An apparatus (100) for application of surgical clips (C) to body tissue, the apparatus (100) comprising: a handle assembly (102); a shaft assembly (104) including a housing (150) extending distally from the handle assembly (102) and defining a longitudinal axis; a clip carrier (164) carrying a plurality of surgical clips (C) disposed within the shaft assembly (104); a jaw (106) mounted adjacent a distal end portion of the shaft assembly (104), the jaw (106) being movable between an open spaced-apart condition and a closed approximated condition; and a pusher bar (156) reciprocally disposed within the shaft assembly (104), the pusher bar (156) being configured to load a distal most surgical clip (C1) into the jaws (106) while the jaws (106) are in the open condition and remain in contact with the loaded surgical clip during an approximation of the jaws (106), characterized in that ; a connector plate (174) reciprocally disposed within the shaft assembly (104) and detachably connected to the pusher bar (156), the pusher bar (156) including a first spring clip (157b) supported thereon for detachably engaging a first feature (174c) of the connector plate, wherein during an initial distal movement of the connector plate (174) the pusher bar (156) is distally advanced and during a further distal movement of the connector plate (174) the connector plate (174) is disconnected from the pusher bar (156), wherein the first feature (174c) of the connector plate (174) disengages from the first spring clip following the initial distal movement of the connector plate (174).