Ammunition and explosive-charge making – Ammunition loading – Capping and uncapping
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-11
2001-07-17
Tudor, Harold J. (Department: 3641)
Ammunition and explosive-charge making
Ammunition loading
Capping and uncapping
C086S024000, C086S032000, C086S038000, C086S044000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06260463
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to ammunition reloading systems, and more specifically to a hand-held system, or tool, for safely and conveniently loading primers into ammunition cartridge cases.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Ammunition for firearms typically includes a bullet seated in a cartridge case. The case is a hollow cylinder with an open end sized to tightly hold the trailing edge of the bullet, and a socket, or base, end that receives a primer which contains a small amount of combustible material. When a firearm is discharged, a firing pin or hammer strikes the exposed end of the primer igniting the combustible material in the primer socket.
The primer ignites gunpowder inside the cartridge case to propel the bullet. The cartridge case remains intact after firing, with the spent primer wedged in the end of the case. The case may be discarded or reused.
Many firearm enthusiasts reload their ammunition to reduce cost, control quality of reloading, and to have the ability to customize ammunition. The ability to reload cartridge cases is particularly important to those who may fire numerous rounds during practice sessions. Reloading involves several steps, including removing the spent primer, reforming the case to a desired shape and size, and inserting a new primer into the empty primer socket. Devices have been developed in the past to perform all these functions, either sequentially or simultaneously on multiple casings.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,606 for example, discloses apparatus that removes the spent primer and pushes a replacement primer out of a disk-shaped holder to transfer the primer to the primer socket. The primers are in chambers aligned peripherally about an edge portion of the disk, and the disk is incrementally rotated to sequentially align target receptacles with a pusher pin that transfers the primer from the target receptacle to the primer socket.
The disk-shaped primer holder of the '606 patent provides a rigid structure that retains primers in an interference fit to minimize handling of the primers and improve safety. The disk may be removed and replaced when empty, however, it also is difficult to determine from the position of the disk how many of the primers have been unloaded because the disk is symmetric about its central rotation. The disk also inherently requires unused space toward the center of the disk that is unavailable for storing primers. Further, the '606 patent device is bench mounted, which does not provide the convenience and portability often desired which may be provided by a handheld tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,693,905 discloses bench mounted apparatus for advancing an elongate strip holding primers sequentially through the press for transferring primers from the strip to the cartridge case. Although the '
905
device does permit reloading of primers from a rectilinear strip, as opposed to the disk-shaped primer holder of the '606 patent, it still is disclosed in the context of a bench mounted unit which does not provide the convenience and portability of a hand-held unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,223 discloses a form of hand-held cartridge priming device. However, it relies on a reservoir of loosely held primers which must be fed one-by-one through a channel to a priming station to be loaded into the cartridge primer socket. Loose primers such as this have a variety of disadvantages. The '223 patent attempted to cure a safety problem by providing a safety guard which could separate the single primer to be loaded into a cartridge case from other primers held in the feed channel and reservoir.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved tool for inserting primers into ammunition cartridge cases, the tool being hand-held for convenience and portability and capable of using rectilinear priming holding strips.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a device that is easily and conveniently operated by a single hand of a user, such that gripping and releasing of a tool body and interconnected handle positions a primer in the primer holding strip in alignment with the primer socket of an ammunition cartridge, presses a primer from the primer holding strip into the primer socket, and upon release of the gripping pressure causes the primer plunger to retract and the primer holding strip to advance to position another primer in position to be loaded into the primer socket of a subsequent cartridge case.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a hand-held device that simply and efficiently reloads primers into spent cartridge cases.
Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel holder for receiving and holding the base of a cartridge case in a reloading process.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing objects are achieved by providing a hand-held tool for inserting a primer into an ammunition cartridge case having a primer socket. The tool includes a priming station having a holder that holds the cartridge case with its primer socket in a loading position. An elongate primer holding strip contains a plurality of longitudinally aligned primer receptacles, each holding a primer in an interference fit. An advancer incrementally longitudinally advances the elongate primer strip through the priming station sequentially to bring primer receptacles into a target position in the priming station. A punch, or plunger, member aligned with the receptacle in the target position then punches the primer out of the target receptacle and transfers the primer into the primer socket of a cartridge case occupying the adjacent loading position.
The punch member preferably includes a reciprocating pin that moves into and through the target receptacle to transfer the primer from the target receptacle to the primer socket. In a disclosed embodiment the advancer incrementally linearly advances the primer holder strip to align subsequent primers and subsequent target receptacles with a target position from which the primer is transferred to a target socket. The advancer is activated by moving a hand-gripped operating arm that reciprocates a sliding advancement member in a straight line along a straight track. Arms from the advancement member engage lateral projections along edges of the primer strip to incrementally move the strip in an advancing direction. The tool includes a body and an operating handle movable relative thereto, which are gripped between a user's fingers and the pad on the palm of the hand, such that the device may be operated by a user's single hand.
Being of a hand-held size, such that it may be held and operated by a single hand, it is conveniently maneuvered, operated and portable.
In a more detailed embodiment of the device, the tool includes retracting mechanism operable to retract the advancer to engage the primer holder strip and subsequently shift it in an advancing direction to place another primer in the target position. The mechanism for producing the retraction has a delay built in, such that retraction of the advancer is delayed until the plunger, or punch, member is advanced into the target position.
In a more detailed embodiment of the invention, the plunger comprises an elongate rod having a plunger head screwed thereon which has a multi-angular cross-sectional configuration which may be gripped by a wrench to attach and remove the plunger head from the rod without the need to remove the rod from the tool.
Further, the holder comprises a pair of opposed, laterally spaced shiftable gripper members having arcuate gripping faces and biasing mechanism yieldably biasing the gripping members toward each other to receive and hold the base of a cartridge case in the target position.
REFERENCES:
patent: 374482 (1887-12-01), Lee
patent: 3107575 (1963-10-01), Paul
patent: 3185019 (1965-05-01), Shoffstall
patent: 3224318 (1965-12-01), Bachhuber
patent: 3319511 (1967-05-01), McLean
patent: 3349663 (1967-10-01), Slee
patent: 3555959 (1971-01-01), Lee
patent: 3636812 (1972-01-01), Nuler
patent: 3896699 (1975-07-01), Cerro
patent: 3973465 (19
Brand Jerry D.
Koch Steven J.
Shields Steven R.
Smith Ronald L.
Blount, Inc.
Klarquist Sparkman Campbell & Leigh & Whinston, LLP
Tudor Harold J.
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