What is the Difference? Magazines vs Clips – Terms, Pros, Cons, Explained
Travis Olander 06.07.23
Of all the errors people make when they talk about firearms and how they work, using the terms clip and magazine interchangeably is the most common offense. Clips and magazines work together and can even appear similar in function, so it’s easy to confuse them if you’re not a gun owner.
Making matters worse, even many experienced gun experts and military veterans often use the terms interchangeably as a bad habit, making that much harder for people new to guns to know the difference between a clip and a detachable box magazine. Then you have things like internal magazines (also called blind box magazines), the stripper clip, the half moon clip, a tubular magazine, and an en bloc clip, among other devices that feed rounds to a firearm.
Learning the difference between a clip and magazine might seem like parsing hair since they essentially do the same job, but understanding the parts of the guns you operate can save your life one day, whether on the battlefield or inside your home.
We’re not here to ridicule. We’re here to educate. Let’s get the terms right and explain the differences between a gun clip and a magazine.
What is a Magazine?
A magazine is an ammunition feeding device containing a firearm’s cartridges. Magazines are either detachable or fixed. Some fixed magazines are loaded with clips — that’s where the confusion can set in. Let’s take a closer look at both types.
Detachable Magazine
Detachable magazines (like these double-stack 9mm pistol magazines) make up the vast majority of firearm mags used today. They’re found on most semiautomatic guns, handguns, and modern rifles. A detachable magazine provides high capacity, and they’re incredibly reliable.
Most modern semi-automatic rifles also use detachable box magazines, despite many people often referring to them as “clips.” A detachable magazine is a device that functions differently from a clip. Both units hold live rounds. But it’s how the rounds are moved from the device to the receiver that separates a magazine from a clip.
Fixed Magazine
Some bolt-action rifles and many old-war surplus rifles (like this M91/30 Mosin Nagant) use a fixed magazine, also known as an internal magazine. An internal magazine is typically fabricated as a part of the receiver or action and is not detachable without disassembly. This usually involves removing the bolt or the trigger mechanism. Internal magazines tend to give up high capacity in favor of reducing the overall weight and size of the firearm.
Parts of a Magazine
The typical firearm magazine – whether detachable or fixed – uses the following components:
Spring and Follower
Magazines use a compressed spring and metal or plastic plate, called a follower, that push the ammunition into the receiver as the bolt or slide is manually actuated by the shooter, or by semiautomatic fire. This spring and follower came from an old AR-15 magazine.
Bottom Plate
A Magazine will have small lips or rolled edges that must be present atop the magazine loads to prevent the spring and follower from popping out whenever the magazine is empty. So, to remove the spring and follower,a magazine has a removable bottom plate. This is typically made from steel or polymer.
Magazine Body
The body of the magazine is often little more than a piece of stamped steel or molded plastic, shaped like a box with no top or bottom. This AR-15 magazine is shown with the bottom plate removed and the spring being inserted for assembly. Magazine bodies can be single-stack, wherein cartridge rounds are stacked directly atop one another, or double-stack, which allows cartridges to stack next to each other, increasing capacity without length.
Fixed Magazine Example
Internal box magazines have the same parts as detachable magazines. Here, the internal box magazine from a bolt-action rifle is opened up to show the bottom plate, spring, and follower. These components are all attached to one another with small pins to make removing and reinstalling them easier. This also allows the shooter to troubleshoot issues connected to how the magazine feeds ammunition or jams without the need for tools.
What is a Clip?
A clip is used to more efficiently load a firearm’s magazine. While some shooters don’t mind hand-loading a magazine, this can be slow and painful. Some rifles require a clip to be used with their magazine to function. Let’s look at the types of clips you might come across.
En Bloc Clips
You’ll probably be forgiven if you mistake an En Bloc clip for a magazine (like these eight-round en bloc clips made for loading the WWII-era M1 Garand). That’s because this clip sort of functions like a magazine: They hold ammunition, rest inside the bottom of the receiver, and are ejected and replaced once all rounds have been chambered and fired. The picture below illustrates how the En Bloc clip feeds into the receiver’s built-in magazine so rounds can be chambered.
Granted, the similarities can blur the lines quite a bit, but keep in mind the clip and magazine are two different parts. In fact, the magazine is a device that’s a part of the M1 Grand, while the clip is detachable. In fact, all clips are detachable, but the same can not be said for a magazine.
Clips are also used primarily for rifles, whereas a magazine can be used for rifles, shotguns, and handguns. However, a magazine is a device that will load the round into the firearm, while the clip mainly holds the rounds together and feeds them into the magazine.
Although En Blocs are inserted and removed like magazines, they are still considered clips. They don’t have followers or springs or bottom plates. A spring and follower beneath the clip press the ammunition into the receiver so the bolt can chamber each round. Clips are open on both sides to allow for this pass-through function. It is the magazine within the receiver that must still feed ammunition. Clips can’t function without a magazine, but most magazines (save for En Bloc-fed rifles) can function without the use of clips.
A Stripper clip is the most common type of gun clip. Like the En Bloc clip, a stripper clip is used to load a magazine more efficiently. Unlike En Bloc clips, Stripper clips don’t rest within the magazine or receiver. Instead, Stripper clips sit in a groove atop the internal magazine. The shooter then depresses all the rounds into the internal magazine in one quick motion. The Stripper clips can then be discarded or reloaded with ammunition for later use.
Although most ammo clips are used with older rifles, plenty of modern detachable firearm magazines make use of clips for easier loading. The AR-15 magazines and GLOCK magazines can make use of reusable clips.
As you can see, the differences between a clip and a magazine are quite significant. Modern firearms like semi-automatic pistols are more likely to use detachable magazine loads that push individual rounds rather than feed them into a firearm using a fixed or internal magazine.
Clip vs. Magazine: Which is Better?
When it comes to ammo load capacity, a clip and magazine can only hold a small number of rounds, such as up to 10, while a magazine can hold much more, so far up to 100.
That said, larger detachable magazines can jam more than clips that hold a smaller amount of ammo. That’s because the spring mechanism in detachable magazines is under more pressure and can lose tension or otherwise create feeding issues. However, this isn’t a common problem as it can take many years for springs to wear out.
What is an Ammo Belt?
There is a third ammo feeding device called a “belt clip” capable of feeding hundreds of rounds into certain types of automatic high-caliber machine guns like the M249 SAW, the M240B, and the famous Browning M2 (Ma Deuce), a machine gun that earned its nickname during WWI because “she always had the last word,” thanks to that long belt of ammo. For the sake of the average civilian gun owner, this is all irrelevant (unless you have tens of thousands of dollars and a Class 3 FFL).
Recap
- A magazine is an ammunition-feeding device.
- Magazines push ammo into the receiver and firing chamber.
- Magazines are either detachable or fixed, built into the receiver.
- An En Bloc clip rests inside a fixed magazine to allow for feeding.
- A Stripper clip loads a magazine quickly instead of loading rounds individually.
- Detachable and fixed magazines can use a stripper clip to make loading easier.
