Clips and magazines.

[gamekeeper]

It used to be anyone calling a magazine a clip got roasted by one and all, now I see even gun dealers are calling magazines clips! It seems the use of the word clip is becoming more and more common these days and I want to know why...
Has anyone else noticed this?

[firefuzz]

I read a post on MilSurps forum just yesterday about all the brouhaha about calling magazines clips and the distinction between the two. I found it quite interesting, especially the last several post. The final posters related as to how when they were in the military nothing was ever said to them about calling a mag a clip, quite a difference from calling your weapon (piece or rifle) a gun. They then went on to relate that in stories that were told to them by fathers, grandfathers, and uncles that served our country during WWII, Korea, and Vietnam these veterans almost without fail all called these items clips. The basic consensus was that if the word "clip" was appropriate and good enough for these people it was good enough period and people that were anal about the wording had little else to contribute to a conversation.

I find that logic hard to argue with.

Rob

[Griff]

1 syllable vs 3 is the reason I think "clip" gets more mileage than "magazine".

[TedH]

1 syllable vs 3 is the reason I think "clip" gets more mileage than "magazine".

Mag

[mikld]

Perhaps it's from stiff necked "experts" that insist you speak like they do, 'cause that is what their DI called them? Or some being "superior" in their knowledge of the items' description? But I guess I would not like it if I asked for a Finnigan Pin and was handed a Finnigan screw...

[jkbrea]

I always thought a clip was what a Garand used and it pops out after the last shot and a new one inserted. That would explain why the old timers of WW2 era referred to them a clips. A magazine was reusable, used in a 1911 and some types of machine guns. But....what do I know.

[GonnePhishin]

What jkbrea said makes sense.

[M. M. Wright]

What jkbrea said is correct. A Garand uses a clip, an M-14 takes a magazine. Or at least that's the way my mind works.

[Old Savage]

The military has had both magazines and clips to a difference makes sense.

[Griff]

Jkbrea is correct. Several military rifles used "clips" to load their magazines from. A 1903 uses a stripper clip for the user to push the rounds into the gun's integral magazine. As do hand guns like the Broomhandle Mauser and it's ilk. Many military cans of 5.56NATO ammo comes in stripper clips of ten... from which you load your AR magazine.

[Ji in Hawaii]

My dad a WWII combat veteran in the Southwest Pacific called magazines (1911 Colt, Browning BAR, M-1 Carbine) what they were, and clips (M-1 Garand, 1903 Springfield, etc.) clips. He made sure while we were growing up that we knew the difference, and he'd get a tad irritated when people got the terms reversed. I will continue to call a magazine a magazine, and a clip a clip. The world continues to change for the worse IMO but I won't follow.

[Pete44ru]

It used to be anyone calling a magazine a clip got roasted by one and all,

now I see even gun dealers are calling magazines clips!

It seems the use of the word clip is becoming more and more common these days and I want to know why...

The usage is changing, becoming more & more common, because shooters & dealers younger than a lot of us are becoming more & more common - at least our sport isn't gasping for it's last breath.



.

[FWiedner]

I don't really care what terms people use, so long as they make sense and I can follow their intended meaning.

But the fact remains that 'Words mean things'.

A clip is a retention mechanism.

A magazine is a storage device.

A clip is used to load or charge an internal or a detachable magazine.

A cartridge is stripped from a magazine (which may have an internal clip) to be chambered into a firearm.

[AJMD429]

I don't really care what terms people use, so long as they make sense and I can follow their intended meaning.

But the fact remains that 'Words mean things'.

A clip is a retention mechanism.

A magazine is a storage device.

A clip is used to load or charge an internal or a detachable magazine.

A cartridge is stripped from a magazine (which may have an internal clip) to be chambered into a firearm.

Yep....and 'bullets' are the pieces that come out of the cartridge and go towards the target. It drives me nuts (a short trip, I know) when people talk about loading 'bullets' into a gun...unless it is a muzzle loader or air rifle.

OTOH I agree with Petr44ru in that I take some comfort that the new shooters who may annoy us with incorrect or imprecise terminology are at least 'new shooters' and we need more voters who understand why one might own or carry a firearm, even if they call a magazine a clip.

I just politely use MY terms, and most newbies soon follow suit; some even ask about the difference and I explain it. If not I don't care.

[Tactical Lever]

I don't really care what terms people use, so long as they make sense and I can follow their intended meaning.

But the fact remains that 'Words mean things'.

A clip is a retention mechanism.

A magazine is a storage device.

A clip is used to load or charge an internal or a detachable magazine.

A cartridge is stripped from a magazine (which may have an internal clip) to be chambered into a firearm.

Yep....and 'bullets' are the pieces that come out of the cartridge and go towards the target. It drives me nuts (a short trip, I know) when people talk about loading 'bullets' into a gun...unless it is a muzzle loader or air rifle.

OTOH I agree with Petr44ru in that I take some comfort that the new shooters who may annoy us with incorrect or imprecise terminology are at least 'new shooters' and we need more voters who understand why one might own or carry a firearm, even if they call a magazine a clip.

I just politely use MY terms, and most newbies soon follow suit; some even ask about the difference and I explain it. If not I don't care.

I know the difference, but I don't get too hung up on it. But the bullets and cartridges thing... Yeah I'm with you on that.

[Gobblerforge]

On a close note, I get frustrated with folks that call a radiused muzzle a "Crowned" barrel.
Gobbler

[bdhold]

don't max capacity statutes only apply to magazines?

[1894]

It used to be anyone calling a magazine a clip got roasted by one and all, now I see even gun dealers are calling magazines clips! It seems the use of the word clip is becoming more and more common these days and I want to know why...
Has anyone else noticed this?

I blame it on Remington , in 1970 they came out with the nylon 77 that billed as being fed by a " clip magazine " , even says so right at the top of the owners manual

[Old Ironsights]

Of course, there are Detachable Magazines usually held in place by a Spring Clip and Internal magazines reloaded with Clips and magazines that have to be reloaded with hydraulics, cranes and squids, and, and and...

[gamekeeper]

Of course, there are Detachable Magazines usually held in place by a Spring Clip and Internal magazines reloaded with Clips and magazines that have to be reloaded with hydraulics, cranes and squids, and, and and...

Don't forget the gun magazines you can only read...

[mikld]

I remember reading a detective story where the good guy "snicked the safety off on his .38 stubby". There's a phenomenon with the English language that changes words' definitions with each generation and where it fits in the PC vocabulary...

I prefer magazines for my 1911, clips for my M1 and SMLE, and single stack rotary for my .38 snubby...

[AJMD429]

don't max capacity statutes only apply to magazines?

I like the way you're thinking.... maybe that 90-round magazine I have is really a 90-round clip...

[Old Ironsights]

don't max capacity statutes only apply to magazines?

Only the ones behind the counter at news stands...

I believe most of them have around a 130lb max for a Shoot...

[Ysabel Kid]

Well, not me. I'll continue to correct and annoy anyone misusing the terms!

[sore shoulder]

I had a PSG that got all bent about calling magazines clips so I made it a point to "slip up" and do it a lot, still do. It's semantics in my opinion and as soon as I know someone has an issue with it I make sure to do it around them. I'm constantly asking my soldiers how many M4 clips they have then sit back and laugh. Plus its just easier to say clip, and they do the same thing.