Patent ID: 7500421

Claim:
A magazine for an automatic shell-firing weapon mounted on a gun carriage, wherein said magazine is adapted to contain a belt that is adapted to be withdrawn from an upper side of said magazine and supplied to the weapon, said magazine further comprising: two closed magazine portions interconnected by a closed transfer channel, wherein said magazine is disposed on a front side of the gun carriage in such a way that said two magazine portions are disposed on opposite sides of the weapon and the belt is adapted to be disposed in said magazine such that in a fully loaded state of said magazine, a front section of the belt, as viewed in a direction of withdrawal of the belt from said magazine, is adapted to be disposed in a first one of said magazine portions that is disposed on a belt supply side of the weapon, wherein an upper part of said first magazine portion is provided with a removal opening that faces the weapon, wherein a rear section of the belt is adapted to be disposed in a second one of said magazine portions that is disposed on an opposite side of the weapon, wherein a middle section of the belt is adapted to be guided through said transfer channel that interconnects said first and second magazine portions, wherein said front section of the belt is adapted to be disposed in said first magazine portion in a meander shaped manner, wherein a guide plate is disposed on a first side wall of said first magazine portion located opposite said removal opening, wherein said guide plate is adapted to support and guide one side of loops of the belt in said first magazine portion, wherein said guide plate extends from a lower part of said first magazine portion to said removal opening, and wherein said guide plate is pivotable into an interior of said first magazine portion, about a pivot axis that is disposed in the vicinity of said removal opening , to an end position in which said middle section of the belt, when exiting said transfer channel, is adapted to be guided along said guide plate directly to said removal opening.