# It's a MAGAZINE not a Clip **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 17, 2013, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474 "2013-01-17T05:41:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/21 "2013-01-17T07:00:02Z")
I’d take the clip/magazine mixup every day of the week and twice on Sunday if I never hve to hear my Peruvian reporters talking about “12mm caliber shotgun shells”. ---
**Author:** ![Klaatu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/22 "2013-01-17T07:05:02Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Here in the land of cite? it is the only subject in which ignorance of the subject is not seen as a negative. Thank you sir. Well put. “we don’t know shit about it, but it’s scary, so let’s get rid of it” ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/23 "2013-01-17T07:23:53Z")
> [@Klaatu](#): > > Generally they are reloaded by hand. You pick up rounds and press them into the magazine one by one until all 30 rounds, I mean 7 are loaded. 😉 And it gets harder and harder to press them in the fuller it gets. > > Then you pop the mag back into the rifle. Don’t most users of magazine loaded weapons carry multiple loaded magazines? So that reloading the gun goes very quickly? I’m pretty sure they do. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/24 "2013-01-17T07:27:58Z")
> [@Klaatu](#): > > Don’t know if it’s an urban legend that the M1 ping let the enemy know they were empty. The solution to this is to have an extra clip to throw and ping while still having a mostly full magazine. Charging a semi-automatic rifle emplacement is tricky business. Wait until the jamming sound, not quick reloading. Better still, call in an air strike or artillery. Best still, wait behind two moats on either side. Name them: Atlantic and Pacific. ---
**Author:** ![Klaatu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/25 "2013-01-17T07:32:47Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Don’t most users of magazine loaded weapons carry multiple loaded magazines? So that reloading the gun goes very quickly? > > I’m pretty sure they do. Soldiers in war most definitely do. Psycho school shooters do. Criminal wackos do. Law-abiding citizens who are responsible gun owners do not. ---
**Author:** ![Klaatu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/26 "2013-01-17T07:53:45Z")
> [@Klaatu](#): > > Soldiers in war most definitely do. Psycho school shooters do. Criminal wackos do. > > Law-abiding citizens who are responsible gun owners do not. Let me rephrase that. We have a blast shooting the eevil black rifles on my land in the summer. We kill watermelons, plastic water bottles, sheets of plywood, logs, etc. And we will load multiple mags. Great fun. Thousands of rounds. But I don’t walk around Home Depot toting an AR with two 30 round mags taped together, even though open carry is legal here. My Springfield 1911 is good enough for around town…😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/27 "2013-01-17T08:22:08Z")
> [@Klaatu](#): > > Don’t know if it’s an urban legend that the M1 ping let the enemy know they were empty. Bunk, IMO. I’m sure the ping could be heard by the enemy upon occasion, but so what? Hearing it and identifying exactly where it came from above the din of battle at typical engagement ranges seems rather unlikely. Even at closer ranges, again so what? WW2 wasn’t fought as single combat; knowing that one rifleman needs to reload isn’t exactly useful information when all of his buddies are still firing or ready to fire. More so when the standard issue rifle of every other belligerent in the war was a bolt-action rather than self loading weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/28 "2013-01-17T12:20:34Z")
The average gun enthusiast in _not at all_ some deluded homocidal misfit like Holmes or Lanza. He’s a prissy nerd like Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/29 "2013-01-17T12:31:17Z")
> [@Klaatu](#): > > **After the last round is fired** a button or lever allows the mag to be removed for reloading. While we’re getting all pedantic about words, did you really mean to say this? Are you confused? Because the magazine releases on my guns will release the magazine whether it is empty or not. In fact, that’s how responsible gun owners clear their guns, right? Release the magazine (full, empty, or in-between), pull the slide back, inspect the chamber, good to go, right? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/30 "2013-01-17T12:37:36Z")
Do you have to know a lot about alcohol and what goes into various mixed drinks to be against drunk driving? Personally I try for accurate usage, but ignorance of nomenclature doesn’t mean you don’t understand the core concept that: \*Fiddly box with bullets is small, must interrupt shooting to load another fiddly box with bullets. \* ---
**Author:** ![Condescending\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a183cd/32.png) [@Condescending\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Condescending_Robot)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/31 "2013-01-17T12:38:23Z")
> [@R.P.McMurphy](#): > > BFD. Get a life. We don’t give a shit about your semantics. They are killing instruments. That’s all that is important. > > A MAGAZINE is something you buy on a newsstand. The low-information voter come to life. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/32 "2013-01-17T12:44:36Z")
> [@Condescending\_Robot](#): > > The low-information voter come to life. Is that what you say when you wake up every morning? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/33 "2013-01-17T13:05:49Z")
So, is that what the kids are calling it these days? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/34 "2013-01-17T13:34:30Z")
Could you show us again which is the “rifle” and which is the “gun,” and the purpose of each? I always forget, and boy has that caused some awkward moments… ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/35 "2013-01-17T14:07:43Z")
I don’t think it’s physically possible for me to care less about the difference between clips and magazines. Clips go in my hair, and I read magazines - I guess I do know the difference. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/36 "2013-01-17T14:12:22Z")
“It looks like you’re planning a massacre. Would you like help?” —“Maggy,” the Arsenal Assistant ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/37 "2013-01-17T14:14:47Z")
"end of the world?..Well honey I don’t remember that…hang on, there was something on the news about an asteroid strike or something but the newsreader got his hyperbolic and parabolic orbits mixed up so I just disregarded the rest. Soooooooo, we don’t have to go to your mothers after all?" ---
**Author:** ![Condescending\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a183cd/32.png) [@Condescending\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Condescending_Robot)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/38 "2013-01-17T14:18:20Z")
I mean, I just think that any person, but especially someone on this message board, should be ashamed of their ignorance rather than proud of it, but when it comes to guns and WON’T SOMEBODY PLEEEEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN I guess it’s motherfucking opposite day. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/39 "2013-01-17T14:34:05Z")
> [@Condescending\_Robot](#): > > I mean, I just think that any person, but especially someone on this message board, should be ashamed of their ignorance rather than proud of it, but when it comes to guns and WON’T SOMEBODY PLEEEEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN I guess it’s motherfucking opposite day. We have a Pit rant about what amounts to esoterica. A reporter’s inexpert grasp of the names of parts of guns doesn’t matter. To people who don’t own guns the distinction doesn’t matter. To people who want to buy magazines but search for clips on [GunsAmerica](http://www.gunsamerica.com/Search.htm?T=clip), it doesn’t matter, either. Maybe we gun owners should appreciate the ignorance and hope the legislators ban 30-round clips. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474/40 "2013-01-17T14:34:38Z")
> [@Klaatu](#): > > Fucking sweet fucking Og you media morons and some of you here need to understand the fucking difference. It’s not a clip, it’s not a fucking “magazine clip” :rolleyes: it’s a fucking MAGAZINE! Perhaps reporters are making the mistake of relying on dictionaries to choose their words: > [@](#): > > clip _noun_ > 1: any of various devices that grip, clasp, or hook > 2: a device to hold cartridges for charging the magazines of some rifles; \*\*also : a magazine from which ammunition is fed into the chamber of a firearm \*\* I think I have Merriam-Webster’s email address for complaints around here somewhere. Stupid reporters, what with their book learnin’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-magazine-not-a-clip/647474.md?page=3)