever stop 15 allow adjustment of the barrel assembly 2 relative to the upper receiver 21 for manufacturing tolerances.

(34) The barrel lock lever 7 is locked in this position by means of barrel lever retainer 12 sliding in barrel lever retainer slot 25 to a position where the barrel lever retainer pawl 13 on barrel lock lever 7 is captured by the barrel lever retainer notch 45 on the barrel lever retainer 12. The barrel lever spring 10 biases the barrel lock lever 7 so the barrel lever retainer 12 remains in place. This forms a detent-type lock that can only be released if barrel lever spring 10 is depressed by barrel lock lever 7 to release the barrel lever retainer 12.

(35) Referring to FIG. 7, a spline interface between the inside cavity 65 in rail mount 5 and barrel bushing left 18 and barrel bushing right 19 on barrel 39 is formed by a barrel spline grove 66 in rail mount 5 and barrel spline projection 67 on barrel bushing left 18 and barrel bushing right 19. This stabilizes the motion in the barrel 39.

(36) Referring to FIGS. 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14, in the fully unlocked position the barrel assembly 2 is allowed to slide free, in direction 55, from the inside cavity in rail mount 5. The barrel lock lever 7 is depressed to unlock the detent lock formed by barrel lever retainer notch 45 on the barrel lever retainer 12 and barrel lever retainer pawl 13 on barrel lock lever 7. This allows barrel lever retainer 12 to move in barrel lever retainer slot 25 to a position where barrel lock lever 7 can swing free and remove contact between barrel lever stop 15 and barrel bushing aperture face 17.

(37) Referring to FIGS. 8, 11, 12, 13 and 14 In the fully unlocked position, the rail assembly 1 is allowed to slide, in direction 55, free from rail mount 5. The rail lock levers 35 are depressed to unlock the detent lock formed by rail lever retainer notch 33 on the rail lever retainer 32 and rail lever retainer pawl 34 on rail lock lever 35. This allows rail lever retainer 32 to move in rail lever retainer slot 38 to a position where rail lock levers 35 can swing free and remove contact between rail lever stop 27 and rail mount face 28. Referring to FIG. 7, front rail cover 24 snapped onto barrel 39, has an all-around gap 68 and does not touch rail 4. This makes rail assembly 1 free floating. Front rail cover 24 is not purely decorative and protects the rail assembly 1, if dropped or abused, by limiting its travel.

(38) The foregoing description provides embodiments of the invention by way of example only. It is envisioned that other embodiments may perform similar functions and/or achieve similar results. Any and all such equivalent embodiments and examples are within the scope of the present invention and are intended to be covered by the appended claims. 1 Rail assembly 2 Barrel assembly 3 AR-15 rifle assembly 4 Rail 5 Rail mount (also referred to as an elongate rail mount) 6 Interface sleeve (also referred to as sleeve) 7 Barrel lever 8 Lever pin 9 Barrel lever mount 10 Barrel lever spring 11 Rivet 12 Barrel lever retainer 13 Barrel lever pawl 14 Interface sleeve notch 15 Barrel lever stop 16 Barrel lever stop adjustment screw 17 Barrel bushing aperture face (also referred to as opening on bushing) 18 Barrel bushing Left 19 Barrel bushing right 20 Barrel bushing aperture 21 Upper receiver 22 Barrel extension 23 Upper receiver cavity 24 Front rail cover 25 Barrel lever retainer slot 26 Barrel extension face 27 Rail lever stop 28 Rail mount face 29 Rail lever pin 30 Assembly rail lever right 31 Assembly rail lever left 32 Rail lever retainer 33 Rail lever retainer notch 34 Rail lever retainer pawl 35 Rail lever 36 Rail lever spring rivet 37 Rail lever spring 38 Rail lever retainer slot 39 Barrel 40 Barrel bushing screw 41 Slip fit 42 Set screw 43 Alignment pin 44 Rail lever mount 45 Barrel lever retainer notch 46 Rail groove 47 Rail stud projection 48 Raised projection (i.e., first end of rail that securely mates with flared cambered portions) 49 Front mating surface (also referred to as flared cambered portions) 50 Keyhole slot 51 Top rail mount 52 Rear mating surface 53 Gas block 54 Gas tube 55 Disassembly direction 56 Interior surface 57 Mount stop 58 Rail lever pin aperture 59 Tab lock 60 Cone set screw 61 Rail lever aperture 62 Receiver interface 63 Barrel lever aperture 64 Barrel lever pin aperture 65 Rail mount Inside cavity 66 Barrel spline projection 67 Barrel spline groove 68 Gap