Moon Clips

I happen to like moon clips. As was mentioned above, they do work best in 45acp, and 10mm/40 S&W.
I have the above in a 3" 625, a 2.5" 310 Night Guard, as well as my 610.

I also have a 686 that has been cut for moon clips by Clark, as well as a factory 442 Pro Moon Clip.

Moon Clip 38/357

My 442 Pro Moon Clip reloads fairly well with moon clips. It is probably a toss up between a moon clip reload and a reload using a J Model Jet Loader.
Added advantage with a short ejector stroke revolver like a J Frame is being able to get all 5 shells out of the gun during a Tactical Reload.

The conversion for a 686 and GP100 for moon clips probably needs a hair more thought. As far as speed you will need to practice reloading with the moon clips to come up to speed. You also need a Moon Clip belt carrier to access the clips. With all the right gear it would be a toss up on speed between a moon clip 38 and a Safariland Comp III or L Model Jet Loader.
ADVANTAGE: On a range where you do not get to pick up your brass. You get to pick up your moon clips with all your brass still in place.

I believe all modern moon clip conversions of the J, K, and L Frame as well as the GP100 allow loading with loose rounds, speed loaders, as well as moon clips. So basicly you are just gaining another option for reloading the revolver.

Also moon clip are not allowed in IDPA SSR Division. Just for information.
If you are thinking about competition, you probably need to check the rules before you start.
I personally wish moon clips were approved for SSR Guns. It would be nice getting all your brass back when you leave the range.

I have owned several moon clip revolvers over the years. I like them just fine.

Bob
 
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Hammie-They definitely won't last as long as steel, but you should get some good life and shooting out of them.

Viper-How do rimless cases extract/eject without rims or moon clips?
 
Price of mooning/demooning tool -- $20 to $100+

Price of metal moon clips -- .50 to $1.50 each

Price of a polymer moon clip from Rimz -- $1 to $2.

Price of mooning/demooning tool for Rimz clips -- $0. One isn't needed.

I've tried steel moon clips and the many different "It's a better mousetrap" mooning/demooning tools.

I was never all that impressed with any of them. Generally fiddly, expensive, bulky, and slow to use.

Then there was always the chance that no matter how careful you were, you'd end up with a bent moon clip. Once that happened, that was that. Trash it.

When I first heard of the Beckham Rimz polymer moon clips I figured it was yet another attempt at the mousetrap.

I was pretty dismissive of the concept, and then the people from Beckham sent me a couple to test out.

Instant convert.

I ended up throwing away all of my metal moon clips and gave the demooning tool I had to a friend.

The early Rimz clips did have some issues. Primarily, they didn't hold the rounds all that firmly and dropping one on the ground usually caused several of the rounds to pop free.

That was addressed in a later, stiffer, version that holds the rounds far more securely.

I dropped one of those from shoulder height repeatedly and only once in about a dozen drops was I able to get a round to pop free.

Even better, the Rimz clip was totally and completely unharmed, where with a metal clip an inadvertent drop from even a lesser height can result in a sprung, damaged clip.

Another benefit I've found is simply speed. Loading and unloading one of the polymer Rimz clips takes a few seconds, FAR quicker than with steel clips. The only tool you need is your fingers.

And, if you screw up and twist the Rimz clip into a pretzel while loading a round? It doesn't matter because, unlike a steel clip, the Rimz polymer clip returns to its original shape.




They definitely won't last as long as steel...

Jonny, based on how much testing do you make that statement?

Regarding my experience with how long they will last...

I've run probably 3,000 or more rounds through the few polymer Rimz clips that I have, and they are showing no signs of undue wear, loosening, failing to hold the rounds in the clips, etc.

That's as good, or better, than I ever got out of any of my steel moon clips.




Brownell's carries them, and they're cheaper there...

http://www.brownells.com/shooting-a.../s-w-revolver-rimz-speedloader-prod20526.aspx
 
I use a small flat screwdriver to de-moon my .45 ACP moonclips (625-3 and 22-4), and it works just fine. I also check flatness by laying them on a table. If one of the wings is a little bent, it's easy to move it back to where it needs to be.

IIRC I bought a pack of 20 blued steel moonclips from SG for $10.

I think some of you guys make it harder than it has to be.
 
I have a 625 with moon clips. Moon clips are faster than a speedloader but not so much so for me that I would modify a 38/357. For a competition guy that may be a different deal.

The steel clips and tool are cheap. I bought 10 steel clips back when I bought my gun with a tool for $8.95. You could get just 10 clips for $4.95 back then. The tool is dirt simple to use and you can unload the empties from a clip in about 10 to 15 seconds. Putting the rounds in just takes a little rolling motion and again is done in less that 30 seconds for 6 rounds; little more effort than loading a speedloader. The prices on the clips is not that much more now. A quick search shows 12 clips and a tool for $15.99 and free shipping. Some shopping around and you could probably find them for less. Here is a link to the sample I found. YMMV

http://compare.ebay.com/like/140949372727?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbarhttp://compare.ebay.com/like/140949372727?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar
 
They definitely won't last as long as steel...

Jonny, based on how much testing do you make that statement?

Regarding my experience with how long they will last...

I've run probably 3,000 or more rounds through the few polymer Rimz clips that I have, and they are showing no signs of undue wear, loosening, failing to hold the rounds in the clips, etc.

That's as good, or better, than I ever got out of any of my steel moon clips.
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Mr. Irwin,

I have a lot of respect for your opinions in the many posts I've read on this forum. That's why I have to ask about the above. I bought 25 of the Rimz and the first time I tried taking the empties out of the clip about 1/3 of them broke off at least one the little "Y" shaped ends. I have steel full moon clips that have been reloaded dozens and dozens of time when I competed in revolver practical matches for two years. Yea, if you stepped on one it would probably bend but just dropping them on the ground seldom even bent one.

Guess this is another case of "Fords vs Chevys". Or, I just got a really bad batch of the Rimz.

Dave
 
Dave,

I'm still on my original 6-8 or so Rimz clips, obtained the better part of a decade ago, now.

Not a single one of them has broken in the manner that you describe, and to be perfectly honest, yours is the first report I have ever heard of a Rimz clip breaking.

When I obtained my first clips as "testers" from Beckham, I put one aside as the crash test dummy, and I did everything I could to make it fail.

I folded it in half. I put empty cases in opposite sides and tried twisting it into a pretzel.

I did some other nasty things to it, too, and it never failed. I'm still using it today.
 
@mikeirwin: Bless your heart for the rimz clip review and the tip that brownell's carries them. (I didn't find them at midway.) There's some other stuff I need, and I can just throw the rimz clips in with my brownell's order.

I've been using third moons in my 5 inch, 625 and have pretty much given up steel full moon clips because they're such a pain in the bee-hind to load and unload. And you're right: if you spring or warp them, then they're done.
 
Mike,
I'm on my second batch of 15 Rim-Z, and got another 5 at one point from a friend. I gave another away, so I have had a total of 34 of them. Of the first 15, I think about 5 remain, and the other 10 all lost their internal ring that fits inside the rim of the case. I will check, but I believe all the rest are still functional. I tend to load them all up at home and then empty them at the range, rarely reloading now ammo, so each Rim-z gets more-or-less the same use. I have a few thousand rounds through the 3 pistols I use them in, so I would estimate that each Rim-Z has easily held hundreds of rounds, maybe up to a thousand or so. Every one I have/had has turned a bit grayer and a bit more brittle-feeling over time.
I would say I have enough info to make the statement that I did. I will continue to buy and use Rim-Z, but I still don't think they will last as long as steel moon clips.
 
They must have changed the polymer forumula that they use, because the ones I have still look and function as they did in 2003 when I got them.

I was digging around in my safe last night and I have one that has had rounds in it for at least 5 years, and it's not taken any kind of set or anything.
 
I've tried steel moon clips and the many different "It's a better mousetrap" mooning/demooning tools.

I was never all that impressed with any of them. Generally fiddly, expensive, bulky, and slow to use.
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Hard to believe. My wife uses the BMT mooner/demooner and can unload a moon clip in under 10 seconds with little effort. Reloads take about 30 seconds - again with little effort. Hardly "fiddly" if you can work it that fast. The tool being "bulky" is irrelevant if you load 30 or more for one range session.

I've tried the RIMZ, I must have gotten a bad batch as the ears broke off on two of them when I was unloading them - threw the rest away at that point, and haven't used them since.
 
I can unload and load a RIMZ clip in under 15 seconds with no tools at all...


And wait a second... $80 :eek: for a mooner/demooner?

That's an expensive mouse trap...
 
Hard to believe. My wife uses the BMT mooner/demooner and can unload a moon clip in under 10 seconds with little effort. Reloads take about 30 seconds - again with little effort. Hardly "fiddly" if you can work it that fast. The tool being "bulky" is irrelevant if you load 30 or more for one range session.

I've tried the RIMZ, I must have gotten a bad batch as the ears broke off on two of them when I was unloading them - threw the rest away at that point, and haven't used them since.
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buckhorn, my wife doesn't load my moon clips for me but I agree with everything else you said. (smile)

Dave
 
9mm revolvers

There have been a few 9mm parabellum revolvers that require moon clips. I have a couple of S&W model 940s, one with 2" and one with 3" barrels. They're a bit snappy compared with .38 J frames, but quite accurate. Taurus also makes 5-round 9mm snubbies that take the same moon clips IIR. Ruger had a 9mm Police Speed 6 (just saw one on Gunbroker) that uses moon clips, but I have never handled one.
 
Photos of my homemade demooning tool. $6, 4" nipple from Home Depot. A little work with a Dremel and there you have it. The prices of commercial tools were so off the wall, I just made my own.
 

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'88Scrat wrote:
I'm not that familiar with them but wouldn't a speed loader accomplish the same thing much faster and easier?"
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No, regular speed loaders do not accomplish anything faster nor easier than moon clips do. There are time and motion (speed) advantages plus secure loading advantages to using moon clips over a regular speedloader. Here's why.

1. When your revolver is empty, on your first initial loading, with a moon clip, it goes into the cylinder with the cartridges. With your first initial loading with a speedloader, after loading you have to use time and motion to pocket or put away your regular speedloader. That is a loss of time and motion and concentration. This is if you don't just drop your speedloader into the dirt of the range,...which I would not recommend. Sure you could wear a carpenter's apron with the nail pouch on the front and just drop your speedloader into that if you wanted. But is that a real world outfit you would wear all the time?

2. On ejection of cartridges that are NOT in a moon clip, sometimes an expanded and empty individual case will hang up a bit on the ejector star and you will have to shake it loose or pull it off by hand to complete ejection. I've had that happen to me. That is also a loss of time and motion and concentration. Also it is usually common for people to point their barrel up so gravity can help the individual empty cases come out along with the ejector star pushing the individual cases out. Not so with moonclips since all the cartridges come out joined together by the moon clip so that one individual case cannot hang up, and gravity is not needed and you can easily grab the cases and moonclip as one unit as it ejects.

3. Another advantage to moonclips is since most ranges are grassless sand or dirt, it is not a good idea to drop your regular speedloader into the dirt after loading since it can get into the mechanism of the regular speedloader and cause it to jam up. But with a moon clip, if you drop it in the dirt, there is no problem because the moonclip is just a flat piece of steel that won't hold dirt and if the empty cases get dirt on them, that's okay because you can just blow it off with your breath and you are going to dump the cases into your case cleaner vibrator anyway. Bottom line, sand or dirt won't hurt nor stick to nor get inside (there isn't any "inside") your moonclips but it can jam up your regular speedloader and at the very least cause you to have to carefully clean the sand or dirt out of it before you use it again.

4. Empty moonclips are flat and take up less space than regular speedloaders.

5. You can buy a bunch of moonclips for a fraction of the price you would pay for the same number of speedloaders. If you lost a moonclip at the range, it costs less than $0.50 but if you lost a regular speedloader it would cost more.

6. This is a very important one. There cannot be a malfunction with a moonclip not allowing a cartridge to go into the chamber of a cylinder. But with a regular speedloader, it is possible that dirt or debri could have gotten into the regular speedloader and cause a malfunction so a cartridge (or cartridges) hangs up and will not release from the speedloader into the chamber. Imagine being in a fire fight where seconds can mean the difference between life and death, and your speedloader malfunctioning like that and not allowing your cartridges to release into the cylinder. That won't happen with a moon clip.

7. With moonclips, it is easy to get practiced having a full moonclip in your left hand and as you eject the empty moonclip and grab it with your left hand, at the same time you load a fresh full moonclip also with your left hand. You can't as easily get all your empty cases into your left hand using a regular speedloader because the empty cases aren't held together as a unit. Thus you cannot easily retrieve your individual empties with your left hand as you also load a full load at the same time with your left hand using a regular speedloader. But you can do that operation easily with a little practice using a moonclip.

8. You won't lose individual cases in the dirt using moonclips. If you did drop one, it wouldn't sink hiding into the loose range dirt like an individual case could and six cases in a moonclip are a lot easier to see than one empty case. This is especially true if you are shooting at a place that has grass. We have all lost individual cases in the grass where the case was hidden by a leaf or something, but it would be much easier to find a moonclip with six empty cartridges in it if you dropped it in the grass.

9. It's a lot cheaper to buy and load 40 moonclips before going to the range than it is to buy and load 40 regular speedloaders before going to the range.

Moonclips are pretty much goof proof unless they get bent. But if you are careful that won't happen. I have about 40 moonclips. The last 20 I bought came with a nifty little pocket size sheet steel demooner that takes about 2 seconds to demoon a case from the moonclip and the 20 moonclips plus the demooner cost me only about $15.00 including shipping on Ebay. You couldn't buy 20 regular speedloaders for $15.00 including shipping on Ebay.

That's my personal experience and opinion of the advantages of moonclips over regular speedloaders. I have four S&W 1917 revolvers so I'm very familiar with moonclips. In my opinion, they are superior to regular speedloaders for all the above reasons I stated. It was a great idea in 1917 and it's a great idea today with the only improvements since 1917 being they made them full moon clips instead of half moon clips and possibly the polymer ones that Mike Irwin mentioned.


.
 
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