US12693086 - Manually assisted belt fed machine gun drum assembly
A cylindrical machine gun ammunition carrier drum device with hand crank and spindle, which allows operator to regulate belt-fed ammunition at a proper cyclic rate of fire and reload linked ammunition in an efficient, accelerated manner. This retract and release belt-fed ammunition method would provide proper tension and uniformity to the linked rounds, preventing the weapon from malfunctioning and improve cyclic dispersion of ammunition. This method applies to all calibers of belt-fed personal and crew-served automatic weapons. The external hand crank and internal spindle would work in unison to recover the belt if it is yanked from the cylindrical drum container prematurely. A flexible warning device ribbon connected by ammunition links would ensure all rounds are expended from within the drum when abridged from spindle to belt. Additionally, this internal warning device can be linked between belts at operator's preference.