Clips vs Magazines, bullets and other terminology.

[xl_target]

On the range, in the popular media, in novels, in movies and on TV you will come across the words clips and magazines being used interchangeably. Some one will tell you how they bought new clips for their semi-auto pistol or their bolt action rifle. However there is a clear difference and if you aspire to be a knowledgeable gun enthusiast, you should know that the difference between the two. Many repeating firearms load with clips, especially older battle rifles like the SMLE, the SKS and the Garand (which uses en-bloc clips). Today, most military rifles use detachable magazines.
Hopefully, after looking at the photos below you will be able to tell a clip from a magazine.


Here is a broomhandle Mauser. The broomhandle Mauser has a fixed (non-removable) magazine and is loaded with clips.
Image from here


On the left we see a magazine and on the right we see a clip loaded with cartridges.
image from here


A Mauser Rifle with a stripper clip in the feed lips.
image from here


a SMLE stripper clip
image from here


an M16 magazine. There is no provision to load an M16 with stripper clips.


These are pistols magazines
Image from here


Another annoying and inaccurate mistake in terminology is the use of the word bullet for cartridge. A cartridge, at least where rifles and pistols are concerned, is the complete round. The bullet is just the pointy thing that leaves the barrel of the gun and hopefully impacts the target downrange.

Here are the components of a cartridge:

image from here


These are cartridges. This guy apparently doesn't know the difference between bullets and cartridges.
image from here


These are bullets
Image from here

[rraju2805]

Thanx a lot...
Now i have a clear idea of bullet & cartridge..

I thought that cartiges & bullets are same thing. But now i know that it is wrong...



also the pics are so nice...



raju

[Priyan]

Simpler version lol no matter how you do media would still make mistakes but we can try to lower it.

WTF?

Roltflmfao

[Katana]

xl,

Very correctly put forward.........now only if we could explain this stuff to the media and the filmy guys here in India.

priyan,

The Iraqi woman snatched the 'bullets' from the Yanks and hit her wall with it. That's the only explanation I can think of, with the cartridge/ case still intact!

[Hammerhead]

As long as it does not have " Live Primer " -- it's neither bullet nor cartridge , just a piece of metal

Any or almost all reloading powders CAN'T BE turned into Explosives cause there burn rate is Too Slow - Haji

[timmy]

Any or almost all reloading powders CAN'T BE turned into Explosives cause there burn rate is Too Slow

Actually, this is not true at all. consider:



HMS Invincible: British Battlecruiser which blew up in the Battle of Jutland, 1916, when ready use powder charges for her guns were set off by a hit from either the German Battlecruiser Lützow or Derfflinger. 1026 men died and 6 survived.





HMS Indefatigable: British Battlecruiser which blew up in the Battle of Jutland, 1916, when ready use powder charges for her guns were set off by a hit from the German Battlecruiser Von der Tann. 1,014 men died and 3 survived.





HMS Queen Mary: British Battlecruiser which blew up in the Battle of Jutland, 1916, when ready use powder charges for her guns were set off by a hit from the German Battlecruiser Derfflinger. 1,266 men died and 19 survived.

Most famously:



HMS Hood: British Battlecruiser which blew up in battle with Bismarck, when her 4" magazine was set off by a hit from the Bismarck. 1,415 men died and 3 survived.

These examples are the most famous of maritime explosions with great loss of life, but I am leaving out others, such as the British Armored Cruisers at Jutland and HMS Barham in WW2 -- these were hardly isolated incidents. I will grant that these losses were not due to "Dentonations" but they certainly were deflagrations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflagration), or, low order explosions of tremendous effect.

We recently had a wannabe terrorist here in the USA who tried to blow up a bunch of solders in Fort Hood TX with 6 pounds of gunpowder, among other things, and this most certainly would have had deadly effects in the bomb the terrorist tried to make.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/ ... 9R20110728

[dr.jayakumar]

thanks xl_target,
it was very discriptive and useful.
thanks timmy you seem to have gone through all wars.
regards

[xl_target]

As long as it does not have " Live Primer " -- it's neither bullet nor cartridge , just a piece of metal

In most cases this is true of a loaded cartridge that has no primer (i.e. that it is inert)
However, a bullet is always just a piece of metal and it is called a bullet whether it is loaded in a cartridge or sitting on a shelf.

Any or almost all reloading powders CAN'T BE turned into Explosives cause there burn rate is Too Slow - Haji

Burn rate slow? Compared to what? Your statement is only valid if compared to some thing else, like black powder.

Usually when smokeless powders are ignited (when unconfined), they just burn.
When they are confined, however, they produce large volumes of gas, this can cause the container they are in to rupture, in effect producing an explosion. As Timmy points out, they can definitely have explosive effects.
Smokeless powder is not something to fool around with. Smokeless powder fires can be very hard to put out as they produce their own oxygen for combustion. You cannot smother a smokeless powder fire like you can an ordinary fire. Often you would have to wait till all the smokeless powder is consumed before the fire goes out.

[Priyan]

priyan,

The Iraqi woman snatched the 'bullets' from the Yanks and hit her wall with it. That's the only explanation I can think of, with the cartridge/ case still intact!

lol but those look like commercial 5.56 to me. I'm sure US military wasn't using them in 2007 that leaves only one probability, someone brought them in USA and handed her to pose with them haha maybe the photographer Speaking of explosives, even a firecracker can do some serious damage, I learned it the hard way when I was chasing wild elephants away with local people.

[Katana]

I thought of that too. The cases are brass, military ammo is likely to have nickel or some sort of coating on the case.

There can be any possibility. Most likely this is psychological warfare.



I thought of that too. The cases are brass, military ammo is likely to have nickel or some sort of coating on the case.

There can be any possibility. Most likely this is psychological warfare.

[xl_target]

All US and NATO 5.56 ammo is brass cased. So looking at a cartridge in a photograph wont tell us which it is.
They are not coated like Russian Ammo. The Russian ammo is generally coated because it is steel cased. The coating prevents corrosion and may help with feeding and extracting.
If you are used to seeing military ammo of a different color, generally it will not be NATO or US ammo.

Still, you are probably correct that the photo is staged, with the woman being given the ammo, by a news reporter who had no idea how a firearm functions.
Commercially available .223 ammo sold over the counter is generally highly polished where they don't bother doing that with military ammo.

[MoA]

XL: Smokeless in a confined burn can explode. BP will explode with or without pressure, it is classified as an explosive.

[Priyan]

All US and NATO 5.56 ammo is brass cased. So looking at a cartridge in a photograph wont tell us which it is.
They are not coated like Russian Ammo. The Russian ammo is generally coated because it is steel cased. The coating prevents corrosion and may help with feeding and extracting.
If you are used to seeing military ammo of a different color, generally it will not be NATO or US ammo.

Still, you are probably correct that the photo is staged, with the woman being given the ammo, by a news reporter who had no idea how a firearm functions.
Commercially available .223 ammo sold over the counter is generally highly polished where they don't bother doing that with military ammo.

I was speaking about the tip color.

[xl_target]

I was speaking about the tip color.

Hmm! The bullets in the cartridges (that the lady is holding) look like they are copper jacketed FMJ.
For example, Lake City 5.56 XM193 55Gr ball ammo is indistinguishable (at least in a photo like that ) from commercial .223

[Priyan]

I was speaking about the tip color.

Hmm! The bullets in the cartridges (that the lady is holding) look like they are copper jacketed FMJ.
For example, Lake City 5.56 XM193 55Gr ball ammo is indistinguishable (at least in a photo like that ) from commercial .223

Ah, I though military was using M855 and M855 as standard issue 5.56 since Afghanistan war.