? for moon-clip revolver owners

I'm still old school and don't use moon clips with revolver ammo (.38/.357).

I have .45 ACP moon clips from S&W, Wilson, Ranch and, of course, Cylinder & Slide. The Ranch seem a little thinner, as do the S&W moon clips. They work fine and the two I've screwed up were flattened using the bench-vice, no problem.

I do suggest getting the $4-$5 tool from Wilson or Ranch - that's make it a lot easier to unload the clips without mangling them.

The 8-shot Model 27 moon clips do seem awfully thin. And I have seen some of the moon clips for six-shooters get bent. I suspect the longer case gives the user extra leverage that does it.

Rimz: I could never get these to hold the cartridges firmly enough for my satisfaction. If others aren't having that problem (with loose rounds in the pocket or on the ground) then it must have been my technique.
 
Beckham had two designs for the .45 clips, an early one that didn't hold the rounds very securely during handling, and a later design that was far better at holding the rounds.

I have some of each. With the original design if you dropped the clip rounds would pop out.

With the later design rounds can still pop out, but not nearly as easily.

Granted, I wouldn't want to depend on them if I were carrying for defensive purposes, but for range use, they're fantastic.

No tools needed to remove the empties.

Of course, you could always go to auto rim cases and an HKS speedloader.
 
Mike,

I've found that it's much easier to use moon clipped .45 ACP ammo to reload than to use any kind of speed loader (e.g. HKS).

The squat .45 ACP round barely engages the charge holes even with a long round-nosed bullet. If you use a LSWC (250-255 gr), they fail to engage at all. This means a speed loader that will spin on the back of the cylinder. You need to press firmly against the center pin for the bullet noses to barely engage.

For that reason, I carry moon clips for reloads. Any rounds in speed loaders are there only for later "tactical" reloads (of loose rounds from a pocket).
 
I've got five S&W .45acp revolvers and shoot a lot of rounds through them. I use a de-mooning tool I got from Dillon and it works just fine. I get my moon clips from Old Sarge's Drop Zone in packages of 100 (I have over 300 in stock) but Old Sarge is often out of stock on these. In all my shooting I have only ever had to throw away one clip that was bent beyond repair. I have used the Rimz polymer clips and had trouble with them breaking and holding the cartridges too loosely. Overall, I see no problem with using moon clips.
 
I have a bunch of the steel clips in .40, and .45, but I prefer the Rimz polymerat he range.If you use metal they will bend.
 
Factory S&W model-547 9mm revolver (3 or 4 inch bbl) does not use moon clips and ejects all the spent casings with 1 push of the ejector rod.

I'm having moonclips.com rechamber my S&W M-13 .357 revolver to 9mm and machine the cylinder for the moon clips. Thereafter it will still fire 38/357 with or without moon clips but bulge those spent casings.
 
I have S&W 1917 and a 625. I never had any troubles with the half-moon clips; but, without the tool, I've tweaked a full-moon clip while unloading.
 
Moon clips will last forever. I have some that are 30 years old and still have no problems. I shoot them for competition in USPSA and ICORE and they make for the fastest reloads.

Only problem is they seem to attract shoes while people are walking the course and stepping on the moons. Those you just throw away. I also have a tool to straighen moons that aren't too badly bend.

Moons for my 625 run about .35 cents each so if I have to throw one away it's no big deal. Moons for my 627 run $7 each so I take care of them. In bulk they are $5.95 each.
 
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