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The M13 link, formally Link, Cartridge, Metallic Belt, 7.62mm, M13, is the U.S. military designation for a metallic
disintegrating link upright=1.35, An M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges, aboard a U.S. Navy">7.62×51mm_NATO.html" ;"title="M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO">M60 machine gun belt loaded with 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges, aboar ...
specifically designed for ammunition belt-fed
firearms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...
and
7.62×51mm NATO The 7.62×51mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 7.62 NATO) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It is a standard for small arms among NATO countries. First developed in the 1950s, the cartridge had first been introduced in U.S. service f ...
rounds. It was introduced in the mid-20th century. It is the primary link type for the United States and among NATO for the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. , it has been in use for over 60 years and is used on the Dillon M134D
Minigun The M134 Minigun is an American 7.62×51mm NATO six-barrel rotary machine gun with a high rate of fire (2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute). It features a Gatling-style rotating barrel assembly with an external power source, normally an electric ...
,
M60 Machine Gun The M60, officially the Machine Gun, Caliber 7.62 mm, M60, is a family of American general-purpose machine guns firing 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges from a disintegrating belt of M13 links. There are several types of ammunition approved fo ...
,
FN MAG The FN MAG is a Belgian 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, designed in the early 1950s at Fabrique Nationale (FN) by Ernest Vervier. It has been used by more than 80 countries and it has been made under licence in several countries, in ...
/
M240 The M240 – officially the Machine Gun, 7.62 mm, M240 – is the U.S. military designation for the FN MAG, a family of belt-fed, gas-operated medium machine guns that chamber the 7.62×51mm NATO cartridge. The M240 has been used by t ...
, Mk 48, MG3, HK21, MG5, UKM-2000, K12, SS-77 and Negev NG-7, among others. Some countries redesignated the M13 link when it was adopted.


History

The M13 link replaced the older
M1 link The M1 link, was the U.S. military designation for a steel disintegrating link designed for the M1917 Browning machine gun and M1919 Browning machine gun, and the .30-06 Springfield cartridge that they fired. A single round would hold two links t ...
s designed for
.30-06 Springfield The .30-06 Springfield cartridge (pronounced "thirty- aught-six" ), 7.62×63mm in metric notation, and called the .30 Gov't '06 by Winchester, was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and later standardized; it remained in military use ...
ammunition, which bound cartridges to each other at the neck, used on the older
M1917 Browning machine gun The M1917 Browning machine gun is a heavy machine gun used by the United States armed forces in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War; it has also been used by other nations. It was a crew-served, belt-fed, water-cool ...
and
M1919 Browning machine gun The M1919 Browning is a .30 caliber medium machine gun that was widely used during the 20th century, especially during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M1919 saw service as a light infantry, coaxial, mounted, aircraft, ...
family, though some conversions of the M1919 to the M13 were done, such as on the U.S. Navy Mark 21 Mod 0 machine gun, which saw service in the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. Once converted, it cannot use other link types, as firearms made for the M13 Link are not backward-compatible with the M1 link (or other systems). The M9 link is technically very similar to the M1 link but designed for
12.7×99mm NATO The .50 Browning Machine Gun (.50 BMG, 12.7×99mm NATO and designated as the 50 Browning by the C.I.P.) is a caliber cartridge developed for the M2 Browning heavy machine gun in the late 1910s, entering official service in 1921. Under STANA ...
/ .50 BMG ammunition used in heavy machine guns like the
M2 machine gun The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, wh ...
. The M1 and M9 links are pull-out designs. Rounds are extracted by pulling them rearward out of the link. The NATO Standardization Agreement ''STANAG 2329 Links for Disintegrating Belts for Use with NATO 7.62mm Cartridges'' described the M13 link in 1982. STANAG 2329 has been rendered inactive. The ''DEF STAN 13-33 - Standard NATO 7.62 Millimetre Rounds and Associated Chargers and Links'' is a 1982 standard by the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom. This Defence Standard specifies 7.62 mm small arms ammunition and its associated chargers and links for use by the Ministry of Defence to meet its commitment to NATO in the United Kingdom. The United States Army ''MIL-DTL-45403E (3) CONT. DIST. - Link, Cartridge, Metallic Belt, 7.62 Millimeter - M13'' 2021 specification covers the requirements and verification methods for the Link, Cartridge, Metallic Belt, 7.62mm - M13 for use in 7.62mm machine guns.


Design details

The M13 link is a push-through design. Rounds are extracted by pushing them forward out of the link. The left side of a single link has a semi-circular loop which holds the main body of the cartridge case below the shoulder, and an extension on the right that forms two similar loops which were designed to fit in between the two right-side loops of the next link, and which have a small metal tab that extends down to the cartridge base and fit into the extraction groove of the case. The M13 link binds the rounds from halfway down the length of the case to the case head. This was designed so that the bolt of the machine gun using the link would come forward upon squeezing the trigger and strip a round from its link from below the cartridge, and the round would be chambered, fired then extracted and ejected. The feeding pawl in the gun would pull the belt to the right as the gun was fired or cocked, sending the loose link out to the right side of the receiver, where the expended case was also ejected, normally separately from a different ejector port to the link. MIL-L-45403D stipulates that the force to strip a NATO approved round from the M13 link should be between and the belt have a minimal tensile strength of . A single M13 link weighs approximately .Metal link M13 for cal. 7.62×51mm Technical data
/ref> The links often have an extra anti-corrosion surface treatment, generally (oil impregnated) black phosphate, and can be collected and reassembled by hand with fresh ammunition, but in practice this is not commonly done as it is labor-intensive, and the inexpensive links are considered disposable. Sometimes the ejected link pieces are collected to avoid littering the interior of aircraft and vehicles or reuse. The early 1970s M27 link is a link of smaller, but identical design, used among NATO for 5.56×45mm NATO chambered light machine guns, such as the
FN Minimi The FN Minimi (short for french: Mini Mitrailleuse; "mini machine gun") is a Belgian 5.56mm light machine gun/squad automatic weapon developed by Ernest Vervier for FN Herstal. First introduced in the late 1970s, it is now in service in more tha ...
/ M249, HK21, MG4, CETME Ameli, K3, Mini-SS and
Negev The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its sout ...
, among others.


See also

*
M1 link The M1 link, was the U.S. military designation for a steel disintegrating link designed for the M1917 Browning machine gun and M1919 Browning machine gun, and the .30-06 Springfield cartridge that they fired. A single round would hold two links t ...
* M27 link *
List of firearms This is an extensive list of small arms—including pistols, revolvers, submachine guns, shotguns, battle rifles, assault rifles, sniper rifles, machine guns, personal defense weapons, carbines, designated marksman rifles, flamethrowers, multipl ...


References

* http://www.army-technology.com/contractors/ammunition/eurolinks/
M13 link technical data
{{DEFAULTSORT:M13 Link Firearm components Ammunition Military equipment introduced in the 1960s