Further word associations...

My friend, Larry LeBlanc, who wrote numerous articles mentioning the gun store I formerly co-owned, reminded me with a recent column that I was remiss in my intentions to write a followup article to my earlier tirade concerning the misuse of words commonly thought of as "gun talk"...

Your attention is turned today to the common Hollywood error of having a character misuse the words "clip" and "bullet" when said character is represented as having the experience and knowledge needed to use the terms correctly as they apply to firearms...Network newsreaders are seen daily committing the same mistake, thereby exposing their ignorance to the viewing public, and diminishing their already tenuous hold on credibility...

For those few uninitiated among the readership, a clip is a small grooved metallic accessory used to store rounds of ammunition until the need arises to load a magazine...A magazine is an ammunition storage device used to feed individual rounds of ammunition into the firing chamber of a firearm...The magazine may be detachable for quick reloads such as in this author's beloved .45's, or it may be permanently fixed to the firearm such as in the case of the Mauser Model C96 or the Soviet designed SKS rifle...

Expanding the definition to military use, General Julian Hatcher, in his classic work, "Hatcher's Notebook," also referred to a magazine as the protective storage facility for rounds of munitions designed for artillery use...In Army usage, a magazine refers to the reinforced bunker used to store artillery rounds until use...Naval magazines store munitions in a similar facility onboard ship...Hatcher's book is a standard reference which will be reviewed by this author at a future time...

A bullet is a component of a round of ammunition, more accurately described as the projectile which is pushed from the muzzle of the firearm after the trigger has been depressed...The bullet, together with the attending primer, propellant (or powder) and sometimes lubricant, when combined into a cartridge case (or shell) becomes a round of ammunition...Therefore it is incorrect to speak of a "clip loaded with bullets" when one wishes to indicate a "magazine loaded with ammunition"...

None of this would be a real problem were it not for the spillover into real life, as unknowing viewers of such Hollywood and TV atrociousness erroneously take it for granted that screenwriters, actors and newsreaders couldn't possibly be stupid enough to allow such gross misusage of words into their professional airings if they were not verified as being proper nomenclature...Too much TV is how I often explained to myself how grown adults could walk into my gun store, and ask for one thing when they meant something entirely different, and then exhibit confusion when I handed them what they asked for...

Additionally, I've become quite civilized since my separation from active service, even though I still understand the reasoning behind the often quoted rant used by drill sergeants everywhere...However, I don't think I'm quite the stickler Gunnery Sergeant Hartman was as he led a barracks drill chanting, "This is my rifle, this is my gun!"...

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