20mm belted ammo?

buzzmagoo

buzzmagoo

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The links of a belt of 20mm are they a one time use? By that I mean how do they get striped out of the links,they are held in there pretty good, the back portion of the link is interlocked into the extractor groove of the shell does this piece get Brocken off by the action be for going in to battery? Just trying to figure this out, even prying them out with a screw driver is a job. Next question what's the best way/ or stuff to use to re finish the links mine are a little rusty not to bad . chemical bath? Then what finish? And lastly are there bigger belts/ links?25,30s any information will be much appreciated, thanks!
 
25mm bushmaster are the largest links i am familiar with, i am betting there are bigger out there though

they are probably not reloaded, just ejected from the plane/ship, etc, but they probably could be used a few times, the nub just slides out of the way like any other link (7.62 nato or mg 42 belts)
the action either pulls or pushes the round, the only 20mm links i have are a pull out type with the front of the link being narrower to hold the neck, and no nub, perhaps pics would help
 
You should be able to relink the 20 mm as I did it with the Germans on their Wiesel 20 mm. Same thing with the 25 mm used in our LAV-25 in Canada. It is a bit tricky to reassemble them but it is possible. Usually, you should be able to replace without prying them with a tool, only finger and by placing the round/shell on a hard surface, you should push to place them in the good position.

About the finish, I can't tell you what to do. They are not blued, it is some kind of paint but don't know which one. So, about the bigger belt, there is 25 mm chain gun used in our LAV-25, there is the 30 mm in various vehicles and aircrafts (MCV80 Warrior, BTR-80A, A-10, Ah-64 Apache... name it!). There is also the Bofors 40 mm chain gun!

This is what I know without searching around.

Martin
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsAVqdKuI4Y

That video shows at about the 1:40 mark, part of a CIWS upload.

The links are a continuous loop within the loading system, and in fact, the live round that are loaded are simply exchanged for the empty cases in the drum. The links stay in as a closed loop system. It *LOOKS* like they're feeding in a new belt of link, and the fired cases are coming out, but in fact, the linker/de-linker mechanism in the loader pulls the fired cases out and puts them into the links that are coming up from the ammo box.

NS
 
Different guns, different systems, equals different answers.

The two M-39 guns on the CF-5, ejected brass and links overboard. By some estimates there are multiple tons of brass sitting on the bottom of the lake under the primary approach lane for the commonly used gun target area in Cold Lake. Figure every student pilot that was in the Fighter Stream, x 20+ years... The steel links disintegrated and went down the same chute as the brass.

The M-61 Gatling on the F-18 has a closed loop system that does not use links, it gets fed essentially loose ammo from a wagon that is set up to load the gun. Empties stay in the drum until they are replaced by loaded, or are removed for other reasons. We were told that the purpose was to reduce the effect on the aircraft's center of gravity by reducing it's movement aft when the guns were fired. The mass of the cartridge cases is not ejected overboard.

As per Navyshooter's post, the CIWS uses a different system, for the same type gun, a variant of the M-61 again. Different feed mech, different ammo storage capability.

Only answer that is right, is, "It Depends..."

Cheers
Trev
 
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