Patent ID: 8607683

Claim:
An ammunition magazine for feeding linked ammunition to a weapon system having a power take off (PTO), the ammunition magazine comprising: a housing that defines a storage cavity for the linked ammunition; a drive shaft rotatably fixed to the housing and including a driver on one end for selectively engaging the PTO, the driver being disposed external to the housing; a drive sprocket mounted on the drive shaft for engaging and moving the linked ammunition in a feed direction, the drive sprocket including first and second sprocket wheels that engage a cartridge portion of the linked ammunition; a back-ratchet pivotally mounted to the housing, the back-ratchet selectively engaging the drive sprocket to prevent movement of the drive sprocket in a direction opposite the feed direction; a pick-off round opening in the housing for presenting a pick-off round of the linked ammunition to the weapon system; and a link chute disposed below the opening and including an exit opening for ammunition links.