Magazines and clips...

[Manco]

You guys that have never heard the term "gat" are lees than 900 years old.

It is a Hollywood term that was used in a lot of movie made in the '30's, '40's and 50".

ggeeerr you got your gat with you ?

Actually, I've watched tons of movies from those decades (I like them more than modern movies, generally), albeit not the gangster movies, which probably explains why I've never heard the term. Is it short for Gatling gun or something like that?

 

[Art Eatman]

There's an immortal scene in a Marx Brothers movie. They open a drawer and see a very large revolver and two or three smaller ones. Groucho's line is, "This gat had gittens!"

Don't take it as gospel but I vaguely recall seeing the term in one of Damon Runyon's stories.

SFAIK it's a 1930s term, well past the era of the Gatling gun.

 

[dayid]

dictionary.com agrees:

gat2
n
(Military / Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) Slang chiefly US a pistol or revolver
[shortened from Gatling gun]

gat 2 (gt)
n. Slang
A pistol.
[Short for Gat(ling gun).]

wikipedia thinks so also:

a slang term for a handgun or a machine pistol, derived from "Gatling gun"[1] Can also refer to firearms more generally

 

[Jeff82]

Can you wrap your brain around this?

 

[zoom6zoom]

Magazine:

 

[Jeff82]

Clip:
---charger or "stripper clip": discarded after charging magazine
---en bloc (M1): required part needed for proper firearm function
Magazine:
---integral: M1 Garand
--------tube, Winchester 94, Mossberg 500, Remington Nylon 66
--------rotary, Savage 99
--------box, Mauser 98, Savage 110, C96 Mauser
--------cylinder, Colt Python, Ruger GP100, Striker 12
---detachable:
--------rotary, Ruger 10/22
--------box, AR-15, M14, Glock
--------drum, M1928A1 Thompson, Atchisson AA-12
--------pan, Lewis Gun, DPM

 

[stchman]

I can see the term "gat" being used for a gatling gun. I can see mag being used for a magazine. Basically a way to shorten up the word.

 

[MedWheeler]

[/QUOTE]A Magazine feeds the ammo into the firing chamber. A revolver's cylinder is technically a magazine in this regard.[/QUOTE]

Hmm.. while I've never read an "official" stance, I believe that the spot in which the round sits when it is detonated is the "firing chamber." That means that all autoloading pistols have one, and revolvers have several, with six being the most common amount.
A revolver's cylinder does not "feed" anything into anything else. It simply re-aligns itself, and any cartridges it contains. The cartridges do not leave the cylinder chambers to be fired.

 

[jcwit]

Magazine:

Magazine:

Bunker?

 

[Stophel]

I think this obsession with "correct" terminology (by the way, "correct" according to WHOM, exactly???) is very modern, and probably of military origin. Everything absolutely must be cubbyholed into a precise classification. The same people who are adamant that a spring-loaded "magazine" is absolutely, positively NOT a "clip" usually are also repulsed in horror upon hearing someone call a "revolver" a "pistol". Nevermind that Sam Colt called his invention a "Pistol"....we know better now.

I can only imagine the sheer hysteria that might be caused if I were to call this a "Pistol Handle"!!

 

[LeontheProfessional]

It is every bit as incorrect as calling a revolver a pistol.

 

[Oyeboten]

I think this obsession with "correct" terminology (by the way, "correct" according to WHOM, exactly???) is very modern, and probably of military origin. Everything absolutely must be cubbyholed into a precise classification. The same people who are adamant that a spring-loaded "magazine" is absolutely, positively NOT a "clip" usually are also repulsed in horror upon hearing someone call a "revolver" a "pistol". Nevermind that Sam Colt called his invention a "Pistol"....we know better now.

Sam Colt and everyone else, called them 'Revolving Pistols'.


Later, this was shortened to 'Revolver' in common parlance.


The Inventer of the detachable Box Magazine James Paris Lee, John Browning, Colts P.F., Enfield, Luger, Mauser, and everyone else, called 'Magazines' Magazines.


Tubular Magazines were called 'Tubular Magazines' by all Manufacterers, and, everyone in general.


A Magazine is what holds Ammuition for use....be it a storage Building, or Bunker or as part of a Gun.


A Clip holds Ammunition for one to push said ammuition INTO a vertical Magazine well, and, thus, into a Magazine, whether the Magazine is removable or not ( as the old Lee Enfield .303s' Magazines were detachable, yet often loaded in-place from above using a Stripper Clip).


Stripper Clips were called 'Stripper Clips' by every Arm's manufacturer whose Pistols or Rifles used them.


Common parlance shortened this to 'Clip'.


A Gun's Magazine is part of the Gun and is part of the Gun's mechanical function for loading sequential rounds.

A 'Clip' is not.


Etc...

 

[Stophel]

I like this ad, myself:

 

[stchman]

Magazines DO NOT feed ammunition into the chamber. Magazines hold the round in the proper position and the bolt or slide feeds ammunition into the chamber.

 

[jakemccoy]

I try to use the correct terminology all the time. If I make a mistake, I don't mind being corrected. Just don't be a pedantic dick about it.

Anybody who has ever gone to a foreign country having a foreign language shouldn't have a problem with being corrected. Many folks here are saying it's arrogant to correct someone. I say it's arrogant to refuse a correction.

 

[jakemccoy]

A revolver is not a pistol? So, the three dictionaries I checked must be wrong.

 

[Dihappy]

I dont mind it, but will let someone know the difference in case they dont know. If they continue to use the term, it sure isnt going to ruin my day.

 

[Manco]

The same people who are adamant that a spring-loaded "magazine" is absolutely, positively NOT a "clip" usually are also repulsed in horror upon hearing someone call a "revolver" a "pistol". Nevermind that Sam Colt called his invention a "Pistol"....we know better now.

A magazine is not a clip, but a revolver is a pistol--some people get the former wrong, others get the latter wrong, and some get both wrong. You are correct about the latter, and those who thought otherwise should take this opportunity to correct their own understanding, especially those who are irked by others who call magazines clips.

By the way, people getting one wrong and the other right is no blanket excuse for everybody to go nuts and start calling things whatever the heck they want. This hardly promotes understanding in the long run, which is what those who correct others (politely, if you please) are trying to maintain. For those who are annoyed by the insistence that magazines are actually called magazines (or mags) instead of clips, should people start calling stripper clips "stripper magazines" and moon clips "moon mags?"

As for revolver cylinders as magazines, for every type of classification there are always cases that don't fit the common description but still fit the more general definition of a term. A cylinder holds and more or less encloses the ammunition, so it could, perhaps somewhat loosely to some, be considered a magazine in the most general sense, although it is different from other items that are commonly called magazines in the context of firearms (that have springs and so forth). To avoid confusion, simply call them cylinders (a general word with a more specific meaning in firearms jargon).

 

[Jonah71]

there is a difference between stating the obvious and nitpicking casual details.

to some, it is a magazine, to others it is a clip, if you KNOW what they mean when they say it, than they have conveyed their message to you, and you obviously knew what they meant, why go around policing everyone about vocabulary? is that your job?

If someone knows what end the bullet comes out of, knows how to work the safety/action, knows how to take care of it and store it properly, i don't care which name they call the parts on their gun.

I do know you are right, I also call them magazines, but I won't correct people on it anymore, because it still won't help, and it just makes me, or whoever else does it, irritating to be around.

Have you ever talked to anyone who is convinced that a regular differential is a "limited-slip"? there are a LOT of people out there who are convinced of such things as the " drive-wheel" or that a standard truck has a "limited-slip".

I know they are wrong when they say that, its an open differential, a limited slip is a more expensive option, with clutch plates, but i'm not on a personal crusade to correct all the vocabulary errors of the world.

I think that's a good way to see this issue. As long as the person knows what you're talking about....BFD! (just an example....here's another LOL)

 

[twice barrel]

In my opinion they're all "clips". Some "clips" are stripper clips to assist in loading a "blind" magazine, some "clips" are "detachable box magazines".

Why the current lingo demands a distinction is beyond me other than to say some folks get hung up on minutia.

TB

 

[mbt2001]

I am tired of the distinction.

Magazine / Clip it doesn't matter. It smacks of semantics, a game elites love to play. It isn't a record man, it's an LP. It isn't a MOVIE man, it is a cinematic production. That isn't dog Sh&t man, it's art.

 

[HGUNHNTR]

Don't expect your opinions to be held in high regard if you use incorrect terminology. You may think it doesn't matter, but humans naturally judge those around them based on how they look and what comes out of their mouth. It may not always be fair, but thats how it works.

 

[LeontheProfessional]

A revolver is not a pistol? So, the three dictionaries I checked must be wrong.

In a pistol the barrel and the chamber have to be one unit. This is not the case in a revolver where the barrel is dislocated from the cylinder which holds the ammo.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=define:+pistol&aq=0&aql=&aqi=l1g2g-m3&oq=pistol+def
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=define:+pistol&aq=0&aql=&aqi=l1g2g-m3&oq=pistol+def
http://www.yourdictionary.com/pistol

 

[Stophel]

Who was it that invented the "a pistol is a handgun with a chamber integral with the barrel" definition anyway?? It had to come from someone, it certainly did not come about from "general usage", someone had to come up with it (probably a gun magazine writer, or some brilliant military mind...). Exactly when was it invented? It is a totally arbitrary definition, whereas previously, for all time, a "pistol" was any handgun. There was no other classification of handgun beyond function or type. All were "pistols".

Besides, if a "revolver" is only a gun which has a revolving cylinder and the chamber is separate from the barrel, and a "pistol" is ONLY a gun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, what exactly is this, then???





I have always considered (and still do) magazines to be clips, but clips aren't necessarily magazines, using the term magazine for a spring-fed unit...a "sub-category" of "clip", as it were.

Is a gravity-fed "feeding device" with no spring for a Gatling gun a "clip" or a "magazine"?

Personally, I don't use the term "clip" to refer to a detachable, spring-driven magazine, but have no problem with those that do.

 

[RobMoore]

If you owned a Short Magazine Lee Enfield, and ordered 2 new magazines from an internet supplier, and they sent you two clips, would you not be angry? There is a difference.