Gun magazine speed loader and methods

Abstract

A gun magazine speed loader that can load an entire magazine simply by pulling the magazines external follower in a downward motion. Rimmed cartridges are aligned nose down and side-by-side in a loading channel and the magazine and speed loader are then tipped up toward a vertical position with the magazine below the loader. By passing the stream of cartridges through an “articulator” that articulates the nose of the cartridge and feeds cartridges ‘rim-first’ and up through feed lips and into the magazine, the cartridges fill the magazine in a continuous stream, essentially at the speed of gravity-falling cartridges under control of the external follower. The articulator has no moving parts and operates with rimmed cartridges and with curved or low-rake angle magazines having an external follower.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A gun magazine speed loader for loading of a plurality of rimmed cartridges into a firearm magazine, the firearm magazine having an external follower, said speed loader comprising:
 a) a loading channel defined by parallel inside sidewalls and bottom surface, said loading channel having a first end with cartridge receiving slot superiorly disposed thereon, a long-axis extending the length of said loading channel, and an open terminus at a second end, wherein said open terminus is adapted for communicating with a mouth of a magazine when engaged thereto;   b) contralateral rails formed on said inside side walls, wherein said rails are dimensioned for supporting a plurality of rimmed cartridges nosedown, slideably pendant in single file between said contralateral rails;   further characterized by   c) a cartridge articulator disposed at said terminus of said loading channel, said cartridge articulator comprising a magazine receiving adaptor with bottom edge configured to align a magazine at an offset from said long axis of said loading channel, a cartridge discharge window defining feed lips on the superior aspect of said terminus, and a load ramp formed as an extension of said bottom surface on said long axis, said load ramp defining a stationary cam having a sloped face rising from the bottom surface of the long axis of the loading channel to abut the bottom edge of the magazine receiving adaptor, wherein said stationary cam is positioned so that a cartridge discharged from said terminus is angled rim-first and displaced up between said feed lips and said bottom edge into a magazine by the action of the nose of the cartridge striking against said stationary cam when passing through the cartridge discharge window under control of an external magazine follower.   
     
     
         2 . The speed loader of  claim 1 , wherein the vertical height of the cartridge discharge window is less then the vertical length of the cartridges, and said feed lips and load ramp are positioned to cooperatively direct said plurality of cartridges in single-file, angled rim-end first, along an offset path through said cartridge discharge window and into a magazine engaged in said magazine receiving adaptor, such that the plurality of cartridges flow as a continuous stream of cartridges under gravity when controlled by the action of an external magazine follower. 
     
     
         3 . The speed loader of  claim 1 , wherein said magazine receiving adaptor comprises a gate for blocking said cartridge discharge window when no magazine is present. 
     
     
         4 . The speed loader of  claim 1 , further comprising a push rod slideably aligned within said loading channel. 
     
     
         5 . The speed loader of  claim 1 , wherein said inside sidewalls of said channel are dimensioned to allow the nose of a cartridge to pass through but to capture a rim of a cartridge on said lateral rails therein, whereby said cartridges are slideably aligned in said channel, nose down, in single file. 
     
     
         6 . The speed loader of  claim 1 , further comprising a trough for receiving loose cartridges, said trough with sloping sides and bottom slot communicating with said channel. 
     
     
         7 . The speed loader of  claim 6 , further comprising a trough extension having a capacity for excess cartridges. 
     
     
         8 . The speed loader of  claim 1 , wherein said magazine receiving adaptor is detachably interchangeable, and is provided in a plurality of models for accepting different gun magazines. 
     
     
         9 . The speed loader of  claim 1 , further comprising a magazine engagement lock. 
     
     
         10 . The speed loader of  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is operative to load a plurality of rimmed cartridges into a curved magazine or a low-rake-angle magazine. 
     
     
         11 . The speed loader of  claim 10 , wherein said speed loader is dimensioned for rimmed rifle cartridges having a caliber selected from .22LR, 22 short, 22 LR, .17 Hornady Mach 2, .22 Winchester Magnum, 8×50R Lebel, 7.62×54R 7N1, 8×56R Steyr, .30 Army, .303 British, and 600 Nitro Express. 
     
     
         12 . The speed loader of  claim 10 , wherein said speed loader is dimensioned for rimmed pistol cartridges having a caliber selected from .22 LR, .22 Short, .25 ACP, .32 S&W Short, .32 Short Colt, .38 S&W, .38 Short Colt, .32 Long Colt, .32 S&W Long, .38/200 Mkllz, .45 Auto Rim, .455 Webley MkII, .44 S&W Russian, .32 H&R Magnum, .17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire, .38 Long Colt, .45 S&W Schofield, 8 mm Lebel (8×27.5R), .38 S&W Special, .44 S&W Special, .357 S&W Magnum, .41 Remington Magnum, .and 357 Maximum. 
     
     
         13 . A method for loading rimmed cartridges into a firearm magazine having an external follower, which comprises
 (a) aligning cartridges in a row, side-by-side, nose down, in a channel defined by parallel inside sidewalls, said sidewalls having opposing lateral rails dimensioned for slideably supporting the rimmed cartridges nosedown and pendantly therebetween; the channel having a first end with a cartridge receiving slot and a second end with a cartridge articulator;   (b) attaching an empty magazine to engage the cartridge articulator, the cartridge articulator comprising a magazine receiving adaptor disposed to align a magazine at a vertical offset from said loading channel, a cartridge discharge window defined by feed lips on the superior aspect of said terminus, wherein said cartridge discharge window is in communication with a mouth of a magazine, a load ramp formed by extending said bottom surface of said loading channel past said feed lips, said load ramp articulating upward according to said offset;   (c) gravity-pouring the cartridges from the loading channel, through the cartridge articulator, and into the magazine while using the external follower to control the flow of cartridges, thereby loading the magazine; and,   (d) dismounting a loaded magazine from the magazine receiving adaptor.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein step (c) comprises raising said first end of said body above a magazine attached at said second end so that gravity drives the flow of the cartridges according to the rate at which the external follower is drawn through the magazine. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the external follower is retracted at the magazine at a rate approaching a gravitational free-fall velocity of the cartridges. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein said steps (a) and (b) are performed in an interchangeable order, said magazine well adaptor having a gate for preventing spilling of cartridges when a magazine is not engaged to said magazine receiving adaptor. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising attaching a second empty cartridge and repeating steps (c) and (d). 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein step (a) comprises loading loose cartridges into a trough with ramped walls and bottom forming said slot, whereby cartridges fall nose down into said channel by a self-aligning process. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein step (a) comprises using a push rod to tamp cartridges together side by side in said channel before loading.