Stripper Clips - The Good and The Bad

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gbeecher

gbeecher

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Do you have experience using stripper clips? I recently purchased a set of 5 clips for my Mosin-Nagant rifle for around $5 - $8 dollars total. I tried them out today, and ended up throwing them all in the trash! I'm assuming the original clips used by Russian and Soviet soldiers actually worked as they were supposed to? I can load five rounds fairly quickly by hand with no problem. How do they sell these clips, after what I just experienced?! Please educate me...Thanks :confused:

I fished the clips out of the wastebasket (my patience needs work) and tried them all again. This time, I got three clips to work regularly, could not get the other two to work at all - so I threw those two away. I now have three loaded clips and 55 rounds of loose cartridges. The three good clips don't work easily, but they work. I found if I keep my thumb closest to the base of the top cartridge, I can manage to strip and load them. I still wonder if the original clips were better made? I thought I heard that they were made of spring steel? Oh well. I bought the clips just to try them, and I had to prove to myself I could actually use them! I have a strong curiosity for all things mechanical, and I hate it when something doesn't work as it's supposed to!

Last update - I promise! - I retrieved the two clips I threw away (again) and tried them this morning - they work! I've discovered after some web surfing and experimenting, that if I lift up on the front half of the cartridge with my index and second finger and at the same time, push down hard with my thumb on the rear of the cartridge just ahead of the clip, I can strip the rounds and load five rounds into the magazine. You do have to push hard though on the top cartridge. These old Mosins sure were not the smoothest or easiest rifles to operate, but they're tough as nails and dependable!
 
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The original Mosin stripper clips I had worked great, but some I purchased later were much newer and had more spring tension did not work well as they seemed to cause the rim of the upper round to be behind the rim of the lower round. Loading with your thumb as close to the base of the cartridge helps but loading manually is still faster in my experience. I messed with opening the gap to lessen the spring tension but had little success since they are spring steel.....:D The original were a dull silver in color; the bad ones had a black finish on them if I remember correctly.
 
if you were specific about what was wrong with the ones you gave up on, perhaps someone could help

"bought, tried, gave up" isn't much of a start to troubleshooting

I use strippers to load my SKS directly and M1 Carbine mags - and in both cases I re-use the clips, which wasn't a primary purpose when they were issued. Likely the MN clips you got were either used too many times or weren't up to original specifications ... but since you told us ZERO information about the clips themselves or the problems you encountered using them, I'm just guessing
 
i put most of my .223 reloads for my AR on stripper clips. they work well, especially with a StripLula loader, but the GI spoons work fine too. less time reloading, more time shooting.

sorry, no experience with the mosin stripper clips
 
If they're the newer galvanized-steel looking ones, they don't work very well. I've got some blued soviet ones along with a couple unmarked parkerized ones that are probably either Czech or Polish that also work great.

As bigfatdave said, specifics on what the issue was would help to know whether the clips were bad or the technique was at fault. If your interruptor/extractor is having issues, it will show up as rimlock when loading from strippers. Because of the way most of us manually load single rounds, rimlock doesn't show up then.

Matt
 
I use stripper clips in my SKS, and for the most part they're great. I use them in my M1916 Spanish Mauser, those are really nice and slick, original Spanish production. Never had a problem with my Yugo 8mm Mauser clips either. I have a MAS 49/56 that refuses to load more than 2-3 rounds from a stripper clip, but the clips are nice so I blame poor gun design (plus the clips are for the MAS 36 anyhow). I've heard bad things about the Romanian clips that were on the market a year or two ago in spam cans with ammo. I've had mixed results with .303 British clips. I have some that came loaded with early 50's GB headstamp that were worthless. I have some though that came loaded with 1950 Radway Green headstamp that are really good. The only Mosin clips I have are the ones that just came on the market sealed in spam cans of 1946 Russian manufactured ammo. THe clips are nice and stamped with the Izhevsk triangle and arrow. These have the edges rolled into the clip so that you don't slice your finger. I believe that a lot of the new Mosin clips are coming from China and aren't very good. That's probably what you got. Overall, stripper clips are great as long as they were well made.
 
I don't have experience with the newer aluminum/galvanized versions but I've heard they have rim lock issues (rounds binding in clip)

The older blued steel ones work well, I have a few. I however rarely use them since the rifle only has a 5 round capacity. It doesn't take long enough to load manually to need to keep up with the strippers. .
 
I haven't had much trouble with the chinese variants I got for the Mosins (circle with a triangle inside). I think like any part of the firearms you use, the stripper clips take a lot of practice to use effectively. I also don't see the point of having many different clip that work differently to varying degrees (I'm a fan of consistency), so I stick with the chinas and have learned to use them. And I am not too worried if I leave one or two at the range on accident, they are much cheaper than the "better" versions.
FYI, I have found that the cheap strippers work exceedingly well on the brass russian milsurp. The brass allows for less friction, and the thinner rim works better with the design of the strippers. Unfortunately, these are not reloadable due to the massive size of the berdan primer... For reloadable brass PRVI works best, followed by S&B, then Winchester. Exactly the opposite (for me) of the reliability of the brass...
 
I use them all the time, but I have never bought just stripper clips, all the ones I have came with rounds on em, heck I don`t even know where half of em come from.
 
I have close to 30 clips from Tikkakoski in Finland and they all work fine, with the exception of two or three that are way too tight. I load by lifting the front end of the top round and pressing down at the base. Hardly takes two seconds to reload.
 
Never had an issue.
IMG_2117.jpg
Then again, mine are marked Izhevsk. Those knock off clips (NcStar for example) never work too well.
 
I haven't had much trouble with the chinese variants I got for the Mosins (circle with a triangle inside).
Click to expand...
These are what I use too. They have a tab to retain the rounds in them, and I can drop it in, run the rounds down, and have it chambered in easily half of the time it takes to load 5 rounds by hand.
 
as you push, lift up on the bullet of the top round... that will tilt every round in the clip up a bit so that they load easier and sit in the magazine properly. I've only used the cheap kind and they've all worked well. Tilt the gun up a little as well.
 
Ugh, Nagant clips...:cuss: I know, I should probably try to work on my technique.

I've had much more positive experiences using clips in my SKS and M1A, though. :cool: And loading AR mags with regular ol' surplus clips and loaders, too.
 
^^^ Eh? I never had any trouble at all, even from the start, with any stripper clip except the ones for the Nagant.

Maybe it's the clips - the M1A and AR ones are USGI, but God knows where the SKS ones came from. My Nagant clips have the circle and triangle, IIRC.

I thought it had something to do with the design of the round for the Nagant?
 
I thought it had something to do with the design of the round for the Nagant?
Click to expand...
It probably does. The Nagant clips, just like the .303 clips go up the body of the case. I assume that this is because they are both rimmed cartridges, and therefore the case body being narrower than the rim acts like the extractor groove does in a 'rimless' cartridge.
 
I bought some surplus steel strippers for my 1903 that were just junk... instead of good spring tension there were literally little tabs on the ends to hold the cartridges in. They break off easily.

Many of those strippers seemed like they were made for 'one time use'.

I got some brass ones for my Kar98k that in comparison were built to last. Cartridges lock in place frimly but slide out when you gime them a good nudge.

Either rifle can be loaded without using clips, but for any kind of competition you need your ammo on strippers. Also if you are using your old milsurp bolt gun as a hunting rifle, the strippers are a great way to carry your ammo so it won't rattle.
 
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Green Lantern said:
Ugh, Nagant clips...:cuss:
...
Click to expand...

shotgunjoel said:
The Nagant clips, just like the .303 clips....
Click to expand...

Green Lantern said:
^^^ Eh? I never had any trouble at all, even from the start, with any stripper clip except the ones for the Nagant.

Maybe it's the clips - the M1A and AR ones are USGI, but God knows where the SKS ones came from. My Nagant clips have the circle and triangle, IIRC.

I thought it had something to do with the design of the round for the Nagant?
Click to expand...

I think the issue is you're using clips for a Nagant, which is a revolver, instead of clips for a Mosin, which is a rifle. ;)

(pedantic stuff out of the way)

Technique has a lot to do with it. Someone here has suggested lifting up on the tip of the top round before shoving them down, which works. If that still has issues, pull up on the tips of the top two.

Like everyone else said, make sure you have good clips.

Matt
 
gbeecher said:
Do you have experience using stripper clips? I recently purchased a set of 5 clips for my Mosin-Nagant rifle for around $5 - $8 dollars total. I tried them out today, and ended up throwing them all in the trash! I'm assuming the original clips used by Russian and Soviet soldiers actually worked as they were supposed to? I can load five rounds fairly quickly by hand with no problem. How do they sell these clips, after what I just experienced?! Please educate me...Thanks :confused:

I fished the clips out of the wastebasket (my patience needs work) and tried them all again. This time, I got three clips to work regularly, could not get the other two to work at all - so I threw those two away. I now have three loaded clips and 55 rounds of loose cartridges. The three good clips don't work easily, but they work. I found if I keep my thumb closest to the base of the top cartridge, I can manage to strip and load them. I still wonder if the original clips were better made? I thought I heard that they were made of spring steel? Oh well. I bought the clips just to try them, and I had to prove to myself I could actually use them! I have a strong curiosity for all things mechanical, and I hate it when something doesn't work as it's supposed to!

Last update - I promise! - I retrieved the two clips I threw away (again) and tried them this morning - they work! I've discovered after some web surfing and experimenting, that if I lift up on the front half of the cartridge with my index and second finger and at the same time, push down hard with my thumb on the rear of the cartridge just ahead of the clip, I can strip the rounds and load five rounds into the magazine. You do have to push hard though on the top cartridge. These old Mosins sure were not the smoothest or easiest rifles to operate, but they're tough as nails and dependable!
Click to expand...
I have over 750 stripper clips loaded with 5.56. To me, they're like gold. I also have a box of the G.I. issue loader spoons, as well as a handful of stripulas to load mags. I can load a 30-round mag in about 12 seconds using a spoon/stripula. I wish there was such a thing for .45 ACP it takes almost a minute to fill a 7-round mag... :)
 
Mberoose, I have 120 of those, they work great, and they are stainless. I had a few of the new production galvanized ones and I could not get them to work to save my life. AIM is selling 600rd tins on chargers (the nice stainless ones). Just FYI, the box I got was packaged in 1947.
 
Buck Kramer said:
Mberoose, I have 120 of those, they work great, and they are stainless. I had a few of the new production galvanized ones and I could not get them to work to save my life. AIM is selling 600rd tins on chargers (the nice stainless ones). Just FYI, the box I got was packaged in 1947.
Click to expand...

Yep, they're great. That's a pretty good deal AIM's running too. If I didn't already have 1k+ rounds of 54R, I'd probably buy a can.

(FYI - SGAmmo.com has the same 300 rd. cans for cheaper, both the item price and shipping ;) )
 
I've only ever used stripper clips on my Mauser K98 and SKS, never on my 91/30. The SKS was a bit tricky getting used to it, but now is simple and quick; the Mauser is simple that even when I was new to it I couldn't screw it up and that's saying something.

I never used strippers on the 91/30 as I just never saw the need to as it's easy to just plop the cartridges in one at a time, for the SKS I use them as it keeps the bolt from slamming forward and giving you something like Garand thumb.
 
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