CSP Trivia 

Do you know the difference

between a "clip" and a "magazine"?

by Dick Culver

(Originally published in the April 1998 Edition of the CMP Newsletter "The First Shot")

     How many of you folks out there remember Humphrey Bogart stuffing a fresh "clip" in his Colt .45? "Humph Baby" was mistaken of course, he was in fact inserting a fresh magazine in his faithful "gat" ("heater", "roscoe" or "rod" to use the slang of the era)!

     If you want to be politically and technically correct, you must remember that a "magazine" is loaded by (or with) a "clip". For instance the magazine of an M1 Rifle is loaded with an eight round "en-bloc"  clip. On the other hand you insert a fresh magazine in your faithful .45. The 1903 Magazine Rifle (as it was originally called) was loaded and reloaded with a 5 round "stripper clip" as was the 1917 Enfield. The Krag Rifle’s "magazine" was loaded with loose rounds out of a cartridge belt. An M14 Rifle was loaded and reloaded with fresh 20 round "magazines", but on the other hand, the 20 round magazine (if it left in the rifle) could be reloaded with  5 round stripper clips using the "clip slot"(or more correctly, "charger guide") on top of the receiver.

     All this probably doesn’t make a tremendous amount of difference, but if you like "snob appeal" you can revel in your superior knowledge as you reload your .45 with a new magazine or reload your M1 with a fresh clip!