Belt case
The belt box is an optional part of a machine gun that can be attached . It contains the ammunition belt , which is used to continuously supply ammunition .
use
The use of a correctly ammunitioned belt case has the primary advantage that the shooter does not need another person to feed the belt, and the ammunition is always compact, safe and - which is especially important with a light machine gun - stowed away on the move. One advantage over the use of a magazine is that you can fire a higher number of cartridges without having to reload, and the simpler design. A disadvantage, however, is that an ammunition belt cannot be used with every machine gun, since the weapon must also have an independent trailing system for the belt.
nature
Belt boxes are usually made of painted sheet metal or plastic. There are two types of belt boxes:
- Belt box is intended to be locked directly onto the weapon (e.g. with the M249 SAW or the MG3 )
- Belt box is placed freely next to the weapon.
Ammunitioned a belt box is usually wave-shaped, i.e. H. the cartridges on the belt are "serpentine" on top of each other (from the point of view of the shooter). If a belt box is not correctly ammunitioned, there may be problems with the ammunition supply, which can lead to a failure of the weapon.
See also
literature
- Jan Boger: The Soviet infantry and their weapons: 1945 to today , Motorbuch Verlag, 1981, ISBN 978-3-87943-779-5