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Bullets are not Cartridges!!


Tom Bullweed

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I visited a local sporting good chain last Saturday to check out their Hornady bullet selection.  There was a fella, about 30 or so, holding a box of 150-grain .308 FMJs and looking a bit confused.  After a couple minutes I asked him what was reloading.  He did not answer my question but told me about the M1 Carbine that he inherited from his Dad.  He had shoot it as a kid but did not shhot or own another gun now.  He did asked if the box in his hand was good for his carbine.  I shot the M1 Carbines in DCM matches years ago.  I told him that the Carbine was a 100 or 110 grain bullet with a round nose.  I finally got that he did not understand that he was looking at reloading components.  I pointed out the M1 Carbine cartridge location on the mostly empty ammo aisle.  I told him that reloading a great hobby but the first round costs $300, the second costs about $.40.

I told him what local shops might have his ammo.  He left afterwards somehow mad at me.  I should have just let him buy the bullets with nary a word spoken and social distancing maintained.

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I once had a guy give an elderly gentleman grief for calling a "magazine" a "clip," nevermind the "ARMY" and CIB emblem on the old man's hat, and the younger guy looked like 300 pounds of chewed up bubblegum. Picking up a box of ammunition, I pulled one out and asked him what it was. He said "it's a bullet, you put them in a magazine." I told him "no, it is a "cartridge, it even says so on the box." and pointed it out to him. The old man nodded and laughed, the guy told me to do something I'm not able to write here, and as he walked off I told him "if you're going to be pedantic, do it right."

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20 minutes ago, DocWard said:

I once had a guy give an elderly gentleman grief for calling a "magazine" a "clip," nevermind the "ARMY" and CIB emblem on the old man's hat, and the younger guy looked like 300 pounds of chewed up bubblegum. Picking up a box of ammunition, I pulled one out and asked him what it was. He said "it's a bullet, you put them in a magazine." I told him "no, it is a "cartridge, it even says so on the box." and pointed it out to him. The old man nodded and laughed, the guy told me to do something I'm not able to write here, and as he walked off I told him "if you're going to be pedantic, do it right."

Oh no! You did Not say pedantic to him! :lol::lol:

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53 minutes ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Oh no! You did Not say pedantic to him! :lol::lol:

 

In all fairness, I don't think he heard me, nor would he have understood the word if he did.

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47 minutes ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said:

Most ordinary folk say bullet for cartridge and no harm comes of it.

 

I've never seen any harm from someone calling a magazine a clip, either.

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this was  1975  was great gun store The Traders 

a gun asked for bullets for a 30-30 . Clerk asked how he loads them ..

"I just put them in the side of the gun "

clerk then gives him a box of cartridges

later the clerk sez I really wanted to give him bullets but did not want the store window broken 

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1 minute ago, Rex M Rugers #6621 said:

I used to cringe and bite my tongue at the TRAP range when one of the other shooters would say " I have to go get more bullets" or "I'm out of bullets".

Aye Yi Yi.

Rex :D

 

My father-in-law, who was an avid shooter, excellent trap shooter (I still have a trophy he won at the Grand American), got me started shooting trap, and reloaded shotgun shells by the thousands, would say that sometimes, and I would cringe inwardly as well!

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If we are going to cringe at stuff people say about firearms-related equipment --

 

You do not smelt lead to cast bullets. You melt it. You smelt metal bearing rock (ore) to get the metal out. But if you have ingots of lead, or piles of wheel weights, or buckets full of bullets you dug out of the berm, you melt it.

 

You do not cast or buy BULLET HEADS. There is no such thing as a bullet head. It is a bullet. The head is at the other end of the cartridge.

 

And for Bog's sweet sake, bullet is spelled with a U, not two Os.

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And a chicken ain’t chicken till it’s fried.

 

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48 minutes ago, Rex M Rugers #6621 said:

I used to cringe and bite my tongue at the TRAP range when one of the other shooters would say " I have to go get more bullets" or "I'm out of bullets".

Aye Yi Yi.

Rex :D

I can’t imagine strap shooter saying that except in jest.

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45 minutes ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

I can’t imagine strap shooter saying that except in jest.

Some local vernacular , I guess. The were totally serious. Some of the folks here also referred to reloading bullets as leads or heads.

Rex , who kept his mouth shut. :D

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45 minutes ago, Rex M Rugers #6621 said:

Some local vernacular , I guess. The were totally serious. Some of the folks here also referred to reloading bullets as leads or heads.

Rex , who kept his mouth shut. :D

 

Pretty much my thought.

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When I worked in a gun shop/range a few years ago a guy came in and said” I need some slugs”. I asked 12 gauge or 20 gauge? He said “ No man 9mm”. I said do you reload ? He said yea I put the bullets in the clip!” I gave him a box of 9mm loaded ammo and sent him on his way . :wacko:

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Coming down hard in newbies runs them off. I try to be helpful. I try to educate. 
 

I used to give people a hard time but then looked back on when I was starting out. I called cartridges “bullets” and magazines “clips”. I didn’t appreciate the smartass way people treated me so I try to be somewhat forgiving...unless someone is just being obtuse and pigheaded then I treat them accordingly. 
 

I am also put off by ignorant know-it-all’s. I have a special place in my heart for them and go out of my way to mess with ‘em. Purely for entertainment, of course. ;)

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36 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

When I worked in a gun shop/range a few years ago a guy came in and said” I need some slugs”. I asked 12 gauge or 20 gauge? He said “ No man 9mm”. I said do you reload ? He said yea I put the bullets in the clip!” I gave him a box of 9mm loaded ammo and sent him on his way . :wacko:

Musta been a ‘30s gangster. :lol:

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4 hours ago, Rex M Rugers #6621 said:

I used to cringe and bite my tongue at the TRAP range when one of the other shooters would say " I have to go get more bullets" or "I'm out of bullets".

Aye Yi Yi.

Rex :D

 

Those were the advanced shooters who use jacketed slugs rather than regular trap loads. :D

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"i think" there are a lot of folks that use improper terminology because , although they know better , were 'raised' saying it , i love the folks that walk into our range at hunter sight in season AND ask for "deer bullets" , most want 3030 here but one has to inquire what there rifle takes to clarify , some actually dont know - they always were handed a zip lock full by a fellow hunter/mentor and never really knew what the rifle took , the green chit on them never bothered them much tho 

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4 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Coming down hard in newbies runs them off. I try to be helpful. I try to educate. 
 

I used to give people a hard time but then looked back on when I was starting out. I called cartridges “bullets” and magazines “clips”. I didn’t appreciate the smartass way people treated me so I try to be somewhat forgiving...unless someone is just being obtuse and pigheaded then I treat them accordingly. 
 

I am also put off by ignorant know-it-all’s. I have a special place in my heart for them and go out of my way to mess with ‘em. Purely for entertainment, of course. ;)

We may have lost a new to cowboy shooter in the last week because of the asinine way he was treated on the here and he asked a legitimate question. He was not pleased and I don't blame him it was completely uncalled for.

kR

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49 minutes ago, Kid Rich said:

We may have lost a new to cowboy shooter in the last week because of the asinine way he was treated on the here and he asked a legitimate question. He was not pleased and I don't blame him it was completely uncalled for.

kR

In the Saloon? :huh:

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7 hours ago, Alpo said:

If we are going to cringe at stuff people say about firearms-related equipment --

 

You do not smelt lead to cast bullets. You melt it. You smelt metal bearing rock (ore) to get the metal out. But if you have ingots of lead, or piles of wheel weights, or buckets full of bullets you dug out of the berm, you melt it.

 

You do not cast or buy BULLET HEADS. There is no such thing as a bullet head. It is a bullet. The head is at the other end of the cartridge.

 

And for Bog's sweet sake, bullet is spelled with a U, not two Os.

 

I was standing downwind of some melting lead once and I 'smelt' it.   It smelt kinda funny too.

 

..........Widder

 

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It was just a while back I was at a gunshow dickering at a table over a swap/sale. I told the guy that I was dealing with that the deal included a half-dozen clips for the gun in question.

 

Of course, out of the peanut gallery a feller felt the need to make a remark to a friend (but loud enough for the rest of us to appreciate) about people who didn't know the difference between magazines and clips.

 

So I handed him the gun and asked him to show me where the magazine release was:

 

307065298_broomhandlewithstripper.jpg.4913910fefdcb8f573764c21ce100fab.jpg

 

Thing is, I appreciate all the military folks in our sport who swallow back their rankle when we refer to what we shoot as 'guns', so someone using the wrong terminology don't bother me much, one way or t'other as long as we understand each other, and no one's trying to be a grammer ranger.

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I actually heard a guy once say “I have a problem with this gun. I think there is something wrong with the magazine release. I can’t get the clip out.” :lol:


I remember when I joined the Navy the proper terms for “small arms” were drilled into us in boot camp and in Gunnery School. My hillbilly terminologies were corrected through instruction, belittling or conversation. The only object referred to as a “gun” was a large projectile firing device mounted to the deck. 

 

I grew up in Pennsylvania. All my relatives, my Dad and my Dad’s friends called a magazine a “clip”, except for my Uncle Carl - former Marine and all around “Cool Guy”.  They were all people that came of age during WW2 and the Korean War. 
Cartridges that fired expanding bullets were called “Dumb dumb rounds” and they were spelled that way. 
Cartridges were referred to as “bullets”, “rounds” or “shells” regardless of configuration. 
Pistols and revolvers were referred to as “pistols”.

The word “handgun” was not used unless you were a “Pinko Commie” trying to get into office “to take our guns away.”

Rifle stocks were called “rifle butts”.

Rifles didn’t have “forends” or “handguards”. They had “front stocks”.
Grip panels or grip stocks were and still are “grips”.

 

Regardless of all the incorrect vernacular I learned from these people nearly all of them served this country in the US Army, Air Force or Marine Corps. A couple came back disabled from WW2. All of them served proudly, except one, and put their lives on the line for this country or put themselves out there to do so for this country. Yeah, they were “country” they were “Hicks”. Sure, they even may have known the correct terms but using the correct terms may have set them apart from their peers because they didn’t want to “come off as all uppity” or “better than everyone else.” Regardless, when I hear a man say “I need to buy a couple of clips for my pistol.” I always wonder “Did he learn that term from his granddad or his great uncle who served in WW2 or Korea?”

 

There is a new term the Left likes to spew now. That term is “words as weapons”. Words are and can be powerful. Words can also be used to alienate and isolate people. In our realm or culture we cannot afford to alienate people through our need to massage our own egos or impress upon “newbies” the correct terms because “they sound like idiots” or “morons”. Those “idiots” or “morons” are the future of our way of life and the defenders of ours and their Second Amendment rights. Be nice to them. They can learn the proper vernacular later. 
 

:FlagAm:

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15 hours ago, Kid Rich said:

We may have lost a new to cowboy shooter in the last week because of the asinine way he was treated on the here and he asked a legitimate question. He was not pleased and I don't blame him it was completely uncalled for.

kR

 

14 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

In the Saloon? :huh:

Yeah, one of the regulars here is a self-appointed troll who thinks he is cute. I was glad to find out about the "Ignore" button.

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An old friend's dad referred to a ventilated rib as a "skeet ridge."   :rolleyes:

 

Now, that was novel!   ^_^

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 Was at a local Gander Mountain a while back when it was closing. While I was looking at the used handguns a fellow in front of me was trying to trade in a beat up Kel Tec of some flavor. The clerk patiently explained the store was closing and he was not allowed to take any trades. The fellow, whom I can best describe as a "mall ninja" then proceeded to point to every used gun in the case and tell the clerk how much better his trade in was. While this was going on I spotted a model 15 smith laying there, lots of holster wear in all the right spots, obviously a police trade in. The fellow pointed at the old smith and said loudly, "who would even want to look at that thing?" Fed up I leaned up beside him and said, "Well, If you'd shut the f up I would." He glared at me and stomped off. The clerk thanked me for running the clown off and said, "you really don't want to see that one do you?" I told him I sure did. Typical police gun, carried a lot shot very little. I told him I'd take it, he gave me $50 off the sticker for getting the clown away from him. I laughed all the way home, it shoots sweet by the way.

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23 hours ago, Trailrider #896 said:

Bullet heads are almost always adult male humans with round heads and advance male pattern baldness!  Some probably have lead between their ears! :P

I thought the common term is "Dick Head".

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8 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

I grew up in Pennsylvania. All my relatives, my Dad and my Dad’s friends called a magazine a “clip”, except for my Uncle Carl - former Marine and all around “Cool Guy”.  They were all people that came of age during WW2 and the Korean War. 
Cartridges that fired expanding bullets were called “Dumb dumb rounds” and they were spelled that way. 
Cartridges were referred to as “bullets”, “rounds” or “shells” regardless of configuration. 
Pistols and revolvers were referred to as “pistols”.

The word “handgun” was not used unless you were a “Pinko Commie” trying to get into office “to take our guns away.”

Rifle stocks were called “rifle butts”.

Rifles didn’t have “forends” or “handguards”. They had “front stocks”.
Grip panels or grip stocks were and still are “grips”.

 

My dad, born the last day of 1921 and in the Corps from 1940 to early 1947, used most of that same terminology, except he always called what we call a magazine a "clip."

Re: "guns."  When asked if I have any guns I will truthfully reply that I do not own any guns.  If pressed, I'll also say that I own neither howitzers nor mortars, other than a few small mortars for grinding spices.  

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