Smith & Wesson Inc.

A grip strap is removably attachable to a grip of a firearm using a plunger mounted in the grip and biased by a mainspring which also biases a hammer strut of the firearm.

A bullpup shotgun which ejects shells from the bottom of its action has a reciprocable cover which, when in a closed position, overlies the breech end of the shotgun's barrel. When in an open position, the cover is in spaced relation to the barrel breech end, allowing access to the shotgun's action to clear an ammunition feed malfunction. The cover is mounted on a butt stock, and the butt stock may be movable relatively to the shotgun's receiver to effect motion of the cover between the open and closed positions.

A breech cover interlock coordinates the motion of a breech cover with the motion of the fore end of a pump action firearm. The interlock features an action bar which is connected to the fore end and has a catch which is engaged by a latch mounted with the cover on a movable buttstock. Engagement between the catch and the latch prevents the buttstock and cover from moving and thereby exposing the firearm's breech while the firearm's action is in battery as evidenced by the position of the fore end. Motion of the fore end out of battery disengages the latch and catch and permits the cover to be moved out of overlying position with the breech to permit access to the breech to clear a malfunction.

A shotgun is formed of sub-assemblies which include a lower receiver upon which a butt stock and an upper receiver are mounted. The lower receiver houses the fire control mechanism, the butt stock includes an ammunition elevator and a breech cover. Magazine tubes, ammunition cut-offs, a selector, a selector interrupter and the barrel are mounted on the upper receiver.

A reflex sight for a firearm has an optical element received within a receptacle of a housing. The housing is mounted on the firearm. Shoulders extending from a base of the optical element engage corresponding shoulders extending from the housing into the receptacle to position the optical element so that it intersects a line of sight parallel to but offset from the firing axis of the firearm. The optical element includes a collimating reflector which produces a virtual reticle visible when viewed along the line of sight when aiming the firearm. The optical element is captured within the receptacle between the firearm or a plate and the shoulders of the housing.

An extractor for a semiautomatic firearm has an elongated strap with a hook at one end and a projection at an opposite end. The hook engages the rim of a chambered cartridge and the projection is received within a recess in the slide. A notch in the strap engages a pin in the slide to retain the extractor. One end of a leg is attached to the strap near the hook, the opposite end of the leg engages the slide. The leg acts as a biasing spring to bias the hook into engagement with the cartridge.

A shotgun has right and left magazines from which ammunition may be fed to the action using a selector mounted on a movable fore-end chassis whose motion cycles the action. An interrupter prevents the selector from switching between magazines unless the action is in battery with the fore-end chassis fully forward toward the muzzle end of the shotgun. Respective right and left outer cut-offs on the magazines cooperate with an inner cut-off to ensure proper coordination of ammunition feed as the action is cycled by motion of the fore-end chassis. The outer cut-offs are also manually operable to permit removal of ammunition from the magazines without cycling the action.

A firearm sound suppressor and associated methods. The suppressor can include first and second firearm connectors at opposite ends of the suppressor for connecting to firearm mounts of different types. The suppressor can include symmetrical baffling and/or symmetrical gas flow passaging such that sound reduction performance of the suppressor is generally the same notwithstanding whether the first or second firearm connectors is used to connect the suppressor to the firearm. A protector can be used to protect the firearm connector that is not connected to the firearm.