Abstract: An apparatus for loading an artillery piece, particularly a heavy artillery piece, includes a loading tray connected to the elevating mass of the artillery piece and mounted for selective displacement between a loading position and a ramming position. A loading table is provided for supporting a plurality of shells in side-by-side relation to one another, and an elongated loading trough separate from the table and tray is disposed therebetween. Operator means are provided to cause a shell to roll from the table into the trough so that the weight of the shell causes the trough to pivot into an inclination which corresponds to that of the loading tray, and the trough is then laterally tilted to roll the shell out of said trough and onto the loading tray when the tray is in its loading position, whereafter the loading tray is displaced to its ramming position.