Post some pics of what you have and it will be easier to help. There are russian belts with solid rivets to the best of my knowledge. Things changed through the war to the point where they used the rivets with holes....not all are the same so post a pic of the tabs and the end tabs as well.

Frank

 

Thanks for the reply, hope I'm doing this right, these are the shots that came out clearest. It has that musty stored canvas and brass smell, the stitching doesn't show up under a UV lamp.

 

The belt is not Russian 1910 but is an interwar Maxim belt made for FN, and probably for 7.65. Most likely used by the Belgians. This info comes from Herb Woodend, former head of the Pattern Room, who saw some of my belts and I had the same question about where this type came from. He was not entirely sure but that was his view. The solid discs at the tips were not used much in Maxim belts generally. Francois LeGendre, a very knowledgeable belt, loader and ammo box collector and scholar might have more or even accurate info on these belts. I have not asked him about them.
Early Russian 1910 belts, up to the revolution, used brass, had holed rivets at the tips of the fingers and were marked with imperial markings and dates of mfg. After 1917, imperial marks we eliminated, and inspector and maker stamps and date were on the tabs, and a brass was ramped out in favor of steel. Construction remained the same as far as my experience with them, with holed rivets at the tips of the fingers, steel tabs and inspector stamps, dates and other unknown stamps such as single Cyrillic characters and single numbers.
Having sold quite a few of these belts, users complained that 7.92 would shake out of the belts on feed, so they are not as good as some others for that caliber. High quality belts, though.

 

Thanks for the info, looks like I've bought the wrong belt. Are these being deliberately sold as Russian belts or is it just a case of misidentification? Where would be a good place to get a genuine belt? Having the steel belt doesn't sit right with me on a WW2 display.

 

I should hink the most imprtant thing is that it works in the gun.

 

Unfortunately the gun is display only, I think it would annoy me having the wrong belt on display. All I currently have other than this canvas belt is post war metal belts.

 

Bulgaria is currently the main source for these belts but you need to see a picture of the tabs to confirm the country of origin.

This one looks good without seeing the tab.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WW1-WW2-M...elt-very-RARE-/321403101344?pt=UK_Collectables_Militaria_LE&hash=item4ad51e20a0

 

Should the tab look like this one? http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/WWII-WW2-Machine-Gun-Maxim-Canvas_163428248.html
It looks like galvanised steel at a glance.

 

That looks good. Manufactured October 1945.

 

Confirm that. It looks good.
CaptMax

 

kchickenlord, your belt is for Bulgarian Maxim in 8x50R Mannlicher. This belt was manufactured in Germany at the end of the 1930's for Bulgarian export.

Best Regards
JFL

 

>Your belt is for Bulgarian Maxim in 8x50R Mannlicher. This belt was manufactured in Germany at the end of the 1930's for Bulgarian export.<

Thanks JFL for the ID and for clearing up up the mystery. Woodend was curious, too, but made a guess about FN, but no info could be easily found. Shooters complained that the rounds vibrated out of the loops, so the 8X50R dimensions makes sense of that.
However, 54R should be workable in those belts so the Maxims and Vickers converted have another option for belts, which is nice.

Bob Naess

 

It came from Bulgaria, so that makes sense. Cheers!