The firearms market in the United States of America can constitute a completely separate category when summarizing firearm designs. Starting with the Constitution (and the unchanged Second Amendment granting citizens the right to bear arms), through individual state laws and subsequent changes, it creates a fairly specific market in which many non-obvious possibilities emerge. A perfect example of this are solutions such as FRT trigger mechanisms (Force Reset Trigger) that transform semi-automatic firearms into “almost” automatic designs without crossing the boundaries of the law. The popularity of such solutions and the desire to fully exploit them shift attention away from magazine-fed systems more toward the use of ammunition belts from machine guns. Complete upper receivers for AR-15 carbines based on this principle are already available from many manufacturers; however, Lima Six Belt Fed and KAK Industries decided to add a proverbial cherry on top by offering a water/liquid-cooled upper receiver called the Lima 1917.
The Lima 1917 upper receiver is equipped with a barrel placed inside a water jacket, reminiscent of solutions developed by the inventor of the first machine gun, Hiram Maxim. As with the original, ports have been routed to allow liquid to be supplied to and drained from the jacket (and this is likely where all similarities end). The muzzle ends with a muzzle device however, it has been confirmed that it can be unscrewed and replaced with any other one (including suppressors).
The entire system still operates on the principle known from AR-15 carbines (Direct Impingement) and uses many of their components. The feed mechanism itself is based on parts from the M249 SAW machine gun. The lower receiver must be manufactured to the Mil-Spec standard in order to be compatible with the Lima 1917 upper receiver.
The announced premiere is set to take place during the upcoming ShotShow 2026.
Photos: Lima Six Belt Fed
