Stripper Clips vs Magazines?

[Tequila jake]

I've fired quite a few weapons that were magazine-fed, but I've never shot one that used stripper clips. Can you load a weapon as fast with a clip as you can with a magazine? If so, the only advantage that I can see to a mag is that many of them are higher capacity than clips.

Tequila Jake

 

[carlrodd]

you can load an sks pretty quickly with stripper clips. i'd say just as quickly, if not more so, than with a magazine fed rifle. the only disadvantage is considerably fewer rounds from stripper clips. but remember, bill ruger says nobody needs more than ten rounds anyway.

 

[Eightball]

If you're good, you can do it quicker. If you're taken in off the street, you're probably going to be faster than a mag than a clip, but training is training.

You can keep clips loaded indefinitely without worrying about springs

 

[Oleg Volk]

With Mauser clips, yes. With Enfield, maybe. With Mosin, no way!

 

[Technosavant]

I'm MUCH faster loading a magazine (30 rounds) into my AK than I am loading a stripper clip (10 rounds) into my SKS. Maybe I have crappy clips, maybe I need to practice, but it needs to take 3 times as long to rock and lock an AK mag into place as it does to jam 10 rounds into the SKS and fling away the clip in order for the SKS to be faster. I just can't fathom somebody being THAT fast with a stripper clip. Maybe with one, but once you're out, the other guy still has 20 more rounds left.

There's pluses and minuses to both ways. Ammo on clips is lighter, but magazines protect the ammo a little more. Capacity is higher for a magazine, and if you have a mag problem, you don't have to disassemble the weapon (internal mags tend to last almost forever on the other hand). It takes about as much time to load 30 rounds into an AK banana as it does to load 3 stripper clips for the SKS. Internal magazines tend to look less evil, but that can be both a plus and a minus for most of us.

 

[GD]

I find loading stripper clips to be faster than loading a magazine. With the mosin nagant, you have to have the right stripper clips. Use original Russian or Finnish ones.

 

[dfaugh]

the only advantage that I can see to a mag is that many of them are higher capacity than clips.

Apples vs. apples comparison:

I have standard YUgo SKS (stippers) and an SKS-M (takes AK mags)....And I can load from strippers somewhat faster than I change mags (takes practice)---But as you mention I only get 10 from the stripper vs. 30 or 40 from the mag.

 

[High Planes Drifter]

I change mags a bit faster with my M1A than I can load strippers in. However, and I dont want to stray too far off topic- but one advantage that I see with strippers is that I can carry ammo more comfortably in 2 bandoliers than lugging around 5 or 6 M1A mags. For me this helps because I walk through the woods a pretty good ways to get to my shooting spot.

 

[carlrodd]

as far as speed is concerned, it may be quicker to pop a magazine in, then push down 10 rounds from a stripper clip, but don't forget, you also have to take into consideration, releasing the empty mag, stashing it, grabbing another, and loading. when you're all out on a stripper clip-fed rifle, there is nothing to remove; you just quickly reload and go. in combat, i don't believe there would be an appreciable difference, all things considered.

 

[MechAg94]

I think the different lies in how often you have to make the reload. You simply have to load more often with strippers so it will take more time to shoot say 200 rounds than it would with mags (all else being equal).

 

[bender]

I can't do squat with stripper clips... but I haven't practiced much. It probably takes me 10secs to shove in 5 rounds in my sks. I could stick 'em in one-by-one faster

I'm sure it just takes a little practice.

 

[>SHOCK<^>WAVE<]

burn the S#$% out of your

You have to be careful with stripper clips and reloading a hot
weapon in a combat situation where time is of the essence, you can
really burn the S#$% out of your hands and fingers.

 

[zoom6zoom]

30 or 40 round SKS mag is fine - assuming you can find ones that actually work worth a damn.

 

[Lonestar]

You have to be careful with stripper clips and reloading a hot
weapon in a combat situation where time is of the essence, you can
really burn the S#$% out of your hands and fingers.

Also there are times when a finger or a thumb can get caught in by some of the moving parts when loading. I am the victim of both hot SKS finger burn and M1 Garand thumb. The Garand thankfully only caught the tip of my thumb, just giving me a nasty blood blister. I love and respect the SKS and the M1, but I rather have a magazine fed rifle.

 

[MisterPX]

You can keep clips loaded indefinitely without worrying about springs

You can keep magazines loaded indefinitely without worrying about springs