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does the clip bend under the force of the hammer so that the headspace of each cartridge is effectively the same for each chamber?
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Wrong issue - the clip is a spring and cushions the hammer blow. Most people. rimfire excepted, don't check rim thickness anyway. Full moon clips are most likely to be bent and so springy, half-moon clips less so and two at a time are the best for everything except speedloading.
Headspace is an overdone issue so far as reasonable - not bench rest - accuracy is concerned. The .45 Auto does just fine and almost everybody shoots cases that are well under chamber length. Pachmayr made pistols with a spring loaded ball - socket wrench or S&W lock style - in the breech face to push each chambered cartridge against the end of the chamber and it may have worked but nobody has bothered to use it since.