Loading apparatus for a medium caliber weapon

In a turret assembly comprising a turret and a manually loaded medium caliber weapon supported by the turret and having a cartridge chamber into which each round of ammunition is manually inserted by forward movement of the round into the chamber, a loading apparatus comprising:

• a stationary casing fixed to said turret behind said cartridge chamber and having an ammunition outlet aperture located rearwardly of said cartridge chamber at a distance thereof slightly in excess of the length of an individual said round, and offset to the side of the centerline of the chamber to provide a spacing rearwardly of the cartridge which is unobstructed to permit manual transport of a round of ammunition from the outlet aperture of the casing and also manual loading of a round of ammunition from a location other than the loading apparatus,
• a barrel mounted in said casing for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis offset laterally relative to the cartridge chamber centerline, formed with a plurality of ammunition receiving locations distributed at equal angular intervals about said axis, said casing and barrel having cooperating means for individually retaining each said round at a receiving location when not in a registry with said ammunition outlet aperture,
• manually actuatable means for rotating said barrel by angular steps selected to bring each location in turn into registry with said aperture, whereby the round of ammunition in the registering location may be manually withdrawn forwardly through said aperture and slightly laterally into the cartridge chamber.