A magazine stores cartridges under spring tension and presents the top round for the bolt to strip forward into the chamber. It is either a fixed internal box closed by a floor plate or a detachable box that drops free for a fast reload.

For precision shooters the magazine sets a hard limit you have to design around: its internal length caps how long you can load a cartridge. A round seated out to touch the rifling may not fit the magazine, forcing a choice between magazine feeding and the cartridge overall length you want. Detachable systems such as AICS-pattern boxes are popular partly because they offer a little more length.

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