Magazine

A Magazine is a type of standardized spring-loaded ammunition container for Small Arms which can fit multiple bullets, and can load them automatically into the weapon's firing chamber as the weapon is being fired.

A Magazine is a long metal or plastic box, about as wide internally as a single bullet (or about 1.5 bullets, in some designs). At the bottom of this box is a loose metal plate sitting on top of a spring mechanism. Bullets can be loaded into the magazine by simply pressing them in, compressing the spring. When it is time to load a Magazine-fed weapon, the magazine is pressed into an opening in the weapon, locking them together. Each time the weapon's bolt is opened -- whether because a bullet was fired or because the shooter manually pulled the bolt open -- the spring at the bottom of the magazine pushes the metal plate upwards, inserting a single bullet into the chamber. This process happens fast enough to allow the next bullet to be fired as soon as the bolt closes, allowing for very fast and fluid semi-automatic or fully-automatic fire.

Magazines are even easier to unload from a weapon: The shooter simply presses a button on the side of the weapon, releasing the magazine and allowing it to fall out due to gravity alone (or to be pulled out very easily). The entire process of replacing a magazine is very fast, allowing for a very high continuous firing rate. A partially-spent Magazine can be replaced with a fresh one and stored in the player's inventory for later use or for Repacking.

Modern Magazines tend to hold 30 bullets each. This is particularly true for the standardized NATO magazine known as the STANAG, which holds 5.56mm bullets that can be used by most NATO Assault Rifles. The curved magazines of the AK-47 family of rifles, containing either 7.62x39mm or 5.45mm rounds, has become iconic in and of itself. Magazines containing 20 rounds were used by the Americans during the Vietnam War, and 10-round Magazines were common in all armies during World War II. Magazines holding 45 or 50 bullets exist for the RPK and for some more modern weapons. Assault Rifles are not the only magazine-using weapons; Pistols, Sub-Machine Guns, and some varieties of Machine Guns also use Magazines. Even certain Autocannons fire shells from a (very large) Magazine.

Magazines have been used in Small Arms for over a century, but competed with Clips for dominance until the Cold War era, at which point most new weapon designs no longer featured clip-loading at all. Since then, Magazines have become nearly ubiquitous for all types of small arms.

Magazines are distinct from Boxes, which are rigid containers holding an ammunition belt.