Sub-Caliber Trainer Round

In the use of shoulder-fired rockets there is a need for an inexpensive sub-caliber trainer round that can be used by troops that are being trained to use the shoulder-fired rockets. These trainer rounds need to be capable of being miniature in size relative to the actual rockets that are launched at targets and these small trainer rounds need to have the capability of being ballistically matched with the ballistics of an actual tactical round.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a miniature trainer round.

Another object of this invention is to provide a trainer round that can be ballistically matched to that of a tactical round.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a trainer round that can be produced cheaply.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a trainer round that has means for visually indicating the impact point of the trainer round relative to a target.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will be obvious to those skilled in this art.

In accordance with this invention, a sub-caliber trainer round is provided that includes an elongated cylindrical housing with a primer charge at one end and a weighted unitary projectile slidably mounted in a tubular portion of said housing with powder mounted between the projectile and the primer for producing propelling means for propelling said projectile out of said housing. The projectile also has a marking means at a front end thereof for marking the position of impact of the projectile with a target .

FIG. 1 is an end view of a sub-caliber trainer round in accordance with this invention,

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along line 2--2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a projectile.

Referring now to the drawings, training round 10 in accordance with this invention includes a cylindrical shell housing 12 that is open at one end and has a primer charge 14 mounted at the other end as illustrated. Primer 14 can be that such as used in a conventional shotgun shell. Casing 12 can be made of plastic materials or other similar materials that are used in the art for this purpose.

A projectile 16 is made with a housing structure 18 that is made of an appropriate support material that can be a plastic material such as polyethylene. Structure 18 includes a rear cup-like piston portion 20 that has a cup-shape 22 with piston portion 20 forming with the closed end of shell 12 a chamber which has black powder 24 therein. Strip sections 26 innerconnect an intermediate portion as illustrated and a front section 28 defines a chamber or chambers for having the appropriate weight for the projectile mounted therein. This appropriate weight can be pellets 30 of lead or other appropriate material that are bonded together with an appropriate bonding material 31, and a securing means 32 is mounted as illustrated so that the bonding material will securely bond the pellets in place inside the chamber of front section 28. Front section 28 also has a cylindrical portion 34 for supporting ball 36. Ball 36 or other convenient type container has a marking substance 38 therein such as paint. Ball 36 is bonded in place relative to the end cylindrical structure 34 and relative to section 28 to secure the projectile together as one unit. The weight of projectile 16 is such that the center of gravity of the projectile is in front of the center of pressure of projectile 16. Projectile 16 is slidably mounted into the inner surface 40 of housing 12 to form a sub-caliber trainer round that can be mounted in a barrel for shooting a projectile of this type.

In operation, with projectile 16 mounted in housing 12 with the appropriate amount of black powder 24 mounted in the shell as illustrated and with the proper weight for projectile 16, the tragectory and velocity of projectile 16 can be matched to that of an actual round that would normally be launched from a rocket launcher such as a shoulder fired rocket launcher weapon. Shell 10 is designed to be fired from a conventional gun barrel that is mounted inside a conventional shoulder fired rocket launcher to enable shell 10 to act as a trainer round that is ballistically matched to have the same initial velocity and trajectory of an actual tactical round that would normally be launched from the shoulder fired launcher. When it is desired to fire shell 10, the plunger of the gun would be caused to strike primer round 14 to cause black powder 24 to be exploded and expell projectile 16 from cylindrical section 12. Projectile 16 will then be propelled at a particularly desired velocity and at the desired tragectory toward a target and will serve as a training round for a soldier that is training to use a shoulder fired weapon. Ball 36 with appropriate marking means such as paint therein will burst and mark the impact point of projectile 16 with a desired target. The noise and recoil associated with firing a trainer round contained inside a rocket launcher completes the training scenario. The trainee has then experienced the firing of a trainer round which is equivalent to experiencing that of an actual tactical missile. However, by using the trainer round rather than an actual tactical missile, the cost and danger to the trainee is greatly reduced. It will be appreciated that a typical round as a trainee round can reasonably be produced for about one to two dollars.

The ballisticially matched training round or projectile 16 can also be launched from a barrel using compressed air. This further reduces the training cost if a large number of firings are necessary. In this arrangement, an air gun would replace the barrel of the sub-caliber that would be mounted in the launcher tube of the shoulder fired rocket launcher.

If desired, projectile 16 could have a tracer pellet incorporated into the projectile for additional realism. The tracer pellet would give a continuous visual track to the target and paint-filled ball 36 at the front portion of the projectile would give a record on the target itself for scoring and evaluation.