Linked ammunition

A belt or ammunition belt is a device used to retain and feed cartridges into a firearm. Belts and the associated feed systems are typically employed to feed machine guns or other automatic weapons. Belt-fed systems minimize the proportional weight of the ammunition to the feeding device along with allowing high rates of continuous fire. The capacity of belts and carriers is typically a function of weight and bulk. Their size is limited by caliber and the portability of the combined weapon and ammunition. The most common sizes typically carried on a man-portable weapon run from 50 to 300 rounds.

The "Feed Strip" (also referred to as an "ammo strip" or "feed tray") was initially designed in 1896 by Benjamin Hotchkiss, based on initial designs by Captain Baron Adolf Odkolek von Ujezda of Vienna, Austria. 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 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 Japanese-designed Type 3 and Type 92 machine guns, which were used up until the end of the second world war.

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.

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 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.

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