Quad Rail Rotation Device

Abstract

Rifles, such as the AR- 15 , can be equipped with four connected rectangular plates, referred to as a “Quad Rail.” The purpose of the quad rail is to accommodate shooter's accessories such as high powered scope, night or infrared scope, battery(ies), laser pointer, optical range finder, and single hand grip or a bi-pod. Once the shooter selects the accessory, he or she is stuck with it, since replacement of the accessory is time consuming. My invention improves the quad rail by allowing the shooter to rotate it under conditions in the field without any tools. Rotation in the field permits rapid deployment of the accessories and avoids the need for re-calibration. The shooter's accessories are all mounted on the quad rail, such that through rotation of the quad rail or series of quad rails, a different accessory or combination of accessories can be immediately utilized.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A quad rail rotation device, comprising:
 a quad rail which is pinned to a perforated tube, that can be slid over a muzzle of a rifle barrel to snuggly fit at an end nearest a rifle stock over a first ring,   where the first ring has at least two pre-drilled holes opposing each other, along the circumference of the first ring and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of a rifle barrel,   where a set of at least two pins are fixedly inserted through the perforated tube and into the first ring through the at least two holes to affix the perforated tube in place,   where the first ring has two ends, with an end nearest the rifle stock being threaded to mesh with a third ring,   where a second ring is inserted between the first and the third rings, and the second ring has a threaded end to pass through the third ring and connect to the rifle stock,   where the perforated tube at an end nearest a rifle muzzle is connected to a fourth ring with two ends, where one end is pinned into the perforated tube, and at an end nearest the rifle muzzle, it is keyway connected to a lock nut adapter which has two ends,   where on an end nearest the rifle muzzle, the lock nut adapter is pinned to the rifle barrel and on the other end is screwed into a lock nut,   where at least two shooter's accessory are removably attached to at least two different surfaces of the quad rail, and   where the quad rail can be rotated, by unscrewing the rifle stock from the second ring and by unscrewing the fourth ring to disengage the lock nut adapter from the barrel, turning the quad rail in either direction until the desired accessory is in position to be used by a shooter, and then re-screwing the rifle stock and the second ring together and re-screwing the fourth ring and lock nut adapter together.   
     
     
         2 . The device of claim one, where the quad rail of claim one, is now referred to as a first quad rail, and where a second quad rail is also rotatably mounted towards the muzzle end of the rifle and in front of the existing quad rail using a series of rings, so that the shooter's accessories can be used in combination. 
     
     
         3 . A quad rail rotation device, comprising:
 a quad rail which is pinned to a perforated tube, that can be slid over a muzzle of a rifle barrel to snuggly fit at an end nearest a rifle stock over a first ring,   where the first ring has four pre-drilled holes that are spaced 90° apart along the circumference of the first ring and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of a rifle barrel,   where a set of four pins are removably inserted through the perforated tube and into the first ring through the four holes to temporarily affix the perforated tube in place,   where the first ring has two ends, with the end nearest the rifle stock being threaded to mesh with a third ring,   where a second ring is inserted between the first ring and the third ring,   where a second ring has a threaded end to connect to the rifle stock,   where the perforated tube at an end nearest the rifle muzzle is secured by a lock nut adapter which has two ends, on an end nearest the rifle stock, the lock nut adapter is keyway connected to a fourth ring which is pinned into the perforated tube, and at an end nearest the rifle muzzle, the lock nut adapter is pinned to the rifle barrel on one end, and on the other end it is threaded into a lock nut, and   where at least two shooter's accessory are removably attached to different surfaces of the quad rail, so that the quad rail can be rotated by removing the four pins, turning the quad rail until the desired accessory is available for use, and then reinserting the four pins.