Can you use stripper clips as fast as box magazines?

[NMshooter]

When I had an M1A I tried reloading it with stripper clips, and I could remove the empty mag and lock in a new one faster. Stripper clips in my experience are slower.

Kind of like revolver speed loaders, you might be able to catch up, but you have to practice a lot more. The detachable box mag is a wonderful invention.

 

[30Cal]

The charging guide on the M14 is a little less than optimal--it goes a lot smoother on a Springfield or other bolt rifle.

 

[NMshooter]

It's not much quicker with a K98 that ejects the empty clip for you.

Or a Garand.

 

[SapperLeader]

I cant use the stripper clips faster, but I do like them for some situations, where I don’t want a lot of magazines taking up a lot of bulk (truck gun, spare rifle for family member, or quick range trip). I think stripper clips are fast, but I can certainly load a 20 or 30 rounder into my AR just as fast. I haven’t played around with m1s yet, but i have seen people load them faster than I can load a box magazine or a SKS stripper clip. I guess its like anything else, the more your practice, the faster you get.

 

[DMK]

I find that at least a couple times during the match, I reach into my cartridge belt and find that a round has fallen off the clip. Or I go to load a clip and the last round falls out in the process, or some type of foul up occurs with the clip/ammo. In addition, "drawing" a clip from the pouch of a cartridge belt is definitely harder than grabbing a magazine out of a pouch.

Boy, that's an excellent point 444. The enclosed detachable magazine really does make handling and accessing the ammunition a lot easier. SKS strippers lose a round just sitting in the pouch and when removing the clip from the pouch, the rounds often get caught on the material.

I guess the Enbloc of the Garand (wasn't there another rifle that used this type of clip?) is sort of a hybrid. It does hold the ammunition together very securely and it's easy to insert at a whole unit like a magazine, yet like a stripper clip it's compact/light and does not require manual removal when empty. Really, the only drawbacks of the Enbloc vs enclosed magazine are capacity and the difficulty to remove from a pouch.

The Enbloc in a Garand is almost like a low cap, top load magazine that automatically ejects on the last round.

 

[Lord Bodak]

One magazine versus one stripper clip reload, I would say that in most cases the magazine is quicker.

But, if you're talking about an extended shooting session, there's a good chance of keeping a lot more ammo preloaded on strippers than preloaded in magazines, simply because strippers are inexpensive and small.

The time spent reloading magazines after they've all been emptied is when the stripper clips would catch up.

 

[NMshooter]

When you use stripper clips to reload your empty magazines you get the best of both worlds.

 

[444]

Sure, you can use stripper clips to load magazines (in or out of the rifle depending on what rifle/mag we are talking about). The first time I went to Gunsite, I took two CASES of 5.56 on stripper clips. I also took over 50 loaded AR15 magazines.
I found this was a poor method and never did it again. I discovered the LULA and realized this was the way to go.