Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02461321 2004-03-18
HANDGUN
The present invention relates to a handgun comprising a
grip on whose front face when the handgun is in the in-
s use position the fingers of the user can rest.
A handgun of the type mentioned above is known from
German Laid Open Specification DE 195 05 829 A1. The
handgun described in the document has a grip which, on
the front face, provides three grip depressions for the
user's middle finger, ring finger and little finger to
rest on. A rear part, which is used for the user's palm
of the hand to rest on, is arranged on the rear face
when the handgun is in the in-use position. This rear
part can be replaced in the abovementioned prior art,
such that the grip can be matched to different
requirements or to different users.
So-called compact weapons have been offered and
demanded on the market for some time now. Normally,
compact weapons are physically small weapons. Compact
weapons are frequently variants of full-size weapons.
The user can therefore choose weapons of different
sizes which belong to the same product range. Compact
weapons are preferably carried concealed and are
smaller in size than normal handguns, such as
traditional military pistols. In particular, a compact
weapon such as this has a shorter barrel, a shorter
breach and a grip with a shorter height. The user can
grip a shorter grip such as this with only two fingers
rather than with three fingers. For this reason,
compact weapons such as these cannot be held
sufficiently well, so that the hit probability is
adversely affected. Furthermore, in the case of known
compact weapons, smaller magazines are used, which are
specifically matched to the size of the grip and can
accordingly hold fewer cartridges.
17/03!04 1:42 PM DOCSTOR: 740129\1
CA 02461321 2004-03-18
-2-
The problem on which the present invention is based is
to provide a handgun of the type mentioned initially
which a user can grip better.
According to the invention, this is achieved in that
the handgun has an extension piece which can lengthen
the grip downwards when the handgun is in the in-use
position. Particularly in the case of the compact
weapons mentioned above, this may be regarded as a
major advantage because this allows the comparatively
short grip on compact weapons to be lengthened such
that the user can grip the handgun more securely.
A handgun according to the invention can accordingly be
designed as a compact weapon, and can have a height of
less than 130 mm, in particular a height of about
110 mm, in the in-use position. This height of about
110 mm can be lengthened considerably by the extension
piece.
According to the invention, the handgun may have a
magazine body which can be pushed into the grip from
underneath when the handgun is in the in-use position.
The additional extension piece, which may be arranged
on the lower face of the grip, makes it possible to use
magazine bodies for a handgun according to the
invention which are normally used only for normal
pistols and which cannot be optimally used for the
compact weapons that are being marketed. For the user,
it is obvious to use magazines from full-size weapons
in the same product range. However, full-size magazines
project beyond the short grip of the compact weapons
and irritate the user. It appears as if the magazine
has not been inserted completely into the grip and is
accidentally slipping. Furthermore, the magazine chute
is not closed, so that there is a risk of dirt entering
it. A handgun according to the invention thus makes it
CA 02461321 2004-03-18
-3-
possible to use commercially available magazines with a
considerably larger number of cartridges despite being
designed as a compact weapon.
As an alternative to the design of the handgun as a
pistol, the handgun may also be a revolver or the like.
According to one preferred embodiment of the present
invention, the extension piece can be connected to the
grip. The extension piece and the grip may be
connected, for example, by being hooked in on one side,
by being pinned in or being latched in on one face and
being pinned in or latched in on the opposite face, or
by being pushed onto a guide, or by adhesive bonding,
by a bayonet fitting or by latching. In particular, of
the connection methods mentioned above, those which are
detachable offer the capability to lengthen the grip by
the extension piece when required and to remove the
extension piece from the grip again, for example in
order to carry the compact weapon in a concealed
manner.
According to one alternative embodiment of the present
invention, the extension piece can be connected to the
magazine body such that the grip is extended by the
extension piece by pushing the magazine body into the
grip. For this purpose, the extension piece may, for
example, be in the form of a sleeve and may be pushed
onto the magazine body such that the extension piece
rests on the upper face of a magazine shoe which is
fitted to the lower face of the magazine body.
Connecting the extension piece to the grip by pushing
the magazine body in offers the advantage that no
additional process step is required to connect the grip
and the extension piece to one another.
According to the invention, it is possible to provide
for the grip to have two grip depressions for the
CA 02461321 2004-03-18
_4_
user's middle finger and ring finger on its front face
when the handgun is in the in-use position. According
to the invention, it is also possible to provide for
the extension piece to have a grip depression, which
can be used in particular for the user's little finger
to rest on, on its front face when the handgun is in
the in-use position. In this way, the connection of the
grip and extension piece provides the user with a
number of grip depressions corresponding to
commercially available large handguns, so that the
handgun can be gripped securely by the person firing
it.
It is also possible to provide for the grip and the
extension piece to have rear parts on their rear face
when the handgun is in the in-use position. The
connection of the grip to the extension piece thus also
lengthens the rear part of the grip so as to provide an
adequately large contact area for the palm of the hand.
The extension piece advantageously lengthens the height
of the grip of the handgun which can be used by the
user by about 1/4 to 1/2 of the height of the grip, in
particular by about 1/3 of the height of the grip.
Lengthening it by about 1/3 of the height of the grip
thus turns a grip for a compact weapon into a grip of a
normal handgun which can be gripped by the user without
any problems.
Further features and advantages of the present
invention will become clear from the following
description of preferred exemplary embodiments and with
reference to the attached figures, in which:
Figure 1 shows a schematic exploded view of a first
embodiment of a handgun according to the
invention;
CA 02461321 2004-03-18
-5-
Figure 2 shows a schematic side view of the handgun as
shown in Figure 1, with an extension piece
fitted and magazine body that has not been
pushed in;
Figure 3 shows a schematic side view of a further
embodiment of a gun according to the
invention with a magazine body which has not
been pushed in; and
Figure 4 shows a side view of the gun as shown in
Figure 3 with the magazine body pushed in.
A handgun according to the invention, as is shown in
Figure 1 to Figure 4, has a grip 1 which is arranged
behind a trigger (not shown) in the firing direction.
On its front face in the in-use position, the grip 1
has two grip depressions 2, 3 for a user's middle
finger and ring finger. On its rear part when the
handgun is in the in-use position, the grip 1 also has
a rear part 4 for the palm of the user's hand to rest
on.
The handgun which is shown in Figure 1 to Figure 4 is,
in particular, in the form of a so-called compact
weapon, which has smaller dimensions than normal
handguns, such as traditional military pistols. For
example, a compact weapon such as this may have a
length L (see Figure 1) of less than 180 mm, in
particular a length L of about 169 mm. Furthermore, a
compact weapon such as this may have a height H (in
this context, see Figure 1) of less than 130 mm, in
particular of about 110 mm. Alternatively, however, a
handgun according to the invention may also be a larger
handgun.
The embodiment of a handgun according to the invention
as shown in Figures 1 to 4 is in the form of a pistol,
CA 02461321 2004-03-18
-6-
in particular a self-defense pistol with a magazine
body 5, which can be pushed into a corresponding recess
in the grip 1. Alternatively, a handgun according to
the invention may also be in the form of a revolver or
the like.
The embodiment of a handgun according to the invention
as shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 also has an extension
piece 6, which can be fitted to the lower face of the
grip 1. When an extension piece 6 (in this context, see
Figure 2) is fitted to the lower face of the grip, the
grip 1 is considerably longer than when no extension
piece is fitted, for example being lengthened by about
1/5 to 1/3 of its length. Particularly on its front
face when the handgun is in the in-use position, the
extension piece 6 has a grip depression 7, and has a
rear part 8 on its rear face when the handgun is in the
in-use position. In the state when the extension piece
6 is connected to the grip 1, the grip depression 7 may
be used for the user's little finger to rest on, so
that the user can grip the handgun according to the
invention considerably more securely. Furthermore, the
contact surface for the palm of the hand is
considerably enlarged by the additional rear part 8 (in
this context, see Figure 2). The rear part 8 may also
be shaped such that the rear part 4 is at the same time
a component of the extension piece 6.
The extension piece 6 may be connected to the grip 1 in
various ways. For example, it is possible for the
extension piece 6 to be attached with the aid of
bayonet fitting, or to be hooked-in, latched-in or
pinned on one face, for example the front face, and to
be latched to the other face, for example the rear
face, or to be attached by means of a pin. Furthermore,
it is also possible for the extension piece 6 to be
pushed onto an appropriate guide on the grip 1, for
example onto a dovetail guide or similar guide. In this
CA 02461321 2004-03-18
_'
case, in particular, it is possible for the extension
piece 6 to be fixed in its final position on the grip 1
by latching. It is also possible for the extension
piece 6 to be adhesively bonded to the grip 1. In
addition, it is possible to provide a latching
connection between the extension piece 6 and the grip
1.
The lower part of the front face of the extension piece
6 when the handgun is in the in-use position may be
shaped such that, when the magazine body 5 is inserted,
it merges into the front part of a magazine shoe 9
which is fitted to the lower face of the magazine body
5 (in this context, see Figure 4).
In the embodiment of a handgun according to the
invention illustrated in Figure 3 and Figure 4, the
extension piece 6 cannot be connected directly to the
grip 1, but can be fitted to the magazine body 5. For
this purpose, the extension piece 6 is, for example, in
the form of a sleeve which can be pushed from above
(see Figure 3) onto the magazine body 5 and, in its
final position, rests on the upper face of the magazine
shoe 9. Insertion of the magazine body 5 into the grip
1 provides the user with a grip extended according to
the invention in the final position, as shown in
Figure 4, that is to say when the magazine body 5 is in
the completely inserted position.
A handgun according to the invention and in the form of
a compact weapon offers the advantage that the
extension piece 6 allows magazines and magazine bodies
5 which are designed for considerably larger weapons
than commercially available compact weapons to be used
with a compact weapon such as this.
