Breaking things down: Clip or Mag?

The terms ‘magazine’ and ‘clip’ are often used interchangeably across popular culture and even by long-time gun enthusiasts and experts in the terminology. In reality, gun clips and gun magazines are very different items.

A gun magazine or mag is an item used to store and quickly load multiple rounds of ammunition into firearms, usually ones that are semi-automatic. 

A gun clip is an item used to hold ammunition together for easier loading and storage. 

How these two terms got mixed up likely stems from a few different sources, the main one being popular culture. Earlier movies with regular gun fights or warfare often showed the firearm users referring to magazines as ‘clips’, and movies that were meant to be based on historical events, like those set in World War II, could be especially misleading. 

Bringing Bananas into the Mix

The actual term ‘banana clip’ was most likely coined in the 1980s by journalists covering guerilla warfare. The nickname was both a reference to the banana-like shape of the magazines used for AK-47 assault rifles, as well as a misnomer due to the interchanging use of ‘clip’ and ‘magazine’. Though these curved, high-capacity magazines eventually became known as ‘banana mags’, the slang was already well established in popular culture, and had a much better ring to it. 

Today, those curved, rectangular magazines are used for sporting and hunting rifles, earning the nickname ‘banana clip’ due to their similarity to the original. Many manufacturers of magazines, like Dogtooth Tactical, have taken advantage of the popular slang term and created their own versions of ‘banana’ magazines, designed to look like the fruit itself.

About Dogtooth Tactical

Dogtooth Tactical is an American-made and Veteran-owned manufacturer of high-performance and high-capacity AR-15 magazines and other accessories. Head over to our shop to browse all of our products–including our very own take on the banana clip!