It's quite an old term. The ammo "bunkers" on board a naval ship are called the magazines. "Magazine" is just another word for the place, or device, where ammunition is stored.seniorshooteress wrote:Who decided to call the things that hold the ammo in the auto handguns a magazine anyway?
MerriamWebster.com
Main Entry: mag·a·zine
Pronunciation: \ˈma-gə-ˌzēn, ˌma-gə-ˈ\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French, from Old Occitan, from Arabic makhāzin, plural of makhzan storehouse
Date: 1583
1 : a place where goods or supplies are stored : warehouse
2 : a room in which powder and other explosives are kept in a fort or a ship
3 : the contents of a magazine: as a : an accumulation of munitions of war b : a stock of provisions or goods
4 a : a periodical containing miscellaneous pieces (as articles, stories, poems) and often illustrated; also : such a periodical published online b : a similar section of a newspaper usually appearing on Sunday c : a radio or television program presenting usually several short segments on a variety of topics
5 : a supply chamber: as a : a holder in or on a gun for cartridges to be fed into the gun chamber b : a lightproof chamber for films or plates on a camera or for film on a motion-picture projecto