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by privong·11y ago·view on hn ↗
> I never understood the "don't call 'magazines' 'clips'" fanaticism among gun enthusiasts.

It's because "clip" refers to somthing different, if related. A clip refers specifically to a mechanism that clips onto multiple rounds of ammo in order to allow it to be inserted into a (fixed) magazine[0]. Some guns with fixed magazines use clips to enable faster reloading, while guns with removable magazines don't need a clip, because the entire magazine is swapped out.

From outward appearances, and to a possibly untrained observer, reloading via inserting a clip looks similar to reloading with a removable magazine, which I presume is the source of the conflation. But, for some people, correct terminology is important; "coder" vs "hacker" vs "cracker", I suppose?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clip_%28ammunition%29