magazine

A staggered-column 9×19mm Browning Hi-Power pistol box magazine. The top image shows the magazine loaded and ready for use, while the lower image shows it unloaded and disassembled. Loading of small arms ammunition into a magazine.

A magazine, often simply called a mag, is an ammunition storage and feeding device for a repeating firearm, either integral with the gun (internal or fixed external) or detachable. The magazine functions by holding several cartridges within itself and sequentially pushing each one into a position where it may be readily loaded into the barrel chamber by the firearm's moving action. The detachable magazine is sometimes colloquially referred to as a "clip," although this is technically inaccurate since a clip is actually an accessory device used to help load ammunition into the magazine or cylinder of a firearm.