Well, I know that it ain't a "clip". It's a "magazine". The cop had it right, but whoever wrote the story didn't. I've carried S&W pistols for years and, if the magazine is not fully inserted and locked in place, even the round in the chamber will not fire; and, if there were rounds in the magazine, they would cycle into the chamber after the first shot. If the magazine is empty, the slide locks open. I'm far from any kind of expert, but this is my experience with S&W pistols, although I've never owned the specific model named in the article. I guess one other thing that some folks don't seem to realize is that a revolver is not properly referred to as a "pistol", but that terms refers to a semi-automatic handgun or, I guess to be real technical, it could refer to a fully-automatic "machine pistol". At least, that's my understanding and, if it's incorrect, I'd be happy to receive better information.
So what do you call flintlock side arms, besides flintlock pistols?