AHC: earlier rifles with magazines.

mats

Banned
Is it in possible to have an earlier development of rifles with a clip? bonus points if it is before the ACW.
 
There's a difference between clips, magazines and detachable magazines, mats. ;)
http://www.angelfire.com/art/enchanter/clip.html

Correct. A clip can be a removeable magazine, which is inserted into the weapon and remains there during firing, like the AK47, or a device which facilitates loading individual rounds into a magazine, like the stripper clip used by the M1903. A magazine, like the M1903's, is an integral part of the weapon which holds the ammo prior to loading and firing.

Magazine rifles appeared shortly before the ACW; bolt-action rifles shortly after the ACW. The first removeable magazines were made for the Gatling gun, shortly after the ACW. As long as the requisite metallurgy and precision tools are available there's no reason they could not have appeared earlier, say at the time of the Mexican War (1847).
 
Metallrugy is a concern, however, so is black powder. The reason the gatling could use magazines is that it fired through 8-10 barrels. Repeated firing with black powder through a single barrel will quickly leave enough residue to throw the bullets off trajectory or even make the gun explode in the owner's hands.
 
I saw a wall musket-sized gun at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg that used a metal block as a magazine. Individual chambers had been bored out of it to hold a charge of powder and ball, and since the whjole thing faced forward and stuck out sideways to the right, the worst possible effect of a misfire would bne more lead flying in the (very general) direction of the enemy (unlike, say, early revolver rifles, which would take the shooter's left hand off). Technically, this was clearly something people tried to get to work early, but I assume there must have been reasons (more economical than technological, probably) why they couldn't. At least the model at Nuremberg never made it into mass production.
 
The bigger issue I see with a magazine rifle, & BP fouling isn't trivial, is the paper cartridges. IMO you're just begging for feeding trouble. Even with metal cases, there are often headaches... Unless you're talking about a RF round. (Bit early for CF.)
 
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