I find it ironic

[Theohazard]

When the entire country understands a term, where is the problem?

Much of the country also confuses "assault weapons" with machine guns and assault rifles; if it were put to a popular vote vote many firearms would be banned in this country due to popular ignorance regarding them. The misuse of the word "clip", to me, is a symptom of popular ignorance about firearms, and therefore it bothers me.

(On a side note: It was also drummed into me in the Marine Corps that it was a "magazine", not a "clip". In four years on active duty I never once heard a Marine use the term incorrectly.)

Ben, I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just explaining why I have a negative response to the misuse of the term. I see public education regarding firearms as very important, and we all know how lacking that education is at the moment.

[Spats McGee]

I've been using the terms "clip" and "magazine" mostly interchangeably for over 30 years now. TBH, it wasn't until I started browsing gun websites that I realized that anyone objected to doing so. I've met hundreds of shooters that used the terms interchangeably. I see no problem with doing so and I have better things to do with my time than police other shooters' vocabularies.

[Dragline45]

To me, using "clip" to mean "magazine" represents ignorance about firearms

100% agree. What it comes down to is clips and magazines are just not the same thing. It's not like going to a car guy and saying driving stick instead of manual, because they are talking about the EXACT same thing. Clips and magazines are not the same, therefore calling a magazine a clip is just outright incorrect. I feel it is the responsibility of gun owners and enthusiasts to correct people who don't know any better.

[Captains1911]

When the entire country understands a term, where is the problem?

You mean "misunderstands?"

[Hawg]

You mean "misunderstands?"

Whatever. They still know what you're talking about. I grew up with them being called clips by everybody. The first reference I saw calling them magazines was in gun.....well, magazines. I thought it was funny then and I think the politically correct term Nazis are funny now the way they get bent about it. I sometimes do call them magazines but sometimes I just gotta torque the Nazis shorts.

[bcarver]

irregardless of what you call it, it is a device that holds ammo for a weapon.
The use of words is how our language is developed. We use cell phone is place of cellular. Shears and called clippers. Refrigerators are called fridges, vacumn cleaners are called hoovers(in some countries), elevators are called lifts and some some uptight people just like to correct others. And you are right, if people use the word that word becomes "correct"....irregarrdless of what some may say.
What people should be more concerned with is the improper use of the word decimate.

[Dragline45]

We use cell phone is place of cellular. Shears and called clippers. Refrigerators are called fridges, vacumn cleaners are called hoovers(in some countries), elevators are called lifts and some some uptight people just like to correct others.

Yeah but all those things you listed are just different words for the exact same thing. Magazines and clips are not the same. If people are too lazy to say the big old world magazine, why not just call them mags and still be correct.

irregardless of what you call it, it is a device that holds ammo for a weapon.

Should I start calling the tube on my lever action or shotgun a clip too, I mean regardless of what I call it it's a device that holds ammo for a weapon, right?

[arch308]

Not that it bothers me but I will usually correct a person misusing "clip" or "magazine" just on general principles. Right is right, wrong is wrong. The same for "bullet" and "cartridge". A little education never hurts.

[Willie Lowman]

irregardless

You mean regardless, right? The prefix "ir" and the suffix "less" both mean without. Irregarless is a double negative. So, if you are going to complain about proper use of language, perhaps you should use proper language.

[RJay]

You can call a magazine or a .45 Colt cartridge anything you want to, who cares. But when you call shotgun a shotty, a Remington a remmy or a brass frame gun a brassie, well that just shows poor breeding and upbringing and is just rude and crude

[B.L.E.]

Which action type has exclusive claim to the term "pistol"?

The term "pistol" was around in the muzzle loading days. It's what gentlemen used to fight duels. Also, they used "gunpowder", not "black powder" in those days.

[Carmady]

I believe that when a handgun's chamber is part of the barrel, you have a pistol.

Semi-autos, Derringers, muzzle loaders, Pepperbox (revolver/pistol, or pistol/revolver), and single shots.

I find it ironic that many people call it a "hot water heater." If the water's hot, you don't need to heat it.

[James K]

"The .45 Colt cartridge was standard issue in the army for many years."

Nope. The Army used the .45 Colt (by whatever name) for only about a year. They adopted the short cartridge (.45 S&W/.45 Army/.45 Schofield) c. 1874 and never issued anything else for the rest of the Model 1873's service life.

ALL army issue ammunition was made at Frankford Arsenal. After the S&W revolvers were sold off, commercial versions of the Schofield cartridge were made by several companies and, yes, some were headstamped ".45 COLT".

Jim

[Mike Irwin]

I find it ironic that some people get all weepy and apoplectic when they hear Long Colt, and yet they'll natter on all day long about their favorite .30-30 Winchester, when any marginally educated and proper thinking individual KNOWS that the proper, and ONLY name for the cartridge is .30 Winchester Center Fire.

.30-30 was a term derived by louts and imbeciles, and yet that incorrect name, the use of which holds us up to the ridicule of anti-gunners the world over, is embraced... no... glorified from the lips of those who should know better.

[James K]

IIRC the "louts and imbeciles" were mainly competitors like Marlin who chambered guns for the cartridge but didn't want to put a competitor's name on their guns.

Jim

[Mike Irwin]

No, they had a particular and specific reason for that.

The louts and imbeciles were/are those individuals who bought into the wrong terminology through sloth, indolence, ignorance, and avarice, who proudly showed off their Winchester Model 1894s while saying "I need some .30-30 shells."

For shame...

For shame...

[Bill DeShivs]

"I'm thinking about switching to a Partridge sight."
For your Hawkins rifle?

[Jim Watson]

I always thought the .30-30 designation originated with the louts and imbeciles at Marlin who did not want to put "Winchester" or even "WCF" on their products.

And talking about distinctions WITH a difference, one that annoys me more than "magazine vs clip" is reading "bore diameter" or just "bore" for "groove diameter." As in "I slugged my .45 and the bore was .452"."
I bet it wasn't.

Agreed, shotty, revo, and brasser sound juvenile. As does "Mossy."

[B.L.E.]

If I can only get people to stop calling all of my muzzleloading rifles "muskets".

[Hawg]

You can call a magazine or a .45 Colt cartridge anything you want to, who cares. But when you call shotgun a shotty, a Remington a remmy or a brass frame gun a brassie, well that just shows poor breeding and upbringing and is just rude and crude

You need to hang around on some of the black powder forums and drive yourself nuts then.

If I can only get people to stop calling all of my muzzleloading rifles "muskets".

I'm sure some of them are rifled muskets.

[B.L.E.]

If it doesn't have a lug for a bayonet, it aint no musket!

Originally Posted by Dictionary.com

musket (n.) "firearm for infantry" (later replaced by the rifle), 1580s, from Middle French mousquette, also the name of a kind of sparrow-hawk, diminutive of mosca "a fly," from Latin musca (see midge). The hawk so called either for its size or because it looks speckled when in flight. Early firearms often were given names of beasts (cf. dragoon), and the equivalent word in Italian was used to mean "an arrow for a crossbow." The French word was borrowed earlier into English (early 15c.) in its literal sense of "sparrow-hawk."

[Mike Irwin]

It doesn't matter who renamed it.30-30, now does it? Because it is WRONG and should never be used!

That is apparently the logic that is at work here....

Absolute, 100% precise nomenclature must be used at all times! Deviations, even the most minor, must be eradicated at all costs.

[1911Tuner]

While I try to use correct terminology and clear, concise descriptions in all things gun, I don't get all butthurt if I hear somebody say "clip" instead of magazine or ".45 Long Colt" instead of .45 Colt. I understand what they're trying to convey, and so do other people who are fluent in Gunspeak.

Mucho ado por nada mucho, IMO. Don't sweat the small stuff.

[B.L.E.]

We also need to get in the habit of spelling Minié correctly.

It isn't Minnie, that's Mickey Mouse's girlfriend/wife
It isn't Minie
It's M-i-n-i-(alt+130), Minié.

[UncleEd]

Somebody, please hand to me a rolled up magazine so I can clip all the posters behind the ears!!!!