Clips vs Magazines

[Ice Pirate]

I'd doubt if I'm the only one here who gets annoyed by people who load their rifles with a "30 round CLIP." Or a "Banana CLIP."

Well a friend of mine, Pete Nelson, from another site put this little video together to explain the difference between the Clip and the Magazine, for the Nomenclature Challenged. I've been and Air Force CATM Instructor for 27 years, and this is the best explaination I've seen.

http://www.lifelibertyetc.com/RangeB..._Magazines.wmv

Yeah, I know, he did his demonstration with Live Ammo, and I've already talked to him about that. :roll:

[WillysWagon]

No doubt the best explanation of a mag vs clip I've seen.

[Wallary]

I got kinda excited when he got out the shotgun, I want a 8 round shotgun clip for my Tactical Remmington 1100!!!! :mrgreen:

[HunterCO]

Yeah, I know, he did his demonstration with Live Ammo, and I've already talked to him about that. :roll:

WTF does that have to do with it??? If you handle a firearm properly it makes no difference if it's unloaded, loaded, broke, cocked locked and ready to go, drove over by a tank, smashed with a sludge hammer I don't get your point you lost me?????

He did good made it very simple!

[Colorado Osprey]

I think a lot of confusion of true gun afficianatos with these terms comes from something the instructor pointed out.

Clips are used to fill a magazine....magazines are sometimes internal, sometimes externally visable like the SKS.

Magazines are removable....but so are some clips like the M1....so is the M1 ammo loading device clip really a clip or a magazine. The military labeled it a clip. But because it was removable shouldn't it really be a magazine. No, because the magazine is located internally in the rifle.

The term magazine has some very old history even before the use of guns and gun powders. It was where weapons were stored....even when those weapons were swords and spears.

The M1 stores ammo in the internal space in the weapon, so this area in the M1 is a magazine...and what loads it is a clip.

So, a pistol with a hollow handle that stores ammo, does this use a clip or a magazine. Well there is an area in the bottom of the grip to insert ammo for storage...and this area is the magazine. You install a clip into that magazine....now see where the confusion comes from.

Because weapons like the M16 family store most of their ammo outside the weapon, there is no true magazine in the weapon, and hense it has a removable magazine....not a removable clip. The clips for the M16 family are for loading magazines as shown in the video and called stripper clips.

My point to this long post is that some people seem to have a pet peeve about these terms being used some say incorrectly; usually brought out by prior military service where it was driven into them. Of course the military is always right about everything, right?

So, if the ammo is stored internally, the term magazine should be used and as such there are many firearms that could use magazines. But is the ammo storage device is removable, it could be correctly called a clip if it is installed mostly internal in the firearm....like most semi auto pistols....as long as you are not in the military.

Did I stir this enough?

[PsychoI3oy]

I always boiled it down to the magazine being the part with the follower and spring, and the clip being a simple piece of metal that holds onto rounds.

[shrapmetal]

i dont have a problem with either term. i understand the differance between the two. i look at it more like slang. if anyone on this site was asked to pass a clip "incorrectly" we would all understand what that person wanted so whats the big deal? other than having the chance to correct someone i don't see the problem. lots of things have more than one name. people call ammunition "ammo" or "rounds" should we be correcting that?

in my line of work body piercing have different names depending on what part of the country you hail from. we don't correct people we just make sure we understand what they want and help them.

i just think the term is used "wrong" enough that the understanding still is there. call the muzzle a buttstock i might correct you, but ask for a clip and i'll hand you a "mag" no questions asked.

it doesn't bother me one bit.

[7idl]

it's important to use the correct terminology.

just like your AR or AK type rifle is an "asault rifle". well if it isn't select fire, then it isn't a true 'assault rifle'. The media and anti's are fueled by their disregard for facts. Why get caught up in the same crap?

use proper terminology where appropriate and educate those around you to the fact.

[Driftwood]

Pretty cool video, thanks!

I knew the difference between the two but didn't know a M1 had an internal magazine, or that it was at least called that. Interesting.

[Driftwood]

use proper terminology where appropriate and educate those around you to the fact.

:mrgreen: I wholeheartedly agree!

I always tell people that clips are for your hair.

Or maybe I should start saying, "Honey, what are you doing with my magazine in your hair?"

:P