“Limbs could be easily caught in the machinery, leading to horrible injuries and deaths. A sleeve unknowingly snagged on one of the autoloader’s moving parts could also drag a crewman into the apparatus upon firing.” (text shown with an explicit parenthetical citation: Perrett 1987:42).
However, you might say that’s an evil biased Western publication. What do Russian sources have to say?
Не так двинулся, не так взялся, не так положил – и, как минимум, синяк на руке или прищемил палец. А можно и что–нибудь сломать или порвать или растянуть связки кистей рук. … Неправильно разместил руку при досылании, растопырил пальцы – и слово “прищемил” здесь уже не подходит. Раздробление. Ампутация.»
Source: Topwar (same article / comment thread that outlines practical loading risks).
Move the gun wrong, grip it wrong, place it wrong—and you’ll get at least a bruise on your hand or a pinched finger. Or you could break something, tear something, or strain the ligaments in your hands. … Position your hand incorrectly while chambering, spread your fingers—and the word “pinched” doesn’t even apply. Crushing. Amputation.
Oh dear. Fun fact, open up any Russian forum thread where T-64/72 autoloading comes up, particularly experiences. Note the not-infrequent occurrences of the phrase жрали руки.
“Ate my hands”
What about experiences of actual users? Surely none of them have any concerns? Erm…
Yes, unfortunately, that’s true. The thing is, the machine gun holds all the shells, and it loads them into the gun. If you stick your hand in there, it’ll think it’s a shell too and try to load it.
So to summarise. Western sources reference the safety issues of autoloaders. Russian sources reference safety issues (particularly hands) of autoloaders.
BOTH sides of the Iron Curtain have references to the same basic issue. Big mechanical thing in small turret, crew placed immediately next to big mechanical thing. Big mechanical thing devoid of safety features.
I can’t really simplify it much more than that.