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.As was the trend with American belt-fed firearms, as opposed to Soviet designs, belts of ammunition feed into the gun from the left side to the right.The rear loop of the right side of the link would hold onto the cartridge case just below the shoulder, as would the left side loop, where the front loop of the left side of the link held onto the cartridge neck, and was therefore a bit smaller in diameter.This was designed so that the M1919 machine gun's extractor claw would take hold of the rim of the cartridge and pull it out of the linked belt from the rear, where it would then be fed into the chamber and would rest there until fired.Disintegrating-link types are almost universal in the present day, as the lower cost and the lack of a loose empty belt end to deal with are very attractive to the military.