Conversion set for a firearm and method for converting a firearm

Abstract

A conversion set for a firearm having a grip and a slide locked by a moveable barrel and including an ejecting opening is disclosed. To permit timely opening of the slide when using a replacement barrel which does not lock the slide, the conversion set for use of a replacement barrel which does not lock the slide includes a jacket which may be connected to the slide in a detachable, form-fitting manner. The jacket has a defined mass for the predetermined movement of the slide following a shot being fired.

Claims

1. A conversion set for a firearm operating according to a Browning system, the firearm having a grip and a slide, the slide being locked by a movable barrel, the slide including an ejecting opening, said conversion set comprising a replacement barrel which does not lock the slide and a jacket connectable to the slide in a detachable, interlocking manner, said jacket having a defined mass for predetermined movement of the slide following a shot being fired and at least substantially surrounding the slide.

2. The conversion set of claim 1, further comprising a return device configured for connection to the firearm to exert a force on a cartridge case situated in the slide approximately in a direction of a cartridge ejector arranged in the firearm.

3. The conversion set of claim 2, wherein the return device is arranged in the jacket.

4. The conversion set of claim 2, wherein the return device is arranged in the jacket at a position which corresponds to the ejecting opening.

5. The conversion set of claim 1, wherein the replacement barrel is rigidly connectable to the grip and insertable into the slide.

6. The conversion set of claim 1, wherein the replacement barrel is insertable into the slide from the front.

7. The conversion set of claim 1, further comprising a housing configured for detachable connection to the grip to thereby indirectly connect the replacement barrel to the grip.

8. The conversion set of claim 7, wherein the replacement barrel is connected via the housing to the grip in a friction-locked manner.

9. The conversion set of 1, further comprising a feed ramp configured for insertion through the ejecting opening into the firearm.

10. A method for converting a firearm operating according to a Browning system using a conversion set comprising a replacement barrel, the firearm having a grip and a slide, the slide being locked by a movable barrel and including an ejecting opening, said method comprising detachably connecting a jacket of the conversion set to the slide for use with the replacement barrel which does not lock the slide, wherein the jacket has a defined mass for a predetermined movement of the slide after a shot is fired, wherein the jacket at least substantially surrounds the slide.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising connecting a return device to the firearm to exert a force on a cartridge case situated in the slide approximately in a direction of a cartridge ejector arranged in the firearm.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising replacing a barrel by the replacement barrel which is rigidly connected to the grip.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising inserting the replacement barrel from a front into the slide.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising connecting the firearm to a housing which connects the replacement barrel indirectly to the grip.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising inserting a feed ramp through the ejecting opening into the firearm and connecting the feed ramp in an interlocking manner to the grip.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

(1) Further features, advantages and effects of the invention are provided from the embodiments which are shown below. The drawings, to which reference is hereby made, show the following:

(2) FIGS. 1 and 2 show exploded views of a first preferred embodiment of a converted firearm;

(3) FIG. 3 shows a top view of the first preferred embodiment of a converted firearm;

(4) FIGS. 4 to 8 show sectional views of a firearm equipped with a first preferred embodiment of the conversion set;

(5) FIGS. 9 to 12 show a detail of the first preferred embodiment of a converted firearm in different views;

(6) FIGS. 13 and 14 show sectional views of a firearm equipped with a second preferred embodiment of the conversion set;

(7) FIGS. 15 and 16 show a detail of the second preferred embodiment of a converted firearm in different views.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(8) FIGS. 1 and 2 show an exploded view of a first preferred embodiment of a firearm 1 which is equipped with the conversion set in accordance with the invention. The illustration shows a converted Glock pistol, which usually comprises a tilting barrel which closes a slide 2 according to the Browning system.

(9) In order to achieve longer ranges and improved precision with the Glock pistol, a replacement barrel 4 is inserted instead of the original barrel in the converted firearm 1, which replacement barrel is connected via a threaded part 16 and a housing 19 to the original grip 7 of the Clock pistol. Since the replacement barrel 4 is non-tilting and non-movable and is formed without a locking comb corresponding to the slide 2, the replacement barrel 4 does not close the slide 2 even when a shot is fired.

(10) A constructionally simple configuration of the conversion set is achieved because the original slide 2 of the Glock pistol is inserted into a firearm 1 converted in accordance with the invention. In order to ensure timely opening of said slide 2 after firing a shot, despite the use of a replacement barrel 4 which does not lock the slide 2, a jacket 3 surrounding the slide 2 is provided, which jacket has an inner contour which corresponds to the outer contour of the slide 2. It is releasably connected thereto for increasing the mass of the slide 2.

(11) For producing a connection between the slide 2 and the jacket 3, the jacket 3 is placed on the slide 2. A jacket opening 43, which is preferably round and corresponds to the replacement barrel 4, is provided on a front side of the jacket 3, through which the replacement barrel 4 can be inserted into the slide 2 and can be connected to the firearm 1. The jacket 3 is thus fixed on the slide 2 and a detachment is simply prevented, even in the case of a movement of the slide 2 relative to the grip 7. When a cartridge 36 is inserted, the jacket 3 is further connected to the slide 2 on a fixing recess 28 by a cartridge extractor 27 which is pressed laterally to the outside.

(12) The replacement barrel 4 is connected to the grip 7 by a housing 19 by means of a threaded part 16, wherein the threaded part 16 in the housing 19 is fixed by fixing screws 18. The replacement barrel 4 is connected to the threaded part 16 by means of a union nut 17, as is also the case in other weapons, e.g. in a so-called Uzi. An elevation 35 is provided on the threaded part 16 for a secure interlocking connection, which elevation corresponds to a flat point 34 on a shoulder 33 of the replacement barrel 4. The union nut 17 is fixed to the threaded part 16 in a closed state by a securing pin 31 and a securing-pin fixing screw 32.

(13) A connection of the housing 19 with the grip 7 occurs on the one hand in an interlocking manner by an inner contour of the housing 19, which inner contour corresponds to the shape of the grip 7. On the other hand, an interlocking and friction-locked connection between the housing 19 and the grip 7 occurs indirectly by two half-shells 11 arranged between the housing 19 and the grip 7. They respectively comprise a half-shell inner contour 44, which corresponds to a portion of the grip 7 and which enables a large-area connection with the grip 7, so that surface pressing and wear and tear are minimised. A connection between the half-shells 11 and the housing 19 is realised by a shaft 12 mounted in boreholes 13 of the housing 19, which shaft has a non-round cross-section at least in part, preferably a semicircular cross-section. A guide 41 and a shaft fixing recess 40 are provided in the half-shells 11 corresponding thereto, wherein the shaft 12 can only be guided through the guide 41 up to the shaft fixing recess 40 with a cross-section twisted to a specific position. In the illustrated embodiment, a centre of gravity of the shaft 12 must be twisted downwardly for this purpose. The shaft 12 is twisted by 180 on the shaft fixing recess 40, so that a stable connection is produced on a contact surface between the shaft 12 and the shaft fixing recess 40 and between the half-shell inner contours 44 and the grip 7. In order to fix the shaft in this position, a quick-release lever 10 is provided at one end of the shaft 12 and a shaft fixing nut 39 at a further end of the shaft 12, so that the shaft 12 can be fixed in a friction-locked manner to the housing 19.

(14) The replacement barrel 4 is formed in a substantially rotationally symmetrical way for insertion from the front into the slide 2, and in contrast to an originally inserted barrel does not comprise an end-side feed ramp 9 for the feed of a cartridge, which is why the conversion set comprises a separate feed ramp 9, which can be inserted especially through the ejecting opening 26 into the firearm 1 can be connected in an interlocking manner to the grip 7 prior to the placement of the slide 2 on the grip 7.

(15) In the case of Glock pistol, a cartridge ejector 29 is mostly arranged beneath a barrel axis 37 or beneath a chamber 8. As a result of the originally tilting barrel, a cartridge case is accelerated downwardly in the direction of the cartridge ejector 29 after a shot is fired and is ejected by rebounding therefrom. In order to achieve a secure ejection of the cartridge case after conversion despite the inserted replacement barrel 4 which is rigidly connected to the grip 7, a flat spring 23 connected to the jacket 3 is provided, which presses the cartridge case in the downward direction so that a cartridge case strikes the cartridge ejector 29 during return movement of the slide 2 after a shot is fired and is subsequently ejected through the ejecting opening 26. The flat spring 23 is bent, and is fixed in a fastening depression 38 at the end side on the jacket 3 and is formed in a dimension which corresponds to a groove 24 of the slide 2. As a result, the flat spring 23 can be inserted via the groove 24 of the slide 2 through the slide 2 into the firearm 1.

(16) In order to bring the slide 2 and the jacket 3 from a rear end position back to the front position or loading position after firing a shot, a replacement closing spring 5 is provided which is guided by a recoil spring guide 6 of the original Glock pistol. Depending on the adjustment, the replacement closing spring 5 can have a higher stiffness than a closing spring that is usually inserted into the firearm in order to initiate a forward movement with respective acceleration despite increased masses to be accelerated and in order to enable rapid loading.

(17) A slide catch which extends the slide catch of the slide 2 is further provided on the jacket 3 so as to increase a contact area and to prevent impermissibly high pressing on the slide catch of the slide 2.

(18) An original magazine 15 of the Glock pistol is used in the illustrated embodiments. A larger longer magazine 15 can also be inserted alternatively in order to increase the cartridge capacity.

(19) A picatinny rail 30 is provided on an upper side of the housing 19, on which further accessories can releasably be mounted, e.g. an aiming device. Furthermore, respective rails for mounting additional accessories can also be arranged laterally on the housing 19. A respective picatinny rail 30 is advantageously also arranged on a bottom side of the half-shells 11, so that the conversion set can be expanded in a simple way.

(20) The jacket 3 comprises a cocking slide opening 22, in which a cocking slide 20 can releasably be fixed, so that the converted firearm 1 can also be manually loaded in a simple way. The cocking slide 20 which moves the jacket 3 and the slide 2 can be moved relative to the housing 19, even when the housing 19 is mounted, by an elongated cocking slide recess 21 which is provided in the housing 19. During conversion, the cocking slide 20 is inserted into the cocking slide opening 22 of the jacket 3 through the cocking slide recess 21 of the housing 19 after the jacket 3 and the housing 19 are mounted.

(21) FIG. 3 shows a top view of the first preferred embodiment of a firearm 1 which is equipped with a conversion set in accordance with the invention. The housing 19 is connected to the grip 7 by the shaft 12, which is fixed to the housing 19 by means of the quick-release lever 10 on the one hand and by means of a shaft fixing nut 39 on the other hand. The illustration further shows the replacement barrel 4 which is connected by the union nut 17 to the housing 19 and the cocking slide 20 which is situated in the rear end position, by means of which the firearm 1 can be loaded manually.

(22) FIG. 4 shows a sectional view through a firearm 1 along the line IV-IV in FIG. 3. The illustration shows that the slide 2 and the jacket 3 are situated in a rear end position, wherein the replacement closing spring 5 is compressed. During a forward movement of the slide 2, the cartridge 36 is guided via the feed ramp 9 into the chamber 8 under relaxation of the replacement closing spring 5, wherein the forward movement of the slide 2 is transferred by a slide face 45 to the cartridge 36. At the same time, the cartridge 36 is pressed upwardly during the forward movement by the feed ramp 9, wherein the flat spring 23 is pressed elastically in the upward direction. The feed ramp 9 is arranged on a control cam 42 in the grip 7 as illustrated, and is fixed by the replacement barrel 4 which is rigidly connected to the grip 7.

(23) It is further shown that the housing 19 is connected to the half-shells 11 by the shaft 12, wherein the semicircular cross-section of the shaft 12 is upwardly twisted in the shaft fixing recess 40 in order to produce an interlocking connection.

(24) As is illustrated, the barrel is connected to the grip 7 by the union nut 17 and the threaded part 16, wherein the threaded part 16 is fixed in the housing 19 by the fixing screws 18. A connection between the union nut 17 and the threaded part 16 is ensured by a securing pin 31 and a securing-pin fixing screw 32.

(25) FIG. 5 shows a sectional view through a firearm 1 along the line V-V in FIG. 4. The illustration shows the fixing of the housing 19 on the half-shells 11 by the shaft 12 by means of the semicircular cross-section of the shaft 12 in a middle region. A shaft recess 14, which is the result of the semicircular cross-section and is approximately rectangular in the axial section, allows an insertion of the shaft 12 into the guide 41 of the half-shells 11 when the shaft 12 is twisted in relation to the illustrated position by 180. In the illustrated position, the shaft 12 is fixed by the quick-release lever 10 and the shaft fixing nut 39.

(26) The illustration further shows that the housing 19 has a dovetail-like cross-section on an upper side and the half-shells 11 on a bottom side. With a respective profile, a picatinny rail 30 is respectively formed for accommodating accessories.

(27) FIG. 6 shows a sectional view through a firearm 1 along the line VI-VI in FIG. 4. The illustration shows that a cartridge 36 is positioned at an upper end of a schematically illustrated magazine 15. The illustration further shows a cartridge extractor 27 and the flat spring 23, which are elastically moved during loading of the cartridge 36. The cartridge ejector and 7, which is formed in a resilient manner, is moved to the side, wherein it engages in a fixing recess 28 of the jacket 3 and thus fixes the same in an interlocking manner to the slide 2. The return device which is shown in a relaxed position and is formed as a flat spring 23 is pressed upwardly during loading of the cartridge 36, wherein a force is exerted on the cartridge 36 in the downward direction. The illustration further shows the cartridge ejector 29, from which a cartridge case rebounds after a shot is fired and is ejected through the ejecting opening 26 formed in the slide 2 and in the jacket 3.

(28) FIG. 7 shows the first preferred embodiment of a firearm 1 according to FIG. 3, wherein the slide 2 and the jacket 3 have been moved from the rear end position back to the front end position and the replacement closing spring 5 is relaxed. Furthermore, a cartridge 36 is in the chamber 8, so that the firearm 1 is loaded. The flat spring 23 is elastically deformed by the cartridge 36 and is pressed upwardly, which is why it exerts a force on the cartridge 36 in the downward direction.

(29) FIG. 8 shows a sectional view through a firearm 1 along the line VIII-VIII in FIG. 7. As is shown in the illustration, the jacket 3 is fixed in the illustrated position to the slide 2 by the outwardly displaced cartridge extractor 27 because the cartridge extractor 27 engages in the fixing recess 28 of the jacket 3. This ensures an interlocking fixing of the jacket 3 on the slide 2.

(30) FIGS. 9 to 12 show a detail of a converted firearm 1 according to the first preferred embodiment in different views, wherein an assembly is shown which consists of the jacket 3 plus the slide 2 and the flat spring 23. FIG. 12 shows a sectional view through the assembly along the line XII-XII in FIG. 11. The illustration shows that the jacket 3 surrounds the slide 2, so that an interlocking connection is provided. The illustration further shows that the flat spring 23 which is fixed in the fastening depression 38 is arranged between the jacket 3 and the slide 2 and protrudes into the firearm 1 through the grooves 24. The illustration further shows the ejecting opening 26 and the fixing recess 28, into which the cartridge extractor 27 engages when a cartridge 36 is loaded in order to fix the jacket 3 to the slide 2. The jacket opening 43 is provided at the front end of the jacket 3, through which the replacement barrel 4 can be inserted into the firearm 1. A recess 25 for the recoil spring guide 6 is provided at a front end of the jacket 3 in order to enable a movement of the jacket 3 to the rear after a shot is fired. The jacket 3 comprises the cocking slide recess 21 in a rear region, in which the cocking slide 20 is connectable to the jacket 3 so that the firearm 1 can also be loaded manually when arranged in the housing 19.

(31) FIGS. 13 and 14 show a second preferred embodiment of the converted firearm 1 as a sectional view in two different states which correspond to the states of FIG. 4 and FIG. 7. Only a rear section of the firearm 1 is shown here. A control pin 46 is arranged on the housing 19, which is especially releasably fixed thereto, wherein the control pin 46 presses the flat spring 23 in the direction of the cartridge ejector 29 upon contact with the flat spring 23. The control pin 46 can be integrally formed on the housing 19 as an alternative. In this case, the control pin 46 is in contact with the flat spring 23 with the slide in the position shown in FIG. 14, but not in the position of the slide shown in FIG. 13. The jacket can have an elongated breakthrough 49 in this case, through which the control pin 46 protrudes in order to establish contact with the flat spring 23.

(32) FIGS. 15 and 16 show different views of a detail of a converted firearm 1 according to the second preferred embodiment. In this case, the feed ramp 9 comprises especially two cartridge feed protrusions 47, which are preferably formed as a lateral guide. Forced guidance of the cartridge 36 from the magazine 15 to the chamber 8 is provided by these cartridge feed protrusions 47. The cartridge feed protrusions 47 can especially be integrally formed on a base body of the feed ramp 9.

(33) The illustration further shows that the feed ramp 9 comprises a stop protrusion 48, which stop protrusion 48 is indirectly arranged between the replacement closing spring 5 and the grip 7 in order to transfer the spring force of the replacement closing spring 5 to the grip 7. The stop protrusion 48 is directly arranged between the recoil spring guide 6 and the grip 7 in order to transfer the spring force of the replacement closing spring 5 to the grip 7. The feed ramp 9 can preferably be made of metal. As a result, the grip 7 can be protected from stronger wear and tear when using a replacement closing spring 5 with high spring force. The stop protrusion 48 can especially be formed integrally on a base body of the feed ramp 9.

(34) For the purpose of converting a firearm 1 such as a Glock pistol, the magazine 15 and the slide 2 are released from the firearm 1 and an original barrel and an original closing spring are removed. The replacement closing spring 5 is then fixed to the grip 7 and the slide 2 is connected to the grip 7 again, whereupon the feed ramp 9 is inserted through the ejecting opening 26 into the slide 2 and is arranged on the control cam 42. The feed ramp 9 could alternatively be fixed to the grip 7 prior to the connection of the slide 2 with the grip 7. The jacket 3 is then placed on the slide 2 in a next step, whereupon the housing 19 is connected by the shaft 12 to the grip 7. Finally, the cocking slide 20 is fixed in the cocking slide opening 22 by the cocking slide recess 21 and the replacement barrel 4 is rigidly connected to the grip 7 via the housing 19 connected to the firearm 1 by the threaded part 1 and the union nut 17, through which the feed ramp 9 is fixed to the control cam 42. The jacket 3 is also fixed to the slide 2 by the replacement barrel 4. The magazine 15 can now be reinserted and the firearm 1 can be loaded.

(35) The conversion set in accordance with the invention allows converting a firearm 1 of low mass and low range such as a Glock pistol in a very simple way by changing slide system and the length of a barrel to a carbine system which offers increased ranges of more than 100 m and improved intrinsic accuracy. Conversion can occur rapidly and reversibly, so that a change from a state with a tilting barrel to a state with an extended rigid replacement barrel 4 is possible in a simple way. Since several parts of the original firearm 1 such as the slide 2 and the grip 7 can be used and the additional components required for the conversion set can be produced easily by turning or milling for example, a production of a respective conversion set is possible with little effort.

(36) The production costs of a conversion set in accordance with the invention are only slightly over the production costs of conventional stock systems which are known under the trade names KPOS (Fab Defense) or TRIARII (Hera Arms). In contrast to known stock systems, the range and the intrinsic accuracy of a firearm 1 can also be improved with a conversion set in accordance with the invention.