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The famous/infamous clip vs magazine argument. Yes most people are absolutely correct about calling them magazines but there are some who call them clips for a real reason.

I had a magazine in my tank, I had an M4 carbine in my tank, if I ask my loader, gunner or driver about a loaded magazine or how many rounds are in the magazine which one do you think I really care about? As a tanker for 23 years I was taught to use the term clip and magazine to make sure there was no confusion about what we were talking about. I carried clips for my M4, I had a magazine in my tank.

Does This fly for 99% of everyone who uses the term, nope but I'm tired of remf's, desk commandos and zero timers giving me the "it's a magazine not a clip lecture" no to me it will always be a clip I did 8 trillion push ups because I called them magazines not clips, when I quit calling them magazines I quit doing push ups. So for a few of us (mostly 19 kilo's) they are clips because we didnt want confusion in our conversation.
 
Well that's fine and dandy for you. How many of us civilians have ever been in a tank? Let alone load the gun from the "tank's magazine". For you, it is a good explanation, but for us it will always be a magazine. Just because you had to do a chit load of push up's doesn't make it so. A clip is for your hair or paper not a gun. Clip is just the lazy way of saying magazine. So in your little world you keep calling anything you want to. In the real world out here they are Magazines.
 
I don't own a tank.


P.S. Thank you for your 23 years service. However, it's time to de-program and face the truth. A clip is for holding up a girls hair.

E
 
Oh, c'mon, guys. If we're trying to show up some "reporter" who clearly doesn't know what (s)he's talking about, perhaps it matters. But on our own "side" can we just give it a break? I'm a newbie to guns; if I think I can't even talk to guys like you unless I use exactly the right vocabulary how does that help the "cause"? As far as I'm concerned the OP here has established his credibility and I'm not gonna criticize him. If I'm confused by what he means when he says "clip," I'll ask him to clarify!
 
The thingy that holds the boolitts in a 1911---

John Browning called it a magazine.
Elmer Keith called it a clip.

Given the current push to ban both--I call
it "not worth argueing about".
 
Wow! Sounding a little testy! Is this a chink in your armor? Just kidding!

After 23 years of service you can suspend a little reallity if you want to. Thanks! The other Vets are just jealous because tankers and arty got to call our primary weapons guns!
 
Well that's fine and dandy for you. How many of us civilians have ever been in a tank? Let alone load the gun from the "tank's magazine". For you, it is a good explanation, but for us it will always be a magazine. Just because you had to do a chit load of push up's doesn't make it so. A clip is for your hair or paper not a gun. Clip is just the lazy way of saying magazine. So in your little world you keep calling anything you want to. In the real world out here they are Magazines.

Hmmmmm Lets see you shove a mag in your gun.........
 
Ok... We need some of the elders to speak out, as in the ones that were in the service when the M1 was the MBR. When I went through boot camp in 1985, we had the time on the range, even for Navy, we learned about firearms and firearm safety. On the M1 the "thingy" that held the bullet cartridges was called a "clip" because that's what it is called in the manual. On the 1911 and the M16, the "thingy" that held the bullet cartridges was called a "magazine" because that's what it is called in the mil-spec. That was the only time I used an M1, but later on in my career I got to spend plenty of range time with the 1911, M16 and Mossberg 500.

So, maybe one of the seniors could verify the naming, but that is what I remember.
 
Its totally a Clip ... Call of Duty says its a clip so ..... images.jpg

;)

images.jpg
 
Well that's fine and dandy for you. How many of us civilians have ever been in a tank? Let alone load the gun from the "tank's magazine". For you, it is a good explanation, but for us it will always be a magazine. Just because you had to do a chit load of push up's doesn't make it so. A clip is for your hair or paper not a gun. Clip is just the lazy way of saying magazine. So in your little world you keep calling anything you want to. In the real world out here they are Magazines.

Hey Civilian! Show some RESPECT!!!!! Sounds like your little world as seen through your eyes is the one with the narrow view. Get over yourself. 23 years in the military messing with tanks "Deadtime" has earned his respect.

A Clip, A Magazine. It all means the same thing. Pass the Ammo.
 
Folks have to remember that in the military we get all sorts of skill/intelligence levels in recruits. The disparity between high and low was even more evident when men were forced to join (they called that a draft) in ye olden days..... It is entirely possible that the tank commander had a crewman so dim that he'd look at the carbine magazine while inside the tank and run to count the rounds in the main gun magazine when on the rifle range, discarding and possibly damaging his small arm...........The tank commander probably did not even mention his 1911, because what would they call that thingy with the bullets/cartridges in that pistol/gun/firearm/handgun? It's lucky the machine gun ammo was in belts. Wait!!! what about the coaxial and the top MGs??? How to tell the difference!!?? What a dilemma!!! Hay belt straw belt?


On a related and even more boring subject. When I was a kid back in the early bronze age, I was around my grandfather a lot. He had a lot of bad habits. The one that has some slight relevance here is that he would refer to any metal not bronze or brass or gold--as tin. Tin also being a sort of shorthand for any metal not important to the gist of the conversation. A silver dollar would be important and therefore deserving of the proper name, but the galvanized iron roof of the barn was a tin roof and the toy soldiers we made in molds by pouring in molten lead were---tin soldiers...Anyway my dad picked up this habit as I did when I came along and it seems to me that most everyone I knew did too--it may be a German-American thing or Midwest thing Well who cares, really? It's gotten me yelled at a few times like the clip/magazine bullet/cartridge /revolver/pistol firearm/gun has other folks. Let's stop worrying about them and all pile on the idiots who use the word "impact" when they should be using the word "effect" or "affect"--well, maybe that's asking too much since it seems like most don't know what affect and effect mean in the first place?
 
There is some history that most folks don't understand. Personally I get tired of the drama over the terms "clip" and "Magazine" also. I know it's a favorite subject for many, and a lot of folks love to point out the ignorance of newbie's who are stupid enough to use the wrong term, but how many know where the debate started?

Prior to WWII, the term "clip" was considered perfectly correct to describe a detachable box magazine. Along come both the M1 Garand and the M1 Carbine.

For much the same reasons as the OP was taught, millions of GIs from WW11 through Vietnam were taught, at the threat of a beating, to use "clip" for an M1 rifle clip, and "magazine" for an M1 carbine mag. It was important for logistical reasons. If someone called for some M1 clips, and got 30-06 ammo when all they had were carbines, soldiers could die. I was told that pushups were lightweight consequences for using the wrong terminology; often it was a beating. This was literally pounded into a generation that you MUST use the right term. This has been passed down through the generations, gaining mythical importance.

So if you have a Garand and a Carbine, and your life still depends on getting the right ammo, please continue to verbally beat the **** out of anyone who dares use the wrong term. They'll thank you for it after the war. :)

(To those who just saw red, please don't beat me; just trying to add a little perspective and lighten it up a bit) :)
 

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