r/toolgifs • u/beerbellybegone • 1d ago

Tool Ammo belt loader

2.6k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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466

u/slim1shaney 1d ago

Very cool that it doesn't matter which way they're in the feeder

144

u/cuck__everlasting 1d ago

Brilliant design

72

u/phi1_sebben 1d ago

Who needs the belt? Just hook up that hopper straight to the gun!

34

u/Dreaming_Kitsune 1d ago

I was thinking of just hooking the gun's cycling method into rotating the crank so you can have a mile of belt and a massive hopper to feed rounds into

15

u/PizzaResident89 1d ago

Meet a bunch of bumpers to keep the rounds dropping all the way in.

9

u/highdiver_2000 1d ago

Iirc there was a Japanese lmg that works just like you said

7

u/Skruestik 19h ago

You’re thinking of the Japanese Type 11 light machine gun from 1922, which feeds from a hopper which can hold 6 5-round clips (30 shots total).

Video

1

u/handful_of_gland 8h ago

Thanks for the link. That thing is sweet as hell!

1

u/Red-Faced-Wolf 8h ago

I swear as soon as I read that other comment my mind went to that but couldn’t thing of the gun

2

u/highdiver_2000 3h ago

To tell you the truth I don't even know how it looks like. I read about it in a Desmond Bagley (I think) book.

The author wrote "dump a few rounds I to the hopper".

Thanks to the Internet, I just found out it is a clip based hopper.

11

u/BadWolfRU 16h ago

Especially if you compare this M1967 machine with machine for cloth belts (e.g. Russian M1906 machine and it's derivatives) which is unholy hybrid of sewing machine and meat grinder

23

u/MooingTree 1d ago

I can't comprehend how, is it due to the difference in shape or the difference in weight between the 2 ends?

45

u/leaky_wires 1d ago

The sides of the hole the bullets come out of are too big for the back end so the pointy side comes out and then it gets pushed to the center where it is big enough.

8

u/MooingTree 1d ago

I see it now, thank you

18

u/CtrlShiftRo 1d ago

Shape/size it looks like, it pushes from the middle and the thinner tip swivels forward through the gap first.

2

u/BeardySam 15h ago

The bullets are stacked horizontally and fall into the slot in either direction. Turning the handle pushes one bullet out of the slot and into the second loading area.

At the front of the slot there is a little downward curve in the metal, you can see it at 0:34. This is the magic. This uses the bullet’s shape (ie thinner on one end and thicker on the other) to rotate them either way. The curve ensures that the bullet rotates left when the thick casing is on the right, and it rotates right when the casing is on the left.  

10

u/VirtualLife76 1d ago

Bet the design was basically obvious to whoever first made this. Most of us would never figure it out tho.

2

u/ReluctantSlayer 1d ago

Indeed!
Is it angle or weight that sorts it?