Pet Peeves: Gun Terminology

Clips and Magazines

Perhaps the most egregious firearm misnomer is the widespread use of the term “clip” when referring to a magazine. I know of precious few firearms that are loaded via clip. Yet if you watch guns portrayals in popular media and you would think that every pistol and assault rifle is clip fed. A clip is not a magazine nor is a magazine a clip.

A clip is a device that binds multiple cartridges together so that they can be loaded quickly into the magazine of a gun. The most popular example of a clip-loaded gun (and probably the root of the misuse of the term) is the M1 Garand. The venerable M1 uses an en-bloc clip that is, as its name implies, blocky. Other clip fed guns use stripper clips, which are thin metal bindings that attached the bullets by the base of the casing, or moon and half-moon clips for speedloading revolvers.

A roach clip has nothing to do with guns and one should never handle a firearm after using one.

Magazines are built-in or detachable ammunition storage device that feed cartridges into the chamber by the action of a repeating firearm. The feed mechanisms of most magazines are springs but some older magazines rely on gravity.

Magazines come in many different flavors. Popular built-in magazines include internal box (common with bolt-action guns), and tubular (lever-action guns and shotguns). Detachable magazines include box (automatic handguns, assault rifles, etc.), drum (think Prohibition-era Tommy guns), rotary (Ruger 10/22), pan (Lewis gun, Degtyarev light machinegun), and helical (Calico M960)

.

Detachable box magazines, such as those that fit into the butt of an automatic handgun, are not clips because in addition to loading the gun, they feed the rounds into the action during operation.

Bullets vs. Cartridges

We in in the gun community also take notice when the great unwashed, as well as far too many of those with Ivory Soap hands, call cartridges bullets. Bullets are loaded into cartridges. Cartridges are loaded into magazines. Magazines are loaded into guns. A typical cartridge is the assembled unit of ammunition comprised of projectile (bullet or shot), propellant (usually gunpowder), case (with the rare exception of caseless cartridges), and primer (which is integrated into the case of rimfire ammunition).

Bullets are usually lead slugs, often wrapped partially or fully by a brass, copper, or steel jackets. They are sometimes tipped by harder metals or have hollow tips and sometimes they are made of rubber or plastic for less lethal purposes. By itself a bullet is quite inert, about as lethal as a marble. But package it in a cartridge and it has the ready potential to do some damage.