A rotary ammunition magazine for a rifle has a follower that is spring biased and rotates about an axis to move cartridges for feeding to the rifle's chamber. The follower has a surface portion which engages the last cartridge in the stack. The surface portion has one or more characteristics including a transverse orientation angle, a longitudinal orientation angle and an arcuate shape which determine the direction of the force vector and the lengthwise load distribution on the cartridge.

A prepackaged bug gun magazine for a gas powered weapon includes a body adapted to fit within an opening in the weapon. The magazine has a first surface, a second surface and at least one chamber. The length of the chambers extends from the first surface to the second surface. A first frangible sealing membrane is removably affixed to the first surface of the body and seals the first end of the chamber. A second frangible sealing membrane is removably affixed to the second surface of the body and seals the second end of the chamber. Particulate projectiles are located within the chambers and sealed in place by the sealing membranes. An indexing system aligns the chamber with a barrel of the weapon. Discharge causes pressurized gas to breach the first membrane and impact of the particulate projectiles will breach the second membrane, permitting the projectiles to enter the barrel.