Micro-Gyroscopes Being Studied for Shooting Sports

[Ed Hall]

The same mind that introduced the Hydraulic Trigger Mechanism last year is at work this time in the area of micro-machines; in particular, extremely small gyroscopes.

The principle:

As anyone who has ever played with a gyroscope knows, the high speed spinning of the flywheel can maintain an orientation within a certain plane, even against the force of gravity. Gyroscopic stabilization is already in use for larger weapons systems, but their size has kept them unusable for the small arms employed in competitive shooting. However, with the advent of micromotors and even nanomotors, what about using thousands of much smaller gyroscopes?. By combining more "flywheels" in different planes, the orientation in all directions can be maintained. This is the theory behind the new work being done to add tiny gyroscopes to the forends, stocks and grips of competition guns. Imagine bringing the arm up on target, initiating the gyros and moving the extremely stable sights to the center of the bull. No more wobble - no more tremor - no more angular error. Yes, there will still be some potential for parallel error, but parallel error is so insignificant, it won't matter, with how large the ten rings are currently. (I know, you're thinking that the Air Rifle ten ring is tiny, but remember that its effective size is more than twice the diameter of the pellet.) With a gun equipped with micromotors acting as tiny gyroscopes mounted in all the "furniture," just imagine the scores that can be produced. Remember the saying that if shooting 100s was easy, everyone would be doing it? Maybe that day is arriving.

The workings:

Thousands of micromotors, all placed in different planes, spin up to incredible speeds to provide the stabilizing forces of the much larger gyroscopes in use today. Each flywheel is suspended within magnetic bearings to reduce friction, so the power for the entire system is provided by a common Lithium "coin sized" cell. The battery connection will be performed by a microswitch within the grip or possibly a contact sensor on the trigger. When the shooter is ready to run the gyros, they simply activate the switch. Within 200 milliseconds, the micromotors have gained full speed and are controlling the orientation of the gun. With the orientation being fully stabilized, the recoil can be truly straight back, so multiple shots can be performed more quickly.

A simple "reversing current" is used to stop the micromotors so the gun can be placed on the table or ground when necessary. Otherwise, if the micromotors were allowed to spin down on their own, when the gun was set down, it would rest on the lowest point and still sit stable, pointing toward the area under the target until the gyros lost their effect, at which time the gun would gradually fall over.

Special note: Currently, this system would be totally unusable for Olympic Rapid Fire since the shooter would have to move the gun physically over to align with the next target, a distance equal to the center-to-center spacing of the targets. This is obviously much greater than the allotted firing point width, and the movement would be quite impossible within the time limits for even the eight second string. A microprocessor could be incorporated to adjust the lateral orientation following a shot, but the dynamics involved might preclude on-scene calibration of the system. The reversing current method isn't feasible due to trying to get spin down and spin up coordinated with target acquisition.

Will advancements like this and the Hydraulic Trigger become common place in our future world of competitions? Only time will tell.

Have a "Happy Day," and, as always, all comments are welcome...

Take Care,
Ed Hall

[Nev C]

Hmm, I wonder what the date is?

[Rutty]

Personally I like the variable iris foresight that can be adjusted by using any TV remote control. For those that find using the remote just too tiring, the Mk2 version features a fully automatic mode that adjusts inner and outer rings in response to changing light levels. 16 pre-programmed options are available in this mode and 4 choices of metering function.

Power supply is a handy, portable 12v heavy duty vehicle battery. Users are advised to ensure that they are well earthed before picking up the rifle.

Rutty

[peepsight]

Hi guys
I know it was April 1st but this gyroscope idea has been looked at for small arms and i guess it would give every body the chance to score a max. The ISSF would ban it.
In a similar vane, one German air gun manufacturer was looking some few years ago at the self pumping CA air rifle. This involved an electric powered pump that pumped a small air chamber up to the right pressure for each shot. The pump and battery were housed in the stock along with a tiny pressure gauge and on/off switch.

[Spencer]

...Special note: Currently, this system would be totally unusable for Olympic Rapid Fire since the shooter would have to move the gun physically over to align with the next target...Ed Hall

Ed,
you obviously missed the latest version of the news release.

The RFP version uses:
- an indexing barrel 'turret' that is programmed for the five targets, together with
- a programmed firing sequence (8, 6, 4 seconds) that only requires the shooter to trigger the first shot.

Spencer