The present invention pertains to apparatus for controlled combustion in a gun, and more particularly, to apparatus for providing a controlled increase in muzzle velocity of a projectile while reducing the peak value of pressure inside a gun barrel.
Guns traditionally include an elongated barrel having a central bore closed at a breech end and having a projectile which is moved through the bore by heated gasses from a burning powder or liquid fired by an igniter. A burning powder produces a relatively high pressure against the projectile when the powder is initially ignited, with the pressure decreasing as the projectile moves along the gun barrel. Liquid fuel can be used to provide a more even pressure as the projectile moves along the gun barrel, but requires a critical fuel chamber size, bore diameter and manner of ignition of the fuel.