I don't own a belt fed though I have shot a few. They are different, you really feel the power to 'own' an area down range. The MG-42 especially was such a vicious piece.
I've heard it said that "You don't own a belt fed, you marry one". It's because of the cost and time for; ammo, linking ammo, picking up, cleaning, and maintaining the links, maintaining the gun, lots of spare parts, special tools, etc.. Schlepping all of that to the range and back. Even a small one like the Lage or Lima 6 is a huge step up over a magazine fed 5.56 MG. Is it worth it? That's up to you, your wallet, and your other spouse(?).
This is very true. I have 2 belt feds. A UK-59 and a Yugo M53. I love them but they are a pain in the ass. At least both use non disentigrating belts so I have that going for me. If I take both to go shooting I have ~60lbs of firearms plus belts, ammo, etc. Probably 80-100lbs of junk to have a fun day with 2 rifles. loading belts sucks without special loaders. The UK-59 belt is miserable to load without a loader and I have not yet found a loader for sale.
Thankfully I have yet to need spare parts especially as the UK-59 is particularly rare. MG42 parts are easy to get.
UK-59 is by far the most violent firearm I have every fired. Not quite MG-42 ROF but 18" in 7.62x54r and a short bolt stroke. They are beautifully machined with a very unique manual of arms. The service life makes basically any other firearm look pathetic as they are rated for over 1 million rounds service life.
For the general shooter they are not useful past shooting from a bench or from the ground on a bipod. I do occasionally use them for things like 2 or 3 gun. Very slow, heavy and awkward for that type of thing.
One off parts are very, very expensive. Once you have 1000 made the price drops significantly unless your part requires a bunch of setups. Most of the time there is a significant price drop after a couple dozen parts. Aluminum is often chosen because it can be cut fast and hard due to being soft. Flood it with coolant and rip! It's also much easier on tooling than harder materials.
Belt feds require way more energy than a comparable mag fed to run. You have to have enough energy to drag a loaded belt into the firearm then strip a round off the belt, push the spent stuff out and do it all over again. I expect things like extra stiff hammer springs to cause issues for guys running weak ammo in the Lima6 or fitelite uppers. Some belt feds, like my UK, require a massive spring loaded damper to essentially fling the carrier forward with enough snap to strip a round from the belt. The MG42 has this too but an even gnarlier spring.(Also functions the ejector and causes issues when not enough energy/velocity)
Belt feds rock but you need to understand what you are getting into.
If you have a runaway you either hold on and ride the lightning, grab the belt and try to make the gun choke or break the belt and wait for it to run out.
