As opposed to being straight? Seems like the mechanics of building a curved magazine would be harder than those involved in a straight one. What gives? Shape of bullet being stored, ergonomics of gun it fits, macho phallic imagery?
-rainy
It’s all about the phallus.
Bananna ammo is more or less conical. When you allign the rounds pointed in the same direction, as in the case of most magazines, they form an arc. The shape of the magazine is thus dictated by the shape of the round.
But the ammo itself is long and cylindrical in a subconcious alluusion to the phallus. Just like the gun barrel, missiles, dildoes, cigars, and toothpaste tubes. Thank the lord wimmin haven’t been in charge. How accurate would a frisbee-shaped missile be?
Well that’s gonna put a whole new spin on brushing my teeth.
“Banana clips” (more properly called magazines) are curved because the cartridge in question is tapered (as for the 30 round M-16 magazine) or rimmed (as for the 30 round AK-series magazine). In comparison, the magazines for the M-14, HK-91, and about a kajillion other rifles and subguns are straight because the cartridge is neither rimmed nor tapered.
Okay, I see that now. My 30-30 cartridges are rimmed, but my wife’s .243 ammo isn’t. Never really noticed that before.
An alternative to curved magazines are the ones shaped like this:
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If that makes sense. The magazine is straight, but the bottom is angled. This lets the ammunition fit neatly in a similar way as a curved mag.
We’re talkin’ 'bout phalluses here. Take your rimming elsewhere. 
This is untrue. The 7.62mm NATO cartridge has tapered body. I am not aware of any centerfire rifle cartridge that has a completely untapered body.
I don’t have one in front o me but IIRC the M14 magazine is wider at the b ack than the front. This allows tapered cartridges to be loaded without the angle becoming quite so acute near the bottom of the stack. This design is used by H&K to make straight magazines for 9mm Parabellum which has significant body taper.
Magazines contain the cartridges inside. Clips normally hold only the base of the cartidges and are typically not loaded into the weapon but used as a convenience for loading an internal magazine. The exception is the M1 Garand’s en-block clip which is loaded into the rifle’s internal magazine.
Damn you for beating me to it.
Now there is a distinction I was totally ignorant of.
I do have an HK-91 magazine in front of me. It does not taper front to back. Further, I’m not sure how a tapered magazine would compensate for a tapered cartridge. It would restrict lateral movement of the cartridge, not compensate for vertical alignment as a curved magazine does. Clarify, please.
Curvature of a 9mm magazine is also for reasons other than a tapered cartridge, I think. Sten magazines and MP-40 magazines, for example, are simple untapered, straight boxes.
The Garand is not the exception when it comes to use of enbloc clips. The Mannlicher design used it extensively. The Mannlicher-Carcano is one such rifle.
Yep.
And it’s not a requirement for a magazine to be tapered. As an example, I have two 30-round FAL magazines (7.62 x 51); one is tapered, the other is not. But I suspect there are tradeoffs between the two: a tapered magazine is probably more efficient and reliable, but it (probably) costs more to manufacture vs. a non-tapered magazine.
Probably a bit harder to pack, ship, carry and store too.
I actually disagree that there is such a distinction. Granted, “stripper clips” are used to load magazines or the weapon directly, but I have always heard “clips” qualified by “stripper” in these cases. I think the term clip is interchangeable for most purposes. Although I think it is more a matter of word choice, since there is no “official” definition.
There is an “official” definition of clip & magazine. The distinction is blurred only in the vernacular.
Um, because if it was straight, it wouldn’t look like a banana? Duh.
[QUOTE=Scumpup]
… or rimmed (as for the 30 round AK-series magazine). QUOTE]
Nit: The 7.62 x 39 round used in AKs and SKSs are are also rimless.
And I’ll drift my reply into the reasons for rimless rounds:
Rimmed rounds tend to foul and jam in stacked magazines unless they are made to fairly close tolerances. Tubular or rotary magazines tend to be more reliable for rimmed cases. This is on e of the reasons why the 9mm Lugar and .25 auto rounds were developed. They are ballisticaly near equivilent to .38SPL and .22LR rounds, but eliminate the rim that causes tangling in stacked magazines, as is pretty much required in an autoloading handgun. (oh and they are more compact, being designed for modern smokelss powder vs. black powder)
The rim does reduce tolerance stackup and allows for more reliable headspacing.
belted magnums are a means of getting the benifits of both designs.
Is the .443 measurement ID or OD? If it’s OD, then aren’t they semi-rimmed?