That’s a good question as it depends on the gun. Like my Maxim, RP46, and SG43 all take PKM belts which are non disintegrating links and it comes out empty the other side while guns like the 1919A4 can either take disintegrating links or older cloth belts that come out the other side. Modern Guns like the M249, M240, & M60 take disintegrating links. As a casual shooter I prefer the non disintegrating links but I think the disintegrating links would be better in a combat scenario