Delinker with cylindrical pushrods for machine gun

A machine gun comprising:

• a barrel assembly configured to receive ammunition cartridges, fire the ammunition cartridges, and eject spent casings from the ammunition cartridges;
• a delinker comprising:
• a main body configured to receive linked ammunition cartridges and separate an ammunition cartridge from the linked ammunition cartridges when the delinker is operating, wherein the main body extends along a longitudinal axis;
• a paddle wheel configured to receive the ammunition cartridge from the main body and provide the ammunition cartridge to the barrel assembly of the machine gun when the delinker is operating;
• a nose configured to releasably engage the main body to retain the paddle wheel longitudinally within the main body when the delinker is assembled;
• a plurality of pushrods configured to extend generally parallel to a longitudinal axis of the delinker when the delinker is assembled, wherein the pushrods are repeatedly reciprocated forward by a camming section of the delinker as the delinker operates to push ammunition cartridges forward within the delinker;
• and
• a carrier configured to extend along the longitudinal axis of the delinker when the delinker is assembled, said carrier configured to receive the plurality of pushrods, rotate about the longitudinal axis, and limit movement of each pushrod of the plurality of pushrods to generally parallel to the longitudinal axis as the delinker operates, wherein each pushrod of the plurality of pushrods has a generally circular cross section relative to the longitudinal axis;
• a main drive motor configured to drive the barrel assembly and the delinker when the gun is assembled and firing;
• and
• a gun control unit configured to provide power to the main drive motor when the gun is assembled and firing.