Do you correct someone if they refer to a magazine as a clip?

Hi cap 15 bullet Glockazine clip. That's how I refer to them.

I assume that we're talking about adults. Adults should not correct other adults is the way that I look at this unless it's in a teaching position where one is the instructor and the other is a student.

I'm of the 'sometimes' group.

I've tried over the period of my life to share my knowledge. After all this time, I tend not to speak unless invited.

People who claim to "...know about guns..." and don't know rather basic facts and concepts are usually too stupid to learn anything new. If their Daddy didn't tell them, it can't be right.

This applies to a number of subjects, not just firearms.

The thing that I will correct every time is when somebody refers to fired cartridge cases as "bullet shells"- drives me crazy!

Most of the ex-military people I know call them clips. I'll be damned if I correct them. If it's a new shooter, it depends on the situation. If it's a tool bag who's annoying me I will correct them to try getting a rise out of them.

I'm gonna Xerox a copy of this off to a bud, better Kleenex the glass first...

Meh, life is too short, I know what's meant.

Usually I use clip to refer to a stripper clip for loading cartridges into a magazine, detachable or fixed.
Usually I refer to a detachable magazine as a magazine. Especially if ammo for the gun may be issued in stripper clips or magazines (7.62x25mm Czech, .30 Carbine, 5.56x45mm NATO).

I can understand being precise in military use. I can imagine that, pinned down in a firefight and calling for an airdrop of preloaded ammo, requesting clips when you are short of magazines could make a difference.

On firearm models that have detachable box magazines but were never used with stripper clips, it has been common to call the magazine a clip. My sister found a vintage Marlin .22 rifle missing its magazine at an antique store and when I found a magazine for it at a gunshop, the factory packing called it a Marlin Model 20 Clip. I suspect this is true of a lot of .22 rifles that use clips, er, detachable box magazines. Among civilians, clip has been synonymous with magazine too long to make it worth my time to correct anyone. I might bring up the distinction in serious discussion of military firearms and their ammunition.

Children, maybe.

If a manufacturer can’t even get it right, why should I bother?



Magazine, mag, clip, thing that holds bullets that you stick in, I’m smart enough to know what your talking about.

I like to explain to people that a clip is a charging device that is removed or ejected during the course of firing. A magazine is a ammunition holding device that is attached to the rifle or pistol. About that time people tell me to shut up.

I say "clip" to troll people, like "hey chief, pass that clip o boolits" and when they say "it's a magazine, bro", I'll then say "it's not Better Homes and Gardens, pal" and they'll say "I'm not your pal, friend... And are you gonna pump my gas or not?".

I also call my HiPoint a Glock 1911. Because it is.

But don't get me started on calling "Jeeps" as "trucks". Last time I checked, an F150 didn't win a World War...

Well, a jeep is closer to a truck than a SUV which is what Consumer Reports considers them. I've never heard one called a truck or a SUV for that matter. Must be an area thing.

Kaybee asked:
Do you correct someone if they refer to a magazine as a clip?

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Absolutely not.

• To "correct" someone who calling a magazine as a clip axiomatically means calling a magazine a clip is "wrong" and that is hardly a settled point (See https://web.archive.org/web/20110718225409/http://www.nraila.org/issues/FirearmsGlossary/ where the NRA recognizes manufacturer and the military use of the term "clip" to refer to a "magazine" for at least 80 years).
  
• The two terms are generally regarded as synonymous by most people - at least those who aren't trying to act like liberal elites by using the term with the French pedigree.
  
• Manufacturers refer to magazines as clips in their packaging and marketing materials.
• "Correcting" someone over something as trivial as this does nothing but separate me from them rather than build a common purpose with them.

If I was going to start correcting people on their grammar and usage, I'd make my stand correcting the people who don't recognize the distinction between "their", "there" and "they're" or between "to", "too" and "two".

seems kinda dumb to correct someone when they're not wrong. Now if someone calls an engine a motor? Eh

The distinction between a clip and a magazine is a part of firearm technology. I enjoyed learning about the different ways rounds are fed. I do educate interested family and friends.

While misusing the word "clips" is frowned on, I'm pretty sure no firearms website has ever posted a velocity. That word is consistently misused on firearm sites.

In a word............no

Agree with almost all that has been said. For me, it depends on who is talking.
My wife and one of my best friends argued over the clip/magazine terminology once, he apologized the following day.Generally we know what one means but....

Rudolph31 said:

It’s “COULDN’T care less”. If you can care less, then you still care

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If one decides not to choose,you still have made a choice...(I hear music!)

If I can do it tactfully I'll try to educate people, but I won't be a jerk about it. Being technically correct they are 2 different things, but I understand that over time the 2 terms have been used interchangeably enough that the strict definition is blurred. Many, many people today have no idea exactly what a real clip is. It doesn't hurt to know the difference even if they choose to use the terms interchangeably.

Sure, a clip. It's what you put the glock bullets into, before shoving it into the dealie.

I call them magazines, I don't correct. I'll tease a buddy who knows the term we customarily use.

These packages of Remington Magazine Clips reminded me that just a few decades ago I commonly heard the phrase "clip magazine" but haven't heard it used in awhile.

On a side issue, I will grant that I have heard "coke" used for any cola soft drink (Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, Mr Cola, RC) but not for non-cola soft drinks (Dr Pepper, Dr Enuf, Sprite, Mountain Dew).

What does Feinstein say? Whatever she calls it, the opposite is true. It's like that thingy that goes up.

doubleh said:

Well, a jeep is closer to a truck than a SUV which is what Consumer Reports considers them. I've never heard one called a truck or a SUV for that matter. Must be an area thing.

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In the military a Jeep was called a "1/4 ton truck".
Some people will insist a gun means artillery ( what about shotguns or handguns ) yet call a 1/4 ton truck a Jeep.

Rarely, unless they ask about the difference. I must confess that when I was starting I confused both terms but by hearing both terms in their proper context I quickly noticed the difference.