Stripper clip guide

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

I received a package from someone the other week. He had emailed me that he had some goodies for me to try out and that I should be on the lookout for them. The box arrived at the post office and inside were several of these:

Thermold stripper clip guide for HK91 magazines.

My initial thought was “Man, I bet these are only gonna work with the Thermold magazines.” And, truly, that would be the suckage. Surprisingly, the stripper clip guide ( or charger, if you prefer) slips right on top of the surplus aluminum and steel G3 magazines that I have laying around. Okay, so far so good…but as far as I know there are no HK stripper clips, so what kinda stripper clips to use? Good question. A quick look around the junk bin in my reloading area turned up a coffee can full of stripper clips for .308/.30-06. I couldn’t tell you what country, I couldnt tell you what caliber, I couldnt tell you what era….but they worked.  (Most likely they were a mix of Mauser and 1903 clips.) The Thermold guide doesnt use the ‘bumps’ on the side of the stripper clip as a stop like most other stripper clip guides do. Rather, the clip simply binds up at the bottom of the clip guide and although the clip stops, the cartridges keep going….right into your magazine. So, it appears that pretty much any .308/.30-06 stripper clip might work.

Some advice: when you use stripper clips, you want your thumb (which is pushing down on the stack of cartridges) as close to the rear of the cartridge as possible. Otherwise, you wind up levering the cartridge against the clip and causing it to bind. If, like me, you’re pulling a handful of clips out of a coffee can you found sitting under your reloading bench, take the time to inspect and examine each clip. I discovered that some clips were cruddy with dried grease and it made getting the cartridges out of the clips extremely difficult….ruining what would otherwise have been an excellent speed record for loading a twenty-round magazine. Word to the wise: try each clip several times before planning on using them to store your ammo.

If, like me, you’ve been around the world of evil black rifles a few years, you may be thinking to yourself “hey, that looks alot like an FAL stripper clip guide“. Indeed it does. And, having procured a FAL clip guide for comparison, I can tell you the resemblence is strictly skin deep. The HK mags, with their double-layer of metal on the feed portion of the mag, are too wide to fit the FAL guide….close, though.

HK did used to make a magazine loader/unloader but it was a one-at-a-time affair…much like the LULA brand devices. To the best of my limited knowledge, I’ve never seen, nor come across, an HK G3 stripper clip or stripper clip guide. Maybe theyre out there….but if they are then they are so rare that, for my needs, they may as well not exist at all.

The Thermold product works quite well. My only reservation is that it is plastic and therefore may not last as long, or handle the rough and tumble lifestyle, the way a metal product would. (Also, for the money, you’d think you’d get two of them at that price.)  Realistically, my use for this thing is mostly for at the range. Running around with a bandoleer of .308 clips and a charger seems a bit less useful than just simply carrying extra loaded mags…esp. when the aluminum mags are so lightweight and I’ve got over 500 of them.

Conclusion: its a good product, as I’ve experienced it so far. I’d also like to thank the generous person who sent me these to try out – much thanks.

Speaking of a guide to clips about strippers, here’s the most awesome stripper pole move I’ve seen in a while. (Chicks are wearing workout clothes, so if you think there is something NSFW or ‘crude’ in this video you need to get your head out of the Middle Ages.) [ETA: And, to be fair, here’s a guy doing a similar move…uphill]