FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to firearm accessories and tools, and more particularly, to a semiautomatic slide pin removal tool for pushing and removing a slide stop lever pins out from a lever pinhole provided on semiautomatic pistols for disassembling a slide assembly to facilitate cleaning and maintenance of the semiautomatic pistols.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Semiautomatic pistols are small compact weapons that are generally fabricated from a number of parts or assemblies that operate together to fire projectiles in rapid succession. Such semiautomatic pistols are often used for recreational shooting, personal safety, or for military purposes. Multiple parts including a slide assembly are assembled together and function to automatically load ammunition from a magazine, generate repetitive shooting, and eject bullet casings in one fluid, contiguous operation. The slide assembly typically includes a slide, and a slide stop, sometimes referred to as a stop release. The slide stop often comprises a lever that pivots via, a lever pin inserted within a designated lever pin hole provided on one side of many semiautomatic pistols. The lever pin is perpendicular to the body of the lever, and securely inserted within the lever pin hole spanning the width of the pistol. The slide includes an elongate carriage that generally extends along the top portion of a pistol and reciprocates during the operating cycle of the pistol. The slide generally houses the firing pin and extractor, and serves as a bolt carrier group. When a last round of ammunition has been fired, a pusher operates the slide stop forcing the lever to rotate about the lever pin to engage a notch provided in the slide to retain the slide in a locked, backed position, indicating to users that the last round of ammunition has been fired. Upon mounting a newly loaded magazine with ammunition into the magazine chamber of the pistol, users simply pivot the slide stop, or lever about the lever pin and out from the notch allowing the slide to move forward while loading a bullet from the magazine and into the firing chamber of the pistol.

Maintaining automatic pistols in good working order generally entails cleaning various parts of the pistol, or making any necessary repairs. Mechanical parts including the recoil assembly, trigger mechanism, and slide assembly must be disassembled to facilitate cleaning or maintenance. In taking apart the slide assembly, it is necessary to remove the slide stop from the pistol. In doing so, the lever pin must be removed from the lever pin hole. Because the distal end of the lever pin is generally flush with the body of the pistol, a tool is needed to push the lever pin completely out from the lever pin hole to remove the slide lock. The pin is retained firmly in the lever pinhole and requires that a lateral pushing force be applied to dislodge the pin from the lever pinhole.

Various tools, including handheld tools, have been developed to assist owners in removing slide locks from automatic pistols when disassembling parts. Conventional devices have included tools with shanks or rods that include pointed or rounded ends, or solid, flat ends. Other tools include pullers with pivoting jaws that are articulated for grasping and pulling the lever pin out from the lever pinhole. Such prior art tools provide various drawbacks that frustrate the intended purpose of removing the stop lock with ease and efficiency. For instance, most prior art tools require owners to use both hands when attempting to remove the lever pin where one hand is used to hold the automatic pistol while the other hand is used to operate the tool. Also, handheld tools having pointed, or solid planar ends that makes it difficult for users to properly engage the head of the lever pin, as the distal end or tip of such handheld tools often slides or slips off the head of the lever pin forcing individuals to continuously attempt to correctly align the tip of the handheld tool with the head of the lever pin with one hand while holding onto the pistol with the other hand thus making it cumbersome, frustrating and time consuming when removing the slide lock. Prior art does not provide a handheld tool for removing a lever pin from an automatic pistol that includes a receiver end particularly designed to center itself on the heads of lever pins while retaining position of the tool during use, and that permits users to use one hand to hold an automatic pistol while maneuvering use of the tool to remove lever pins while freeing use of the other hand. Prior art tools are deficient in providing a sturdy, abutting union between heads of slide stop lever pins, and a distal end of push tool during use resulting in an inefficient, time consuming process in removing slide stop lever pins from automatic pistols.

Accordingly, there is an established need for a solution to at least one of the aforementioned problems. There remains a need for a lever pin removal tool that includes a handle, and a tube including a distal end having a pin receiver adapted for steadily mating and engaging with heads of slide stop lever pins provided on automatic pistols, to efficiently and effectively remove such slide stop lever pins from automatic pistols. There also remains a need for a lever pin removal tool that permits removing slide stop lever pins from automatic pistols using one hand by firmly grasping onto an automatic pistol, and negotiating the pin removal tool with fingers of the same hand to easily remove slide stop lever pins while freeing use of the other hand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a lever pin removal tool that includes a handle member including a handle, a shank attached to the handle, and a stopper disposed at one end of the shank, and a tube extending perpendicular to, and outwards from, the stopper a predetermined length. The tube includes a hollow channel extending through the central axis of the tube, and a distal end including a pin receiver for readily engaging and mating with heads of slide stop lever pins to remove the stop lever pins out from a lever pin hole associated with a slide assembly of semiautomatic pistols. The pin receiver comprises differing embodiments including an inner bore having a concave configuration, an inner bore having a beveled or tapered configuration, and a peripheral edge of the hollow channel, and surrounding planar boundary or surface.

A first embodiment of the invention provides a pin removal tool operated by users in removing stop slide lever pins from semiautomatic pistols, said pin removal tool comprising a handle member including a handle having an outer surface opposite an inner surface, a tube attached perpendicular to, and extending outwards from, the inner surface, where the tube includes an outer tube surface, a hollow channel extending along a central axis of the tube beginning at a distal end of the tube and terminating at the handle member, and wherein the distal end includes a pin receiver readily engaging a head of one of the stop slide lever pins, where the pin receiver is defined by a peripheral opening of the hollow channel, and an area formed between the peripheral opening of the hollow channel, and the outer tube surface.

In one aspect, the handle member includes a round shank having one end attached to the inner surface of the handle, a round stopper attached to another end of the round shank opposite the one end, where the diameter of the round stopper is larger than the diameter of the round shank.

In one aspect, the proximate end of the tube is attached perpendicular to, and extends outwards from, one side of the stopper. In one embodiment, the tube comprises a length of 11/16 inches, an inner diameter of 7/64 inches, and an outer diameter of 9/64 inches.

In another aspect, the area includes a planar surface surrounding the peripheral opening of the hollow channel where the area includes a concave configuration forming a rounded peripheral edge, or includes a beveled configuration.

In one aspect, a proximate end of the tube is seated within an opening formed within the stopper, and the proximate end of the tube includes threads for engaging with threads provided within the opening.

In one aspect, the handle comprises a round geometric shape, and comprises a diameter that is 1 13/32 inches. The handle includes a circumferential edge having a width of at least ⅛ inch. In one embodiment, the outer surface of the handle comprises a convex formation.

These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the attached drawings and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments, which follow.

