Merkava's Ready-to-Fire Ammunitiom Magazine

[delfosisyu]

 

I heard Merkava tanks have  revolving magazine for main gun loading.

Magazines hold 6 rounds for Merkava I, II,   5 rounds  for Merkava III, 10 rounds for Merkava IV. 

After emptying the magazine, how is the procedure for filling magazines with stowed rounds?

[Damian]

Merkava Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3 have indeed a magazine on the turret floor.

Here you can see how ammo is stored inside vehicle.

In case of Merkava Mk4, ready magazine is isolated behind armored bulkhead in turret bustle.

 

As for how ammo is again loaded in to the ready racks, it's simple, if there is time, loader will take one round from storage container at a time, and load it in to the ready rack.

I guess in case of emergency, main gun can be directly reloaded with ammo from storage containers.