Discarding sabot munition

Claim 1

A discarding sabot munition which comprises: a subcaliber projectile having an ogive front end, a tail end and a tubularly shaped midsection, said midsection having a plurality of external concentric buttress grooves circumferentially disposed therein; segmented sabot means, for acting as a full caliber carrier for said subcaliber projectile, for efficiently obturating propellant gases during projectile launch, for transmitting only part of the spin imparted by gun rifling, for preventing inbore balloting during launch and for discarding swiftly and cleanly from said subcaliber projectile after launch, which includes; a plurality of saddle shaped undercut arcuate sabot segments peripherally positioned around the circumference of said tubularly shaped midsection of said projectile and circumambient to a longitudinal axis of said subcaliber projectile, each of said sabot segments having a tubular internally concentrically grooved surface therein meshing with said external concentric buttress grooves of said subcaliber projectile, each of said sabot section having a forward bourrelet end and an aft bourrelet end, said forward bourrelet end having a plurality of longitudinally peripherally positioned threaded bolt holes therein and a conically shaped section disposed on an inner surface of said forward bourrelet end, said aft bourrelet end of each sabot segment having an arcuate obturator groove circumferentially disposed therein, and an annular seal groove disposed in an aft face, said seal grooves forming a scoop area for said propellant gases, and a pair of seal holes communicating with said seal groove and said obturator groove by means of an elastomer passageway located therebetween; a slip ring fixedly disposed in said arcuate obturator grooves; an obturator band, rotatably disposed in said obturator groove of said aft bourrelet ends of said sabot segments, slidably fitting upon said slip ring; compliant seal means operatively disposed in said annular seal groove intermediate said sabot segments for preventing propellant gases from entering the space between said sabot segments and between said sabot segments and said projectile; and forward bourrelet flange means fixedly attached to a lip of said forward bourrelet end for releaseably holding said sabot segments together during launch and for releasing said sabot segments from said projectile after launch.