The Use of "Stripper Clips" really Sucks!

[islandguy]

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[Sharps '63]

I have less than fond memories of loading FN C1's with stripper clips in Edmonton's winter weather. That's why God invented spare magazines. I have also found that I don't enjoy loading my '03 Springfield or .30-'06 Belgian '98 Mauser with clips either.

 

[Cranky Pants]

Never read the threads OP should own a Ag42 lungman Swedish finger trap LOL

Used one of those before, the learning curve was steep on them!

As for the OP, something must be wrong with the stripper clips you are using. Any for an Enfield or SKS functioned excellently.

 

[Cdn303]

I find that 95% of the time they work as intended for me.

For the other 5% when they don't, I find cursing at them in their native tongue helps.

 

[kodiakjack]

huh, the ones i've used where all quicker and easier then changing a mag....Sounds like your clips are well used, bent or improperly filled... When they're new they work slick as snot.

never had a problem with sks or mosin strippers, easy and fast.

If you cant operate a stripper clip in a few seconds or less you are A) doing it wrong or B) not suited to use stripper clips. There are a ton of videos on youtube of guys shooting the full 10 rounds in a US sks magazine and reloading in just a few seconds. Id practice a bit more before declaring that "they suck". I love pressing rounds into a mag.. just has a cool feel and sound lol.

I too have no issues loading my No1. Mk3, mosins, svt's or sks's with strippers. Practice practice practice, it should smooth itself out.

Practice, and re-using(thus loosening) will make for slicker reloading than a swapping of magazines.. Depending on what you shoot, a stripper is a very quick reload for rifles designed around them. I love the SKS for the quick zip of 5 vs. the clunkiness of those that chose a mag-swapping gem, but any example of a stripper feed is a snappy means of recharging!

I have no issues with stripper clips either. But they sometimes eat fingernails.

I would suggest more practice mate, even if it's just with dummy rounds or lining it up right. I have a old surplus Russian SKS and it functions beautifully with strip clips.

Breaks down to: some people can do stuff, some can't.
For those who have difficulty, its simply practice, practice, practice.
My personal experience with stripper slips is, invariably, slicker than deer guts on a doorknob (that is why they were invented in the first place).

Can't help but giggle at all this "advice" coming from north of the border where we rarely if ever charge more than 5 rounds into a magazine and get to experience full spring pressure. "Man up, OP! Practice makes perfect don't you know! If the first 5 go in easy for me, then surely 10, 15, or 20 will go in just as easily for you down south, no?" ;-P

 

[fiddler]

Lots of makes of stripper clips and ammunition. If you don't have the right ones, they don't work well. Lots of aftermarket strippers are very poor.

 

[leebuilder]

I have sauseagefingeritus, only found the M96, M38 action a bit thin for the stripper clips. You need to practice. 303 stripper clips work better after an hour in the brass polisher.
Original Mosin clips are hands down better than the tin repos.
You may want to read up on the Boer's and the carnage they inflicted on the British with their clip feed mausers.

Be well

 

[Cocked&Locked]

I wish I was in Canada. I would challenge you to a friendly race. And as the visiting team I would respect the host country and use C1A1's. Rules: to start with rifles loaded with five rounds. Fire the five rounds, reload twenty rounds. The person who fires first after reloading all twenty rounds wins. You use 4 - 5 round "stripper clips; I will use a fully loaded magazine. Any bets on who wins? By the way all clips used are either in excellence condition or new. Not that easy to "improperly load" most clips. Now the .303 clips are different matter but we insure that the rounds are properly positioned. I agree that with practice things will improve but how much practice did soldiers (1898 to 1950) really get before having to do it "for real"?

ok, but we've use c 7/M-16 for almost two decades, and can't own FN's at all (unless we where grandfathered in because we owned one twenty plus years ago...so you'll have a hard time finding em...and there's no ranges we can shoot em at...so we better do it down there. but you'd win on an FN. but on a lee enfied or an SVT 40 i'd kick your buttocks.

 

[Cocked&Locked]

Can't help but giggle at all this "advice" coming from north of the border where we rarely if ever charge more than 5 rounds into a magazine and get to experience full spring pressure. "Man up, OP! Practice makes perfect don't you know! If the first 5 go in easy for me, then surely 10, 15, or 20 will go in just as easily for you down south, no?" ;-P

I've shot IDPA three gun using a No 5 jungle carbine, loaded with stripper clips and beat a number of fellas shooting AR's....And other then the FN, i don't know too many rifles that hold more then 10 rounds that where ever made for stripper clips.

And loading 10 rounds off strippers into an sks is slick and smooth once you get a feel for where your rifle likes the pressure applied. Not that we can do that up here anymore, but back in the day

 

[Butcherbill]

I have no doubt loading more than 10rds will get harder as the mag spring is compressed, but it sounds like the op is struggling with strippers in general. Practice makes perfect, when I first got my m&p9 I had to use the mag loader. Now that I got the feel for manually loading I don't need to use the loader. Same thing as far as I see it.

 

[Robert Nicholson]

One thing I have learned from this thread - there are better clips than the new, thin tin clips that I have been struggling with when loading my Mosin.

 

[plinker 777]

I wish I was in Canada. I would challenge you to a friendly race. And as the visiting team I would respect the host country and use C1A1's. Rules: to start with rifles loaded with five rounds. Fire the five rounds, reload twenty rounds. The person who fires first after reloading all twenty rounds wins. You use 4 - 5 round "stripper clips; I will use a fully loaded magazine. Any bets on who wins? By the way all clips used are either in excellence condition or new. Not that easy to "improperly load" most clips. Now the .303 clips are different matter but we insure that the rounds are properly positioned. I agree that with practice things will improve but how much practice did soldiers (1898 to 1950) really get before having to do it "for real"?

With respect, this was never the intended use of the charger. In order to test the speed of them, the front end of your test can be used (fire 5/empty magazine) .But then I suggest the test needs to be altered.The first rifle to be able to chamber a round and fire should win the test of speed...not the first rifle to fire with a fully charged magazine.
You have to bear in mind that because us Canadians are restricted to 5 rounds in our magazines (centerfire, semiauto rifles), many of us get quite proficient in mag swaps, and I can tell you with certainty that I am able to set a charger on the bridge and press home 5 rounds, close the bolt and fire in an enfield faster than I can swap out 30 rd mags and fire in my AR. (whether or not I hit the broadside of a barn is another {and completely different} question. ).

 

[axemaster8]

I also have a similar experience with most of the posters here, strippers work great with my experiences with swedes and enfields. You just have to use them enough times to figure out where and how to apply pressure.

 

[Garand]

I'm currently shooting a couple of matches in Phoenix, 2 days ago I shot a Pre 1912 Bolt Action Military Rifle match with my Mauser M1896. Can't find anything smoother than stripper clips and an M1896, combine that with an M1 Garand cartridge belt and your off to the races. They kept my overall time lower compared to others using different rifles.

 

[Eaglelord17]

Stripper clips/chargers can be very fast to use. Some are better designs than others, and some repros are absolute crap. Personally I have always been partial to the Mannlicher/Enbloc clip system.

From a realistic standpoint, for 5 or 10rds, it can be faster to load with chargers than it can be to load a magazine into the gun. If I had a 6rd charger, and a 6rd magazine, I could load from the charger quicker. Chargers are also lighter, don't have to be preloaded (originally when they were issued), and are expendable (again originally, not so much anymore). Obviously as the capacity increases so does the time it takes to load from the charger, and that is when magazines really shine.

One other aspect which hasn't been mentioned as a advantage of the charger over the magazine, is that when using chargers you can have a perfect magazine.

 

[fraserdw]

Stripper clips/chargers can be very fast to use. Some are better designs than others, and some repros are absolute crap. Personally I have always been partial to the Mannlicher/Enbloc clip system.

From a realistic standpoint, for 5 or 10rds, it can be faster to load with chargers than it can be to load a magazine into the gun. If I had a 6rd charger, and a 6rd magazine, I could load from the charger quicker. Chargers are also lighter, don't have to be preloaded (originally when they were issued), and are expendable (again originally, not so much anymore). Obviously as the capacity increases so does the time it takes to load from the charger, and that is when magazines really shine.

One other aspect which hasn't been mentioned as a advantage of the charger over the magazine, is that when using chargers you can have a perfect magazine.

A 10 round enbloc would be great but from a military standpoint enbloc could don't allow too ups between actions while mags do. Interesting German veterans carried two Mausers when they had chance to pick a second one up.

 

[Eaglelord17]

A 10 round enbloc would be great but from a military standpoint enbloc could don't allow too ups between actions while mags do. Interesting German veterans carried two Mausers when they had chance to pick a second one up.

Very easy, eject the previous enbloc, and insert a new one. If you have the time to be worried about if your magazine capacity is full, you have the time to switch enbloc clips. You can even carry the half empty one, and recharge it the next opportunity you take to recharge your magazine.

I never really got the top up argument, your ammo came on stripper clips anyway, so you would have to pull the ammo off the stripper clip, leaving a half empty one, and you had to manually place it in the action. Almost the same amount of effort or even more than simply switching the enbloc clip.