Gun terms that are often confused...

[Sam1911]

Ah yes, they can call them whatever they want but wouldn't it be better if we eliminate the confusion between clip and magazine. Clip can mean different things. The distinction simply tries to clarify and be more accurate.

English is the most acquisitive and conglomerate language the world has ever seen. We have more synonyms for words than any other, as well as layers and levels and degrees of nuance far more detailed than most languages can approach. Heck, even the order in which we stack the components of hyphenated and compound words present significantly distinct meanings (E.g.: House-boat or boat-house?), something that doesn't happen in other tongues.

Historically, the meaning of many very common words has exactly reversed (!) without those words falling out of favor or use.

And yet, we don't seem to get too terribly confused, at least not often enough to stop the trend.

So, accuracy? What does that mean? Call a thing what the manfuacturer calls it? Not what your grandfather called it or you THINK it should be called, or what your neighbor calls it, I guess. But then you'd have to call a Wilson Combat 47D a "magazine" but the device pictured above you'd have to call a "clip" or YOU aren't being accurate.

Now you can rebel against what the MAKER and owner of the patent on that item called it, and call it whatever you like, but how is that accurate? That's just expressing your own opinion, and one that differs from the official paperwork. And that's how language changes and grows...by folks not being "accurate."

So which is it?

 

[jerkface11]

So, accuracy? What does that mean?

Don't you mean precision?

 

[Sam1911]

LOL! Nice one.

 

[jerkface11]

I'm here all week tell your friends.

 

[Sam1911]

Heck, 100 years from now, "magazine" will probably refer to the shoulder thing that goes up.

 

[savanahsdad]

I'm here all week tell your friends.

I can't afford any friends I spent all my money/cash/funds/ on witnesses

 

[MCMXI]

They DO NOT mean the same thing but are often used in interchangeably.

Such as caliber and cartridge. Even many firearms manufactures imply that the .308 Win, .30-06 Sprg, .300 WSM and .300 Win Mag are different calibers.

reticle & reticule If your scope has a reticule, then you should make sure it matches your scope's shoes to avoid a fashion faux pas. A reticle is the aiming "mark" imposed by the scope on the background when you look through the scope.

Reticule is still a correct alternative form of reticle. It's the common form in Europe.

 

[jerkface11]

Our grand children will argue over whether it's a battery or a charger.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

My West Hurley Thompson bullet logo 1911A1 clone is boldly stamped:
AUTO-ORDNANCE CORP
.45 CALIBER AUTOMATIC
I need to have a caret ^ stamped under the space between CALIBER and AUTOMATIC and have SEMI- stamped below that. Oh, the shame of having a pedantically incorrect 1911A1, Oh Tempura! Oh, Morays!

And again Wikipedia uses non-notable un-reliable sources to include this in their article on M1911 pistol:

The M1911 is a single-action, semi-automatic, magazine-fed, recoil-operated pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge,[1] which served as the standard-issue sidearm for the United States Armed Forces from 1911 to 1985. It was first used in later stages of the Philippine-American War, and was widely used in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M1911 is still carried by some U.S. forces. Its formal designation as of 1940 was Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911 for the original Model of 1911 or Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911A1 for the M1911A1, adopted in 1924. The designation changed to Pistol, Caliber .45, Automatic, M1911A1 in the Vietnam era.[1]

1. Pistol, Caliber .45, Automatic, M1911 Technical Manual TM 9-1005-211-34 1964 edition. Pentagon Publishing. 1964. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-60170-013-1.

On the bright side, the word "magazine" is used 19 times in the Wiki article, but "clip" is not used.

 

[savanahsdad]

can you put a CAN on that silencer , suppressor , muffler

 

[JohnKSa]

Reticule is still a correct alternative form of reticle. It's the common form in Europe.

I checked (should have done that before posting, I guess) and you are correct.

 

[JohnBT]

Gun terms?

Do you mean firearms?

 

[savanahsdad]

Gun terms?

Do you mean firearms?

USMC told my son it was his "Weapon"

 

[jcwit]

I'll try to remember this the next time I attend a "weapon show".

 

[savanahsdad]

a "Weapons Show" lol do they have mags and clips there ? or revolvers and pistols ? how about stocks and furniture ?

 

[32_d3gr33s]

USMC told my son it was his "Weapon"

this is my weapon, this is my gun...

 

[savanahsdad]

this is my weapon, this is my gun...

you can't talk about your GUN here !!

 

[zoom6zoom]

Furniture. Common usage has become to use it for the complete stocks and handguards, but it's actually just the metal fittings and such that are part of the stocks.

 

[Speedo66]

"Gun terms that are often confused"

"Reasonable" and "sensible" gun control laws vs. Are you <deleted> kidding me!!!

Re: Remington using "clip" in their ads, no doubt the hack with no gun experience writing ad copy in their advertising agency was a little confused.

 

[ChaoSS]

Here's a can of worms.

People who insist on "correcting" people who use the term accidental discharge and insist it has to be negligent discharge.


Accident implies negligence. That's what it means. If it's not an accident, it's either intentional, or its a proverbial act of god.

If you load your gun, point it as something, and shoot, it's intentional. If you are not following the safety rules and shoot something you didn't want to, it's an accident. If a gun is sitting there on it's own, and suddenly goes off, it's an act of god.

Negligence and Accidental mean the same thing, people. If you want to use Negligence because you think it's a harsher term, fine, but stop trying to "correct" everyone else.

Just once I'd like to go on a car, or motorcycle forum, look at a thread about someone's accident, and see someone insist that no, it's not an accident, it's a negligent vehicle collision. Or not.

 

[savanahsdad]

or go on a motorcycle form and tell them is a "enginecycle" there is no motor on it , other than the starter ,, let us know how that works out

 

[donato]

ChaoSS said:

People who insist on "correcting" people who use the term accidental discharge and insist it has to be negligent discharge.


Accident implies negligence. That's what it means. If it's not an accident, it's either intentional, or its a proverbial act of god.

If you load your gun, point it as something, and shoot, it's intentional. If you are not following the safety rules and shoot something you didn't want to, it's an accident. If a gun is sitting there on it's own, and suddenly goes off, it's an act of god.

Negligence and Accidental mean the same thing, people. If you want to use Negligence because you think it's a harsher term, fine, but stop trying to "correct" everyone else.

Just once I'd like to go on a car, or motorcycle forum, look at a thread about someone's accident, and see someone insist that no, it's not an accident, it's a negligent vehicle collision. Or not.

Excellent statement ChaoSS!!

Anyone who is hung up on calling every accident a negligent discharge has obviously never had the opportunity to hunt on a regular basis with a Winchester model 1897 pump shotgun and on cold days having to drop the hammer to half cock after chambering a round.

 

[cfullgraf]

or go on a motorcycle form and tell them is a "enginecycle" there is no motor on it , other than the starter ,, let us know how that works out

Apologies for side tracking the thread.

For clarity...

One definition of a motor is a device that uses energy to impart motion.

One definition of an engine is a device that uses thermal energy to impart motion.

So a motorcycle engine is a motor. But an electric motor is not an engine.

Back to confusing gun terms while I head off to the weapons show to look at knives, swords, trebuchets, ballistas and firearms.

 

[savanahsdad]

well being a 3rd generation electrician (before I wrecked my leg and started driving truck ) and I have a son-in-law that a journeyman , I'll have to disagree , lol ! and all my biker friends and family all just them "Bikes or Harley's " but then again gramps called mags "clips"

when did we start calling "scopes" "Glass" ??
and is Lea-a-pole or Lu-a-pold ??
Sterm Ruger or Strum Ruger ?

 

[ChaoSS]

Apologies for side tracking the thread.

For clarity...

One definition of a motor is a device that uses energy to impart motion.

One definition of an engine is a device that uses thermal energy to impart motion.

So a motorcycle engine is a motor. But an electric motor is not an engine.

Back to confusing gun terms while I head off to the weapons show to look at knives, swords, trebuchets, ballistas and firearms.

Just to clarify, the term engine was in use long before thermal powered engines were in use. Think of the uses of the term "engines of war", commonly used for various types of catapults, which used anything from gravity to stored energy in twisted ropes to other means to impart kinetic energy to a projectile.

Just another example of multiple terms with very overlapping definitions, but people have come to insist on engine meaning internal combustion and motor meaning electrical.


Same applies, imo, to things like clip and magazine. We get picky about these things, but clip has long been used for what we call a magazine, and a magazine has such an encompassing definition, historically, that we should have no problems calling things like stripper clips magazines.