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upright=1.35, An M60_machine_gun_belt_loaded_with_7.62×51mm_NATO_cartridges,_aboard_a_U.S._Navy.html" ;"title="7.62×51mm_NATO.html" ;"title="M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO">M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges, aboard a U.S. Navy">7.62×51mm_NATO.html" ;"title="M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO">M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges, aboard a U.S. Navy patrol craft An ammunition belt is a firearm device used to package and feed cartridge (firearms), cartridges, typically for rapid-firing automatic weapons such as machine guns. Belt-fed systems minimize the proportional weight of the
ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
apparatus to the entire weapon system, and allow high rates of continuous fire without needing frequent
magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
changes. The capacity of belts and associated belt containers is typically a function of weight and bulk, and their size is limited by
caliber In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge (firearms) , bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the f ...
and the combined portability of the weapon and ammunition. The most common ammo capacity typically carried on a man-portable weapon system vary from 50 to 300 rounds.


Variants


Feed strip

8mm Lebel feed strip on an M1914 Hotchkiss gun. The "feed strip" (also referred to as an "ammo strip" or "feed tray") was initially designed in 1895, based on initial designs by Captain Baron Adolf Odkolek von Ujezda of
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
,
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. A feed strip is a simple rigid metal (usually steel or brass) tray with typically 24 to 30 cartridges crimped together into a row. The feed strip is loaded into the side of the gun and as the cartridges are stripped off and fired from the weapon, the tray gradually moves to the other side until it falls out when it is empty, whereupon a new one is inserted. In this regard, it is similar to an ''En-bloc'' clip. The "feed strip" loading system was pioneered by the Hotchkiss machine gun designs, most notably the
Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun The Mle 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun chambered for the 8mm Lebel cartridge became the standard machine gun of the French Army during the latter half of World War I. It was manufactured by the French arms company Hotchkiss et Cie, which had been es ...
. The Hotchkiss guns were used by major militaries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and the French throughout the duration of the first World War and slightly afterwards. However, the feed strip mechanisms lived on through other militaries, most notably the Italian-designed
Breda M37 The Mitragliatrice Breda calibro 8 modello 37 (commonly known as the Breda mod. 37 or simply Breda 37) was an Italian Medium machine gun produced by Breda and adopted in 1937 by the Royal Italian Army. It was the standard heavy machine gun for t ...
and the Japanese-designed Type 3 and Type 92 machine guns, which were used up until the end of the Second World War.


Articulated "strip"

Though the feed strips were replaced by most militaries by machine guns using either belts or magazines, the Hotchkiss feed strip design actually pioneered an early 50-round belt mechanism, made up of articulated pieces of metal folded together, resembling feed strips. The articulated Hotchkiss belt design also dates back to 1896.


Disintegrating

An M27 disintegrating belt loaded with 5.56×45mm NATO M855 Ball and M856 tracer ammunition being fed into an M249 light machine gun Many modern ammunition belts use disintegrating links. Disintegrating links retain a single round and are articulated with the round ahead of it in the belt. When the round ahead is stripped from the belt and fed into the feed system or chamber, the link holding it is ejected and the link holding the following round is disarticulated. Many disintegrating belt designs allow two pieces of belt to be connected by a cartridge, it applies even to non-disintegrating belts. When done by assistant gunner in combat, linking a new belt to the end of the belt already being fed in the weapon allows for continuous fire without the need to open the feed tray and reload.


Non-disintegrating

left, upMethod of joining German non-disintegrating metallic-link ammunition machine gun belts This type of belt consists of a design that can be reused, as it does not fall apart during function, similar to a feed strip. This is found only on a few types of machine guns, such as the Soviet
DShK The DShK 1938 ( Cyrillic: ДШК, for russian: Дегтярёва-Шпагина Крупнокалиберный, Degtyaryova-Shpagina Krupnokaliberny, links=no, "Degtyaryov-Shpagin large-calibre") is a Soviet heavy machine gun with a V-shaped bu ...
,
RPD RPD may refer to: People * Robert Prentiss Daniel, American psychologist * Rahul Peter Das, German professor * Rajendra Prasad Das, Indian archaeologist * Royal Page Davidson, American scholar * Richard Paul Davies, English priest * Richard Pe ...
, PK, the Russian
RPL-20 The RPL-20 is a prototype light machine gun developed by Kalashnikov Concern for the Russian Military. Though designed in response to feedback following the purchase and testing of the company's magazine-fed RPK-16 light machine gun, the RPL-20 i ...
,
PKP Pecheneg The PKP Pecheneg (Pulemyot Kalashnikova Pekhotny "Pecheneg", russian: Печенег) is a Russian 7.62×54mmR general-purpose machine gun.Popenker, Max RPKP Pecheneg machine gun It is a further development and modification of the PK machine gun ...
, the German
MG 34 The MG 34 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 34'', or "machine gun 34") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun, first tested in 1929, introduced in 1934, and issued to units in 1936. It introduced an entirely ne ...
,
MG 42 The MG 42 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 42'', or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. Enterin ...
,
MG 3 The MG3 is a small car produced by the Chinese automotive company SAIC. The first generation, marketed as the MG3 SW, is based on the British made Rover Streetwise, which itself was based on the Rover 25, while the second generation, introdu ...
, Chinese
QJY-88 The QJY-88, also known as the Type 88 LMG (Chinese: 88式通用机枪, 1988 shì tōngyòng jīqiāng; English: 1988 model general purpose machine gun), is a 5.8x42mm Chinese light machine gun designed in the late 1980s by China North Industries ...
, and the British
Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...
, which used a non-disintegrating canvas and brass belt. Arguably, precursors to the belt-fed machine gun were the Cass rifle, patented in 1848, and the
Treeby chain gun A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six rou ...
, patented in the 1850s. Belts were originally composed of canvas or cloth with pockets spaced evenly to allow the belt to be mechanically fed into the gun. These designs were prone to malfunctions due to the effects of oil and other contaminants altering the belt. If they became saturated with water, canvas belts including the loops holding the cartridges would contract, and the gun mechanism would be unable to extract the rounds. Later belt designs used permanently connected metal links to hold the cartridges, and weapons which originally used textile belts such as the Vickers Gun were then deployed with these more dependable formats. These belts were more tolerant to exposure to solvents and oil. Despite it being a more efficient system, few are still used, possibly due to the added cost and effort. Non-disintegrating belts often come in pieces of limited length connected by disintegrating link, and after being fed through the weapon the piece falls off, limiting the length of the used belt hanging from the weapon to no more than one such piece. Many weapons designed to use non-disintegrating or canvas belts are provided with machines to automatically reload these belts with loose rounds or rounds held in stripper clips. In use during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, reloaders allowed ammunition belts to be recycled quickly to allow practically continuous fire.


Feed variants

A US Marine inserts an ammunition belt connected by M13 links into the feed tray of the M240G_ M240G_general-purpose_machine_gun_">general-purpose_machine_gun.html"_;"title="M240G_general-purpose_machine_gun">M240G_general-purpose_machine_gun_


__Pull_out_–_Push_through_

Most_often_required_by_cloth_belts,_hence_found_on_mostly_early_machine_guns.
_The_pull_out_–_push_through_cartridge_feed_system_has_the_cartridge_withdrawn_from_the_belt_to_the_rear,_then_pushed_directly_forward_into_the_barrel._Examples_are_the_ M240G_general-purpose_machine_gun_">general-purpose_machine_gun.html"_;"title="M240G_general-purpose_machine_gun">M240G_general-purpose_machine_gun_


__Pull_out_–_Push_through_

Most_often_required_by_cloth_belts,_hence_found_on_mostly_early_machine_guns._The_pull_out_–_push_through_cartridge_feed_system_has_the_cartridge_withdrawn_from_the_belt_to_the_rear,_then_pushed_directly_forward_into_the_barrel._Examples_are_the_Darne_machine_gun">Darne_mle_1922,_M1919_Browning_machine_gun.html" ;"title="Darne_machine_gun.html" ;"title="general-purpose_machine_gun_.html" ;"title="general-purpose_machine_gun.html" ;"title="M240G M240G_general-purpose_machine_gun_">general-purpose_machine_gun.html"_;"title="M240G_general-purpose_machine_gun">M240G_general-purpose_machine_gun_


__Pull_out_–_Push_through_

Most_often_required_by_cloth_belts,_hence_found_on_mostly_early_machine_guns._The_pull_out_–_push_through_cartridge_feed_system_has_the_cartridge_withdrawn_from_the_belt_to_the_rear,_then_pushed_directly_forward_into_the_barrel._Examples_are_the_Darne_machine_gun">Darne_mle_1922,_M1919_Browning_machine_gun">Browning_1919,_
M240G_general-purpose_machine_gun_">general-purpose_machine_gun.html"_;"title="M240G_general-purpose_machine_gun">M240G_general-purpose_machine_gun_


__Pull_out_–_Push_through_

Most_often_required_by_cloth_belts,_hence_found_on_mostly_early_machine_guns._The_pull_out_–_push_through_cartridge_feed_system_has_the_cartridge_withdrawn_from_the_belt_to_the_rear,_then_pushed_directly_forward_into_the_barrel._Examples_are_the_Darne_machine_gun">Darne_mle_1922,_M1919_Browning_machine_gun">Browning_1919,_M2_Browning_machine_gun">Browning_M2HB,_Maxim_gun.html" "title="M2_Browning_machine_gun.html" ;"title="general-purpose machine gun">M240G general-purpose machine gun ">general-purpose_machine_gun.html" ;"title="M240G general-purpose machine gun">M240G general-purpose machine gun


Pull out – Push through

Most often required by cloth belts, hence found on mostly early machine guns. The pull out – push through cartridge feed system has the cartridge withdrawn from the belt to the rear, then pushed directly forward into the barrel. Examples are the Darne machine gun">Darne mle 1922, M1919 Browning machine gun">Browning 1919, M2 Browning machine gun">Browning M2HB, Maxim gun">Maxim Maxim or Maksim may refer to: Entertainment * ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine ** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition ** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition *Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...
and
Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...
. Among the modern machine guns using this system are the PK family, where its use is favored due to the rim of the 7.62×54mmR cartridge, which makes it more complicated to eject the round forward from the belt (although not impossible, see the UK vz. 59 for an example of a push through GPMG using the same round).


Push through

Found on mostly modern machine guns. The push through cartridge feed system has the cartridge pushed directly forward into the barrel. Examples are the non-disintegrating ''Patronengurt 33, 34, or 34/41'' used by the MG 34 and
MG 42 The MG 42 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 42'', or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. Enterin ...
and the derived ''Patronengurt DM1'' used by the
MG 3 The MG3 is a small car produced by the Chinese automotive company SAIC. The first generation, marketed as the MG3 SW, is based on the British made Rover Streetwise, which itself was based on the Rover 25, while the second generation, introdu ...
whose feeding systems were based on the direct push-through of the cartridge out of the link into the gun's chamber. Accordingly, the link had to be of the half-open type to enable the motion of the bolt through the link. Many modern machine guns use or can use the disintegrating half-open type 7.62×51mm NATO M13 link or 5.56×45mm NATO
M27 link The M27 link, formally Link, Cartridge, Metallic Belt, 5.56mm, M27 is a metallic disintegrating link issued by the United States armed forces and among NATO and designed for use in belt-fed firearms. It holds 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition. History ...
.


External

Some weapons such as the
M134 Minigun The M134 Minigun is an American 7.62×51mm NATO six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high rate of fire (2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute). It features a Gatling-style rotating barrel assembly with an external power source, normally an electric ...
and related designs use a hybrid mechanism to strip rounds from disintegrating belts into a linkless feed system or a specialized delinker to allow for more reliable feeding at extreme rates of fire. Modern infantry machine guns often have feed systems allowing the use of linked ammunition as well as other forms of feed like from magazines or drums. In some instances—like the
FN Minimi The FN Minimi (short for french: Mini Mitrailleuse; "mini machine gun") is a Belgian 5.56mm light machine gun/squad automatic weapon developed by Ernest Vervier for FN Herstal. First introduced in the late 1970s, it is now in service in more th ...
/
M249 SAW The M249 light machine gun (LMG), also known as the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), which continues to be the manufacturer's designation, and formally written as Light Machine Gun, 5.56 mm, M249, is the American adaptation of the Belgian F ...
and the
IMI Negev The IWI Negev (also known as the Negev NG-5) is a 5.56×45mm NATO light machine gun developed by Israel Weapon Industries (IWI), formerly Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI). In 2012, IWI introduced the Negev NG-7 7.62×51mm NATO general-p ...
—the feed system requires no modification to fire with either mechanism. Other designs—like the Heckler and Koch HK21-based designs or
MG34 The MG 34 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 34'', or "machine gun 34") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun, first tested in 1929, introduced in 1934, and issued to units in 1936. It introduced an entirely ne ...
—require the exchange of modular parts to allow belt or alternate feeding. Due to the lack of protection provided by the belt, belt-fed infantry weapons typically use a flexible or rigid container to retain the belt on the weapon. In some designs—like the
MG3 The MG 3 is a German general-purpose machine gun chambered for the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. The weapon's design is derived from the World War II era MG 42 ''Einheitsmaschinengewehr'' (Universal machine gun) that fired the 7.92×57mm Mauser r ...
—the belt container appears to be a magazine causing some confusion to people unfamiliar with the design.


Container device

Flexible belts tend to hang downwards with
gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
and randomly whip around with
recoil Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force requ ...
during continuous firing, which can sometimes kink/twist and cause feeding malfunctions. Free-hanging belts can also get dirty/messy with exposure to the elements, be clumsy to handle, and entangle to other objects especially when the shooter tries to maneuver around. To minimize such issues, ammunition belts are sometimes carried in
container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...
devices designed to be attached to the firearm either by inserting like a
drum magazine A drum magazine is a type of high-capacity magazine for firearms. Cylindrical in shape (similar to a drum), drum magazines store rounds in a spiral around the center of the magazine, facing the direction of the barrel. Drum magazines are contrast ...
or just conveniently mounting to the side (for larger weapon systems). When loading ammunition, one end of the belt is pulled out of an opening on the container and inserted into the gun normally, and the belt progresses out of the container in a controlled fashion. These containers also often have a supporting/guiding bar which enables the belt to enter the weapon at an optimal (more perpendicular) angle, rather than bending down more acutely.


See also

*
Bandolier A bandolier or a bandoleer is a pocketed belt for holding either individual bullets, or belts of ammunition. It is usually slung sash-style over the shoulder and chest, with the ammunition pockets across the midriff and chest. Though functio ...
* Clip *
Magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
* Stripper clip


Notable firearm belts

*
M1 link The M1 link, was the U.S. military designation for a steel disintegrating link designed for the M1917 Browning machine gun and M1919 Browning machine gun, and the .30-06 Springfield cartridge that they fired. A single round would hold two links to ...
*
M13 link The M13 link, formally Link, Cartridge, Metallic Belt, 7.62mm, M13, is the U.S. military designation for a metallic disintegrating link specifically designed for ammunition belt-fed firearms and 7.62×51mm NATO rounds. It was introduced in the ...
*
M27 link The M27 link, formally Link, Cartridge, Metallic Belt, 5.56mm, M27 is a metallic disintegrating link issued by the United States armed forces and among NATO and designed for use in belt-fed firearms. It holds 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition. History ...


References


External links


How's It Made: A Giant Machine That Makes MG Links
Forgotten Weapons {{Firearms Firearm components