# Tap da Clip **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tap-da-clip/152431 "2003-02-03T03:58:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Poe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Poe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poe)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tap-da-clip/152431/1 "2003-02-03T03:58:50Z")
I’ve been watching a crap load of war movies lately, and the question popped into my mind. Why do soldiers, generally using M-16 or one of it’s counterpart rifles, tap the magazine against their helmet before loading it. Never thought about it in depth. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tap-da-clip/152431/2 "2003-02-03T04:17:29Z")
Not having used an automatic rifle, I can only post conjecture, but one possibility is that the spring-load apparatus inside the magazine could have a tendency to stick, and the tapping is a way to jar it just to ensure that all rounds are pushed to the top of the clip before insertion into the rifle. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tap-da-clip/152431/3 "2003-02-03T04:30:21Z")
It seats the rounds directly in lines. So the pins are lined up. It prevents jamming. ---
**Author:** ![Poe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5fc32e/32.png) [@Poe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poe)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tap-da-clip/152431/4 "2003-02-03T04:53:42Z")
ah makes sense. thanks for the response. is this common practice with all automatic rifles?