Magnetic tape recording device

A magnetic tape loading device comprising a head drum having magnetic heads, a drum base supporting said head drum, a chassis, two loading rings supported on an upper surface of said chassis and rotatable in opposite directions, two tape guide blocks having guide posts for pulling out a magnetic tape from a tape cassette and winding it on said head drum, and guide block guide members for guiding one of said two tape guide blocks, said two loading rings being vertically spaced in coaxial relation at the outside of said drum base, said one of said two tape guide blocks being supported on said guide block guide members to be movable along a path slanted with respect to said two loading rings and being coupled to the lower loading ring by a connector mechanism, and the other of said tape guide blocks being coupled to the upper loading ring, so that said two tape guide blocks are movable in opposite directions around a periphery of said head drum in response to rotation of said two loading rings for winding said magnetic tape helically on said periphery of said head drum over an angle of contact with said head drum of at least 300.degree. and with a spacing between the beginning and end of a portion of said magnetic tape that contacts said head drum corresponding substantially to the width of said magnetic tape.