Clip or Magazine

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Justang

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I know some people get pretty irritated when you call a magazine a clip. Why? What's the difference?

Stripper clip vs Box magazine?

Just looking for a little education.



ps. I did a google and all I got was clip art in some art magazine. Stupid art! :banghead: :p
 
You got it right

Unfortunately I still sometimes say clip, when I should say magazine, just 'cause I hear it so much.
 
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It is quite simple:

Clips load CARTRIDGES (not "bullets") into MAGAZINES; magazines store cartridges in the gun and feed the cartridges into the chamber. ;)
 
Clip
clip.jpg


Magazine
magazine.gif


Also, firearms that take a clip have an internal magazine. The clip goes into that. :D
 
The magazine might be where the clip- or its contents, if it's a stripper clip- should go. Garands use clips referred to as 'en bloc,' and some other rifles and machine guns are fed directly from their clips as well, though offhand I can't think of any other double column or staggered clips like the M1's.

Some clips are indeed stripper clips, their contents are loaded directly into the magazine (or in the case of one Japanese machine gun design, into a hopper- gotta watch the WW2 Japanese stuff, some of it is pretty weird and will ruin all your nice clear generalizations). There was one, for instance, that fed from Hotchkiss style strips and replaced the fired brass into the strip. Gotta keep that foxhole neat, ya know.

If you want to be absolutely technically proper, you should generally refer to 'detachable box magazines' just to be clear. That might help you avoid bruising the tender feelings of the technoids among us. There are of course other magazines that _could_ be detached but were not intended to be replaced in reloading. I have in mind the SMLE's, intended to be loaded from stripper clips rather than replaced from a supply of loaded magazines.

And so on, and so on.

Go by the library and hunker down with a copy of _Small Arms Of The World_ for a while, the older the better. That might help some. Or go to
http://www.carbinesforcollectors.com/feeddevicesforfirearms.html and see if that helps cover the bases.

You can call 'em clips but if they are detachable box magazines IMHO it does make you look bad... .

lpl/nc
 
RoadRunner, it is an En Block. Get it right. :p

So what are the single stack things that go into a Steyr M95 called? Are they stil En Blocks, or is that term exclusive to M1's?
 
"Gun" is an incorrect term as well. "Gun" referrs to a very specific type of heavy artillery, not to hand or shoulder fired slugthrowers.

A "mortar" has a high, arcing trajectory. A "gun" has a low, flat trajectory. A "howitzer" is somewhere in between.

If you want to really be accurate, hand-fired firearms and shoulder-fired firearms should be referred to as firearms, or by their specific type; pistol, revolver, rifle, shotg--uh, shotfirearm, etc.

Personally, I don't care what people call stuff, as long as I know what they mean (and it's not insulting).
 
The wife of my hunter ed instructor had a great comeback when he corrected her. she called a magazine a clip and he said, "A clip goes in your hair." She retorted, "Well, a magazine is something you read."

I've heard all of them referred to as clips so long that I really don't care. It's petty and anal to go around correcting people because they don't use the term Sgt whoever insists on. The rest of us don't need that military crap.
 
Clip or magazine? Either is interchangeable.

Languages evolve over time from the usage of those who speak it. Dictionaries have rules for when, whether and why a word will have the meaning altered or added.

Go look up both words on www.dictionary.com which draws from several sources. You will find that in modern parlance either is acceptable in the place of the other.

Finally putting an end to this stupid argument I have seen so many times.

The purpose of language is communication. And what made this argument so silly, is those jumping up and down when someone said clip and these folks saying you meant magazine obviously knew exactly what you were referring to anyway. So in other words the idea was communicated perfectly.

Guess you can even start talking about using stripper mags in your Enfield...... :neener:
 
Clip feeds the magazine, magazine feeds the firearm. Anyone who misuses the terms should have their RKBA stripped! :D
 
I think alot of the problem is ignorant anti-gunners (or even non-gunners). The media starts throwing around the wrong terms, they become common usage, and then we have the conflict of opinion.
 
Well said esldude . Technically , it isn't correct but popular usage means that "clip" and "magazine" are mostly interchagable . I would say mostly as most non-gun , sorry firearm , enthusiasts do not know the meaning of "magazine" as it relates to a firearm . Is it the dumbing down of America ? Perhaps to an extent , but language evolves and I am certain that people who never make mistakes when dealing with firearm nomenclature make goofs when it comes to other things . I use magazine or "mag" almost exclusively ( only only a Garand that takes en block clips and have never used stripper clips to load internal or external magazines ) but don't get irate when someone says clip or feel the need to chastize them as I know what they mean ; it's like having a conniption over someone saying " VIN number " or referring to a generic flavored , powdered drink as " Kool Aid " - my blood pressure is too high to correct every faux pas I hear and I make enough that it'd take an hour a day to set me straight :)
 
If it has an integral spring, it's a magazine.

If it doesn't, it's a clip.

That's how I differentiate between them, anyway.
Click to expand...
That's a good, workable, functional distinction. I like that. It takes into account things like the Ruger rotary magazine in some of their rifles.

Just to play devil's advocate -- is the cylinder of a revolver a "rotary magazine"? Heck, for Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider the cylinders were even DETACHABLE magazines (Remington cap and ball revolver, remember the final shootout when he swapped cylinders before facing off with the "marshal" after he'd finished off all the "deputies"?).
 
Clip or magazine? Either is interchangeable.

Languages evolve over time from the usage of those who speak it. Dictionaries have rules for when, whether and why a word will have the meaning altered or added.

Go look up both words on www.dictionary.com which draws from several sources. You will find that in modern parlance either is acceptable in the place of the other.

Finally putting an end to this stupid argument I have seen so many times.
Click to expand...

esldude,

Respectfully, you have not ended the argument. You have simply refused to acknowledge it. I'm not going to address the issue of magazine vs. clip. Others have dealt with that. I agree that language does change over time. But a lot of modern dictionaries tend to sink to the lowest common denominator and include a lot of incorrect, but commonly used, word usage. Well before the old word has passed out of use and the new word has become the accepted standard.

I'll use fencing as an example, since I have a few friends that fence. In fencing you can use a foil, an epee, or a saber, with different rules for each. Now say I'm a saber fencer and a non-fencer or a media personality refers to my saber as "a fencing foil." Most people would understand that they meant "that long shiny thing Phantom is waving around" but that doesn't change the fact that their use of terminology is incorrect.

In closing, I have no objection to people who don't know better using a "clip" for "magazine" or vice-versa. Or even someone that does. It's a free country. But the fact remains that the two terms are distinct and have distinct, and different, meanings. Whether they are used correctly or not.
 
Just to play devil's advocate -- is the cylinder of a revolver a "rotary magazine"? Heck, for Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider the cylinders were even DETACHABLE magazines (Remington cap and ball revolver, remember the final shootout when he swapped cylinders before facing off with the "marshal" after he'd finished off all the "deputies"?).
Click to expand...

Clint's gun was indeed an 1858 Remington, which was originally a cap and ball revolver. But those cylinders he was carrying were cartridge conversions (for even FASTER reloading!). Here's a link to a photo of the actual rig he carried during the film:

http://www.alliancelink.com/users/frontier/srrs/00image/gallery/clint02.jpg
 
Never said I ended the argument. The use of language has done so.

Nor do reputable dictionaries just sink to the lowest common demoninator. They are a bit more finicky than that.

Always wondered why this mag vs. clip thing generated the amount of interest it does. And the gun vs. rifle or pistol thing doesn't. Nor the pistol vs. revolver dispute.

Seems like some folks want to use jargon to show their knowledge as being above average in an area where such has no real benefit. As for me at least, will take something quite different to impress me than the picky usage of clip vs. magazine. Oh, and why mag rather than the full proper term magazine? No please don't answer, I really could care less.
 
The normal distinction is that a magazine has a spring (or other feeding mechanism) and a follower; a clip does not. So the "en bloc" clip of an M1 rifle, even though it enters into the magazine, has no spring or follower. ("En bloc" - no "k", the term is French - means only that all the cartridges are inserted in the magazine as a group, rather than individually.)

The kind of clip from which cartridges are stripped into a magazine is often called a "stripper clip" by Americans; the British call it a "charger".

While the above is a good distinction for normal use, not every feed mechanism falls neatly into one category or the other. Not all magazines use a spring; the single column Gatling gun magazines used gravity feed, and there have been mechanical feeding systems. And strip and belt fed machineguns have no magazine, nor do they depend on a spring for feeding.

One other point often debated. There never was any distinction made in the U.S. service between the word "clip" as used for the 5 round M1903/M1917 clip and the 8 round M1 rifle clip. Box markings are simply "5 round clip" or "8 round clip". The terms "stripper clip" and "charger" were never officially used by the U.S.

Jim
 
Lee Lapin
"Some clips are indeed stripper clips, their contents are loaded directly into the magazine (or in the case of one Japanese machine gun design, into a hopper- gotta watch the WW2 Japanese stuff, some of it is pretty weird and will ruin all your nice clear generalizations). There was one, for instance, that fed from Hotchkiss style strips and replaced the fired brass into the strip. Gotta keep that foxhole neat, ya know."

Yea, I think I remember that MG, it was an Italian Breda, no? IIRC it was large calibre, almost a cannon, made for ships and tanks, then scaled down for rifle cartridges, and then they changed the rifle cartridges!
 
Well since I'm just a "no name ignorant poster" and my opinons mean nothing I think I'll just start referring to my "Magazine Clip Caliber .45" thingies as clips just to show my lack of education and unacceptable lineage.
 
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