A cartridge belt is a piece of equipment for carrying ammunition with separate compartments for each of them. The word is borrowed from German and obtained by adding the words patron — ‘cartridge’ — and tasche — ‘bag, pocket’. In Russia, this definition began to be used in the 17th century - with the appearance of foreign mercenaries in the Russian army during the Time of Troubles.


This type of equipment is adapted to be worn on the belt or chest of the shooter, that is, in a position convenient for quick removal of cartridges. In the days of single-shot guns and rifles, it was part of the ammunition: shooters used it to store ammunition - first unitary paper cartridges, then metal. At the beginning of the 20th century, in the armies of European countries, the cartridge belt gave way to cartridge bags for multi-load magazine rifles.

A classic cartridge belt is either a mesh belt or one or more mesh pouches attached to or worn on a belt. Depending on the type of access to the cartridge, the cartridge belts are open, closed and hidden. In closed cartridge belts there is a valve that closes the cartridges from rain and prevents them from falling out. Concealed cartridge belts are sewn into clothing pockets or gun cases.

According to the suspension design, cartridge belts are divided into waist belts, pouches (put on a belt), harness systems (with shoulder belts), vests, clips, and universal suspension systems. The image of the Russian revolutionary sailor with crosswise cartridge belts has become a textbook. According to the location of the cartridges, the cartridge belts are single-row, double-row, or folding. Each cartridge belt is designed for a specific type of cartridges, but they can be divided into three groups: for smooth-bore weapons, for rifled weapons, and combination weapons.

Traditionally, cartridge belts are made of various types of leather and manufacture, rarely from dense fabrics, such as tarpaulin. Currently, the popularity of modern synthetic fabrics with a water repellent treatment and combined leather and synthetic cartridge belts is growing. For high-speed shooting, plastic cartridge belts are used.

The museum exhibits a closed-type English cartridge belts from the period of the Civil War, in the north.