Belt (firearm)

A belt is a device that holds cartridges adjacent to each other in a single row for feeding into a firearm, typically a machine gun. The belt itself only serves to link the cartridges together so that they may be fired in a uniform manner; it does not perform the feeding of the firearm.In general, the belt is either permanently linked, fed through the weapon, and subsequently pushed out the other side of the chamber, or the links themselves "disintegrate", or break apart after firing, as the cartridges are integral to the design of the belt. The latter is called a "disintegrating belt". The main advantage of the non-disintegrating belt is that it is refillable. The advantages of the disintegrating belt are that it is lighter and the expended links do not dangle from the other side of the gun. Permanently linked belts are often made of cloth while disintegrating links are generally metal.
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