Device, method and arrangement to warm or cool a firearm

The purpose of the invention is to produce a device and a method to warm up or cool outer surfaces of a firearm to be touched or handled. Another feature in the present invention is related to an energy source to warm up or cool a firearm.

Most sport hunting seasons are conducted during cold weather. While shooting or hunting game in cold weather, shooters or hunters often need to remain hidden, quiet and nearly motionless in blinds or in stands or are often walking in open areas and are exposed to wind and cold.

Also during the hunting season there is occasionally a need to check a zeroing of the firearm, so that a point of impact of bullets, slugs or pellets are close enough to a line of sight. Consequently, a hunter in cold weather is confronted with the alternatives of wearing heavy gloves or shooting bare handed with cold, stiff fingers. Both alternatives will limit the hunters\' ability to operate the firearm safely and effectively. A hunter with heavily gloved or cold, numb fingers is more likely to misfire or leave a safety off when it is thought to be engaged. Accordingly, for reasons of safety and comfort, there exists a continuing need for a simple, reliable device that locally heats a selected portion of the firearm stock surface so that a hunter using the firearm can operate it more comfortably and effectively with a warm, reliable triggering hand.

Most hunting firearms are equipped with a stock, which is made traditionally of walnut, beech, maple, ebony, birch etc. There is also available firearms, in which the stock is of composite, plastic, fibreglass, rubber or something else related artificial material or a combination of previously mentioned ones, which is typically fed into a mold to produce a gunstock or a blank to be finished a one. There are also solutions in which the stock or part of it is coated with an insulating or comfortable material to prevent a direct contact of a cold surface of a firearm next to a hunter\'s hands or cheeks.

No matter whether the firearm stock is of natural or artificial material, it will feed cold to a hunter\'s wrists, palms, fingers or a cheek during any longer duration of hunt in cold circumstances. On the other hand, there are is also a need for hot conditions to cool down surfaces to be touched with a bare hand or skin.

A heated firearm stock is known to exist in the prior art. For example, Miller in U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,003 describes a firearm stock for a long firearm having a pistol grip. This specification teaches warming the pistol grip using electrical current which is conducted in to a volume below to an area to be warmed.

In order to increase the amount of energy available there is a possibility to increase the mass of batteries, which will affect the unwanted weight of the firearm.

Usually a point of balance is designed to in the area of receiver (in over/under or side by side shotguns to the proximity of a hinge pin, around which barrels are turned to open or close the receiver or action). This is done in order to get a specific feeling of the firearm for shooting, so called “between the hands”.

In order to support this feeling as well, the most weight of a firearm is usually located close to the receiver in order to decrease a moment of inertia to help handling and pointing the firearm.

Miller places the batteries inside the stock quite close to the buttplate, which will affect both the point of balance and the moment of inertia to point the firearm. To overcome the problem of point of balance can be compensated by decreasing the weight in the area of butt or by increasing the weight in forepart of the firearm, in barrels. Both these remedies will affect to the moment of inertia of the firearm.

In Miller\'s solution energy is transferred from the batteries to areas to be heated by a electrical circuit.

The invention relates to a stock for a firearm, and more particularly to such a stock which is adapted to be heated or cooled in handling portions of the stock. The invention is directed to improved stocks for long firearms such as rifles, shotguns and the like. While not intended to be so limited, the invention will be described in its application to a rifle or a shotgun. It will be understood that the basic teachings of the present invention can be applied to stocks for other types of firearms, like revolvers, pistols, sniper firearms, law enforcement firearms, military firearms etc.

The present invention relates to a device for heating a portion of the surface of a firearm stock and specifically pertains to warming the fingers of the shooting hand of a hunter in cold conditions to improve his or her comfort, and markmanship as well as to improve his or her ability to safely operate the trigger and safety mechanism of the firearm.

It is an objective of the invention to provide a lightweight gunstock with an excellent balance and ergonomics when combined with other parts of the firearm in order to build up a whole firearm, which fulfils requirements of easy and fast handling firearm with excellent pointability.

It is an other objective of the invention to provide a gunstock with a reliable and economic way to change the temperature of those parts of the stock to be in touch with a hunter\'s body, more specifically fingers, palms, wrists and a cheek.

A further objective of the invention to provide a gunstock, which is warmed or cooled in those parts to be touched by a human body and the warming or cooling method is robust to mechanical shocks, moisture and water.

These and other advantageous objectives are fulfilled by providing a thermal element that can be inserted into the stock of the firearm.

According to an aspect of the invention there is provided an aesthetic gunstock, which can be warmed or cooled without any significant difference in appearance to recognise it from a firearm that has not a capability to be warmed or cooled. If wanted, it is also possible to provide the gunstock with a visible mark or logo to show its capability to be warmed or cooled.

According to an aspect of the invention there is provided a gunstock, which can loaded with a separate thermal element.

According to an aspect of the invention there is provided a gunstock, which can be loaded with several thermal elements.