An ammunition magazine for an automatic weapon wherein a spring-loaded con of successive cartridges are each fed in alignment to a firing chamber upon the reciprocating action of a bolt. The magazine has a pair of feed-gates, each of which is pivotally mounted on the magazine. The upper ends of the feed-gates together form a semi-circular, separably engaged, retaining cover for the top cartridge in the magazine. The lower ends of the feed-gates in sequence separably engage the next successive round in the magazine in response to the pivotal movement of the upper ends of both gates. This latter action keeps the successive round out of contact with the bolt while the top round is stripped and fed into the firing chamber by the bolt.