Patent ID: 7637197

Claim:
A weapon, comprising: a breech mechanism for firing ammunition, where the ammunition is loaded at the breech of the weapon; a cannon tube; a breechblock; a device for firing the ammunition; a loading chamber, wherein the loading chamber is integrated in a unit, the unit being supported so as to be movable relative to a bore portion of the cannon tube and a longitudinal axis of the bore of the tube, the loading chamber, together with the breechblock and the device for firing the ammunition, forming the breech mechanism of the weapon, whereby a maximum projectile length is a sum of recoil distance, length of the loading chamber and thickness of the breechblock, and wherein a space requirement behind the weapon is determined solely by the recoil of the weapon; and hydraulic brakes and counter-recoil mechanisms arranged so as to transmit a recoil impulse from a part connecting the cannon tube to the unit to a cradle roller that is fixed to a cradle tube.