"I'm outta ammo! Toss me a clip!"

This happens in a rather significant portion of movies, and I'm wondering if any tropers with a military background could tell me if this ever happens.

It does happen, but we don't call it a clip. IT'S A GODDAMN MAGAZINE. CLIPS GO IN THINGS LIKE A GARAND!!!

Not directed at you OP, but at the world in general.

edited 19th Mar '11 8:14:39 AM by Barkey

These are clips.◊
Excepting the one of the left for comparison, these are magazines and what most media (mistakenly) refer to.◊

So what, is this The Coconut Effect?

So, "toss me a mag" instead?

edited 19th Mar '11 8:19:24 AM by HungryJoe

When could a man cry, "toss me some shells"?

^ When he's part of an artillery battery that just ran out of ammo.

^^ In military scenarios you yell out "Last mag!" or something similar to let your buddies know you've run dry.

edited 19th Mar '11 8:21:37 AM by MajorTom

>toss me a clip

>clip

edited 19th Mar '11 8:21:30 AM by EthZee

Although I can't imagine someone casually tossing this◊ to a fellow soldier...

^^I blame the media!

Yeah, you yell last mag so your squad knows you're about to run out of ammo, instead of telling them once you're already out of ammo.

And if you don't get another mag by the time you run out, there's always 60 rounds of 9mm.

10-round magazines, right?

And, being elucidated, tossing a magazine sounds better than throwing a clip. Don't know how easily those rounds slide out, but still...

Anyway, is there a prescribed tossing method?

15 round mags of 9mm, 4 of them is what I always loaded up with.

I've never seen anyone throw a magazine in any way but underhand. They spin too much to really throw overhand.

You don't have to worry about rounds falling out though, you could chuck it at a brick wall and you would dent the mag, but nothing would fall out most likely.

edited 19th Mar '11 8:35:25 AM by Barkey

That seems like a lot, but it isn't is it?

If you're in an intense enough firefight to where you pull your pistol because you've ran out of 5.56, you're going to burn through that 9mm pretty fast, yeah.

Then it's time to run or rifle fight.

edited 19th Mar '11 8:36:22 AM by Barkey

Rifle fight?

Fighting with your rifle in close combat, they range from the basic four offensive moves and a few defensive ones, to the more complex MCMAP, the Marine Corps martial art, where they get into complex detail about using your rifle as a melee weapon.

I'm more of a helmet guy myself, helmets make pretty kickass weapons.

edited 19th Mar '11 8:42:10 AM by Barkey

Things would have to get quite out of hand for a soldier to end up *headbutting* the enemy, right?

Guns don't always work well in melee situations, which apparently can occur quite often in battle fields that are cluttered mazes. In that case, anything goes, knife, helmet, boot, etc.

Of course, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, all I've got is second hand accounts from my father.

edited 19th Mar '11 10:02:01 AM by Usht

I like bayonets.

A colour sergeant I knew bayoneted a couple of folk in the First Gulf War. I never got the opportunity.

edited 19th Mar '11 10:24:18 AM by InverurieJones

Enthusiasm for the bayonet must be a qualification for being a colour sergeant. In Zulu Colour Sergeant Bourne bayonets several Zulus and has a line about the value of "a bayonet, with some guts behind it."

edited 19th Mar '11 12:34:47 PM by Captainbrass

I meant taking it off, holding it by the strap, and swinging it like a sling. That's ceramic and kevlar material that can shrug off an assault rifle round with tons of momentum behind it, easily a lethal weapon.

I never thought of that until now, Barkey. I must say that sounds pretty fucking badass.

Another good reference to put it in context is putting a billiard ball in a sock and trying to hit something with it.

But it's a really big billiard ball, and instead of a sock it's inside it's a velcro chinstrap that contours perfectly to your palm and is attached in two places.

edited 19th Mar '11 4:05:42 PM by Barkey

Was that on purpose, or just a happy accident?