Couldn't they have made them more safe?

FTFY: Why are all pre-M1/L2/etc so vulnerable to explosion?
Because designers didn't care about how their designs would behave after being penetrated. Soviets simply keep that template design for too long. The carousel compounded the problem but removing it will not fix the assumption that the tank will not be penetrated.

>Some L1, T-62, M60 have some protection for a some rounds but it isn't comparable to modern racks. Late M4 of WW2 unlike early cold war tanks.

>>63985808 (OP)
>Because designers didn't care about how their designs would behave after being penetrated.
they did, and even the soviets tried to make it so that they wouldnt explode so violently when hit

prior to modern blow-out racks, tanks tried to avoid catastrophic detonation by placing the ammunition on the floor of the tank to make it less likely to be hit when penetrated compared to the walls of the hull
the soviets did use floor ammo storage for most of their tanks, but the very small size of their tanks meant that a large portion of their ammo had to be in the sides of the tank where they would be hit easily

obviously, floor storage is not as good as turret bustle storage, but that does not mean that the people using floor storage did not care about safety nor did they totally ignore post-pen effects

>>63985808 (OP)
Russian lives weren't considered valuable

>>63985808 (OP)
weeks of vodka fumes

>forward-thinking Soviet tech
>it becomes obsolete after decades
>Russia can't afford to replace it
it's that simple. there's not really any major controversy here

>>63986146
>a large portion of their ammo had to be in the sides of the tank where they would be hit easily

Which Soviet tanks were these?

>>63990255
Most WWII tanks had most of their ammo in the sponsons (above the tracks). The alternative was the floor but it's less ergonomic. Turrets with basket had an obvious problem, the floor wasn't usable to store anything ready to use.

>>63990255
Every Russian tank before the T-64 stored the ammo in the upper hull or in turret ready racks.

>make floor out of shells
>need to Flintstone your tank when you're empty

>>63990272
>>63990286

Ammo storage in the T-34 was in the floor, the side hull was used for diesel fuel storage.