Dual Sight Attachment For A Gun

Abstract

A dual sight attachment for a gun including a body member rotatably supported on the gun barrel enabling either of two sights to be brought into operative disposition.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to firearms and more particularly, to a dual sight attachment for a rifle or other gun.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Telescopic sights have come into wide use for rifles since they allow for a considerable magnification of the target. However, some difficulties are experienced by hunters in locating the target in the relatively small field of vision over which the telescopic sight extends. On the other hand, conventional open sights allow the hunter to utilize his peripheral vision to bring the gun into the approximate target position but, in turn, are subject to the disadvantage of providing no magnification in the sighting of the generally located target.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

Accordingly, it is the general objective of the present invention to provide a dual sight attachment for a rifle or other gun which allows the alternate use of two sight units, one preferably in the form of an open sight allowing the initial general localizing of the target and a second sight unit of the telescopic variety enabling a final magnified precision sighting of the located target, the entire switching from one sight unit to the other necessitating no shifting of the eye position of the hunter.

In summary, such objective is achieved by mounting a body member for restricted rotation on the barrel of the gun with one sight unit being carried by the body member at one circumferential position and a second sight unit at a second circumferential position so that when the body member is rotated on the barrel to a first position, one sight is brought into alignment with the eye of the hunter whereas but a slight rotation of the member enables a quick change to the other sight. The body member is mounted by brackets directly on the gun barrel thus assuring precise alignment of the body member with the gun barrel and preferably the brackets are provided with apertures enabling the hunter to view the existing sights on the gun barrel so as to establish essentially parallel relationship between the existing sights and the dual gun sights of the attachment. Both of the sight units on the body member are disposed at equal radial distances from the axis of rotation so that once a hunter has sighted a target with one of the sight units, the other can be brought into operative sighting disposition by the rotation of the body member and without necessitating any change in the eye position of the hunter. Thus, the operation can be done quickly and effectively and, for example, if one sight unit constitutes an open sight, this can be initially used to bring the target into the line of vision and the second unit, preferably in the form of a telescopic sight, can then be quickly switched into position to give precision of target sighting prior to the actual firing.

To assure steadiness of the hunter's head and eye position during such action, a cheek rest is preferably mounted on the gun in an adjustable disposition so that the hunter's head and eye position will remain steady during the switching from one sight unit to the other. Furthermore to assure rapidity of change from one sight unit to the other, stop means are employed to enable either of the sights to be brought quickly and accurately into sight disposition.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The stated objective of the invention and the manner in which it is achieved as summarized hereinabove will be more readily understood by a perusal of the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiment of the invention shown in the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a rifle having the dual sight attachment of the present invention attached thereto,

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view taken from the left of FIG. 1 illustrating one sight unit in operative position,

FIG. 3 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 but showing the second sight unit brought into operative position, and

FIG. 4 is an end view from the right hand end of FIG. 1 showing the operative and inoperative dispositions of a cheek rest.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

As shown in the drawing, the dual sight attachment is shown in the operative attached disposition on a rifle of generally standard design including an elongated barrel B attached to a stock S incorporating a trigger T and other operating mechanisms which will not be described in detail since they form no part of the present invention. In fact, the dual sight attachment of the present invention is intended to be readily attached to rifles of various types with substantially no modification in the rifle itself. Furthermore, with but slight changes in dimensions, the attachment can be secured to other rifles or to other hand guns and no limitation on its application is therefore to be implied.

The major portion of the attachment includes a body member 10 arranged for restricted rotatable mounting on the barrel B of the gun and preferably, for this purpose, such body member 10 includes a pair of end brackets 12 in the form of generally triangularly shaped plates which include aligned apertures containing bushings 14 of a size to closely and rotatably encompass the gun barrel B adjacent its opposite extremities with some frictional resistance to rotation requiring a definite manual push to effect a change in rotative disposition. It is quite clear that by a mere change of the bushing position and dimensions, the unit can be attached to gun barrels of different diameters.

Preferably, each of the brackets 12 includes an additional aperture 16 which is disposed in alignment with the existing gun sights on the barrel thus providing for alignment of the entire body member 10 thereon. Attached to the brackets 12 is a generally tubular member 18 of sheet aluminum which is bent to conform to the generally triangular outline of the brackets 12 and encompasses the barrel B throughout its entire length. Preferably, to avoid accumulation of heat within the body member during firing of the gun, the aluminum sheet is provided with a plurality of apertures 20, thus to allow the free ingress and egress of environmental air.

A pair of sight units 22, 24 are mounted on the exterior of the tubular member 18, and as specifically shown, one of the sight units 22 includes aligned front and rear open sights of generally standard configuration and the second sight unit 24 constitutes a telescopic sight also secured to the exterior of the tubular member 18 but at a circumferentially displaced position relative to the axis of rotation of the body member 10. The aligned open sights 22 and the center of the telescopic sight 24 are disposed at radially equal dispositions from the axis of rotation so that simple manual turning of the body member 10 in one direction will bring the open sights 22 into the operative disposition, as shown in FIG. 2, or in the opposite clockwise direction from the position shown in FIG. 2 will bring the telescopic sight 24 into the operative disposition shown in FIG. 3.

To enable rapidity of the shifting from one sight unit to the other, stop means in the form of a simple metal block 29 is attached to the barrel B inwardly of the tubular member 18 so that its opposite ends engage the inner surfaces of the tubular member when either the FIG. 2 or FIG. 3 operative positions are attained.

A cheek rest 26 is mounted on the gun stock to enable alignment of the hunter's eye with the described sight units and preferably includes a plastic sheet which, in its operative full line disposition as shown in FIG. 4 extends upwardly from a pivoted support 28 attached adjustably to the stock S by a slotted connection 30 and curves inwardly over the stock to enable the hunter to comfortably and properly rest his cheek thereon. A small spring 32 normally holds the cheek rest 26 in its upper operative disposition. The slotted connection 30 enables adjustment of the cheek rest 26 until the hunter's eye is brought into alignment with the operative sight unit 22 or 24. When the cheek rest 26 is not to be used, it can be pivoted against the action of the spring 22 from the full line disposition as shown in FIG. 4 to the lowered phantom line position enabling utilization of the rifle in its normal fashion.

Quite obviously, many modifications in the structures specifically described can be envisioned without departing from the spirit of the invention and the foregoing description of one particular embodiment is accordingly to be considered as purely exemplary and not in a limiting sense and the actual scope of the invention is to be indicated by reference to the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. Dual sight attachment for a gun having a barrel with sights thereon which comprises,

a body member adapted for rotatable mounting on the gun barrel and having aligned openings at its opposite extremities exposing existent sights on the barrel,

a first sight unit mounted on said body member at one position relative to the axis of rotation of said body member, and

a second sight unit mounted on said body member at a second position circumferentially displaced relative to said first sight unit whereby rotation of said body member is capable of bringing one of said first and second sight units into operative disposition.

2. Dual sight attachment for a gun according to claim 1 wherein,

said body member is rotatably mounted on the gun barrel at positions adjacent opposite extremities thereof.

3. Dual sight attachment for gun according to claim 1 wherein, said body member includes an elongated section of bent sheet material surrounding the barrel and having a plurality of apertures therein.