It's a mag, not a clip! (and how to tell the difference)

ok here's a small rant of mine.

During the game I never mention this and usually let it slide altogether, but all too often I hear things like "I dumped a whole clip into that guy" or "dammit my clip was empty" or something similar. I have heard this since my first days on Xbox Live. I have heard airsoft commandos say clip when referring to their ammo source, for years I have heard the term used in movies and on tv, and god knows I've heard it behind the gun counter way too many times. I am not sure where or when in our culture that the terms 'clip' and 'magazine' became interchangeable, but it was obviously before my time.

Here's the thing. No modern automatic firearm uses a 'clip' to feed ammunition. No firearm depicted in COD4 or RB6V or GRAW or even Halo for that matter uses a clip as a source of ammo. I will illustrate the technical difference and the reason why not momentarily.

Now the reason I hardly ever mention this is because it's usually more trouble than it's worth and honestly I really don't give a shit how non-gun people want to refer to the source of virtual ammunition for their virtual gun in their virtual shooter simulation. Besides, I know what you are thinking.. 'what difference does it really make how I refer to the thing that holds the ammunition in my gun anyway? If we both know what I mean when I say clip then who cares?'

Well probably no one. Especially today when any distinction between the terms seems to have lost any meaning and most people just think that they are interchangeable names for the same thing. But the fact remains that you are calling something by an incorrect name. Imagine if you worked in a computer assembly plant and everyone except the hardcore computer geeks always referred to RAM as ROM, and when you try to correct them they always say something like 'well it's the same thing', or 'doesn't matter you know what I meant' or 'who cares' ... Yeah it's pretty much like that.

What saddens me is the actual gun owners who don't know the difference. In my not so humble opinion, gun owners who take a 'who cares' attitude about it obviously don't care enough themselves to be educated about their weapon or how to properly call out the parts of it. To me that says they don't care enough to be educated about the safe handling and responsible use of their firearm, and don't take such things seriously. There are other 'tells' also, but this is a big one.

So for the greater edification of the 202p community I present the difference between a clip and a magazine :D


A magazine (or mag) is an enclosed metal or polymer box that houses a spring and a follower to allow the ammunition to stack under pressure in order to feed the rounds one at a time into the chamber or firing mechanism. The original term for the mags used in most modern automatic firearms was detachable box magazine, because they could be removed from the gun and replaced with another. This revolutionized the process of reloading your weapon since you could remove the empty magazine and replace it with a full magazine. Much faster than trying to reload a magazine that was non-removable, or a part of the firearms receiver. Yes, there is also a magazine that is non-removable. A common example would be on a bolt action hunting rifle (standard Rem model 700, non removable mag etc ). Some other common examples would be a standard SKS pattern rifle, or a Remington 870 or similar style pump shotgun. The magazine is there, but it is a part of the action not designed to be removed during the reloading process.

A clip (or stripper clip, or en bloc clip, or half-moon clip etc) is a formed metal or plastic guide that holds loaded ammunition, but it IS NOT enclosed and DOES NOT contain a spring or a follower of its own. A clip is most often used to load ammo into a magazine or cylinder. But it is the magazine or cylinder which then holds the ammo and feeds it into the chamber or firing mechanism of the weapon. A clip can be used to load ammunition into a magazine, and if that magazine is a permanent part of the firearm then yes in fact you would use a clip to reload the magazine that is on your gun. But unless you are running around with an revolver or M1Garand or an SKS, you won't be carrying clips you will be carrying MAGS!

Here are some pics I took to illustrate..






Both of the devices in these photos are used to hold 5.56mm ammunition. But ONLY the device on the left, the mag, is used to feed the ammunition directly into the chamber of the firearm. The device on the right is a stripper clip and is used (along with a guide device) to load the ammunition into the mag quickly (not as quick as a LULA but thats another story ;) ) Suffice it to say, clips are rapidly becoming obsolete as the industry comes up with new and more efficient ways to load magazines quicker, but even so there will always be a need for them because of the ol codgers with their wheel guns and Garands.

(no offense of course, I love the old timers, and the Garand!)

Anyway, hope that helped somebody out there understand the difference between the two. At least now I can just link to my blog instead of trying to explain ;)




*EDIT* ok for the fun of it I searched the terms clip and mag on youtube and found this vid by DVDtracker that explains the difference better than I did :)