A belt-fed firearm includes a top cover that can move in at least two degrees of freedom of motion (surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch, and yaw) that in combination allow movement of the top cover to both clear a peripheral accessory mounted to the firearm (such as optics) and open access to a feed surface to permit loading of cartridges to the feed surface.

Ammunition storage and feeding system for light weapons that facilitates a continuous loading of the weapon, thereby relieving the user from multiple magazine replacements, and reducing potential weapon stoppages, thus providing more reliable and significantly uninterruptable use of the weapon with respect to operating the weapon with conventional magazines. According to an embodiment of the invention, the system is configured to automatically receive interlinked cartridges from a carrying device (e.g., a backpack or other convenient device harnessed to the user's body) through a flexible or semi-flexible leading means, to successively extract the cartridges from the linking arrangement and to successively feed each extracted cartridge into a dedicated magazine in a First In First Out (FIFO) manner.

An M240 machine gun barrel assembly with a barrel with a muzzle end at the distal end of the barrel and a breach end at the proximal end of the barrel; a handle connector connecting the barrel to a handle assembly; and the handle assembly having a free end and a connected end, the connected end operably connected to the handle connector; the handle assembly operable between a first position with the free end of the handle assembly pointing proximally and a second position with the free end of the handle assembly pointing distally.

An M240 machine gun barrel assembly with a barrel with a muzzle end at the distal end of the barrel and a breach end at the proximal end of the barrel; a handle connector connecting the barrel to a handle assembly; and the handle assembly having a free end and a connected end, the connected end operably connected to the handle connector; the handle assembly operable between a first position with the free end of the handle assembly pointing proximally and a second position with the free end of the handle assembly pointing distally.

An ammunition retaining feed tray for a firearm including a feed tray with a distal and a proximal end, a cartridge stop for alignment of an ammunition belt, at least one pawl opening, and a pawl assembly engagement; a pawl assembly connected to the pawl assembly engagement of the feed tray with the pawl assembly including at least one pawl operable to move within the at least one pawl opening of the feed tray and for engaging an ammunition belt.

An ammunition retaining feed tray for a firearm including a feed tray with a distal and a proximal end, a cartridge stop for alignment of an ammunition belt, at least one pawl opening, and a pawl assembly engagement; a pawl assembly connected to the pawl assembly engagement of the feed tray with the pawl assembly including at least one pawl operable to move within the at least one pawl opening of the feed tray and for engaging an ammunition belt.

A flat loop revolving firearm assembly can have a trigger mechanism configured to move a loop advance lever disposed between the trigger mechanism and a flat loop, and a hammer retractor lever disposed between the trigger mechanism and at least one hammer retractor bar. The hammer retractor bar can be configured to slide and contact a hammer thereby rotating the hammer to a cocked position and releasing the hammer to fire a cartridge removably disposed in a firing position chamber. The flat loop can have a plurality of flat loop links configured to revolve in parallel tracks into a firing position in response to motion imposed by the loop advance lever.

An M240 machine gun barrel assembly with a barrel with a muzzle end at the distal end of the barrel and a breach end at the proximal end of the barrel; a handle connector connecting the barrel to a handle assembly; and the handle assembly having a free end and a connected end, the 0connected end operably connected to the handle connector; the handle assembly operable between a first position with the free end of the handle assembly pointing proximally and a second position with the free end of the handle assembly pointing distally.

A liquid or powder filled cartridge is used to cool and lubricate the bore of gun barrels to eliminate cook off and improve barrel life. A primer is used to rupture the nose of the cartridge and propel the cooling material into the bore. The coolant absorbs heat from the bore of the barrel and is ejected from the muzzle of the weapon. The liquid or powder may include lubricants, preservatives, antifreeze, coolants, cleaners, or mixtures thereof, or other materials to enhance barrel performance. The liquid or powder filled cartridge is particularly well suited to externally powered weapons. Ammunition may be fed into the weapon using a mix of conventional cartridges and coolant filled cartridges. Internally cooling the barrel may be used to reduce or eliminate cook off and increase barrel life.

The present invention relates to a machine gun (1) comprising a carcass body (22) with an essentially tubular shape.