Drum magazine

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For the magazine, see Drum! Magazine

A drum magazine.

A drum magazine is a type of magazine that is cylindrical in shape, similar to a drum. In a drum magazine, rounds are stored in a spiral around the center of the magazine. The advantage over traditional box-shaped magazines is that a drum magazine can carry much more ammunition, usually over double that of a box magazine, such as the 71-round magazine for the Russian PPSh-41 submachine gun. The downside is that drum magazines are more prone to jamming. The iconic 1930s-era Tommy gun uses distinctive drum magazines. A current example is the Beta C-Mag. Most firearms have standard box magazines, but a few, like the M31 Suomi are less common with boxes. The M-31 was also more reliable with drum magazines than with boxes. There are also double drums presently available - where normal magazines put rounds in two rows, two drums each have one row, which combine into two rows before entering the receiver.

Drum magazines are also used in aircraft guns such as the M61 Vulcan and the GAU-8 Avenger, although belt-fed guns are more common on aircraft.