U.S. patent application number 11/056854 was filed with the patent office on 2006-08-17 for rifle scope mount improvement.
Invention is credited to James Milner Leatherwood.
Application Number | 20060179703 11/056854 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 36814161 |
Filed Date | 2006-08-17 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060179703 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Leatherwood; James Milner |
August 17, 2006 |
Rifle scope mount improvement
Abstract
A scope mounting system for the U.S. Rifle M-14 type rifle that
addresses the problems presented by the inconsistencies of
manufacture of both original rifles and the later civilian
production rifles and provides a very compact mount that permits
the use of the rifle's iron sights. The mount is divided into three
parts that allow adjustment of several dimensions to fit the
various rifles. The scope-mounting surface is configured for
pivotal movement about a front pivot located on the front bracket
and the rear block contains an adjustment mechanism to permit
precise windage alignment of the scope rail with the rifle
barrel.
Inventors: |
Leatherwood; James Milner;
(Lingleville, TX) |
Correspondence
Address: |
James M. Leatherwood
Box 140
Lingleville
TX
76461
US
|
Family ID: |
36814161 |
Appl. No.: |
11/056854 |
Filed: |
February 12, 2005 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
42/124 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F41G 11/003
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
042/124 |
International
Class: |
F41G 1/38 20060101
F41G001/38 |
Claims
1. In a scope mounting means for the U.S. M-14 type rifle, the
invention consists of three parts as follows: (1) a front bracket
containing attaching means to the rifle receiver at the front
mounting surface, means for adjusting alignment with the vertical
axis of the rifle and a pivotal attachment point, (2) a block
secured in the clip guide dovetail slot on the rifle receiver and
containing a pivotal attachment point and (3) a scope mounting rail
attached to both the front bracket and block at said pivotal
attachment points.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to telescopic sight
mounts.
[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art
[0004] Ever since the adoption of the U.S M-14 Rifle in about 1960,
numerous scope mounts have been designed for this rifle. The
Applicant was involved in designing a number of the mounts used by
the Army since 1960 including the ARTII scope mount as adopted by
the U.S. in 1981. Because the original mating surface on the rifle
is too limited in size and engagement surface, the clip guide
dovetail groove on the receiver has been used as a secondary
attachment surface. However the variations in manufacturing
tolerances of both M-14s and civilian copies such as the M-1A make
it impossible to have fixed dimensions to the mount attachment
surfaces that engage both the original mounting surface and the
clip guide slot.
[0005] Furthermore, variations in the receiver-barrel alignment on
the rifles mean that some adjustment in desirable to achievement
proper scope-rifle barrel alignment.
[0006] Prior art has approached the problem by using a fixed
bracket that attached to both the original mounting surface and/or
the clip guide slot. No good solution has previously been employed
to deal with the tolerance variations or the need to align the
scope with the rifle barrel.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The object of the present invention is to provide a mounting
system that adjusts for misalignment of the original mount surface
and the clip guide slot in three different axes.
[0008] Another object is to enable the user adjust the scope
alignment is surface for windage and elevation.
[0009] Still another object is to provide a scope-mounting surface
that allows the use of the iron sights when the scope is
dismounted.
[0010] Another object is to make the mount as compact as possible
so it does not impact the overall size of the rifle.
[0011] Another object is to reduce the harmonics generated in the
mount to reduce the tendency for the mount to loosen during
firing.
[0012] These and other objects will become apparent from the
following description and the accompanying drawings. For a better
understanding of this new and important improvement to M-14 type
rifle mounts, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings
and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated preferred
embodiments of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0013] FIG. 1 shows the mounting surfaces on the M-14 type
rifle.
[0014] FIG. 2 is a view of two main parts minus the mount rail.
[0015] FIG. 3 shows the engaging surface on the front mount
bracket.
[0016] FIG. 4 shows the complete assembly.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0017] FIG. 1 shows the scope mounting surface 1 and the clip guide
slot 2 on the side of the M-14 Rifle receiver. Hole 3 is threaded
to accept a securing bolt. Groove 4 extends along the bottom of the
mounting surface. Groove 5 is above the hole 3. These were designed
to be the optical sight mounting surfaces for the rifle. The
shallowness of grooves 4 and 5 and size of the threads in hole 3
make the mounting surface insufficient for heavy optical sights. To
add stability to a scope mount it was decided to use the slot 2
that was originally used to hold the clip loading block. As it is
impossible to clip load the rifle with a scope mounted on the rifle
it was redundant for this use and modified blocks with scope mount
attachment surfaces were placed in the dovetail slot 2. The problem
is that the dimensional relationship between slot 2 and the
mounting surface 1 had considerable variation, as they were never
originally intended to work together.
[0018] The present invention solves this problem by constructing
the mount of three separate pieces that allow the relationship
between the mount surfaces that engage surface 1 and slot 2 to be
changed and adjusted to fit each rifle.
[0019] As shown in FIG. 2, the mount consists of three major parts
bracket 6 block 13 and rail 20. Bracket 6 engages the original
mounting surface 1 on the M-14. Screw 7 engages the threaded hole
in the rifle receiver and holds the bracket 6 against the
receiver.
[0020] FIG. 3 shows the mounting surface of bracket 8. Rib 9 is
configured to engage groove 4 on mounting surface 1. There is no
rib to engage groove 5. Hole 10 through which screw 7 passed is
oversized and this allows bracket 6 to move backward or forward as
required in a plane parallel to the vertical plane of the
rifle.
[0021] Pad screws 11 and 12 as shown in FIG. 2 allow bracket 1 to
be adjusted to bring it parallel to the vertical plane of the
rifle.
[0022] Block 13 shown in FIG. 2 fits in slot 2 and is secured by
setscrews 14 and 15. Block 13 contains a threaded bushing 16 that
can be adjusted for position by screws 17 and 18 (not shown). The
variation in positioning for block 13 and bushing 16 allows
adjustment in a plane perpendicular to the vertical plane of the
rifle. So the mount is now adjustable in two mutually perpendicular
planes relative to the rifle's mounting surfaces. Also since
bracket 6 and block 13 are not permanently fixedly attached to each
other, they can also move relative to each other along vertical
axes that are parallel to the vertical plane of the rifle.
[0023] Block 13 and bracket 6 are connected by rail 20 as shown in
FIG. 4. To allow for relative movement in the vertical plane by
block 13 and bracket 6, shims are used between rail 20 and either
block 13 and bracket 6. (In non technical terms, bracket 6 and
block 13 can move back and forth, in and out and up and down
relative to the attaching surfaces on the rifle.)
[0024] Since rail 20 is connected to bracket 6 by screw 21 and to
bushing 16 by screw 22, bushing 16 can be moved left or right to
provide windage adjustment. Gross elevation adjustments can be made
by shimming between rail 20 and either block 13 or bracket 6. These
gross adjustments will bring the scope into sufficient alignment
with the barrel to allow zeroing by use of the scope's internal
adjustments.
[0025] Thusly bracket 6 and block 13 is adjustable in all three
orthogonal axes to accommodate rifle dimension variations and rail
20 is adjustable in two axes to achieve scope to barrel
alignment.
* * * * *