Secondary Weapons, links or belts?

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ChaseR83
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Secondary Weapons, links or belts?

Post by ChaseR83 » Sat Mar 10, 2018 8:57 am

Hey guys,

I've got a quick question for the WW2 US armor guys. Was the ammo for secondary weapons, bow guns, coax guns, turret top mounted weapons loaded in cloth belts or links? Did coax and bow guns have brass catchers? It seems logical that you wouldn't want piles of links and empty brass all over the floor of a vehicle where it could possibly jam something, etc.

Most videos I see of people shooting 1919s or M2s that are mounted on top of the turrets of various vehicles are using links. Is this correct or is it simply done out of convenience? I don't recall ever seeing seeing belts for the M2 but it seems odd to have both linked and belted ammo on board a tank with multiple 1919s.

If 30.06 was belted, were 100 or 250 round belts used?

Thanks


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Austringer
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Re: Secondary Weapons, links or belts?

Post by Austringer » Sun Mar 11, 2018 6:55 am

belts for the reason you mentioned were generally used as they would pull ammo from the same supply as the attached inf. a lot of people jse links bc they are cheaper and easier to find.
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Re: Secondary Weapons, links or belts?

Post by SURPDLR » Mon Mar 12, 2018 4:38 am

You will find some .30 cal cans marked "FOR OVERHEAD FIRE". These contained Linked Ammo, and were intended for aircraft use.

Links were in fact developed for Aircraft use originally.


Food for thought, during 1943-1945 over Europe, I have always wondered what kind of havoc was wreaked on the civilian populace by falling links and brass for from .30's and .50's during Dog Fights.......... Not to mention Flack bits coming back down....
Last edited by SURPDLR on Mon Mar 12, 2018 10:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Secondary Weapons, links or belts?

Post by W. Winget » Mon Mar 12, 2018 7:52 am

Post WWII, boxes of 100 rounds linked. Even today, we link 700 rounds for the Bradley ready box.
There were canvas bags to catch brass and I think links in the armor, I had one marked 50 somewhere.
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Re: Secondary Weapons, links or belts?

Post by Donovan » Mon Mar 12, 2018 3:54 pm

Jeff,
The brass and links were the little stuff. My father used to tell me that when they were flying back from a mission (B-24) and they were running low on fuel, they would throw just about anything out of the plane: guns, ammo, just about anything that wasn’t bolted on to reduce weight and extend their range to get back home to England!
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ChaseR83
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Re: Secondary Weapons, links or belts?

Post by ChaseR83 » Wed Mar 14, 2018 8:00 am

Thank you for the replies gentlemen.

Would the WW2 era armor have 250rd belts? Seems like 100rd belts would go fast in a bow gun or coax...

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Re: Secondary Weapons, links or belts?

Post by brian in denver » Wed Mar 14, 2018 2:44 pm

ever try to clean links out of the bottom of a tank ?

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Re: Secondary Weapons, links or belts?

Post by tankbarrell » Wed Mar 14, 2018 11:37 pm

Speaking for WW2 use of Sherman, .30 cal was in 250 rd fabric belts and both bow gun and co-ax used case catcher bags. The bow gun used a small one that slid over two pins on the ball mount and the co-ax used a large one that could be clipped up when empty to reduce its length.

.50 cal originally used 50 rd belts with no case catcher bags.


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