Air gun with barrel alignment wedge
An air gun and methods of manufacture are provided. The air gun includes a barrel block pivotally attached to a compression fork. The barrel block includes two lateral wedges, one extending from each side of the barrel block. The wedges interact with complementary surfaces on the compression fork. This interaction reduces both lateral and vertical movement of the barrel resulting in greater accuracy and reduced need for re-sighting the air gun.
1. A break barrel air gun comprising:
a barrel block attached to a barrel, the barrel block having two opposed substantially vertical sides, each side including a wedge extending laterally outwardly; and
a compression fork pivotally attached to the barrel block, the compression fork including two inclined shelves each having upper surfaces configured to contact lower surfaces of the wedges when the air gun is in a closed configuration.
2. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the lower surfaces of the wedges extend laterally at an angle between 90° and 180° from the vertical sides of the barrel block.
3. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the lower surfaces of the wedges extend laterally at an angle greater than 110° from the vertical sides of the barrel block.
4. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the lower surfaces of the wedges and the upper surfaces of the inclined shelves are planar.
5. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the surface area of a wedge in contact with an inclined shelf is greater than 0.25 cm 2 .
6. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the length of a wedge is greater than 10 mm.
7. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the wedges are formed on an upper surface of the barrel block.
8. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the wedges are formed integrally into the barrel block.
9. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the compression fork is attached to a compression tube so that the compression tube, compression fork, barrel block, and barrel are in fluid communication with one another.
10. The air gun of claim 9 , wherein the wedges are in contact with the inclined shelves to maintain at least one of horizontal alignment and vertical alignment of the barrel with the compression tube when the air gun is in a ready to fire position.
11. The air gun of claim 9 further comprising a stock connected to the compression fork and a scope mounted on the compression tube.
12. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the wedges include a triangular cross-sectional shape.
13. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the wedges are one of a continuous plane or a plurality of interrupted co-planar segments.
14. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the lower surfaces of the wedges are curved surfaces configured to contact upper curved surfaces of the inclined shelves.
15. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the wedges include a length to width ratio of greater than 2:1.
16. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the barrel block further includes a detent configured to maintain the wedges of the barrel block in contact with the inclined shelves of the compression fork.
17. The air gun of claim 1 , wherein the compression fork includes a pair of arms on which the inclined shelves are disposed, the inclined shelves extending downwardly toward an inside surface of each arm.
18. A method of making an air gun, the method comprising:
joining a barrel block to a compression fork so that wedges disposed on the barrel block are in contact with inclined shelves disposed on the compression fork;
match drilling a pivot pin hole through the compression fork and the barrel block; and
pivotally securing the compression fork to the barrel block by passing a pivot pin through the pivot pin hole.
19. The method of claim 18 further comprising pressing a breech face of the barrel block against a corresponding face of the compression fork prior to drilling.
20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the barrel block is joined with the compression fork so that the barrel block and compression fork are placed together in a firing mode configuration.